the Netherlands

  • For a small nation the Dutch have been involved in a great number of battles and wars, often against nation multiple the size of the Netherlands. Although the Dutch didn’t win all the battles there were quite a few where they were the victors On the 25th of April 1607, the Dutch defeated the Spanish…

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  • American-Dutch diplomacy

    On April 19, 1782, John Adams was received by the States-General and the Dutch Republic as they were the first country, together with Morocco and France, to recognize the United States as an independent government. John Adams then became the first U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and the house that he had purchased at Fluwelen…

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  • This blog will be based on facts and some presumptions, but the presumptions are more then likely correct. I was going over the history of the deported Jews from my birthplace Geleen, south east of the Netherlands. when I noticed the name of the Cohen family. There is not a lot I know or could…

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  • We all know the story of Anne Frank, well at least we think we do. But Anne Frank wasn’t only a girl who wrote a diary, she was also still a child and I think this is often forgotten. It’s probably because of her mature attitude but at the end of the day she was…

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  • Dear Sir, you don’t know it but I owe you so much,possibly my life. Often have I visited the cemetery where your final resting place is. I may have even stood at your grave, contemplating why you and your band of brothers that surround you,sacrificed their lives in a land that was not theirs. It…

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  • On this day in 1722—which was Easter Sunday—the little-known Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to visit Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. Jacob Roggeveen  was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but instead came across Easter Island (called Easter Island because he landed there on Easter Day). Jacob Roggeveen…

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  • “Only the good die young, all the evil seem to live forever” are lyrics from an Iron Maiden song. For many years—I thought this to be a true statement, as I saw so many evil men living long lives. However, luckily, I was wrong in that assumption. Sometimes, a good man does live a long…

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  • On this day  44 years ago, at Tenerife-North Airport (formerly Los Rodeos), two Boeing 747’s – one KLM, the other  Pan Am – crashed on a foggy runway. 583 people were killed in what remains the biggest air disaster in history. Neither of the planed were supposed to be there, they had both been diverted…

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  • The Dutch are known for their love of bicycles. For most Dutch people it is the first choice of means of transport. Needless to say, the bicycle played an important role in World War II. There is a long-running joke about the Germans giving back Dutch bikes. The origin came from the German occupiers demanding…

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  • At the moment there is a lot of talk how social media is used to distribute propaganda, but the widespread of propaganda is nothing new. The ‘social media’  during WWII was the radio. About 18 months after the Germans invaded the Netherlands they started broadcasting German language course programs. During World War II radio listening…

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