Jan Baars

Joannes Antonius Baars (Amsterdam, June 30 1903 – Andijk, April 22 1989) was a leading Dutch fascist during the 1930s.

During the 1920s Baars emerged as part of the group associated with "De Bezems", a fascist journal aimed at the poor. The magazine split in 1930 and Baars supported Alfred Haighton over H.A. Sinclair de Rochemont, joining Haighton's "Fascistische Jongeren Bond". The two quarrelled in 1932 however and the rabble-rousing Baars soon set up his own movement, the General Dutch Fascist League (ANFB). Baars gained some support amongst the poor as his coarse, down-to-earth style of rhetoric could easily be identified with by people who spoke in the same manner. This group joined Haighton's movement and the National Union in 1933 to form a 'corporative concentration', although Baars, who was a market trader by profession, had little time for Carel Gerretson, the university professor who led the new group. He stood down from the ANFB as a consequence in 1934 and that group soon fell apart. After a brief involvement in opposing Anton Mussert and the NSB Baars quit politics in 1936 and returned to market trading. Having previously criticized Adolf Hitler's treatment of the Jews, Baars played no role in collaboration and was even active in the Dutch resistance.

References

* Philip Rees, "Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890"