Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis - Volume 132, Issue 1, 2019

Abstract How a violent past necessitates self-exploration. The Indonesian war of decolonization (1945-1949) and the debate about war crimes on radio and television In 2005 the Dutch government for the first time denounced the position it held during the Indonesian war of decolonization (1945-1949). In Jakarta the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot, declared that in those years the Dutch had been ‘on the wrong side Read More

Abstract Political offenders or dishonorable criminals? The impact of the revolutions of 1848/9 on the rulings on infamy in Dutch and German penal law This article tries to explain why the notion of infamy was removed from the Dutch penal code of 1886, whereas this notion was still prominently defended in the German Reich Penal Code of 1871. The explanation is sought in the circulation of books containing reports of participant Read More

Abstract The impact of the fire in the A l’Innovation department store. Disasters and risk prevention in political-historical perspective This article examines how the fire in the Innovation department store in Brussels (1967) influenced the politics of risk management in Belgium. I rely on the frameworks of disaster and risk studies and a historical focus on temporality and actors. The Innovation fire was a decisive part of a lon Read More

Abstract Rising tensions in Spain’s memory wars: Catalan nationalist memories and the Salamanca papers (2001-2006) This contribution examines how conflicting memories of the Spanish civil war (1936-1939) and Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975) represent the Spanish nation. In concrete terms we examine the social and political debate surrounding the return of the Salamanca documents to Catalonia (2001-2006). This ca Read More

Abstract The ‘gentrification’ of Niccolò Machiavelli There is an ongoing debate on the nature and relevance of the political work of Niccolò Machiavelli. This debate has always been deeply influenced by the ideological spirit of the time. In our time Machiavelli is reinterpreted again. His ideas seem to be being cleaned up, sanitized from the unpleasant and objectionable aspects that for a long time were considered almos Read More