the Netherlands
-
There is this funny riddle, it goes like “What’s Rembrandt’s first name?” Rembrandt of course is his first name, his last name is van Rijn. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn born 15 July 1606 Unlike the riddle, his life wasn’t funny. He suffered many tragedies in his life. He got married on June 22 1634 to…
-
On this day 400 years ago the first Dutch newspaper was published. Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. was the first Dutch newspaper and published weekly. The paper does not reveal the name of the printer or the publisher, but based on similar papers published later, it is thought that Joris Veseler was the printer and…
-
This is one of those men that makes me proud to be Dutch, and like me he has also a connection with Ireland. He was born in Hattem, a small town in the east of the Netherlands. His father was an officer in the Dutch Navy. Willem studied mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he…
-
A historical fact that is often forgotten is that the last German emperor did not die in Germany but in the Netherlands. In the town of Doorn on 4 June 1941, at the age of 82. The Nazis had already taken control of the Netherlands for more then a year at that stage. Wilhelm II lived…
-
Some people believe that when the Germans invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 the life of its Jewish population changed over night. This however was not the case. Like in other European countries the undermining and eventual eradication of Jewish life was a gradual process. Until September 1940 very little changed,It was only then when…
-
Elisabeth Appelboom and Philip Flesschedrager did what so many young people of their age did, they fell in love, got married and promised to stay together until death did them part. For most married couples it is a journey they enjoy for many years to come. But not for Elisabeth and Philip. because death did…
-
The battle of the Netherlands was really best described in biblical terms, it was a fight between David and Goliath. Valiantly the Dutch fought the Germans for 4 days, Although they were poorly equipped and badly organized they kept fighting and caused significant damage to the Germans. But on May 14,1940 when the Luftwaffe virtually…
-
May 10 1940 must have been one of the busiest and chaotic days in WWII.I won’t go to deep into the details because most of the events are well documented, however not everyone might know that these events happened on the same day. The invasion of the Benelux(Belgium,Netherlands, Luxembourg) On the 10th May, 1940, the…
-
As I sat doing research on the days before the Germans invaded the Netherlands, I came across a newspaper article about the murder of Gretha Melaard. Gretha Melaard was a 26-year-old student nurse who was killed on Friday, May 3rd, 1940. She had left Rotterdam that day at 8:30 pm to go to work in…
-
On 4 May 1940, the Vatican advised the Netherlands envoy to the Vatican that the Germans planned to invade France through the low countries. With the blessing of the Pope, the Vatican sent a coded radio message to its nuncios in Brussels and The Hague. The messages were intercepted by the Nazis On May 5…
History of Sorts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.