According to anthropologist Lizzy van Leeuwen, writing in the weekly De Groene Amsterdammer, populist politician and patriot Geert Wilders is not quite as Dutch as he seems. Her researches reveal that he is descended from a Jewish-Indonesian family by the name of Meijer. Nor did his grandfather serve as a soldier in the Dutch East Indies, as Wilders claims. He was a civil servant who was sacked in 1934 while on leave with his family in the Netherlands and could not afford to return. Van Leeuwen also says that Wilders’ iconic hair is, in fact, bleached ‘to disguise his origins’.
 

If you wish to comment or express an opinion about this article please e-mail the editor@TheHagueOnLine.com