Forced war heroes: Motivations of Dutch seafarers on Dutch merchant ships during World War II

This thesis investigates the motivations of Dutch merchant seafarers working on Dutch merchant ships during the Second World War. During the period from 6th June 1940 up to 2nd March 1946, Dutch employed by Dutch merchant companies were obliged under Dutch emergency measures to continue their work and to support the Allied war effort. According to extant Dutch historiography, the government-mandated duty and patriotic feelings have been identified as the primary motivators. However, as demonstrated in the Belgian and Norwegian historiographies, it was deemed implausible that the emergency measures and patriotic sentiments were the sole motivators. Based on the combination of Dutch, Belgian, and Norwegian historiographies, three overarching categories of motivation have been identified: patriotism-based motivations, career- and financial-based motivations, and social-based motivations. The final distinction delineates between motivation derived from familial bonds and that derived from short-term activities such as socialising. Taking these three categories into consideration, this thesis has conducted a qualitative comparative analysis of three diaries, two memoirs, and a substantial amount of supplementary material. The objective of this analysis was to ascertain whether the five sailors under investigation experienced motivations that belonged to these three categories. The findings of this analysis have indicated that the prevailing notion that patriotism was the predominant motivation, in addition to force, is incorrect. This thesis demonstrates that the primary motivation of Dutch merchant seamen was family-based. The data demonstrate that all seafarers experienced patriotic sentiments to a greater or lesser extent. However, even at their peak, patriotic sentiments were never comparable to those derived from the seafarers' family members. Finally, career- and financial-based motivations were evident among the seafarers, though the extent to which merchant sailors derived motivation from these factors differed; of the five studied seamen, one did so to a significant degree, while the others scarcely mentioned the topic at all.