Willem van de Stadt

Willem van de Stadt was a Dutch businessman and director of the Nederlandse Handel-Maatschappij (NHM) in London during World War II. In August 1940, he founded the 'Comité ter Bevordering van het Welzijn van Nederlandsche Strijders' (Committee for the Promotion of the Welfare of Dutch Combatants). The committee was established to provide recreation and welfare services—including the distribution of books, gramophone records, sports equipment, and organizing film and theater performances—for Dutch military personnel and merchant seafarers stationed on British soil. He is linked to the book 'Enkele Gebeurtenissen uit de Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Strijders 1940-1943' as a key figure in the organization that published it as a Christmas gift for these service members.^[1]