Zwijgen en spreken in de affaire-Aantjes

The Aantjes affair was one of the most controversial scandals in postwar Dutch politics. The media hype was not only unleashed because of the shock effect of the SS but also because within just a few hours of television coverage it became clear to the Dutch public that a small circle of people had had vague knowledge of Aantjes' occupation history for decades. By taking a long-term perspective of the Aantjes affair this contribution explains how it was possible to keep this a secret from the media for such a long time. Subsequently the convergence of circumstances are reconstructed that led to Loe de Jong director of the National Institute for War Documentation as almost the only opinion leader speaking about the CDA politician's war history on the evening of Monday 6 November 1978. He found himself in this position because the television company NOS achieved a second national scoop in exchange for a full reference to the scoop by the regional paper Nieuwsblad van het Noorden as its source.

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