It could be: in 1990 many Dutch people still took stock for the Russians, who were suffering from the dissolution of the Soviet Union. ‘Help the Russians through the winter’, was the wake-up call with which the Food Aid to the Russians Foundation urged the Dutch to be generous. They turned out to be receptive to this: the action raised 13.3 million euros.
A large amount in comparison with the proceeds of the collection campaigns for which the Cooperating Aid Organizations (SHO) opened Giro 555 in the same year. For the victims of the famine in Africa they collected more than 17 million euros, for the victims of the earthquake in Iran and the victims of the Gulf crisis only 2.5 million and 42 thousand euros.
The ongoing campaign for Ukraine has so far raised almost EUR 18 million, but this amount will undoubtedly increase during the National Day of Action for Ukraine, which will conclude on Monday evening with a television program from the joint broadcasters. After all, the war in Ukraine bears all the hallmarks of what, with some cynicism, has been called ‘the perfect disaster’.
Cultural kinship, clear conflict, great consensus
The Ukrainians are not guilty of the disaster of which they are victims. Their suffering has been illustrated by a multitude of films and other testimonies. Geographically and socially, the distance between us, the Dutch, and them is relatively small: the war is raging in Europe, at a distance of less than 2,000 kilometers. And the Dutch feel culturally related to the Ukrainians.
The imminent war may frighten us, but unlike other geopolitical conflicts we have witnessed in recent decades, it does not present us with moral dilemmas. It’s as clear as a lump who in these the good guys and who the bad guys to be. Ukraine fully meets our need for clarity. Its eloquent and courageous president is in every way the opposite of Vladimir Putin, who seems to have temporarily replaced Adolf Hitler as the embodiment of absolute evil (as the Russian villain will undoubtedly return in feature films). In the portrayal, Ukraine is the immaculate (nuclearly disarmed) David who has been resisting the Goliath from the east for two weeks now.
With their generous donations, the Dutch can show that they are on the right side of history. As a result, they also become a part of the heroism of the Ukrainians. They seem to have no need for news that could detract from Ukraine’s excellence.
Reports of African residents of Ukraine being banned from trains to safer places, or being held up at the Polish border, spark vehement disbelief or are dismissed as regrettable incidents that cannot be blamed on a country at war. As long as Ukraine is in a death throes with a supreme adversary, the Dutch will not want to withhold their support.
Rarely has a conflict in the Netherlands forced such a large consensus – from which only will-o’-the-wisps like Thierry Baudet escape. In this sense, the war in Ukraine can be compared to the Falklands War in 1982, when Britain – to the disbelief of many – went to battle with the Argentine junta on the other side of the world. And with the Six-Day War in 1967, when the Netherlands was still en bloc behind Israel. But the war in Ukraine mainly arouses associations with the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, which was brutally crushed by the Russians.
Dutch support after the Hungarian Uprising of 1956
Some 225,000 Hungarians – a fraction of the expected number of refugees from Ukraine – found refuge in neighboring countries. The Dutch showed their involvement in collecting money (about 10 million guilders) and goods. ‘The Dutch share in international aid is impressive’, wrote de Volkskrant† The new convoy brought 30 tons of margarine, 15 tons of rice, 18 tons of canned milk, 400 thousand cans of mixed food, 30 tons of chocolate, 20 tons of kidney beans, a thousand pairs of shoes, a large stock of clothing and home textiles and other retail goods. Together, more than 120 tons of foodstuffs have already been collected for a total value of 750 thousand guilders.’
As with the current war, the reporting about the uprising – and the repression that followed – emphasized the inequality of the balance of power, the honorability of the Hungarians and their kinship with the Dutch. Reference was made to the nearly thirty thousand Hungarian ‘hunger children’ who had been able to regain their strength in the Netherlands after the First World War, and to the liberation of 26 Hungarian pastors from Spanish captivity by Michiel Adriaansz de Ruyter in 1676. Communists became the laughingstock of the nation. declared. Felix Meritis, the Amsterdam city palace where the board of the CPN and the editorial board of the party newspaper The truth were harassed by protesters.
Against the background of these passions, real support for Hungary was, after all, rather meager. The donation of 10 million guilders for the displaced Hungarians was dwarfed by the 138 million guilders that the Dutch raised three years earlier for the victims of the flood disaster (with the national action ‘Open exchanges, close dikes’). And the reception of Hungarian refugees was preceded by a lengthy process of praising and bidding.
Prime Minister Willem Drees initially did not want to admit more than two thousand Hungarians in view of the housing shortage (which was indeed dire). Ultimately, that limit was expanded to 3,400. But things did not go well: the officials involved in the selection had to see to it that there were no communists, secret agents, criminals, gypsies and nerds among the refugees. This instruction was properly followed.
But it could also be that she was rather premature. The fact is that the Hungarian minority has integrated quickly and silently. Or, as former State Secretary for Justice Aad Kosto once put it at a meeting with Hungarians: ‘We’ve never had any trouble with you.’