History of the Netherlands

In the summer of 2025, we were lucky enough to meet Rene Rosechild, who lives in Denver, Colorado, today, but whose family roots trace back via Canada to the Netherlands. Rene’s mother, Rosalie Nathans, was a Jewish Amsterdammer who was liberated from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. When she returned to Amsterdam, she discovered that she was the only member of her family who had survived the war. Rosalie’s mother, her father, her brother, her sister, her sister-in-law, her brother-in-law and her two young nephews had all been murdered or succumbed to disease or deprivation in the Nazi concentration camps. Having had her entire life taken away from her, Rosalie made the decision at the age of 20, to marry a Canadian soldier and emigrate to Canada. Eighty years later, a large contingent of Rosalie Nathans’ descendants, from places all over the world, came together in Amsterdam to install memorial stones in front of their family’s former home on the Nieuwe Hoogstraat. These memorial stones are called Stolpersteine in German, struikelstenen in Dutch, or stumbling stones in English. They are brass plaques, placed on the street in front of buildings, which pay testament to the fact that at that address lived a victim of Nazi persecution. Three of those who attended the ceremony were Rosalie Nathans’ daughter Rene, who we mentioned at the beginning and two of Rene’s nieces, Rosalie Wood and Gabrielle Richter. We spoke with Rene in our studio in Amsterdam and later with Rosalie and Gabrielle via zoom. Throughout this episode we will hear from them as we discuss Rosalie Nathans’ story and the family’s experience of getting the Stolpersteine installed outside the old family home in Amsterdam.  SHOW NOTES: ⁠https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/in-de-bonus-stumbling-over-reminders-of-the-holocaust-in-amsterdam PATREON: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands⁠ BLUESKY: ⁠https://historyofnl.bsky.social/ Music clips provided by Storyblocks: "Minimal Documentary Background Music" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/minimal-documentary-background-music-skxjrbbvvketzhdzl.html "Escaping Forever" by Michael Vignola https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/escaping-forever-hog3rptosk2xlgdd7.html "Different Universe" by Neil Cross https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/different-universe-hx1qabcnuvsk0wy3bbi.html "Documentary Corporate Marimba Background Music" by Media-Music Group https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/documentary-corporate-marimba-background-music-rivttg71dkk2oc0dt.html "Jazz Bass And Drums Solo" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/jazz-bass-and-drums-solo-bjj7ev19vkhjpmbps.html "Lofi Jazz Beat (Paris Caf Version)" by The Turquoise Moon https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/lofi-jazz-beat-sdve38movkgogrl4f.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the fifty-four episodes of this podcast so far, we have often found ourselves fixated on familiar phases of sphagnum, or ferocious fights in far flung foreign fields, but frequently we’ve failed to focus on the fortunes of the fierce and frisky - fabled to be free - Frisians. Folly! Fear not Frieslanders, for now it is your time to shine. In this episode, we are going to delve into Frisian Law and Frisian Freedom in the 15th century:  We will look at how they developed up until the end of the 15th century; examples of how Frisian Law impacted peoples’ lives; how local governing structures specific to Frisia changed in the 15th century and how in 1498 these new conditions allowed Frisian Freedom to finally be stamped out by the very Emperor who was supposed to uphold it. With thanks to Nicole Kaimorin, Dave Reimink, Dyanne Gavin, Robert de Rooy and Brendon Nelson-Weiss. SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-55-full-on-frisian-foray PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands BLUESKY: https://historyofnl.bsky.social/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this year we interviewed Andrea-Vicky Amankwaa-Birago, a German historian of Ghanaian descent. Hang on, I hear you say, isn’t this podcast about Dutch history? Well, yes, of course it is, so here is a tidy little link. Besides giving us a great insight into her life, having been born and raised in Europe as a member of the Ghanaian diaspora, Vicky’s current focus of study is the life of Kwasi Boachi, a prince of the Ashanti Empire who was born in 1827. The Ashanti empire covered most of what is today Ghana, as well as parts of Togo and the Ivory Coast. When Kwasi Boachi was 10 years old he, alongside his cousin Kwame Poku, was sent all the way from his home in West Africa to the Netherlands to be educated. This was a part of an arrangement made between Kwasi’s father, the Ashanti king Otumfuo Kwaku Dua I, and another king, William I, the King of the Netherlands. The Dutch had a need of soldiers in the colonies, primarily in what is now Indonesia where many had been lost in a recent war of independence waged by natives against the Dutch governance of the East Indies. West African fighters appealed to the Dutch king and a deal was struck on his behalf that would allow the Dutch voluntary recruitment of local Akan fighters, in exchange for guns. To firm the ties even more, the two young princes joined the Dutch embassy back to Europe. After their studies were complete, they were both supposed to return to their homelands, bringing the knowledge and experience they had gained. Kwame Poku returned. Kwasi Boachi, however, did not.  Instead, Boachi completed his exams in civil engineering at Delft Royal Academy in 1847 and was assigned to become a mining engineer. However he went to Freiburg in Germany to study and live until he was sent to the Dutch East Indies in 1850. Whilst working in the East Indies, Boachi was heavily discriminated against by his superiors to such an extent that he actually received compensation and a monthly allowance for what he suffered. He remained in Indonesia until his death in 1904 when he was aged 77. We spoke with Vicky when she was at an airport en route to Ghana. You’ll hear a few background airport noises and the sound quality was somewhat affected by dodgy internet, but Vicky’s enthusiasm and passion for her work more than make up for that. In our interview, she talks about Kwasi’s experience, especially as a black-noble living in 19th century Europe. We also discuss the African Diaspora and identity in Europe, how different nations utilise history and the idea of coming to terms with the past, and what she, personally, is out to achieve working as a historian in today’s world. Vicky's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/anton_wilhelm_amo_erbschaft/?hl=en Vicky's research (English): Building (b)ridges beyond the Portrait – Mapping Memories of Kwasi Boachi – Exit Frame! Vicky's research (German): https://voices.skd.museum/building-bridges-beyond-the-portrait/ You can find all the paintings referenced in this link. SHOW NOTES: PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands BLUESKY: https://historyofnl.bsky.social/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On June 12, 1672 the Dutch republic was attacked on all sides by France, England and the bishoprics of Cologne and Münster. Within a month, three of the seven provinces had been conquered and the people of Gelderland, Utrecht and Overijssel brutally felt the pinch as foreign soldiers looted, raided and plundered at will. Many fled westward, sailing across the Zuiderzee, where they found refuge in the Waterland region of Holland. In this episode we speak to historian Loek Zoon of Waterlands Archief whose recent work has shone a light on how the towns of Waterland reacted to the sudden surge of strangers, about the people who fled and those who helped them and how the whole event can inform us better as we similarly face a world in which high-level politics distills into dislocation and strife. Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit ⁠⁠www.the-low-countries.com⁠⁠. Our theme music is created by Samuel P K Smith. Music clips provided by Storyblocks: "Minimal Documentary Background Music" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk ⁠https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/minimal-documentary-background-music-skxjrbbvvketzhdzl.html "Documentary Corporate Marimba Background Music" by Media-Music Group ⁠https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/documentary-corporate-marimba-background-music-rivttg71dkk2oc0dt.html "Escaping Forever" by Michael Vignola https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/escaping-forever-hog3rptosk2xlgdd7.html "Jazz Bass And Drums Solo" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/jazz-bass-and-drums-solo-bjj7ev19vkhjpmbps.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We sit down with Elyzabeth Gorman, storyteller-in-chief of Badass Tours, to talk about LGBTQ+ history of the Netherlands. Quite the badass herself, Elyzabeth aims to communicate ‘hidden histories’ - stories of women, people of colour and members of LGBTQ+ communities whose lives and experiences are so often overlooked or even wilfully ignored in the mainstream telling of Dutch history. She does public speaking events at museums around the country and has made it her mission to communicate lesser known histories of the Netherlands, in English. Sounds like our kind of person! While there’s a range of areas that Elyzabeth covers in her work, for this episode we wanted to particularly focus on LGBTQ+ history, since we personally feel like this is an area which we have also neglected in our podcasting so far and which we could learn a lot more about ourselves. Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit ⁠www.the-low-countries.com⁠. Episode art photo by Dana Marin / Amsterdamian. Our theme music is created by Samuel P K Smith. Music clips provided by Storyblocks: "Minimal Documentary Background Music" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/minimal-documentary-background-music-skxjrbbvvketzhdzl.html "Documentary Corporate Marimba Background Music" by Media-Music Group https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/documentary-corporate-marimba-background-music-rivttg71dkk2oc0dt.html "Jazz Bass And Drums Solo" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/jazz-bass-and-drums-solo-bjj7ev19vkhjpmbps.html “Black Baugette” by Humans Win https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/black-baugette-hy78n0qm_klr27ky7.html "Escaping Forever" by Michael Vignola https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/escaping-forever-hog3rptosk2xlgdd7.html "Lofi Jazz Beat (Paris Caf Version)" by The Turquoise Moon https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/lofi-jazz-beat-sdve38movkgogrl4f.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices