Joseph Luns, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has vigorously denied allegations that he belonged to the Dutch Nazi Party (NSB) during his student days in the 1930s. Luns, who served as Foreign Minister of The Netherlands from 1956-1971, issued his denial from NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The allegation was made by Prof. Louis de Jong, director of The Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation. He said that documents in the Institute’s archives showed that a Joseph Luns was a member of the NSB from the spring of 1933 until the middle of 1936 when he resigned. Luns, now 67, said there was a misunderstanding, and planned to meet with de Jong. The NATO official, a Roman Catholic, entered the Dutch diplomatic service after completing his law studies. Sources here noted that in the early thirties many Dutch students, especially Catholics, were attracted to the NSB.
Last November, de Jong disclosed that a prominent member of The Netherlands Parliament Willem Aanties, had been a member of the Nazi Party as a youth. Aanties, who was chairman of the Christian Democratic Party’s parliamentary faction, was forced to retire from political life.
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