Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War

Common card · No. 328302

At the end of World War II, plans were made in the Netherlands to annex German territory as compensation for the damages caused by the war. In October 1945, the Dutch state asked Germany for 25 billion guilders in reparations. In February 1945 it had already been established at the Yalta Conference that reparations would not be given in monetary form. The plan which was worked out in most detail was the one made by Frits Bakker Schut, and hence became known as the Bakker Schut Plan or Groot Nederland Plan. In its most ambitious form, this plan included the cities of Cologne, Aachen, Münster and Osnabrück, and would have enlarged the country's European area by 30 to 50 percent. The local population had to be either deported, or, when still speaking the original Low German dialects, Dutchified. The plan was largely dropped after the U.S. rejected it. Eventually, an area of a total size of 69 km2 (27 sq mi) was allocated to the Netherlands. Almost all of this was returned to West Germany in...

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