Today is remembrance day in the Netherlands. The country grinds to a halt at 8pm (local time) for two minutes while we commemorate the victims of the second world war, and those who fell for our freedom since...
read moreThe Plofsluis, or Thud Lock, over the Amsterdam Rhine Canal. The Dutch Water Line was created in the 17th century (the Dutch golden age) and maintained until 1940, to protect the populous (and wealthy) western part of the country. It was an inundation area, it could turn the western area into an easy to defend island. The Amsterdam Rhine Canal, started in the 1930s, would be a weak point in the defense line, as water would just flow away through the canal. The Plofsluis would be created to prevent that. It would be filled with a mixture of...
read moreRecently I shared a few photos I took in the village Leersum. During the second world war Leersum was the stage of a small battle where eleven Dutch soldiers lost their lives, and a couple of war memorials remind us of their offer. Another monument honors people from Leersum itself that gave their lifes during the...
read moreNear the Dutch town Overveen, at a beautiful spot in the dunes, is a small cemetery. The graves here are special: They belong to Dutch heroes who gave their lives for their country, as members of the resistance movement during the second world war. Enjoy my photo impression of this beautiful cemetery, and respect the great offer of the people buried...
read moreOn the Bosdrift cemetery in Hilversum is a simple cross with the text “Jacobus van Rees 1854-1928”. Jacob van Rees, as he is known, was histology professor at the university of Amsterdam. He is now largely forgotten, but in his time was a well-known abstainer and vegetarian, who opposed vivisection and smoking, and sympathized with socialism, humanism and anarchism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, there were many abstainers movements in The Netherlands, usually corresponding to religious and political groups...
read moreThe topic for next month’s Graveyard Rabbits carnival is Cause of death: This topic was submitted by Matt Hucke, who authors the blog, Graveyards of Illinois, and I think it’s going to be a great carnival. How did they die? Come on Rabbits, let’s count the ways. Here in The Netherlands, neither the death certificate nor the gravestone inscription are likely to give you the cause of death, and in many cases it is hard or impossible to find it out. I did find two inscriptions, though, that made the cause of death very clear....
read moreThis post is a follow-up to last week’s post Who is Private Riley?. You may want to read last week’s post first, if you have not done so yet. After my publication of Who is Private Riley?, Andrew Gill, author of Burnley in the Great War, kindly added a page about Private Joseph Riley to his website. It contains an obituary transcript from the Burnley Express & Advertiser, and a photo. Apparently Private Joseph Riley, 4429, of the 1st East Lancashire Regiment, was a PoW since 1915, released after the war, and died from...
read moreWhen I visited the Amersfoort catholic cemetery, this war grave from the first world war was an unexpected find. Private J. Riley, from the East Lancashire Regiment, died in 1919 – after the war – and was buried in Amersfoort. There are many war graves from the second world war (1939/40-1945) in The Netherlands, but very few from the first world war (1914-1918). The Netherlands were officially neutral, and there have been no battles on Dutch soil. Many English soldiers who were involved in the defense of Antwerp fled to Holland...
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