De/The Bakker Schut PlanDutch post war continental expansion unrealised. By A.R.Arthur

The Bakker‑Schut Plan, also known as the Groot-Nederland Plan, was a Dutch

proposal developed in the aftermath of World War II to annex parts of

northwestern Germany as compensation for wartime damage. Spearheaded by the

Dutch territorial commission led by the bureaucrat and technocrat Frits Bakker

Schut, the plan envisioned significantly expanding the Netherlands’ borders as a

means of reparation or compensation, as it was argued for German aggression

inflicted on the Kingdom of the Netherlands during WW2.

Whilst states were compensated in different ways post WW2, I have always been

fascinated by the historical context behind De Bakker Schut Plan in that Dutch

requests for continental territorial expansion were, to some extent, warranted even

as a buffer after experiencing starvation, destruction and general oppression under

Nazi subordination. The following poster highlights this:

Random Interesting note: the old use of ‘sch’ in words like Duitsch & Nederlansche has now shifted in modern

standard Dutch (Algemeen Nederlands) to ‘se’ i.e. Duitse/ Nederlandse.