On this day exactly 400 years ago – 22 March 1621 – a man fled from his imprisonment in Loevestein Castle. His name was Hugo de Groot or Hugo Grotius, one of the greatest legal scholars of all time. His escape became world famous: he hid in a book chest and was smuggled out of Read more…
From the moment I began to explore the history of her family, my grandmother Martha Jansen née Snoeren invariably said every time I discussed a namesake with her, “Oh, but that’s not a member of our family.” She would say the same over and over again, even though I was able to show her quite Read more…
On 27th January, people all over the world remember the day in 1945 when Russian troupes liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. In November 2005, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan proclaimed this day Holocaust Memorial Day. Yesterday, people in Amsterdam gathered in the town hall and then walked silently to a memorial in Wertheimpark. This Read more…