What is omvolking? “It acts against the principle of equality”
Annelotte Janse in OVT and De dag
Ministers Marjolein Faber and Reinette Klever (both PVV) have come under fire for their use of the term omvolking (population replacement). Annelotte Janse, postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University and specialising in the history of right-wing extremism, explains in OVT and De dag what the term omvolking means and where it comes from.
What is omvolking?
Some call it a racist conspiracy theory, others a factual demographic phenomenon, but what exactly is omvolking? Janse explains in OVT that it is not a neutral term; it is actually a “deeply racist and ideological concept of racial superiorities and, at worst, even ethnic cleansing.” The conspiracy theory states that there is a deliberate policy of replacing one population with another, often with a focus on immigration, and more recently, on Islam and a political elite facilitating this.
Origin of the term omvolking
Although, according to Janse, “the pursuit of an ethnically or a culturally pure community is as old as humanity”, the term omvolking was first used in the late 1920s by the German Nazi ideologue Albert Brackmann. The term was part of the ideological plan to Germanise the Slavic population in the conquered eastern territories.
In the 1930s, there was a 'reversal' of the concept, says Janse in OVT and De dag. The German demographer Friedrich Burgdorfer warned of the replacement of the German people through migration. This aligns with the recent statements about immigration and Islam.
Contemporary use in politics of omvolking
The contemporary use of the word omvolking by political figures differs from the Nazi concept of the 1920s but is recognisable in the views of Friedrich Burgdorfer. According to Janse, post-war works such as Eurabia (2005) and especially The great replacement (2011) have contributed to the use of the term by the PVV, she says in De dag.
She herself finds the current normalisation of the term striking. In OVT, she explains that it can be dangerous to use this term because it is “anti-constitutional” and “it acts against the principle of equality”, the idea that all people are equal. According to her, it paints a picture in which Muslim migrants are seen as a threat.