bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
'Enkel en alleen in dit geval'. Pleidooien voor de vrijlating van voormalig collaborateurs na de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Nederland
Authors: Grevers Helen
Published: September 2015

‘Only and Exclusively in this Case’. Pleas for the Release of Former Collaborators after the Second World War in the NetherlandsAfter the Second World War ended in the Netherlands, more than 100.000 people suspected of collaborating were arrested. It was long argued that during and after the war the (former) national socialist families who were ‘in the wrong’ stood isolated against the ‘good’ Dutchmen. This article examines the mentality of the population by making use of the letters of support which were written by family, friends or neighbours to the police and judicial bodies in defense of those who were accused of collaboration. No political arguments were given in the letters, the social-psychological elements of collaboration were put first. The guilt was reduced by for example pointing at the restoration of the family, a poor education, bad social and economic circumstances and poor intellectual development. In this way, the suspects were individualized and disconnected from the group that was seen as being ‘in the wrong’. This article is part of the special issue 'A New Historiography of the Collaboration'.
'Ons populairste vervoermiddel'. De Nederlandse fietshistoriografie in internationaal perspectief
Authors: Oosterhuis Harry , Stoffers Manuel
Published: September 2015

R. Filarski, G. Mom, Van transport naar mobiliteit, [I], De transportrevolutie, 1800-1900, [II], De mobiliteitsexplosie, 1895-2005 ‘Our Most Popular Means of Transportation’. Dutch Bicycle Historiography from an International PerspectiveThe Netherlands has a long-standing and well-deserved reputation as a bicycling nation. However, until now cycling history has received little attention by Dutch academic historians. In contrast, we observe an efflorescence of cycling history abroad which can serve as a source of inspiration for future research on the history of the bicycle in Dutch society. This article, while highlighting the significance of cycling history in general, provides an overview of the publications on the history of cycling in the Netherlands in the light of recent international research. It does so by focussing on four main themes: technology and transportation history, economic and business history, sports history and social-cultural history.
Inleiding. De internationalisering van de nationale geschiedenis en de verzuiling
Authors: Velde H. te
Published: September 2015

Introduction. The Internationalization of the National History and the PillarizationEfforts to approach Dutch political history from an international perspective have been going on for a long time. This has worked rather well for the early modern period, before the national state existed in a modern form. Nevertheless, applying this to the last few centuries remains a challenge. This is because this period was dominated by the national state and historiography was focussed on the state from the very beginning. Eliminating the national aspect from historiography altogether would not be a desirable course of action. However, it is necessary to be aware of the effects it has, and each generation has its own way of doing this. Nowadays, international comparisons and the history of transfers offer new opportunities. It is against this backdrop that the introduction explains how pillarization expanded to become the Dutch Sonderweg and how a new approach towards political history can compensate for the disadvantages of this perspective. This article is part of the special issue 'The Internationalization of the National History and the Pillarization'.
Internationalisering en de Nederlandse Opstand
Authors: Pollmann J.
Published: September 2015

Internationalising The Dutch RevoltAt around 1960 the interpretations of the Dutch Revolt that were propounded in ‘grand narratives’ of sixteenth-century Europe, differed considerably from those on offer in the ‘national’ historiography of the Revolt. That this was to change drastically over the following five decades, was only partly due to changes in Dutch historiography. Most impulses to ‘internationalise’ interpretations of the Dutch Revolt came from outside the Low Countries. While Geoffrey Parker situated the Revolt in its Habsburg context, research into Netherlandish Protestantism also emphasised its international dimensions. Many political developments within the Low Countries, too, can best be understood in a European context. This article offers an analysis of this development, and explores what this might mean for our prospects for a new synthetic study of the Revolt of the Netherlands. This article is part of the special issue 'The Internationalization of the National History and the Pillarization'.
‘De scharpheit van een gladde tong’. Literaire teksten en publieke opinievorming in de vroegmoderne Nederlanden
Authors: Bloemendal Jan , Dixhoorn Arjan van
Published: September 2015

‘The Sharpness of a Smooth Tongue’. Literary Texts and the Formation of Public Opinion in the Early Modern NetherlandsThe Low Countries hardly play any role in international debates about the history of the formation of public opinion in early modern Europe. In the wake of Jürgen Habermas, historians have focused in particular on late seventeenthand eighteenth-century England and France. Scholars have criticised the notion that it was during the eighteenth century that the formation of free public opinion came into existence due to a combination of the periodical press, its critical role and a national readership. Nevertheless, the period before 1700 is hardly referred to at all during discussions about the role of public opinion. During that time a permanent, structured public openness did not exist. However, in the early modern Low Countries many socio-cultural and institutional conditions seem to be present which made the formation of critical public opinion among the population possible. The literary culture of these regions offers an important research subject for studies into the formation of public opinion.
Reworking the Grand Narrative. A Review of Recent Books on the Dutch Revolt
Authors: Cruz Laura
Published: September 2015

This essay provides an overview of three recent works on the Dutch Revolt; Peter Arnade’s Beggars, Iconoclasts & Civic Patriots. The Political Culture of the Dutch Revolt (Ithaca, New York [etc.] 2008); S. Groenveld e.a.’s De Tachtigjarige Oorlog (Zutphen 2008); and Oscar Gelderblom’s The Political Economy of the Dutch Republic (Farnham 2009). The essay discusses their contributions to the evolving grand narrative of Dutch history in the world.
The International Relevance of Dutch History: Introduction
Authors: Berkel Klaas van , Goei Leonie de
Published: September 2015

This introduction is part of the special issue 'The International Relevance of Dutch History'.
The Dutch Republic as a Bourgeois Society
Authors: Prak Maarten
Published: September 2015

Historians have often portrayed the Dutch Republic as the first ‘bourgeois’ society. What they had in mind was an early example of a society dominated by the sort of middle class that emerged in most other European countries after the French and Industrial Revolutions. In this article, ‘bourgeois’ is perceived in a slightly different way. By looking at the ‘bourgeois’ as ‘citizens’ – often, but not necessarily, middle class in a social sense – the article paints a picture of a plethora of blossoming urban civic institutions. Such civic institutions also existed in other European countries. What set the Dutch Republic apart, however, and indeed made it an early example of a ‘bourgeois’ society, was the dominance of these civic institutions in the Republic’s socio-political life. This article is part of the special issue 'The International Relevance of Dutch History'.
The International Relevance of Dutch History: Closing Comments
Authors: Velde Henk te
Published: September 2015

The contributions in this issue discuss the question of the relevance of Dutch history to an international public. The authors wish to avoid ‘exceptionalism’, but point – with the exception of the piece that examines the Holocaust – specifically to the particular in the Dutch past, focusing thereby on evergreen themes such as the Golden Age, the Dutch colonial empire and the role of religion. A great deal of attention is hereby devoted to the long perspective and the peculiar nature of Dutch ‘civil society’. The aim is not so much to focus on what is unique to the Netherlands – and certainly not to hold up the Netherlands as an example – but rather to attempt to explain the Netherlands on the basis of general issues drawn from historiographical debates. In this sense, the yardstick applied is the international world. Another striking feature of the contributions is that an analysis that takes a longer view – path dependency, ‘cultural freezing’ (Schrover) and traditions – is back with a vengeance. This article is part of the special issue 'The International Relevance of Dutch History'.
Acknowledgements
Authors: Berkel Klaas van , Goei Leonie de
Published: September 2015

These acknowledgements are part of the special issue 'The International Relevance of Dutch History'.
Een weinig spectaculair Darwinjaar
Authors: Theunissen Bert
Published: September 2015

An Unspectacular Darwin YearThe publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species did not provoke heated debate in the Netherlands. Of the few responses that did emerge, the majority were moderate in tone. It was only in 1868, when the German materialist Carl Vogt gave a series of lectures in Rotterdam, that the issue of human evolution in relation to Christian belief gave rise to a short outburst of polemics. And the Dutch situation has not changed since then: the theory of evolution is hardly ever discussed publicly, unless religious issues are at stake. The year 2009 is no exception: the works published on the occasion of the Darwin commemorations sparked no polemics. A number of these works are reviewed here. Two historical PhD theses, by Janneke van der Heide and Bart Leeuwenburgh, add valuable detail to our picture of the Dutch reception of Darwin’s works and confirm that, by and large, quiet appropriation was the customary response. Dirk Van Hulle’s book, based on textual analysis of Darwin’s manuscripts and books, provides an original insight into Darwin’s romantic inspiration. Several popular works, by Chris Buskes et al., Marc van Roosmalen and Job Slok, aim to explain Darwin’s career and ideas to a wider audience; Buskes et al. do the best job.
Telling Another Story of Europe: A Reply in Favour of Politics
Authors: Middelaar Luuk van
Published: September 2015

Middelaar, Luuk van, De passage naar Europa. Geschiedenis van een begin (Dissertatie Universiteit van Amsterdam 2009; Groningen: Historische Uitgeverij, 2009, 531 blz., ISBN 978 90 6554 236 6). All three discussiants note the rich use of language in De passage naar Europa, but without linking it to the book’s discourse analysis or its alleged scarcity of social science. Words are not innocent, however; in political battles, even theoretical concepts are constantly being co-opted. To escape from existing connotations, we can either examine a vocabulary’s use (a well-known practice in intellectual history), or introduce new words (as I do with ‘passage’ or ‘sphere’). For good reason, history, political philosophy and law are the disciplines chosen to tell this story of Europe. The focus is neither on the Brussels institutions, nor just on Member States and national interests. Rather, it is the story of the ensemble of European states trying to become the political expression of the continent: of its birth and metamorphoses, its efforts to fill a space and find a voice. This review is part of the discussion forum 'De passage naar Europa. Geschiedenis van een begin' (Luuk van Middelaar).
Bringing History Home. Postcolonial Immigrants and the Dutch Cultural Arena
Authors: Legêne S.
Published: September 2015

Bringing History Home: Postcolonial Immigrants and the Dutch Cultural ArenaThree Dutch-language monographs published in 2008-2009 by Ulbe Bosma, Lizzy van Leeuwen and Gert Oostindie in the context of the interdisciplinary research programme Bringing History Home, present a history of identity politics in relation to ‘postcolonial immigrants’. This term refers to some 500,000 people who since 1945 arrived in the Netherlands from Indonesia and the former Dutch New Guinea, Suriname or the Antillean islands in the Caribbean. Bosma traces the development of postcolonial immigrant organizations. In interaction with government policies, these organizations moved from mere socioeconomic emancipation struggles to mere cultural identity politics. Van Leeuwen takes such cultural identity politics as the starting point for her analysis of Indo-Dutch and Dutch Indies cultural initiatives and the competing interests at stake in the Indies heritage discourse. Oostindie discusses these developments in terms of community development and change within Dutch society at large. He introduces the notion of a ‘postcolonial bonus’. In postcolonial Netherlands, this bonus was available to immigrants on the grounds of a shared colonial past. Today, this bonus is (almost) spent. The review discusses the three monographs, as well as the coherence of Bringing History Home as a research programme. Legêne argues, that notwithstanding valuable research outcomes, the very category of postcolonial immigrants does not constitute a convincing category of analysis.
De kunst van het verbergen. Een lichtzinnige naziprins en de Nederlandse monarchie (discussiedossier over Bernhard. Een verborgen geschiedenis)
Authors: Deneckere G.
Published: September 2015

The Art of Dissimulation: A Frivolous Nazi Prince and the Dutch MonarchyAnnejet van der Zijl’s biography Bernhard. Een verborgen geschiedenis [Bernhard: A Hidden History] deftly interweaves the family history of the ‘Zur Lippe-Biesterfelders’ with the social decline of the minor German aristocracy in the period of the German Empire, World War I and the Weimar Republic. This results in a probing description of a time and a milieu in which anti-democratic, extreme right-wing forces came to full bloom. The exact consequences of Prince Bernhard’s anti-democratic attitude for the Dutch monarchy as an institution are less well examined, however. The fact that Bernhard as a person perhaps did not have character to play the role of dictator, does nothing to lessen the danger posed by the popularity he enjoyed among ‘the people’ in the extreme circumstances of World War II and, more specifically, its final phase. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Een verborgen geschiedenis' (Annejet van der Zijl).
Prins Bernhard: biografie van een publiek personage (discussiedossier over Bernhard. Een verborgen geschiedenis)
Authors: Grever M.
Published: September 2015

Prince Bernhard: Biography of a Public RoleIn her biography Bernhard. Een verborgen geschiedenis [Bernhard: A Hidden History], Annejet van der Zijl strives to write unaffectedly about a controversial character, and to set out a human portrayal of Bernhard. But has this undertaking succeeded? This dissertation certainly demythologises the jovial prince with the carnation, making for an exciting read – but do we really get to know any more about the prince as a ‘man’? A question all the more relevant as the biography pretty much gives up describing his life after 1945. By placing the emphasis on the revelations – and as Van der Zijl assumes that Bernhard must have changed little between 1945 and 2004 – the story of Bernhard’s life takes on a hermetic quality. Which in turn means this is not so much the story of a human prince, but of a public role. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Een verborgen geschiedenis' (Annejet van der Zijl).
Religieuze co-existentie en de publieke kerk. Walcheren en Staats-Vlaanderen, 1602-1630
Authors: Bauwens Michal
Published: September 2015

Religious Co-Existence and the Public Church: Walcheren and Flanders of the States, 1602-1630During the past decades, the study of religious tolerance has shifted from its earlier focus on philosophical and legislative sources to a focus on daily practice, making use of detailed case studies. This article partly traces this historiographical shift by focusing on a locality in Zeeland. Although the Dutch Republic was renowned for its tolerance, Zeeland somehow was neglected in the historiography on religious tolerance. Whereas many studies have neglected the role of ecclesiastical organizations – or assumed that they played only a negative role in the space for religious co-existence – this article argues that these organizations in fact played a crucial role. For this reason, I have chosen to investigate the ‘classis Walcheren’ (the ecclesiastical assembly responsible for the region Walcheren and the Flanders of the States) during the first thirty years of the seventeenth century. This institution, which brought together all the reformed preachers of the region, had a strong influence on the churches, but also on society as a whole. Asking what exactly the ambitions and function of the classis and the reformed churches were, allows their impact on religious co-existence to be understood.
Thorbecke Revisited. De rol van het doctrinaire liberalisme in de Nederlandse politiek
Authors: Drentje J.
Published: September 2015

Thorbecke Revisited: The Role of Doctrinaire Liberalism in Dutch PoliticsIn the political history of the nineteenth century Thorbecke played a crucial role. As the architect of the 1848 liberal constitutional reform he led three cabinets. In many ways he dominated the political discourse during the period between 1840 and 1872. In recent historiography Thorbecke’s liberalism has been chiefly interpreted within the framework of political styles. Thorbecke’s constitutional style could be characterised by a formal, governmental approach to politics, distanced from the citizen and society. In this respect Thorbecke’s liberalism is indebted to the French Doctrinaires as represented by Guizot. In this article it is argued that what is known as doctrinaire liberalism in the Dutch context comprised a correction of the oligarchical political culture of the Restoration and was connected to social and economic questions that had played a role since the time of the Patriots Party. A formal approach to politics had a concrete social significance.Thus the demarcation of public and private legal systems was a means of generating social reform. More generally, strict liberalism can be seen as a way of carrying out politics in which the point was to bring political rationality into the historical context.
Catholic Identity and the Revolt of the Netherlands. A View from South of the Border (discussiedossier over Catholic Identity and the Revolt of the Netherlands, 1520-1635)
Authors: Diefendorf B.B.
Published: September 2015

Pollmann, Judith, Catholic Identity and the Revolt of the Netherlands 1520-1635 (Past and Present; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, xiv + 239 blz., ISBN 978 0 19 960991 8). Judith Pollmann (Catholic Identity and the Revolt of the Netherlands, 1520-1635) argues persuasively that Netherlandish Catholics were slow to oppose the spread of heresy because their clergy encouraged passivity rather than resistance. This behavior contrasts strikingly with the active resistance posed to the spread of Calvinism in France and challenges French historians to question the assumption that violence was a natural response to the fracturing of community brought about by religious schism. Explanations of popular religious violence must nevertheless also consider their respective political contexts and the extent to which people trusted their rulers to suppress the threat of heresy. Pollmann’s further argument that the stunning Catholic revival that occurred in the Southern Netherlands could only occur when the clergy accepted the need to collaborate with pious lay people is also persuasive but might have been enriched by more consideration of the emergence of Catholic identities in Wallonia and among women. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Catholic Identity and the Revolt of the Netherlands 1520-1635' (Judith Pollmann).
Van marginaal naar mainstream? Populisme in de Nederlandse geschiedenis
Authors: Vossen Koen
Published: September 2015

From Marginal to Mainstream?: Populism in Dutch HistoryIn this article populism is perceived as a thin ideology with specific core concepts (a homogeneous people, a treacherous elite and popular sovereignty) that can flourish when specific conditions are met (political dissatisfaction, convergence of the established parties, increasingly opaque governance and new media). In the Netherlands one might discern three ‘populist moments’ – a period between 1916 and 1918, a period between 1963 and 1967 and a period which started in 2001/2002 and which seems not yet to be over. In electoral terms the first and second populist moments were rather weak. Both times the populist rhetoric was incorporated by (one of) the established parties. In 2001/2002 the established parties again attempted to incorporate populism but with less result. The new populism of the twenty-first century proved to be much stronger and much more durable in terms of its electoral strength and its programmatic appeal.
Metropolis and Hinterland? A Comment on the Role of Rural Economy and Society in the Urban Heart of the Medieval Low Countries
Authors: Soens Tim , Onacker Eline Van , Dombrecht Kristof
Published: September 2015

Urbanity was a distinguishing feature of the medieval Low Countries, but even in its most urbanised core a majority of the population continued to live outside the city walls. In his new and encompassing synthesis of the history of the Low Countries in the later Middle Ages, Wim Blockmans emphasises the fundamental intertwining of urban and rural societies in this region, but also the existing historiographical gap between urban and rural historians. This contribution pleads for a reconsideration of the impact of urbanisation and urbanity on rural society as a whole, exemplified for instance, by the role of urban demand as a driving force in the rural economy or by the spread of an ‘urban-modelled’ civic life beyond the city walls. Although every village community was in one way or another connected to the urban world, villages were not entirely shaped by the latter and striking regional differences in both economic development, social cohesion and political organisation persisted well beyond the medieval period. In order to explain these differences the endogenous dynamics of rural societies have to be taken into account. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Four Golden Ages' (Wim Blockmans).
Four Golden Ages: Regional Interdependency in the Low Countries
Authors: Blockmans Wim
Published: September 2015

Although the Low Countries formed a political unity only for short periods they have been seen by other European nations as a region in its own right. What created some kind of unity, as experienced by the inhabitants? My concept started from the geographical conditions of a delta of three major rivers, in a generally flat area facilitating transport. This was a basic condition for urban growth. The core questions were therefore – what at different times in the various regions, led to that extraordinary level of urbanisation on a European scale? Why and how did the successive ‘golden ages’ come to an end, and what remained in the previous core areas? Why did some regions remain peripheral? How do the various aspects interrelate – geographical conditions, social and political institutional arrangements, economic developments, and how do cultural phenomena fit into these patterns? This response is part of the discussion forum 'Four Golden Ages' (Wim Blockmans).
Waarom historici daarbij hun eigen vak niet uit het oog mogen verliezen
Authors: Devos Carl
Published: September 2015

Why Historians should also keep their own Field of Study in MindHistorians must pay more attention to the meaning of the logic of management or managerialism in politics. However, interdisciplinarity does not simply mean that subjects and methods of other disciplines can be copied into the science of history. Historians have an important unique selling proposition that should not be underestimated – the power to put novelty in perspective by historical insight. The techniques and methods of the science of history cannot be weakened simply in order to study topics that are popular or to participate in public discussions that are mainly inspired by other disciplines. This article is part of the forum 'Manager Politics'.
L.H. Remmerswaal, Een duurzame alliantie. Gilden en regenten in Zeeland, 1600-1800; Nico Slokker, Ruggengraat van de stad. De betekenis van gilden in Utrecht, 1528-1818
Authors: Van den Heuvel Danielle
Published: September 2015

L.H. Remmerswaal, Een duurzame alliantie. Gilden en regenten in Zeeland, 1600-1800;Nico Slokker, Ruggengraat van de stad. De betekenis van gilden in Utrecht, 1528-1818
Balance between City and Countryside in the Netherlands
Authors: Duijvendak Maarten
Published: September 2015

The Low Countries are seen as one of the few European regions in which a relatively large number of cities developed at an early date. Generally this urbanisation is understood to be a result of a process of commercialisation and specialisation, and in the view of some this urbanisation might have continued into modern industrial times. However in the Netherlands, as elsewhere, continuous urban growth was not general before the mid-nineteenth century. Why some cities experienced growth while others languished remains an interesting and relevant question. In this article some recent studies on urban decline in the Low Countries are evaluated. Why and where did this happen and what were the societal consequences of de-urbanisation? Three studies on Zeeland form an intriguing starting point for a discussion on decline in Dutch urban development that could be seen as a-typical, but is arguably part of the regional and temporal variety of the Dutch society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Worstelen met gender en de biografie: een themarecensie
Authors: Bosch Mineke
Published: September 2015

Wrestling with Gender and Biography: A Thematic ReviewIn her ‘very short introduction’ to biography of 2009, Hermione Lee notices that although much has been said and done about gender and biography, ‘the challenge remains how best to tell the stories of the increasing number of women in the public sphere [...]’. In this review essay Mineke Bosch tries to answer this question by analysing two recent biographies of professional women: the first minister of state in the Netherlands, Marga Klompé, by Gerard Mostert, and sociologist and politician Hilda Verwey-Jonker by Margit van der Steen. Comparing the two, Bosch states that Mostert repeats old truths and stereotypes about successful women in the public sphere with his conclusion that Klompé was a meddler and a fiercelydominant busybody, and that precisely these character traits made it possible for her to capitalise on her ambitions and become one of the boys. Margit van der Steen shows a more subtle understanding of gender as an analytical category. Sheshows how Hilda Verwey-Jonker wrestled with being a woman in a man’s world, changing her (gender) performance several times in parallel with her social and professional context. Both biographies, however, could have profited more fromrecent biographical theory in which the emphasis is more on ‘doing identities’ than ‘being one/self’.
Countering Integration Pessimists: New Differentiation for the Integration Debates
Authors: Kortmann Matthias
Published: September 2015

In this article Leo and Jan Lucassen’s analysis in Winnaars en verliezers [Winners and losers] of 500 years of immigration to the Netherlands is reviewed with regard to possible conclusions for the neighbouring country, Germany. Particularly since the recent migration history in both countries has been very similar, the authors’ disentanglement of complex migration politics and their differentiated assessment of integration processes in the Netherlands are also useful for the occasionally pessimistic German migration and integration debate. The authors show that prevailing negativist views on the integration of migrants can be countered successfully with more sophisticated analyses of the integration of different migrant groups into different societal realms. Furthermore, their examination of the – predominantly positive – integration history of earlier centuries helps to put current short-term problems into perspective. Nevertheless their analysis has some methodological shortcomings as sometimes (negative) quantitative results are contrasted with (positive) qualitative outcomes. Finally, policy conclusions would have been preferable, for example regarding the question of what can be learned from integration processes in previous centuries for integration problems of today. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Winnaars en verliezers' (Leo Lucassen and Jan Lucassen).
Maskerade van een Metgezel
Authors: Ebels-Hoving Bunna
Published: September 2015

A Companion’s MasqueradeWhat was it like, in the nineteen-fifties, to study history at a Dutch university,to be appointed there (on the sole merit of some years’ experience of grammar school teaching) to a vaguely defined part-time assistant post, and to make one’s way professionally in the fast-growing academic community of post-war Holland? Can the three decades long personal history of a middle-of-the-road historian/ medievalist throw light on an as yet unwritten aspect of the ‘university history’ that is currently attracting growing attention? The three specialists who have been invited to comment on this last question have answered – if I read them correctly – in the affirmative, and do so with remarkable insight and empathy. Even so, they have their doubts, criticisms, and/or afterthoughts. Professor Boone, the medievalist, focusing on the parts in which I discuss teaching methods, stresses his belief in the continuity of our common basic attitudes, praises the practicality of my playful dialogue on annotation, but misses an index that offers guidance through the diversity of subjects. Professor Dorsman, specialist on ‘university history’, values the insight he gets into the ‘lived experience’ of an academic worker in the medieval field, but stresses the fact that institutional history, although expressis verbis not the subject of the book, nevertheless played its unseen part – which has conditioned the book’s setting in ways that now render its main content ‘really’ past history. (Which means more interesting, less relevant?) Another ‘point of absence’ he observes is the author’s apparent (?) lack of personal irritation: and here he touches on the central concern of Professor Mineke Bosch, modernist and gender-specialist. Wording her arguments carefully, she analyses the author’s ambition to offer a history of Dutch academic history from the perspective of an average, non-specific insider, who presents her professional activity in the standard way of ‘making history’: find the subject, get to know the sources, make the story, get it accepted. Step by step she re-sets this ‘history as companion’ as an egodocument whose specific genesis was partly shaped by gender, a fact that long went unacknowledged by the writing ego (f.) of the historian in the case. This response is part of the discussion forum 'Geschiedenis als metgezel' (Bunna Ebels-Hoving).
Representing Distant Victims: The Emergence of an Ethical Movement in Dutch Colonial Politics, 1840-1880
Authors: Janse Maartje
Published: September 2015

This article attempts to add to our understanding of the relations between the Netherlands and its colonies in the little researched period of 1840-1880 when this relation became politicised. This was a direct result of a new notion of citizenship that developed after the 1848 constitution was implemented: many believed that citizens had now become accountable for government policies, that is, as far as they were acquainted with the effects these had abroad. Colonial issues were among the first for which citizens developed new protest forms and demanded that public opinion should be taken more seriously by the government. This means that not only what happened in the colonies influenced the shape and structure of Dutch politics in an important formative stage, but also that sentiments usually connected to the introduction of the Ethical Policy can be traced back much earlier than is often assumed. This article is part of the special issue 'A New Dutch Imperial History' and was nominated for the first Low Countries History Award in 2016 (for the best article in BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review over the years 2013-2014-2015).
A Belgian View of (the Debate on) ‘Dat nooit meer’ – ‘Never Again’
Authors: Aerts Koen
Published: September 2015

While the booming field of memory studies is characterised by a lack of uniform and consistent methodology, Dat nooit meer [Never Again] seems to reject any theoretical analysis whatsoever. The author, Chris van der Heijden, relies on the journalistic motto ‘show, don’t tell’. Such a vision provides both the strength and the weakness of the argument. On the one hand he manages to dig up a wealth of empirical information; on the other hand, the evidence of his thesis is solely dependent on the selection of sources by the author. This book therefore is not only a challenge for Dutch war historiography, but also indirectly an urgent call for self-reflection on the international research on collective memories. To what extent is its associative and anecdotal argument a relevant interpretation of how Dutch society remembered and rewrote the past World War II? To what extent can we develop an epistemologically justified and adequate methodology that allows the analysis of the genesis of a collective memory? This review is part of the discussion forum 'Dat nooit meer' (Chris van der Heijden).
Tale after Tale after Tale: The Lost Chance of a Great Project
Authors: Wielenga Friso
Published: September 2015

Chris van der Heijdens voluminous dissertation on the culture of memory in the Netherlands of the Second World War (Dat nooit meer [Never Again]) is disappointing on several counts: methodologically it does not meet the scientific standards, that should be expected from an academic historian and the book is more a compilation of stories than a coherent analysis. Moreover the author has a biased view on many aspects of his research theme. To mention only two examples, his view on the purge of Nazi collaborators is extremely simple and one-sided and this also applies to his description of the way the resistance against the Nazis was viewed after the war. Furthermore a fundamental problem is his moralistic tone in judging the way people looked back at the occupation period. Those who fit into his own view of the ‘grey past’ are treated approvingly, others are dispensed with in an unfair or ironical way. Van der Heijden does not see that black, white or grey, are not the right terms to describe the attitude of people during the war: the view has to be multicoloured. This also applies to the description of the culture of memory after 1945 and it’s just that colourfulness that is dramatically lacking in this book. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Dat nooit meer' (Chris van der Heijden).
Een traject van onderhandeling. Hygiënisme als wetenschap, Antwerpen 1880-1900
Authors: Vandendriessche Joris , Wils Kaat
Published: September 2015

A Path of Negotiation: Hygienism as Science, Antwerp 1880-1900This article aims to revise the image of the nineteenth-century hygienist physician as a social reformer and lobbyist by concentrating on the development of hygienism as a scientific discipline. To this end, it examines the participation of hygienist physicians in various medical commissions and scientific societies in late nineteenth-century Antwerp. This participation shows the negotiations between hygienist physicians and their medical colleagues on the appropriate forum for their studies and the validity of their methods. In these negotiations the label of an‘applied science’ proved an important tool in overcoming internal differences and providing a balance between a medical audience and an audience of politicians. Such balancing was necessary as the investments in public health by the Antwerp local government also provided the infrastructure for hygienist research. The development of hygienism as a scientific discipline therefore forms a case in which the boundaries of what constituted science were expanded.
'Het einde van de geesteswetenschappen 1.0' - 'The End of the Humanities 1.0'
Authors: Janssen Geert , Wils Kaat
Published: September 2015

On 14th December 2012 Rens Bod delivered his inaugural address as Professor of Computational and Digital Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. Under the ominous title Het einde van de geesteswetenschappen 1.0 [The End of the Humanities 1.0], the lecture provided a spirited agenda for the future of the arts and humanities. This Forum of the BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review seeks to facilitate a discussion about Rens Bod’s ideas from the perspective of current historical science in the Netherlands and Belgium. For this purpose the editors have asked three historians with expertise in digital humanities – Inger Leemans, Andreas Fickers and Marnix Beyen – to engage with Bod’s agenda from their respective cultural, political and media historical perspective. This article is part of the forum 'The End of the Humanities 1.0'.
The Scent of the Digital Archive: Dilemmas with Archive Digitisation
Authors: Jeurgens Charles
Published: September 2015

Archival infrastructure is changing at a rapid pace as a consequence of digitisation. The effort to digitise analogue collections seems to have benefits only for researchers. Still, only a fraction of analogue archive material is currently available in digital form. This article raises some of the problematic aspects about the practice of digitising analogue collections and their consequences for historical research. The dilemmas that confront archivists and historians are not easy to resolve: the digitisation of analogue collections is leading to two costly and co-existing infrastructures, while archival collections that are not digitised risk becoming marginalised. This article is part of the special issue 'Digital History'.
Less is More. Geschiedenis in het Rijksmuseum
Authors: Janssen Geert H.
Published: September 2015

Less is More: History at the RijksmuseumThe central idea behind the newly refurbished Rijksmuseum is to evoke ‘a sense of time, and a sense of beauty’. This prompts the question: what sense of time, and whose sense of beauty has the museum visualised? In what ways, moreover, can public institutions offer visitors a balanced ‘sense of the past’ when ‘beauty’ has served as the main criterion for selecting the objects on display? This essay addresses these questions by exploring the celebrated Dutch Golden Age collections of the Rijksmuseum.De nieuwe inrichting van het Rijksmuseum heeft als doelstelling ‘een besef van tijd op te roepen en een gevoel voor schoonheid’. Deze ambitie roept de vraag op welk besef van tijd en wiens gevoel van schoonheid worden gevisualiseerd in het museum. Op welke manieren kan een publieke instelling bovendien een evenwichtig ‘historisch besef’ oproepen wanneer ‘gevoel voor schoonheid’ de maatstaf is geweest voor wat wel en wat niet op zaal mag komen te hangen? In dit essay worden deze vragen besproken aan de hand van de veelgeroemde Gouden Eeuw-collecties van het Rijksmuseum.
1001 Vrouwen in perspectief. Traditie en verandering van het biografische woordenboek in Nederland en elders
Authors: Bosch Mineke
Published: September 2015

1001 Women in Perspective: Tradition and Change in the Biographical Dictionaries of the Netherlands and ElsewhereIn this article Mineke Bosch discusses the book 1001 Women from Dutch History, published in February 2013 and edited by Els Kloek, against the background of the tradition and recent change of national dictionaries of biography. Since the nineteenth century this historical genre has played a central role in processes of canonisation within national history. The gender order that is written into these biographical reference works is now considered out of date. Since the 1970s, therefore, corrections have been made. In the United States, for instance, a special dictionary of women’s biography appeared, the Notable American Women, as a ‘supplement’ to the standard Dictionary of American Biography. The British Dictionary of National Biography decided to add to and rewrite all the existing lemma’sbetween 1994 and 2004, to reappear as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This work represents a paradigm change as the basic question of inclusion is no longer ‘who survived history?’, but ‘who deserves a lemma in our contemporary vision of history?’ In this historical perspective Bosch answers such questions as what is the relation between 1001 Women and the Dutch Biographical Dictionary of the Netherlands. Was it the aim of the book to confront gendered processes of canonisation? Can the work be seen as ‘a contribution to’ (herstory) or a ‘rewriting of’ history? In dit artikel bespreekt Mineke Bosch het in februari 2013 onder redactie van Els Kloek uitgekomen 1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis in het perspectief van traditie en verandering van het biografisch woordenboek. Sinds de negentiende eeuw speelt dit genre van het historische standaardwerk een centrale rol in canoniseringsprocessen binnen de nationale geschiedschrijving. De genderorde die in deze biografische woordenboeken werd vervat, blijkt echter niet meer vandeze tijd. Sinds de jaren zeventig van de vorige eeuw zijn daar dan ook correcties op uitgevoerd. In Amerika verscheen bijvoorbeeld als aanvulling op de Dictionary of American Biography een biografisch woordenboek van vrouwen, de Notable American Women. De Britse Dictionary of National Biography daarentegen, besloot tot een aanvulling én algehele herschrijving van alle lemma’s, om opnieuw te verschijnen als Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. In dit werk is sprake vaneen paradigmawisseling omdat de basisvraag voor opname niet meer is wie in het verleden kwam bovendrijven, maar wie volgens hedendaagse normen van geschiedschrijving een lemma verdient. Tegen deze historische achtergrond beantwoordt Bosch vragen over hoe de relatie is tussen 1001 Vrouwen en het Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland. Was het de bedoeling om bestaande gegenderde canoniseringsprocessen tegen te gaan? Is het werk te beschouwen als ‘herstory’ of als een ‘herschrijving’ van de geschiedenis?
Mutations to the Polder Model: Critical Reflections on ‘Exceptionalism’ and Continuity in the Low Countries
Authors: De Munck Bert
Published: September 2015

In this review of the book Nederland en het poldermodel [The Netherlands and the Polder Model], the idea that the ‘polder model’ dates from the medieval principalities in the Low Countries is qualified. It is argued that the coupling of the plea for continuity and the focus on one area causes problems. First, the exact differences between the Netherlands and other regions with a strong civil society and tradition of negotiation and power sharing appear hard to pinpoint. The endeavours to do so are often artificial and ignore broader developments of which Dutch history is a part. Secondly, the continuity thesis is not made credible (especially with respect with the transition to the nineteenth century) and injustice is done to the contingency and unpredictability of historical developments. The result is a teleological narrative and a missed opportunity for a critical reflection on nationalistic ideas. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Nederland en het poldermodel' (Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden).Veranderingen in het poldermodel. Kritische reflecties op ‘exceptionalisme’ en continuïteit in de Lage LandenIn deze review van het boek Nederland en het poldermodel wordt de idee dat het poldermodel stamt uit de middeleeuwse vorstendommen in de Lage Landen kritisch tegen het licht gehouden. Er wordt geargumenteerd dat de koppeling van het pleidooi voor continuïteit aan de focus op één regio voor problemen zorgt. Enerzijds blijkt het heel erg moeilijk om de vinger te leggen op de precieze verschillen tussen (het huidige) Nederland en andere regio’s met een sterke civiele maatschappij en onderhandelingstraditie; dit gaat gepaard met kunstgrepen en het negeren van bredere ontwikkelingen waarvan de Nederlandse geschiedenis deel uitmaakt. Anderzijds wordt de continuïteit (voornamelijk in de overgang naar de negentiende eeuw) helemaal niet hard gemaakt en wordt onrecht gedaan aan de contingentie en onvoorspelbaarheid van historische ontwikkelingen. Het resultaat is een teleologisch beeld en een gemiste kans voor een kritische reflectie op nationalistische ideeën. Deze recensie maakt deel uit van het discussiedossier 'Nederland en het poldermodel' (Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden).
The Netherlands and the Polder Model: A Response
Authors: Prak Maarten , Van Zanden Jan Luiten
Published: September 2015

In response to the contributions by Davids-’t Hart, De Vries, and De Munck we emphasise that our book Nederland en het poldermodel [The Netherlands and the Polder Model] has been written for a general audience and therefore does not provide a detailed theoretical framework, nor a large number of graphs and tables. We have focused on the territory of the Netherlands, fully aware that this was not a (politically or economically) coherent territory before the sixteenth century, but any other choice would have been equally arbitrary. In the Middle Ages the region developed much like other, neighbouring parts of Western Europe, but whereas elsewhere the rise of centralised states and absolutist monarchs ended the development path based on bottom-up institutions, the successful Dutch Revolt and the formation of the decentralised Dutch Republic ensured much more continuity. We share the assessment of our critics that the transformation from this institutional structure via the mid-nineteenth century phase of ‘liberalisation’ into the new corporatism of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries is still incompletely understood. This review is part of the discussion forum 'Nederland en het poldermodel' (Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden). Nederland en het poldermodel. Een repliekIn reactie op de bijdragen van Davids-’t Hart, De Vries en De Munck benadrukken we dat het boek Nederland en het poldermodel geschreven is voor een breder publiek en daardoor niet het uitgewerkte theoretische kader noch een overdaad aan tabellen en grafieken bevat. We hebben ons daarbij gericht op het grondgebied van het huidige Nederland, hoewel dat tot in de zestiende eeuw geen duidelijke eenheid bezat – in economische noch in politieke zin. Tot ver in de middeleeuwen kende dit gebied een ontwikkelingsgang die sterke parallellen vertoonde met de rest van West-Europa. Maar daar waar elders de middeleeuwse erfenis van institutievorming van onderop met de opkomst van gecentraliseerde staten en absolutistische ambities afgesloten wordt, zet deze ontwikkelingslijn zich in de Republiek met haar gecentraliseerde staatsvorm voort. We delen het oordeel van onze critici dat de complexe overgang van deze vroegmoderne institutionele structuur naar het twintigste-eeuwse poldermodel, een overgang die gekenmerkt wordt door een fase van liberalisering en institutionele hervormingen (vanaf 1798 tot ongeveer 1870) gevolgd door een hernieuwde beweging van ‘bottom-up’ collectieve actie, nog meer duiding verdient. Deze repliek maakt deel uit van het discussiedossier 'Nederland en het poldermodel' (Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden).