King responds to revelation of grandfather's NSDAP membership: 'we must face the past'

King Willem-Alexander said he believes it is important that "we must face the past, including the less beautiful parts." He said this Thursday afternoon in reaction to the revelation on Wednesday that his grandfather Prince Bernhard had a membership card to the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler’s party.

"I can very well imagine that the news has a great impact, evoking many emotions, especially within the Jewish community," said the king before the presentation of the Royal Award for Modern Painting at the Royal Palace on Dam Square. "But I am convinced that we must face the past, including the less beautiful parts of it."

The king previously decided to release the archive up until September 6, 1948, as was previously announced by the Royal House. "I also have the option to remove things from the archive, but I have chosen not to. I believe that the entire archive should be as transparent as possible, for the sake of historiography." Researchers can consult letters, documents, and other sources up to 1948 from these archives starting in January.

The existence of Bernhard's NSDAP membership card was confirmed on Wednesday by the government information service RVD. Historian Flip Maarschakerweerd, the former director of the Royal House Archives, found the membership card in the prince’s private archives in Soestdijk, which he had to inventory after Bernhard’s death in 2004.

Bernhard always denied that he was a member of the Nazi party, even when confronted with evidence to the contrary. In a series of interviews with de Volkskrant before his death, the prince said: “I can declare with my hand on the Bible: I was never a Nazi. I never paid for a party membership. I never had a membership card.”

The CIDI, a significant voice of the Jewish community in the Netherlands, wants the Cabinet to investigate the prince's past. Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated he did not see the need for an investigation.