A Dutch National Youth Storm (Nationale Jeugdstorm = NJS) Membership Stickpin

Silver gilt with black, white, blue and orange enamels, unmarked, 18.8 mm, on a 24.2 mm severed pin, blue enamels missing inside the "R" on "STORM", small chip in the orange outer ring, contact marks, near very fine. Footnote: The National Youth Storm (Nationale Jeugdstorm = NJS) was a Dutch youth movement which existed from 1934 to 1945, organized along the lines of the German Hitler Youth and the Nazi equivalent of the Boy Scouts. The organization was formally separate from, but in practice had very close ties with the Dutch National Socialist Movement (NSB). The leader (Head Stormer) of the NSB was Cornelis van Geelkerken. On May 1, 1934, Geelkerken was dismissed as a civil servant, as NSB membership was considered incompatible with employment in government. On the same day, he founded the Youth Storm. Less than two years later, on February 1, 1936, the association was ruled "illegal" by the Supreme Court and subsequently abolished. It was re-established under a "democratic" structure and given a small name change (Association National Youth Storm, VNJ). However, very shortly after the German invasion, the old name was adopted again. Almost all members of the Youth Storm were children of NSB members. Prior to the occupation, the Youth Storm had about 2,000 members, a number which increased during the Second World War to more than 12,000.