Netherlands

Dutch Villagers Find Hunt for Nazi Treasure Less and Less Charming With Passage of Time

The recent declassification of a map drawn by a German soldier in 1945 has brought treasure hunters to Ommeren. The 751 residents have mixed feelings. 

Dutch Government Announces Study of Slavery Apology Fund

While other European nations have made payments in atonement for massacres in their overseas colonial possessions, this initiative would be the first effort at reparations for participation in the transatlantic slave trade itself. 

How Amsterdam Recovered From a Deadly Outbreak — in 1665

Attracting migrants was the key to Amsterdam's economic and social recovery, according to a study of historical data by two Dutch economists. 

How Hanukkah Returned to Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall Decades After the Holocaust

The annual Hanukkah concert at the Royal Concert Hall in Amsterdam resumed in 2015 after a hiatus that began with Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Many Dutch Jews hope that the event will support unity in a community that is diverse in terms of observance and smaller in number than it was in 1946.

Dutch Protestant Church Admits Failing Jews in World War II

René de Reuver, speaking on behalf of the General Synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, said the church’s role began long before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.

Lessons from the 18th Century Dutch Republic

by Matthijs Tieleman

The history of the Dutch Republic demonstrates that polarization can gradually destroy a country from within and can easily be exploited by foreign actors. The embrace of political pluralism by every citizen is the key antidote to the rot of polarization.

‘A Journey That We Have To Join Together’: 2 Dutch Women Confront Slavery’s Legacy

Two Dutch women, one white and one Black, met through their shared ancestral connection to the slave trade in Suriname. They have produced an eight-part podcast to encourage the Dutch people to recognize the role slavery played in building the Netherlands. 

Tony Platt Reviews Simon Schama’s The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age

by Tony Platt

I’m encouraged that Schama thinks crime and punishment is a sufficiently important topic to bookend his 700-page tome.

The Netherlands’ Surprise New Best Seller: Hitler's ‘Mein Kampf’

A new annotated and critical edition of the manifesto is stirring controversy, with Dutch booksellers reluctant to even display ‘Mijn Strijd’.

Strike!!! Strike!!! Strike!!! On This Day in 1941 Dutch Workers Said No to the Nazi Persecution of Dutch Jews

by Peter Cole

It was the first and largest mass protest against the Nazis during World War II.

Appeals Court Finds Netherlands Partially Liable for Srebrenica Massacre

The ruling by the Hague Appeals Court upholds a lower court’s decision three years ago.

Remembering our Greatest Mission

by William Lambers

It was an operation over the Netherlands near the end of World War II. It was not bombs they were dropping — it was food.

Is ‘Black Pete’ Racist?

by John McWhorter

The Dutch holiday icon is widely decried as blackfaced racism.

A history of Amsterdam, the world's most liberal city

Russell Shorto's engaging history of Amsterdam hits all the highlights.

Replica of Peter the Great's Dutch House Planned for Moscow

The replica will be built by Dutch Army engineers.

Lawyers hint at possible recovery of stolen Dutch art

BRUSSELS — Paintings worth tens of millions of dollars that were stolen last October from an art museum in the Netherlands have not been burned, and a Romanian gang behind the theft wants to cut an unspecified deal with the authorities so the artwork can be returned, lawyers for the defendants said on Tuesday as they went on trial in Romania.“Our clients want to tell where the paintings are, but they want to make a deal,” one of the lawyers, Radu Catalin Dancu, told reporters in Bucharest after a judge ordered the trial adjourned until next month. “We cannot say anything more than that.”

Dutch fisherman catches Panzerfaust

If you want to go fishing in Germany, you had better watch what you put on your hook. It's a lesson that a Dutch tourist learned on Sunday when, instead of using bait, he decided to try using a magnet.His fresh catch was probably more than he bargained for. The fisherman reeled in a World War II-era Panzerfaust anti-tank shell in a shallow stream in Seifhennersdorf in the eastern state of Saxony....

Time Again for Repayable Taxes?

by Robert E. Wright

Denarius of Sabina Augusta, Roman Republic era. Credit: Dartmouth College.Today, legislators facing budget deficits must decide the degree to which to cut spending, increase taxes, or borrow. All three can have negative effects on the economy and legislators’ individual prospects for re-election. Gridlock has resulted on more than one occasion.Until a few centuries ago, governments regularly resorted to additional fiscal techniques. One was to pillage other countries. That does not work well anymore because most wealth today takes the form of flighty human capital, not easily appropriated physical stuff. Moreover, wars have grown too expensive and too destructive to make them paying propositions.

New Dutch queen daughter of junta minister

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Prince Willem-Alexander’s ascension to the Dutch throne in April promises to be a shining moment on the world stage for his wife, Maxima, and her home country of Argentina. But there will be a glaring absence at the ceremony.Queen Beatrix’s announcement this week that she’ll step aside and let her son become king raised new questions about the future queen’s father, Jorge Zorreguieta, one of the longest-serving civilian ministers in Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship.Maxima’s parents already missed out on their daughter’s 2002 wedding to avoid offending Dutch sensibilities about human rights violations by the South American junta. Anticipating more unpleasant questions, Maxima told the prime minister that her parents won’t attend her swearing-in as queen, either....

Queen Elizabeth II not expected to follow Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands into retirement

LONDON — One European queen has announced her retirement. Any chance Europe’s most famous queen — Elizabeth II of Britain — might join her?Not likely, experts say....Author Robert Lacey, who has written several books about the British monarchy, said Beatrix’s decision would likely firm up Elizabeth’s resolve.“It would reinforce her feeling that the Dutch don’t know what monarchy is about, and that she should go on forever,” he said. “The crown is a job for life in the British system.”...