Arnoldus Jozephus Meijer (5
May 1905, Haarlemmermeer
– 17 June 1965, Oisterwijk
) was a Dutch
fascist politician.
Brought up a devout
Roman Catholic
and educated in a number of seminaries he soon became influenced by
Wouter Lutkie, a Catholic priest and
fascist. After a brief stopover in the
Roman-Catholic State Party, which
he found far too moderate, Meijer began to write for the
authoritarian
De Rijkseenheid and the
General Dutch Fascist League's
De Fascist. He soon joined the League and, having
inherited money from his father, launched his own journal
Zwart
Front. Rising to a position of influence in the League, he
quarreled with leader
Jan Baars and in
1934 split from the group, taking a number of followers with him.
Before long he had revived the
Zwart
Front name for his new movement and even visited
Benito Mussolini with Lutkie to gain the
fascist leader's approval.
The Front failed to make much impact in elections (although Meijer
managed a 21.4% vote share in Oisterwijk) and it was absorbed into
the new
National Front
in 1940. This movement was banned in 1941 by the
Nazis, although Meijer was allowed to simply retire
from politics.
Arrested in 1944 he escaped to Belgium
but returned
in 1946 to face a five year jail sentence.
He was released from prison in 1948 and returned to politics,
writing for the
Aristo journal which was sympathetic to
Lutkie.
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