The Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War 2 brought untold hardship to the Dutch people. Besides the impact of being under the control of the German military, the nation witnessed the deportation of most of the Jewish population to death camps and the suppression of human rights and freedoms. Also, much of the wealth, historical artefacts, and artwork was systematically looted by the occupiers.
One of the biggest–pun intended–offenders in the pillaging of not only Dutch but also all of occupied Europe was the German head of the air force, Reichsmarshall Hermann Goring. Goring was a wealthy man before the war, and he used his power and position and money to consume the finest wine, best food, and most coveted art available to the Nazis. He had a particular taste for the paintings of the Dutch Renaissance masters, painters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer and others. It became a symbol of the Dutch resistance movement and patriotism to hide valuable pieces of art from people like Goring, saving them in secret places until the day when the occupation would be over and the Netherlands would be free again.
Han van Meegeren was a wealthy Dutch painter and art collector/dealer. When the Nazis came to his country, he took a different approach to their interest in Dutch art: He decided to sell pieces of his collection to them. Goring, who could have simply taken what van Meegeren had, was thrilled by the prospect of owning one item in van Meegeren’s collection, a Vermeer known as Christ with the Adulteress. Working through a dealer, the German leader traded over 100 stolen pieces of artwork by lesser artists for this particular Vermeer. Part of this was a public relations stunt by Goring, who wanted to show that, after all, the Nazis weren’t so bad because they had swapped artwork for artwork–even if some of it were stolen.
And, for his collaboration with the Nazis, Han van Meegeren was made an outcast by his fellow countrymen. He spent most of the war years in seclusion in one of his many houses, houses he had purchased with the sale of artwork in the pre-war years. After the war, van Meegeren was arrested (along with several others) for the crime of colluding with enemies of the state. He was put on trial, and his life was in the balance.
But, in court, van Meegeren made an astonishing claim. He said that he did what he did by trading with Goring not to give away a priceless national treasure in the Vermeer painting, but, rather, to save the dozens of other stolen paintings he’d received in the swap. The court considered his defense, but it was skeptical. Collaboration was, in the end, still collaboration. But van Meegeren defended himself further by claiming that the Vermeer he’d traded for was not worth much at all because it was a forgery. The Nazi leader had been duped into swapping legitimate works for a fake. Well, the court was astonished. The painting was well known and had all the hallmarks of being a work by the great master of Dutch art. How could he prove that it was a fake, the court asked van Meegeren. Again, his answer surprised the court.
Van Meegeren said he knew it was a fake because he had painted it. And to prove it, he painted it again for the court.
And that’s how Han van Meegeren went from Dutch collaborator to Dutch national hero.
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