Completed projects from 2018
De Kesslers. A family history in oil and steel.
by Jeroen Koch
The Kessler family produced the founders of two of the largest Dutch companies: Royal Dutch Shell and Hoogovens, now Tata Steel IJmuiden. In doing so, they were at the forefront of a new world built on and dependent on oil and steel. In the Dutch East Indies, the Kesslers hoped to get rich, but their plans for plantations and other ventures came to nothing and invariably ended in strife. This changed when August Kessler tapped the first petroleum for the Royal Dutch in Sumatra in 1892. After his early death in 1900, it was up to the now wealthy widow Margo Kessler-de Lange to raise their children, not in the East Indies, but in the Netherlands. Her sons developed into useful citizens and her daughters married promising husbands, such as leading pedagogue Philip Kohnstamm and physicist Aad Fokker, colleague of Einstein and Lorentz. The nouveaux riches established a veritable dynasty.
In De Kesslers, Dr Jeroen Koch tells the fascinating saga of three generations of Kessler. It is a story about Dutch bourgeois culture in Asia and Europe: about entrepreneurship and civilising mission, family life and education, art and sports, science and rule of law, but also about oil extraction and Western domination.
The research for this family history was made possible by a donation from Tata Steel IJmuiden and a grant from a named fund at the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund established by the Kessler-De Lange family. The book De Kesslers was presented to the members of this family on 5 October 2023 in the Utrecht Academy Building where the first copies were handed over to the two surviving grandchildren of August Kessler.
https://biografieportaal.nl/recensie/de-kesslers-de-geschiedenis-van-een-dynastie/
https://www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/europeanen-deden-alsof-de-wereld-van-hen-was/
https://www.uu.nl/publicatie/de-kesslers-een-familiegeschiedenis-in-olie-en-staal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pvZkfhxfyQ
Nobility and Knighthood in Utrecht
This study traces the long history of the Utrecht nobility, from the early Middle Ages to the present day. It starts with anonymous Frankish and Frisian nobles who left their traces in rich burial grounds and continues through to families that still manage to maintain the ancestral heritage today. Thecommon thread is always the line of descent, but sometimes it is broken off, through extinction or departure to other regions. Numerous families such as Van Goye, Van Zuylen, Van Hardenbroek, Van Reede, Van Tuyll van Serooskerken and Martens van Sevenhoven are followed in rise, flowering, decline or extinction. The nobility was mainly a man's world, but powerful women like Margaret Turnor, who led the rebuilding of Amerongen castle, or the critical writer Belle van Zuylen, are certainly not forgotten.
Dr Renger de Bruin (1956) is senior researcher in the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University. He has long been engaged in research on elites in the past, especially the nobility. His book was presented by the chairman of the Utrecht Knighthood to the Utrecht Commissioner of the King in Amerongen church in May 2023. Nobility and Knighthood in Utrecht received the prestigious Ithaka Prize in November that year.
Renger de Bruin wint sKBL Ithakaprijs voor Adel en Ridderschap in Utrecht
Renger de Bruin wint sKBL Ithakaprijs voor Adel en Ridderschap in Utrecht - Utrecht (nieuws.nl)
Adel en Ridderschap in Utrecht (skbl.nl)
HCC!genealogie - Ithakaprijs 2023 voor boek Adel en Ridderschap in Utrecht
About the book :
Adel en Ridderschap in Utrecht • WBOOKS
Adel en ridderschap in Utrecht - Publicatie - Universiteit Utrecht (uu.nl)
Unprecedented and Distingtive. The unknown history of the MIVD
The MIVD, the Military Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands, has regularly been in the Dutch news in recent years, for example in the referendum on the new Intelligence and Security Services Act in 2018 and in the foiled hacking operation at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. Less well known is the 100-year history that preceded it. Unprecedented and Distinctive reveals how the service and its predecessors have operated internationally since 1912, including in the Cold War with NATO on one side and the Warsaw Pact on the other, the peace and crisis management operations at the turn of the century, the fight against terrorism in the 21st century and the cyber threats of recent years.
This study also shows how the intelligence services of the Army, Air Force and Navy that formerly acted seperately, began to work together from the late 1980s. After a troubled start, the service rapidly professionalised and gained prestige, also foreign partner services. Bob de Graaff describes these developments on the basis of, among other things, the Venlo incident at the beginning of World War II, countering Russian espionage in the Netherlands, the hunt for war criminals in former Yugoslavia and intelligence support for Dutch troops in Afghanistan.
Ongekend en onderscheidend | Militaire Spectator.
https://carre.nederlandseofficierenvereniging.nl/carr-nr-1-2023/ongekend-en-onderscheidend
Het verborgen verleden van de MIVD | Clingendael Spectator
Knowledge Brokers. The history of Swets & Zeitlinger
by Bram Bouwens
At the beginning of this century, Swets & Zeitlinger was still a household name in the world of university libraries and scientific publications. What began in 1901 as a modest bookshop in Amsterdam's Vijzelstraat grew into a leading multinational scientific information company. However, the business successes of the company, long run by descendants of founder Adrianus Swets, ultimately proved no guarantee for the future. One hundred and thirteen years after its founding, the curtain fell on this company, which at its peak employed over 1,500 people around the world.
This study was commissioned by the Manutius Foundation, which represents the former owners of the family business. In this book, Bram Bouwens describes how the family business Swets & Zeitlinger conquered the world and how it finally perished due to the rapid rise of ICT and at the hands of private equity firms. His research provides an insight into the dynamic world of subscription agents and he vividly describes how Dutch trade travellers did business in China, Russia and the United States. The history of Swets & Zeitlinger is embedded in a broader social context, making it possible to explain both the success and the downfall of the company.
'Makelaars in kennis' was published by AUP in March 2022 and is available through the publisher and bookstores.
UU nieuws - Makelaars in kennis. De geschiedenis van Swets & Zeitlinger, 1901-2014
Collectief in Boeken
In 1871 Dutch publishers and booksellers collectively founded the Bestelhuis van den Nederlandschen Boekhandel. This initiative in the last 150 years grew into Centraal Boekhuis BV, or CB. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of CB in 2021, Marijke Huisman wrote a book that sheds light on developments in the Dutch book market and book trade. The book pays special attention to the relationship between publishers and booksellers. Both parties found each other in this collective and internationally unique solution for the distribution of books in all possible forms.
'Collectief in Boeken' was presented at an online anniversary celebration on 6 April 2021 and presented to King Willem Alexander who came to open CB's new warehouse. See:
https://www.cb.nl/nieuws/koninklijk
https://www.cb.nl/nieuws/koning-opent-nieuw-magazijn-van-jarig-cb
Hilversum in wartime
Dr Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe Künzel was commissioned by the Museum Hilversum to write a book about Hilversum during the German occupation. The research for Een stad op drift (A city adrift) was partly carried out by students who completed a research internship as part of their History degree programme. It is a comprehensive study of this community, the first to have an NSB (facist) mayor, where anti-Jewish measures were introduced earlier than in the rest of the Netherlands and where the headquarters of the German Wehrmacht were located from 1940. By means of diary excerpts, letters, and newspaper articles, the book provides an insight into the daily lives of Hilversum's residents.
Een stad op drift. Hilversum tijdens de bezetting (in Dutch) was published by Boom Uitgevers Amsterdam in May 2020.
- Podcast: 'Een nieuw perspectief' (in Dutch)
World traveler for the fatherland
The Dr. Hendrik Muller Vaderlandsch Fonds commissioned the writing of this biography of its founder and namesake. Dr. Dik van der Meulen wrote a lively portrait of this descendant of a Rotterdam trading family, who crossed the African wilderness at an early age. Muller's passion turned out to lie more with writing than with trade. Because of his compelling and personally tinted travel reports, he became a well-known Dutchman. As consul of the Orange Free State, Muller became involved in the fate of the South-African Boers in their struggle against the British. His support for their cause brought him to all corners of the world. He reported extensively on his many travels and thus became the chronicler of a disappearing world.
Dr. Hendrik Muller, Wereldreiziger voor het vaderland (1859-1941) (in Dutch) appeared in March 2020 at Uitgeverij Querido Amsterdam.
- Book review in De Groene Amsterdammer (in Dutch)
- Dr. Hendrik Muller on the website of dr. Dik van der Meulen (in Dutch)
IntelligenceLab
In collaboration with Boom Uitgevers Amsterdam, under the supervision of Prof. Bob de Graaff, a portal was developed for which students provided material as part of their study History of International Relations. This digital course consists of a lecture series and various e-learning modules, using the book Data en Dreiging (Data and Threat) written by Bob de Graaff as a handbook. This form of blended learning introduces the student to concepts such as the intelligence circle and counter-intelligence, but also to the ethics and future of intelligence.
- Website of the IntelligenceLab (in Dutch)
Pieter Baan Centre
In the book Ter Observatie opgenomen (Recorded for Observation), which was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, Timo Bolt, Jacomien Gijzeman and Joost Vijselaar give an overview of seventy years of research of suspects in this psychiatric observation clinic. The book shows how not only the research methods changed, but also the views on accountability in society and at the Ministry of Justice. A number of well-known cases are reviewed, such as those of the German SS man Kotälla, the common thief Gerrit de Stotteraar and Volkert van der G., who shot the politician Pim Fortuyn.
Ter Observatie opgenomen. Pieter Baan Centrum 1949 - 2019 (in Dutch), published by Boom Uitgevers Amsterdam in December 2019.
- Publication in a news report of the Netherlands Institute for Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (NIFP, in Dutch).
- Book review in Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie (in Dutch)
One hundred years KLM
In Welcome aboard, Dr. Bram Bouwens describes the history of the Dutch flagcarrier KLM of the past century on the basis of five themes. With the emphasis on developments in recent decades, the close bond between the airline and the Netherlands, the competition that led KLM to join Air France, the dizzying technological developments and the way in which KLM managed to retain both passengers and staff, are reviewed. The book, which also appeared in English, is larded with pictorial sections compiled by KLM.
Welcome aboard! 100 years of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was published by WBooks, Zwolle in September 2019 and is also published in English.
- Book review about Welcome aboard (in Dutch)
Driven by steel: from Hoogovens to Tata Steel, 1918-2018
How do you survive as a company in a global economy that is constantly changing? That is the question posed by the four historians from Utrecht, Bram Bouwens, Joost Dankers, Keetie Sluyterman and Jaap Verheul in their study of the iron and steel company in IJmuiden. Founded in 1918 as NV Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken, it is now part of the Indian multinational Tata Steel. This study describes how the company managed to hold its own in the international steel market over the past century. Its location on the North Sea was always regarded as an important competitive advantage.
This study also shows how, in addition to foreign technology, the company's own research also played a role in its impressive expansion. As a result of this growth, the company had a major impact on its surroundings. Tens of thousands of people found work there, but the company was also faced with the challenge of reducing its environmental impact while at the same time producing efficiently and profitably. After all, the company's shareholders and financiers also had to be kept satisfied to ensure continuity. Despite the many challenges, after a hundred years the steel company in IJmuiden is still one of the figureheads of Dutch industry.
Driven by steel. From Hoogovens to Tata Steel, 1918-2018, was published by Toth Bussum publishers in September 2018 and is also published in English.
- Driven by steel in a news item from industrieel-erfgoed.nl (in Dutch)
- Book review about Driven by steel
Whisky, weapons and opulence
In this biography of Daniël Wolf (1898-1943), Dr. Bram Bouwens and Dr. Herman Langeveld shed new light on the life of this notorious Jewish businessman. In the thirties he became wealthy, first in the timber trade and then with the sale of arms to the Spanish Republic, the rightful government that was besieged by Facists. Both activities aroused resistance: his competitors accused Wolf of corruption and with the supply of arms he went against the policy of non-intervention during the Spanish civil war.
Daniel Wolf was not only a controversial businessman, but was also committed to the fight against Nazism and the protection of the Jews. In 1937, he donated an enormous sum of money to two political organisations that fought the Dutch Nazi party NSB. Immediately after Kristallnacht in 1938, he launched a plan to provide a safe haven for German Jews. By a lucky coincidence Wolf managed to escape the grip of the Nazis. He died in 1943 in New York, separated from his wife and daughters, who ended up in Bergen-Belsen.
Whiskey, wapens en weelde. Daniël Wolf, ondernemer in crisis- en oorlogstijd (in Dutch), appeared at Boom Uitgevers Amsterdam in 2018. The first copy was presented to the Ambassador of Canada, Mrs. Sabine Eva Nölke, whose official residence is the former residence of Daniel Wolf.
- Book review on Whiskey, wapens en weelde (in Dutch)
Oranje in revolution and war
Following on the acclaimed biographies of the kings William I, II and II that appeared in 2013, Dr. Jeroen Koch describes in this study the history of the Orange Dynasty during the long nineteenth century. The time between the French Revolution and the First World War was dangerous, but also glorious for Europe's monarchs. They were murdered as tyrants, vilified as reactionaries and caged by constitutions. But they were also inundated with power, honoured as guardians of peace and applauded as protectors of the nation. After Napoleon's downfall, the representatives of the House of Orange rose from stadtholders to kings. But, like their relatives on other European thrones, they feared the fate of the French king Louis XVI, who died under the guillotine.
An English translation of this study, which was made possible with a grant from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, is in preparation and will be published by Reaktion Books in London.
Oranje in revolutie en oorlog. Een Europese geschiedenis, 1772-1890 (in Dutch) was published by Boom Uitgevers Amsterdam in the spring of 2018. The first copy was presented to the ambassadors of Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and Russia.
- Book review in De Groene Amsterdammer (in Dutch)
- Book review about Oranje in Revolution and War
An open nerve: the Netherlands, Israel and Palestine
While Israel counts as an ally, the Palestinian conflict has always been an open nerve for the Dutch government. In this study, made possible by the Leonhard-Woltjer Foundation, Dr. Peter Malcontent describes the history of this difficult relationship. From the 1950s onwards, partly out of guilt about the Holocaust, the Netherlands stood right behind Israel. That support was never taken for granted. For a long time, the fact that the population of the Dutch East Indies was largely Islamic kept the Netherlands from supporting the Zionists in their struggle for an independent state. Since the Israeli annexation of the Palestinian territories in 1967, criticism of Israel has grown again. However, this does not automatically mean that the Dutch have taken sides in the Palestinian cause. Exploring sources never used before, Peter Malcontent explains why this did not happen.
Een open zenuw: Nederland, Israël en Palestina (in Dutch) appeared in 2018 at Boom Publishers Amsterdam.
The book was discussed by NRC columnist Carolien Roelants during a meeting in Tivoli in which former prime minister Dries van Agt and former diplomat Robert Serry also took part. See:
- Book launch in Tivoli Vredenburg (in Dutch)
- Book review about an open nerve (in Dutch)