Fons Meijer
In late 1984, Agriculture Secretary Ad Ploeg caused quite a stir with bold statements about the Anne Frank Foundation. The case eventually fizzled out, but the moral panic that broke out in the House of Representatives illustrates the fear that gripped the political debate on racism and discrimination during the 1980s.
Anti-racist consensus
Fighting racism and discrimination was high on the political agenda in the 1980s. This had everything to do with the growing support for radical and far-right ideas at the time, as evidenced by the seat won by Hans Janmaat's openly xenophobic Centrumpartij in the House of Representatives elections in September 1982, much to the dismay of many. Racist incidents against foreign workers and migrants from the (former) colonies increasingly attracted attention, with the murder of the Antillean boy Kerwin Lucas (called 'Duinmeijer' in the media at the time) in August 1983 as the most high-profile example.[1] In politics, an almost Chamber-wide anti-racist consensus emerged from parties that wanted to distance themselves from xenophobic ideas in general, and from Janmaat in particular.
'A cryptocommunist organisation'
In late 1984, this consensus was unexpectedly put under pressure from the political centre by VVD member Ad Ploeg. As a member of parliament in the 1970s, this moustached off-duty lieutenant became a prominent Member of Parliament as a supporter of a firm, anti-communist defence policy. Both in 1977 and 1982, he missed out on a state secretariat of defence because of his outspoken views on nuclear armament. To the surprise of many, he was appointed the new secretary of state for agriculture and fisheries in 1982. Jokingly, journalists at the time remarked that there was only one thing that made him suitable for the job, and that was his surname.
On 24 November 1984, Vrij Nederland published an extensive interview with Ploeg, for which journalists Joop van Tijn and Max van Weezel had spoken to him for a total of almost 12 hours at his pied-à-terre in Scheveningen. Some bold remarks at the end of the interview caused a stir. He was not very diplomatic about the resistance from orthodox Jewish circles to his plans to restrict ritual slaughter, for instance: "I'm not the person to say: what a Jewish area, but you would be amazed at the reactions we have received". He commented about the un-anaesthetised slaughter of animals by Turks, saying: "You have these little balconies over there that ooze blood."
When the conversation turned to the topic of the Oud-Strijders Legioen (Veterans Legion), a right-conservative, anti-communist club of former soldiers where Ploeg regularly made an appearance, Ploeg was ready to assert himself. He lashed out at left-wing groups that he felt placed the Legion too much in the extreme-right corner: "There are also a few figures in those anti-fascism committees and also in the Anne Frank Foundation who have a lot to say. The Anne Frank Foundation is in danger of becoming a cryptocommunist organisation.’[2]
Ploeg struck a particularly sensitive chord with this last statement. The Anne Frank Foundation was established in 1957 to preserve the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, but it was also engaged in the fight against anti-Semitism and racism. For this work, the organisation was held in high esteem in The Hague. The cabinet even considered the organisation an important co-implementer of government policy on promoting tolerance between majorities and minorities. Ploeg's own party also held this view. Just days before the interview appeared, the VVD had tabled an amendment with the PvdA to ensure that an announced cutback on the foundation was reversed. It was also significant that similar suspicions about communist affiliations at the organisation had until then been formulated mainly by far-right people, for example by Joop Zwart, the press chief of the far-right widow Rost van Tonningen.[3]
