Mei Li Vos

Mei Li Vos (; born 31 March 1970) is a Dutch politician, former trade unionist and editorialist. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she was a member of the House of Representatives from 1 March 2007 to 17 June 2010 and again from 20 September 2012 until 23 March 2017. She has been a member of the Senate since 11 June 2019.
Early life.
Mei Li Vos was born on 31 March 1970 in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Vos comes from a family with five brothers. Her mother was Chinese Indonesian, established in the Dutch East Indies. During her youth her family lived in a Christian commune in Veldhoven. Between 1982 and 1988 she attended the vwo at the Christian Lyceum in Arnhem.
Academic career.
Between 1988 and 1989 she studied General Social Science at the University of Utrecht. Vos studied political science at the University of Amsterdam. Between 1994 and 2002 she worked as teacher and researcher at the political science department of the University of Amsterdam. In 1994-1995 she also worked part-time as manager of the Maarten Altena Ensemble. From 1995 and 2000 she worked on her thesis, which concerned the relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia. She specifically researched what the effect was of Indonesia refusing development cooperation of the Netherlands on cooperation in higher education, industry and the legal profession. Her thesis was titled "International cooperation between politics and practice: how Dutch Indonesian cooperation changed remarkably little after a diplomatic rupture".
Since 2000 she also worked part-time as a researcher at the think tank Infodrome, where she wrote a study on the information revolution and its effect on society. Based on her work here she published two books on the information society. In 2001 she was promoted there at the Political Science department. Between 2002 and 2004 she worked at United Knowledge, where she advised the government on the information society. Based on her work advising the Ministry of Economic Affairs she published a book on empowerment. Between 2004 and 2005 she worked at the Ministry of General Affairs and the government PR service. As such she coordinated the norms and values cabinet project.
Alternative for Trade Union.
In 2005 she was one of the founders of the Alternative for Trade Union (Alternatief voor Vakbond, AVV), a trade union specifically oriented at young people, part-time employed, freelancers, with temporary work and people on a flexible contract. The union was founded as an alternative for the FNV, which was, according to AVV-founders too concerned with the interest of elderly workers. In 2005 she became the union's chair. Additionally she got a column with the Vrij Nederland and the De Volkskrant. She also worked for the Ministry of Justice as a researcher on the relationship between migration, integration and the welfare state. In 2006 she published a book "the workers' paradise" on the future of the welfare state, employment and labour.
Political career.
In the 2006 elections Vos was placed on place 38 of the list of the PvdA. Both the conservative liberal VVD and the progressive liberal D66 had asked Vos to consider running for them. Because of the PvdA did not perform particularly well in the elections, Vos was not elected immediately. When several MPs became minister in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet Vos did get a seat. Vos was spokesperson on freelancer-, temporarily employed and consumer affairs. She sat on the commissions on finance, European Affairs, Economic Affairs, Social Affairs and the Environment. Vos also was member of the board of directors of the public radio broadcaster FunX. As an MP she wanted to give free lancers and the temporarily employed a voice in parliament and share the risks of a dynamic labour market more equally between free lancers, part-time employed and temporarily employed and people with a fixed contract. Vos considers herself to be a social liberal, while the PvdA is a social-democratic party.
Her term in the House ended on 23 March 2017.


Yauza (river)

The Yauza () is a river in Moscow and Mytishchi, Russia, a tributary of the Moskva. It originates in the Losiny Ostrov National Park northeast of Moscow, flows through Mytishchi, enters Moscow in the Medvedkovo District and flows through the city in an irregular, meandering, generally north-south direction. The Yauza joins the Moskva River in Tagansky District just west of Tagansky Hill, now marked by the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment tower. Valleys of the Yauza, from the MKAD beltway in the north to the Moscow-Yaroslavl railway west of Sokolniki Park, are protected as natural reserves.
The Yauza has been mentioned in Russian chronicles since 1156; the exact origin of the name is unknown. Moscow crossed its former natural eastern boundary (marked by the Yauza) in the beginning of the 16th century. The banks of the Yauza within the Garden Ring were densely urbanized by the middle of the 17th century; upstream valleys housed suburban residences of the House of Romanov, from Mikhail to Catherine II. Settlements along the Yauza (German Quarter, Lefortovo, Preobrazhenskoye) played a significant role in the history of Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Industrialization in the 19th and 20th centuries made the Yauza "the biggest gutter for waste in Moscow". In the 2000s the ecology improved, with the closing or conversion of old factories and cleanup efforts by the city government. In 2007 the Yauza waters were reclassified from "dirty" to "polluted" status, but in 2008 the trend reversed and pollution in the Yauza exceeded its 2006 levels. As of 2008, Yauza water passing the Moscow city boundary is rated as "polluted", and reaches a "very dirty" level at its inlet. Untreated surface runoff in the Central Administrative District remains the main source of pollution.
Geology.
The Yauza is arguably one of the most ancient European rivers. A proto-Yauza River first appeared in Permian-Triassic period, at which time it flowed to the east of its present riverbed, down today's Izmailovo Gully. After being periodically submerged during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, the region finally became land in the Tertiary period. Due to minor elevation changes, the Yauza diverted into its present course, with its former riverbed taken over by the present-day Serebryanka, which forms part of Yauza basin and flows in the westward direction opposite to the original Yauza.
Geography.
The Yauza is long, and has a drainage basin of . It consists of three parts:
The Yauza collects waters from many tributaries, most of them confined to underground sewers (e.g. Rachka, Rybenka and Khapilovka). The few that remain on the surface, at least partially, are (north to south):
The flow of the Yauza is regulated (particularly in winter) and reinforced with water from the Volga that reaches the city through the Moscow Canal. 80 million cubic meters of Volga water is sourced each year from the Khimki Reservoir in northwest Moscow and fed through underground pipes and an open channel to Golovinsky Ponds and the Likhoborka River (a tributary of the Yauza). The water level in the lower Yauza is regulated by the Pererva Dam () on the Moskva River, and by the locks () on the Yauza itself east of Kursky Rail Terminal. Raised water levels in the downtown portion of the Yauza basin led to long-term flooding and death of trees deep inside Losiny Ostrov.
Within the city of Moscow the Yauza is spanned by 21 road bridges, five railroad bridges, one dedicated tram bridge, two Moscow Metro bridges, numerous pedestrian bridges and the historical Rostokino Aqueduct. Spring floods due to low clearance under old bridges were common, with four in the 1950s alone (1951, 1952, 1955 and 1957); they were practically eliminated when these bridges were rebuilt to modern standards. The most recent flash flood on the Yauza occurred August 14, 2003, following a record-setting rainfall. The Yauza and its valleys are not particularly prone to the landslides and erosion common in the western and southern districts of Moscow. There were two minor landslides on the Yauza in 2008, compared with 40 on the Chertanovka River and 33 on the Gorodnya River.
There is no commercial or recreational shipping, although the river is accessible to small motor boats as far as Preobrazhenskaya Square ().
History.
Prehistory to the Time of Troubles.
The first mention of the Yauza (as "Auza") in Russian chronicles is directly connected to the foundation of Moscow: according to the chronicles, in 1156 Yury Dolgoruky "founded Moscow at the estuary of Neglinnaya above the Yauza" on the site owned by Stepan Kuchka and known through another chronicle since 1147. There is no generally accepted etymology for "Yauza" or "Auza". Similar toponyms ("Auzas", "Auzes", "Auzi") exist in modern Latvia; the Baltic origins of "Yauza" are generally accepted but have not been proven.
Medieval Moscow grew from its Kremlin primarily in a northeasterly direction, towards the Yauza. St. Andronik Monastery on the Yauza (established in 1357) formed the eastern defence arc, together with the Pokrovsky and Novospassky monasteries. The Yauza was used as a commercial waterway from Moscow to Vladimir until the 16th century; boats that reached the upper Yauza were dragged over land to the Klyazma River.
After the fire of 1494, Ivan III of Russia set up his country residence on the western bank of the Yauza in Vorontsovo (). During the same period potters, blacksmiths and other craftsmen deemed a fire hazard were evicted from Moscow proper onto the opposite, eastern bank of the Yauza (the present-day area of Taganka Square), thus beginning the industrialization of the river.
17th and 18th centuries.
Slobodas (settlements) of metalworkers' guilds expanded, and in the 17th century Taganka became the most densely populated, remote area of the city of Moscow. The lower Yauza was used by numerous watermills and public baths tending to the growing population.
Suburban valleys of the Yauza also flourished under the early Romanovs. Tsar Mikhail of Russia (reigned 1613-1645) established his country palace in Rubtsovo () and his former rival Prince Dmitry Pozharsky (1577-1642) lived further out, in Medvedkovo on the Yauza (). Alexis I of Russia (reigned 1645-1676) established a chain of country residencies in Preobrazhenskoye and Alekseevskoye () on the Yauza, and Izmaylovo Estate on its Serebryanka tributary. In 1653 Alexis yielded to the pressure of Orthodox clergy and expelled Catholics and Protestants from Moscow; they resettled in the German Quarter on the eastern bank of the Yauza, isolated from the city by the marshes around the Kokuy and Chechora streams.
Tsar Peter I (reigned 1682-1725) established his own headquarters in Preobrazhenskoye, and was a regular guest in the German Quarter. He neglected his father's palaces, instead concentrating on the military (Preobrazhensky Lifeguard regiment, established 1687) and supporting the industries spreading on both banks of the river. Bartolomeo Rastrelli erected "Annenhof", a summer residence for empress Anna of Russia, in Lefortovo in 1731. Annenhof burnt down in 1746 and was eventually replaced by Catherine's Palace (), designed by Giacomo Quarenghi; the palace now houses a military academy, and the former palace gardens have become a public park. Elizabeth of Russia built her country palace in Rubtsovo, on the site of Mikhail's former residence (), from 1735 to 1743.
The Old Believers, a persecuted religious minority, were allowed to practice their beliefs in two isolated communities east of the Yauza (Rogozhskoye Cemetery and Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery) beginning in the 1770s. Edinoverie, a moderate branch of Old Believers in communion with the official Orthodox Church, built a large church complex on a high eastern bank of Yauza in Lefortovo ().
In 1779 Catherine II authorized the construction of Moscow's first water-supply network. Water from underground aquifers in the upper Yauza basin flowed to downtown Moscow through underground pipes, surface canals and an aqueduct which crossed the Yauza valley in Rostokino. After numerous delays and setbacks, the system was commissioned in 1804 and operated into the 20th century; the city of Mytishchi continues to use Yauza aquifers.
Industrialization.
State-run factories established by Peter I on the Yauza provided the seed for a chain of private factories; by the end of the 18th century significant industrial clusters emerged in Lefortovo and former German Quarter (then practically devoid of Western-European influence). In 1846, pollution from these mills prompted Moscow governor Aleksey Shcherbatov to survey the banks of the Yauza and enforce administrative action against the offenders.
Industrialization of the Yauza outside of the Garden Ring limits increased with the advent of railroads; within the Ring, the banks of the Yauza were the only heavily industrialized area. A major hub of three railway stations emerged north from the Yauza in the third quarter of the 19th century. The dense rail network helped establish the eastern perimeter of Moscow (Basmanny, Lefortovo, Rogozhskoye and Sokolniki) as "the fastest growing and the most variegated area, holding dozens of textile and garment factories but also machinery enterprises and Moscow's one steel mill."
The railroad infrastructure in Krasnoselsky District, a steady source of municipal revenue, was threatened by regular floods on numerous tributaries of the Yauza. This risk, along with the drive to free up land for development, led to the first modern flood control measures in the Yauza basin. Red Pond (), connected to the Yauza by the Chechora River, was drained and converted to municipal rail yards in 1900–1911. During the same period, the Chechora was diverted into an underground sewer and the Yauza was spanned by new bridges.
Higher education along the Yauza goes back to the Imperial Technical College, established in 1830 and now known as Moscow State Technical University. The present college community around MSTU includes Moscow Power Engineering Institute, Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, the Military University in Lefortovo, Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography, the State University Of Land Use Planning, Moscow State Pedagogical University and others in Basmanny District.
20th century.
TsAGI (the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute), established in 1918 in the former German Quarter, () became a seed for one of two aircraft-industry clusters in Moscow. An aircraft-engine plant (the present-day NPO Salyut) was established on the opposite bank in 1926. Andrey Tupolev's design firm moved out of TsAGI into his own premises on the Yauza () in 1936; by 1945, the Tupolev staff reached 5,226. The postwar period added the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant in Sokolniki and the Lyulka rocket-design bureau (now NPO Saturn) in Babushkinsky District.
Joseph Stalin's 1935 Moscow Reconstruction Plan called for the creation of an inner ring of navigable waterways in northern Moscow. The proposed Northern Shipping Canal () connectingKhimki Reservoir with the Yauza would have made the latter navigable up to Sviblovo; the Yauza valley north from Sviblovo would have been flooded into a broad reservoir. A system of four sets of locks would gradually reduce the water level; the river itself was to be deepened and widened into a navigable canal with granite embankments and broad, riverside highways. Further industrialization of the Yauza was prohibited; the embankments of the Moskva and the Yauza were zoned for high-profile public and residential buildings.
The Northern Canal, initially planned for completion in 1939, was never built; instead, the water level in the Yauza was reinforced through a low-cost water pipe connecting the Khimki Reservoir and the Likhoborka River (right-side tributary of the Yauza). A single set of locks (instead of four), designed by Georgy Golts, was built in 1940. The river was widened and flanked with embankments according to plan, albeit at a slower pace.
The social and zoning policies made in 1935 were soon discarded; industrialization of the Yauza drainage basin continued unchecked through the Soviet period, particularly in the "reviled south-east quadrant" not obstructed by park and forest reserves. The territory immediately east and southeast of the Yauza became "the city's worst rust and smokestack belt". The "problem child of the first Five Year Plan" continued to grow until the economic collapse of early 1990s, and the river itself became "a reeking porridge of raw wastes from eighty-two manufacturing plants."
In the 1990s manufacturing along the Yauza declined, and by 2009 many former industrial sites had been converted or rebuilt into offices and housing.
Ecology.
The industrialization of the Soviet period polluted the Yauza drainage basin to a point where "an oil-soaked tributary of Yauza burst into flame in 1971"; the Yauza itself "was called a river only by force of habit... the biggest gutter for waste in Moscow" and caused a prominent surge in Moskva River pollution below the Yauza inlet. By 2005 this surge disappeared, although pollution levels in the lower Yauza remained 2–3 times higher than in the Moskva just below the Yauza inlet.
Untreated filthy surface runoff was (as of 2008) the main source of pollution; in the 1980s it contributed one to eight times more petrochemical waste than direct industrial waste. As of 2008, nearly 80% of the surface runoff in the Central Administrative District is still flushed into the Moskva and Yauza untreated. Until 2000 the river was used in winter as a dump for snow collected from the streets, adding chlorides, soot, rubbish and more oil into the mix. This practice is now banned; the city now employs a network of snow-melting dumps that feed polluted water into treatment facilities.
Pollution levels gradually decreased in the 1990s and 2000s, as riverside factories were closed and converted (or completely rebuilt) into offices and housing; by 2008, industry contributed less than 10% of the city's waste water. The historical Kristall distillery () in Lefortovo remains the last major industrial pollutant on the Yauza.
Between 2001 and 2007 the city drained the lower stretches of the Yauza, swept poisonous sediments off its bottom and plugged hundreds of illegal sewage outlets. The city commissioner's report for 2007 registered a significant decrease in pollution levels between 2006 and 2007 alone (a similar decrease was recorded in 2005), and reclassified Yauza water from "dirty" (pollution index of 4..6) to "polluted" (index just below 4), specifically mentioning high levels of iron and manganese.
In 2008, however, the trend reversed and pollution in the Yauza exceeded its 2006 levels. The petrochemical content in the Yauza was more than three times the national limit (2008: 0.93 mg/l vs. 0.3), suspended particles fivefold (2008: 56 mg/l vs. 10.25). Iron, manganese, formaldehyde, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) also exceeded the maximum allowed limits. The Yauza tributaries (except the Ichka River) are still rated as either "dirty" or "very dirty" (pollution index 6..10). The city (as of 2008) planned the rehabilitation of the Yauza tributaries Chermyanka and Likhoborka, which was then threatened by shortage of funds in the wake of the 2008 Russian financial crisis.
The upper, cleaner stretch of the Yauza is home to about 20 species of fish, predominantly burbot, perch, crucian carp and gobio, but the lower Yauza also has a population of hardy fish. Perch caught near the Yauza inlet in the 1990s contained over 250 times the maximum allowed amount of petrochemical substances. The abundance of crucian carp became public in April 2008, when an accidental release of hot water from a power plant killed over a hundred fish near the Rostokino Aqueduct. "Gobio albipinnatus", a fish that was believed to be extinct in the Moscow Oblast, was rediscovered in the Yauza and the Setun River in 1993.


Christian Osepins

Christian Osepins (1858–1887) was a Dutch-born United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
Biography.
Osepins was born "Christiaan Osephius" in Schiedam to Gerritje Ruigrok and Johannes Osephius. Osephius immigrated to the United States and joined the Navy from New York as Christian Osepins. By May 7, 1882, he was serving as a Seaman on the . On that day, while "Fortune" was at Hampton Roads, Virginia, he and another sailor, Ordinary Seaman Johannes Rouning, jumped overboard and rescued Gunner's Mate James Walters from drowning.
For this action, both Osepins and Rouning were awarded the Medal of Honor two and a half years later, on October 18, 1884. Osepins had not claimed his medal as of 1898, and the decoration remained in the possession of the Navy Department.
Osepins's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
For jumping overboard from the U.S. Tug "Fortune", 7 May 1882, at Hampton Roads, Va., and rescuing from drowning James Walters, gunner's mate. Osepns died only 3 years later and was buried in his hometown of Schiedam.


Frans Wijffels

Franciscus Cornelis Marie (Frans) Wijffels (10 April 1899, Stratum – 22 March 1968, Delft) was a Dutch politician of the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and its successor the Catholic People's Party (KVP).
Wijffels was Minister of Social Affairs in the third Gerbrandy cabinet and also a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate.


250t-class torpedo boat

The 250t class were high-seas torpedo boats built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1913 and 1916. A total of 27 boats were built by three shipbuilding companies, with the letter after the boat number indicating the manufacturer. There were small variations between manufacturers, mainly in the steam turbines used, and whether they had one or two funnels. The eight boats of the T-group, designated "74 T" – "81 T", were built by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, located at Trieste. The sixteen boats of the F-group, "82 F" – "97 F", were built by Ganz-Danubius at their shipyards at Fiume and Porto Re. The three M-group boats, "98 M" – "100 M", were manufactured by Cantiere Navale Triestino at Monfalcone.
All 27 boats saw service in World War I, undertaking anti-submarine operations in the Adriatic Sea, shore bombardment missions along its Italian coastline, and convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks. Although widely used during the war, the class suffered no losses, despite taking hits during surface engagements and damage from accidents. In 1917, one of the guns on each boat was placed on an anti-aircraft mount. Under the terms of the post-war Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the boats were transferred to various countries, including seven to Romania, six to Portugal, six to Greece, and eight to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). By 1940, thirteen boats of the class had been lost or scrapped, including all six Portuguese boats.
During World War II, the five remaining Greek boats were sunk by Axis aircraft during the German-led invasion of Greece in April 1941. One Romanian boat was lost during the war, while the two remaining Romanian boats performed escort tasks in the Black Sea before being taken over by the Soviet Navy, and serving in the Black Sea Fleet until the end of the war; they were finally stricken in late 1945.
The six surviving Yugoslav boats were captured by the Italians during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, and were operated by the "Regia Marina" in a coastal and second-line escort role. Immediately following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, one ex-Yugoslav boat was sunk by German aircraft, another was scuttled by its Italian crew, and two more fell back into Yugoslav hands a few months later. The remaining two were seized by the Germans. Of the two ex-Yugoslav boats taken over by the Germans, both were operated by Croatian crews or by the Navy of the Independent State of Croatia for some time before being recovered by the Germans. One was destroyed by Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boats in June 1944, and the other was sunk by Royal Air Force aircraft in 1945. The two surviving boats were commissioned by the Yugoslav Navy after the war, one continuing in service until the early 1960s.
Background.
In 1910, the Austria-Hungary Naval Technical Committee initiated the design and development of a coastal torpedo boat, specifying that it should be capable of sustaining for 10 hours. This specification was based on an expectation that in a future conflict, the Strait of Otranto, where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian Sea, would be blockaded by hostile forces. In such circumstances, there would be a need for a torpedo boat that could sail from the southern Adriatic Austro-Hungarian Navy base at Cattaro to the Strait during darkness, locate and attack blockading ships, and return to port before morning. Steam turbine power was selected for propulsion, as diesels with the necessary power were not available, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy did not have the practical experience to run turbo-electric boats.
Description and construction.
Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) of Trieste was selected for the contract to build eight vessels, ahead of one other tenderer. Despite the specifications of the contract being very close to the requirements for the coastal torpedo boat, the STT boats were classified as sea-going. The STT boats used Parsons turbines driving two propeller shafts. Another tender was requested for four more boats, but when Ganz-Danubius reduced their price by ten percent, a total of sixteen boats were ordered from them. These boats were powered by AEG-Curtiss turbines, and had two funnels rather than the single funnel of the STT boats. The third contract went to Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT), who used Melms-Pfenniger turbines, and their boats also had two funnels. The boats of all three groups used steam generated by two Yarrow water-tube boilers, one of which burned fuel oil and the other coal.
When completed, all 27 boats were armed with two Škoda L/30 guns, and four torpedo tubes. Each vessel could carry 10–12 naval mines.
T-group.
The T-group were built by STT at the Port of Trieste between April 1913 and December 1914. They had a waterline length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . While their designed displacement was , they displaced about fully loaded. The crew consisted of 39 officers and enlisted men. Their Parsons turbines were rated at with a maximum output of and the boats were designed to reach a top speed of . They carried of coal and of fuel oil, which gave them a range of at .
The T-group boats were originally to be armed with three L/30 guns, and three torpedo tubes, but this was changed to two guns and four torpedo tubes before the first boat was completed, to standardise the armament with the following F-group. In 1914, one machine gun was added.
When "74 T"'s turbines were initially installed, the problems with them were so significant that all her power and propulsion machinery had to be rebuilt. She was launched for a second time on 26 June 1914.
F-group.
The F-group were built by Ganz & Danubius at Fiume and nearby Porto Re between October 1913 and December 1916. They had a waterline length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . While their designed displacement was , they displaced about fully loaded. The crew consisted of 38 officers and enlisted men. Their AEG-Curtiss turbines were rated at with a maximum output of , and the boats were designed to reach a top speed of . During trials, "93 F" produced , and reached a top speed of . They carried of coal and of fuel oil, which gave them a range of at .
When Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915, five incomplete F-group boats were towed to be completed in safety. "82 F", "83 F" and "84 F" were taken from Porto Re to Pola, and "90 F" and "91 F" were taken to Novigrad. This resulted in delays to the completion of these boats.
M-group.
The M-group were built by CNT at Monfalcone between March 1914 and March 1916. They had a waterline length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . Their designed displacement was , and they displaced about fully loaded. The crew consisted of 38 officers and enlisted men. Their Melms-Pfenniger turbines were rated at with a maximum output of , and the boats were designed to reach a top speed of . They carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range of at .
Service history.
World War I.
1914–1915.
At the outbreak of World War I, "74 T" – "77 T" comprised the 1st Torpedo Group of the 3rd Torpedo Craft Division of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Torpedo Craft Flotilla. All 27 boats saw service, performing convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations, and shore bombardment missions. They also conducted patrols and supported seaplane raids against the Italian coast. Due to inadequate funding, the 250t class were essentially coastal vessels, despite the original intention that they would be used for "high seas" operations. On 24 May 1915, several 250t-class boats were involved in the shelling of various Italian shore-based targets known as the Bombardment of Ancona. "74 T" – "77 T" were part of the operation against Ancona, and "78 T" – "81 T" were involved in the shelling of Porto Corsini near Ravenna. In the latter action, an Italian shore battery returned fire, hitting the light cruiser and damaging "80 T". On 23 July, "74 T" and "78 T" participated in a shore bombardment and landing operation led by the scout cruiser against San Benedetto del Tronto, Ortona and Termoli on the central Adriatic coast of Italy. In late November 1915, the Austro-Hungarian fleet deployed a force from its main fleet base at Pola to Cattaro in the southern Adriatic; this force included six of the T-group torpedo boats. This force was tasked to maintain a permanent patrol of the Albanian coastline and interdict any troop transports crossing from Italy.
1916.
On 3 February 1916, "83 F", "87 F" and "88 F" were involved in another shore bombardment operation against Ortona and San Vito Chietino, this time led by the armoured cruiser . Three days later, the scout cruiser , "74 T", "78 T", "80 T", "83 F", "87 F" and "88 F" were intercepted by the British light cruiser and French destroyer north of Durazzo in Albania, during which the only damage was caused by a collision between "74 T" and "83 F". On 3 May, "76 T", "92 F", "93 F" and "98 M" – "100 M" were accompanying four destroyers when they were involved in a surface action off Porto Corsini against an Italian force led by the flotilla leaders "Cesare Rossarol" and "Guglielmo Pepe". On this occasion the Austro-Hungarian force retreated behind a minefield with no damage to the torpedo boats, and only splinter damage to the . On 24 May, an Austro-Hungarian force that included "75 T", "89 F", "92 F", "98 M" – "100 M" and four destroyers was involved in a brief surface action with two Italian torpedo boats off Chioggia in the northern Adriatic. During the action, "75 T" was hit. On the night of 31 May – 1 June 1916, the s and , accompanied by "77 T", "79 T" and "81 T", raided the Otranto Barrage, the Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto. "Orjen" sank one drifter, but once the alarm had been raised, the Austro-Hungarian force withdrew.
On 9 July, "Novara" led a force which included "87 F" and two s in another night raid on the Otranto Barrage which resulted in the sinking of two drifters. On 2 August, the "Huszár"-class destroyers and were returning from a shore bombardment of Molfetta on the southern Adriatic coast of Italy when they were engaged by an Allied force which included the and the British cruiser . The cruiser , "80 T" and "85 F" were sent to assist the two destroyers, but action was broken off before the opposing cruisers got within range. Nine days later, "91 F", "94 F" and "98 M" were chased and engaged by Italian torpedo boats off Pola, resulting in splinter damage to one of the Italian boats. On 4 November, three Italian destroyers and three torpedo boats were involved in a brief encounter in the northern Adriatic with two Austro-Hungarian destroyers accompanied by "83 F", "87 F" and "88 F". The following day, the same three torpedo boats conducted a shore bombardment of Sant'Elpidio a Mare.
1917.
During 1917, one of the guns on each boat was placed on an anti-aircraft mount. On 21 April, four Austro-Hungarian destroyers, accompanied by "84 F", "92 F", "94 F" and "100 M", conducted a night raid on the Otranto Barrage, sinking one drifter. On 11 May, the British submarine stalked "78 T" off Pola, firing two torpedoes at her. The British captain had kept his submarine's periscope extended too far and for too long, and the tell-tale "feather" alerted the crew of "78 T", allowing her to avoid the incoming torpedoes. That night, the destroyer "Csikós", accompanied by "78 T", "93 F" and "96 F", were pursued in the northern Adriatic by an Italian force of five destroyers, but were able to retire to safety behind a minefield. On 14–15 May 1917, several 250t-class boats were part of the support forces for a major raid on the Otranto Barrage. When the raiding force departed, torpedo boats and aircraft secured the approaches to the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro. Once the raiding force had departed for the barrage, "Sankt Georg", a destroyer, and "84 F", "88 F", "99 M" and "100 M" were to be prepared to sortie out to support the raiders on their return voyage. The old coastal defence ship and "86 F", "91 F" and "95 F" were also available at Cattaro if needed. Although the raid was a success, sinking 14 drifters, the raiding force was then engaged by Allied ships in the Battle of the Otranto Straits. Both support groups sailed to meet the returning Austro-Hungarian force, including the heavily damaged "Novara", which was under tow. On marrying-up with the raiding force, the torpedo boats fanned out to screen the larger warships, protecting them as they returned to port.
On 3 June, the destroyers "Wildfang" and "Csikós", along with "93 F" and "96 F", briefly encountered three Italian MAS boats off the mouth of the Tagliamento river in the far north of the Adriatic. On 23 September, "77 T" and "78 T" were laying a minefield off Grado in the northern Adriatic when they had a brief encounter with an Italian MAS boat. The following night, "94 F" and three other torpedo boats again had a short and inconclusive engagement with Italian torpedo boats in the northern Adriatic. On 29 September, "90 F", "94 F" and "98 M" were accompanying a squadron of four destroyers supporting an air attack on the Italian airfield at Ferrara by flying boats. After destroying an Italian airship, the squadron withdrew at high speed in the darkness, but was intercepted by an Italian squadron of eight destroyers that had been sent to support an Italian air raid on Pola. In the resultant 45 minute chase towards Parenzo, two Italian destroyers and three Austro-Hungarian destroyers were damaged, and "94 F" was hit by splinters. As the squadron retreated through the minefields off Parenzo, "98 M" was also hit by Italian fire, resulting in one casualty.
On 14 November, "84 F", "92 F", "94 M", "99 M" and "100 M" encountered four Italian destroyers off the mouth of the Piave, but the torpedo boats were again able to elude their pursuers by sailing behind a minefield. Two days later, the coastal defence ships and "Budapest" sailed to engage a Italian shore battery at Cortellazzo near the mouth of the Piave, with an escort that included "84 F", "92 F", "94 F", "98 M" – "100 M" and some minesweepers. Both "Wien" and "Budapest" were hit, but none of the torpedo boats suffered any damage. After an Italian force of seven destroyers and three MAS boats appeared, the bombarding force withdrew. On 28 November, 250t-class boats were involved in two shore bombardment missions. In the first mission, "79 T", "86 F" and "90 F" supported the bombardment of Senigallia by three destroyers, before they were joined by "78 T", "82 F", "87 F", "89 F" and "95 F" and another three destroyers for the bombardment of Porto Corsini, Marotta and Cesenatico. On 19 December, a large Austro-Hungarian force engaged the Italian shore battery at Cortellazzo. The force consisted of the pre-dreadnought battleship , the light cruiser , "Budapest", six destroyers, ten torpedo boats including "84 F", "92 F", "94 F" and "98 M" – "100 M", and ten minesweepers. None of the ships of the bombarding force suffered damage during the mission.
1918.
Elements of the Austro-Hungarian fleet mutinied in Cattaro in February 1918, and in May, a plot was discovered to take over "80 T" at Pola. The motive appeared to be nationalism. Two of the ringleaders, a Czech and a Dalmatian Croat, were tried, convicted and executed by firing squad. On 13 May, the destroyer , "84 F" and "98 M" were at Durazzo when two Italian MAS boats forced the harbour, sinking one Austro-Hungarian freighter. On 10 June, "76 T""79 T", "81 T" and "87 F" were part of the escort force that failed to protect the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought from the Italian MAS boats that sank her. During that action, "76 T" fired at the Italian boats, but did not score a hit. On 1 July, the destroyers "Balaton" and "Csikós", along with "83 F" and "88 F", were chased offshore from Caorle by seven Italian destroyers. All four Austro-Hungarian ships were hit, with "83 F" hit three times, and "88 F" struck once. One of the Italian destroyers was hit three times, and another was slightly damaged by splinters. On 6 September, "86 F" and two other torpedo boats were engaged by three Italian destroyers in the Gulf of Drin. "86 F" was hit, and the Austro-Hungarian force withdrew. On 2 October, "87 F" was at Durazzo when the port was bombarded by a multinational Allied naval force. She escaped with minor damage, in what was the last major action involving the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Post-World War I transfers.
Under the provisions of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, all Austro-Hungarian warships were surrendered to the Allies. The 250t-class torpedo boats were distributed among Romania, Portugal, Greece, and the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), as follows:
World War II.
By 1940, thirteen boats of the class had been lost or scrapped, including all six Portuguese boats. At the time of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Yugoslav boats "T1" and "T3" were assigned to the Southern Sector of Coastal Defence Command based at the Bay of Kotor, along with several minesweepers and other craft. "T5"–"T8" comprised the 3rd Torpedo Division located at Šibenik. On 8 April, the four boats of the 3rd Torpedo Division, along with other vessels, were tasked to support an attack on the Italian enclave of Zadar on the Dalmatia coast. They were subjected to three Italian air attacks and, after the last one, sailed from the area of Zaton into Lake Prokljan, where they remained until 11 April. On 12 April, the 3rd Torpedo Division arrived at Milna on the island of Brač, and refused to follow orders to sail to the Bay of Kotor. All six Yugoslav boats were then captured by the Italians.
The five surviving Greek boats were all sunk by aircraft during the German invasion of Greece, also in April 1941. The first was "Proussa", which was sunk off Corfu on 4 April by Italian Junkers Ju 87 "Picchiatellos" of the 239th Squadron, 97th Dive Bomber Group. Later, "Kios" was sunk off Athens on 22 April, "Kyzikos" at Salamis on 24 April, "Pergamos" off Salamis on 25 April, and "Kydoniai" south of the Peloponnese peninsula on the following day, all by German aircraft.
The three Romanian boats were initially deployed against the Soviet Navy Black Sea Fleet following the launch of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. "Năluca" took part in the sinking of one Soviet submarine near Mangalia on 9 July 1941, but was herself sunk by Soviet aircraft at Constanța on 20 August 1944. "Sborul" and "Smeul" survived World War II, having been transferred to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet in late August 1944 after Romania changed sides and joined the Allies, serving as "Musson" and "Toros" respectively.
The Yugoslav boats served in a coastal and second-line escort role with the Royal Italian Navy () in the Adriatic under their Yugoslav designations, and were fitted with two L/30 anti-aircraft guns in place of their 66 mm guns, but no other significant alterations were made to them. After the Italians capitulated in September 1943, they transferred "T1" back to the KJRM-in-exile in December of that year. "T3" was seized by the Germans at Rijeka on 16 September 1943 and was renamed "TA48". She was commissioned on 15 August 1944, and was used for patrol and escort work in the northern Adriatic. The Germans added to her armament, fitting her with two single anti-aircraft guns in addition to the guns fitted by the Italians, and removing two of her torpedo tubes. There are two versions of how "TA48" was employed. The first version indicates that she was crewed exclusively by Croatian officers and sailors, but remained under German control, and the second states that she was handed over to the Navy of the Independent State of Croatia, but was repossessed by the Germans on 14 December 1944 because they considered the Croatians unreliable. Her complement was also increased to 52 during her German-Croatian service. She was sunk in the port of Trieste by Allied aircraft on 20 February 1945.
"T5" was also returned to the KJRM-in-exile in December 1943. "T6" was scuttled by the Italians north of Rimini on 11 September as she had insufficient fuel on board to reach an Allied port. Once under German control, "T7" was also handed over to the Navy of the Independent State of Croatia, and served under her Yugoslav designation. Her crew came under the influence of Yugoslav Partisan propaganda, and were preparing to mutiny when the Germans intervened. On 24 June 1944, she and the S-boats "S 154" and "S 157" of the 7th S-Boat Flotilla were sailing between Šibenik and Rijeka, protecting German sea supply routes along the Adriatic, when they were attacked by the Royal Navy Fairmile D motor torpedo boats "MTB 659", "MTB 662" and "MTB 670" near the island of Kukuljari, south of Murter Island. The MTBs fired two torpedoes at "T7", but missed, so they closed and engaged her with their guns, setting her ablaze. She was beached, and 21 crew were rescued by the MTBs. The British crews later examined the wreck, capturing five more crew, then destroyed her with demolition charges. "T8" was sunk north-west of Dubrovnik by German aircraft while evacuating Italian troops from Dalmatia on 10 or 11 September 1943.
Post-World War II.
Only four of the twenty-seven 250t-class torpedo boats survived World War II, two in Yugoslav service and two in Soviet service. "T1" was commissioned by the Yugoslav Navy after the war as "Golešnica". She was re-armed with two guns on single mounts and four guns, and her torpedo tubes were removed. She continued in Yugoslav service under that name until October 1959. "T5" was also commissioned by the Yugoslav Navy after the war, and renamed "Cer". She was fitted with two guns on single mounts and one gun, and her torpedo tubes were also removed. She served until 1962, when she was broken up. "Musson" and "Toros" were returned to Romania in October 1945, and stricken the following month.


Yuri Bulgakov

Duke Yuri Mikhailovich Bulgakov-Golitsyn () was a governor of Pskov province and Russian ambassador to Hungary in the 16th century. Bulgakov came from a princely family which had roots in Ingria, eastern Finland, and Pskov region. He died in Pskov.
Career.
He was governor (or viceroy) of two important provinces: Pskov and Novgorod. In 1550 he was ambassador to Hungary. According to documents contemporary with him, he was not known with the byname Golitsin but Bulgakov (from Kovalenko) and it was his sons who were the first generation to use byname Golitsin (according to Ikonnikov). To use the name Golitsin as his name is anachronistic.
Ivan IV wanted to underline that he held a more exalted position as sovereign than the parvenu king Gustav of Sweden. So, he forced Gustav to have contact with his governor of the border province of Pskov, and not directly with the central government in Moscow. Swedish diplomats were not agreeable to that and objected. Ivan mentioned that governor Yuri Bulgakov was directly descended from kings of Lithuania; thus (although not himself a king) Bulgakov was a high enough negotiation counterpart with Gustav, who was himself not son of kings but an upstart to his throne (Kovalenko).
References.
Ikonnikov, Nicolas F


Ferd Crone

Drs. Ferdinandus Johannes Maria Crone (born 19 July 1954) is a Dutch politician. He was born in Dordrecht in 1954. On 15 November 2007 he became mayor of Leeuwarden. He remained mayor until the 26th of August 2019 when he was replaced by Sybrand Buma. As of February 2020 he is a member of the First Chamber of the States General.
He was made a knight of the Order of Orange Nassau on 15 November 2007.


Laurens Symons

Laurens Symons (born 28 August 2001) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a forward for the reserve team of K.V. Mechelen.
Club career.
On 5 February 2018, Symons signed his first professional contract with Lokeren, having joined their youth academy in 2015. Symons made his professional debut for Lokeren in a 2–1 Belgian First Division A loss to Waasland-Beveren on 22 December 2018.
On 29 January 2020, Symons moved to K.V. Mechelen on a deal until June 2022 with an option for one further year. 18-year old Symons was registered for the clubs reserve team.


Maximilien Polak

Maximilien Polak (born December 5, 1930 in Leiden) is a former judge and politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. Dutch-born and raised, Polak arrived in Canada in 1952, where he attended the Université de Montréal, earning a degree in law in 1958.
Polak served as a municipal court judge in Côte Saint-Luc from 1969 to 1979.
In 1981, Polak ventured into politics, and was elected to the Quebec National Assembly as a Liberal, representing the district of Sainte-Anne. He was re-elected in 1985, and served as the deputy whip. In 1989, he chose not to run again, and instead became a judge of Quebec Court. He served as a judge from 1991 to 2000, at which point he retired; however, he served as an "ad hoc" judge from 2001 to 2005.
Polak's son, Michael, also a lawyer, serves as the Honorary Consul General of the Netherlands in Montreal.


Saadia Himi

Saadia Himi (born February 8, 1984 in Nijmegen) is a model and a beauty queen from the Netherlands. Himi won the Miss Netherlands Earth 2004 beauty pageant and went on to represent the Netherlands in the Miss Earth 2004 pageant held in Quezon City, Philippines.


Ella van Heemstra

Baroness Ella van Heemstra, (12 June 190026 August 1984) was a Dutch-British aristocrat and the mother of actress Audrey Hepburn. After her marriage to Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston, she became a British citizen.
Biography.
Ella van Heemstra was a Dutch aristocrat and the third of five daughters of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and served as Royal Governor of Suriname twice between 1921 and 1928. Ella's mother was Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness (1873–1939), who was a granddaughter of jurist Count Dirk van Hogendorp. She spent much of her childhood at Huis Doorn.
Personal life.
Van Heemstra was married and divorced twice, and had three children.
Aged 19, Van Heemstra married "Jonkheer" Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford (1894–1955). They divorced in 1925. Van Heemstra had two sons from this marriage, both of whom were born in the Dutch East Indies:
Van Heemstra married secondly Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980) (later Hepburn-Ruston) on 24 September 1926 at Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies. They were divorced on 24 June 1939 and had one daughter:
Van Heemstra was an early supporter of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, penning several articles in praise of the fascist leader.
Later life.
In the early 1960s she lived in Los Angeles with her friend Leonard Gershe, and then later in San Francisco, where she did volunteer work for soldiers coming back from Vietnam.
When she visited Los Angeles she was entertained by friends like George Cukor, Mrs. Mildred Knopf (wife of Edwin H. Knopf) and Veronique Peck. She spent the rest of her life in her daughter's house in Tolochenaz, Switzerland where she died in 1984. Audrey accompanied her mother's body to the Netherlands for funeral.
Honours.
Ella was named Dame of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem by Queen Elizabeth II on 7 September 1971.


Huis de Pinto

Huis De Pinto is a former Amsterdam city mansion on the Sint Antoniesbreestraat near the Rembrandthuis. It was originally built in 1605 but is named after a leading Amsterdam family dynasty of Portuguese-Jewish merchant bankers. The founder of this dynasty was Isaack de Pinto, from Antwerp, who moved to Rotterdam in 1647 but bought the house in 1651. His son commissioned the unusual facade, and his grandson Isaac de Pinto grew up there.
Construction.
It was built in 1605 as a double house.
The unusual facade uniting the two houses was added after 1680.


Dirck Ferreris

Dirck Ferreris, Diederik, or Theodor Freres (1639 – 6 June 1693), was a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Biography.
He spent most of his life in Enkhuizen and several works of his hang in the Enkhuizen city hall. He travelled to Italy in 1666 with Adriaen Backer and, after returning to Amsterdam, he went to London to spend some time working for Sir Peter Lely in 1678. According to Houbraken he specialised in decorating galleries and decorated one at Huis Honselaarsdijk and one in Amsterdam for a gentleman named Mr Roeters. After he returned from Italy he became friends with Johannes Voorhout, with whom he practised drawing in a small group from a naked model. He told Voorhout that he had been very keen on saving money and only spent 30 guilders in his whole year in Italy, and that was the reason he couldn't spend much time with the Bentvueghels. This puzzled Houbraken, who wrote that he came from a good family and didn't need to save. In his biographical sketch of Johan van Neck, Houbraken mentions that he was a great friend of Freres and left him his "papierkunst" or paper-art.


Hugo Mattheusz Steyn

Hugo Matheusz. Steyn (1577 – 1632), was a Dutch Golden Age notary and member of the Haarlem schutterij.
Biography.
He was born in Haarlem as the son of the mayor and church warden Mattheus Steyn and Dirkje van der Graft-Gael. He was the brother of the Spaarndam toll collector Tyman Matheusz. Steyn. Hugo became the city secretary and was a member of the Catholic St. James guild (St. Jacobsgilde) and married Cornelia van der Meyde in 1606. He became lieutenant of the St. George militia in Haarlem from 1612-1615 and was captain 1618-1621. He was portrayed by Frans Hals along with his son in "The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616".
He died in Haarlem.


Assault on Nijmegen

The Assault on Nijmegen occurred on the night of 10 August 1589, involving troops of the mercenary Martin Schenck von Nydeggen against the small garrison and some citizens at the city of Nijmegen.
Located at the confluence of the Waal and Rhine rivers, Nijmegen was strategically important to the defense of the Dutch provinces and the Electorate of Cologne. Planning to take the city by surprise, Schenck and his troops would then reinforce the city, provision it and prepare it for siege by troops of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.
In the attack, Schenck and his soldiers tried to enter the city from barges on the Waal river. Some of the barges floated past the rendezvous point, and landed further down river. In the abortive battle, Schenck and many of his men drowned in the river. It was the second to last action of the Cologne War.
Context.
The Cologne War was the first major test of the 1555 religious Peace of Augsburg's and the principle of ecclesiastical reservation. It was triggered by the 1582 conversion of the Archbishop-Prince Elector of Cologne, Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, to Calvinism, his subsequent marriage to Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben in 1583, and his declaration of religious parity for Protestants and Catholics in the electorate. When Gebhard refused to relinquish the ecclesiastical see, the Cathedral chapter elected a competing archbishop, Ernst of Bavaria.
For the first two years, the competing archbishops fought to a standstill. Both had external help: Ernst's oldest brother, Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria provided soldiers and funds, and his second eldest brother, Ferdinand, commanded the small army in his name, and Gebhard's brother, Karl Truchsess von Waldburg and several Protestant supporters within the Electorate provided both soldiers and funds. In the immediate months of the war's outbreak, the Oberstift campaign resulted in Gebhard's loss of several important cities and citadels, which eventually changed hands several times in the course of the war. In the 1585–86 campaigns, Dutch, Flemish, and English mercenaries had augmented his force, but he never attracted significant support from the other German princes, principally because he was a Calvinist and they were Lutherans. The Dutch had offered moderate help, recognizing the linkage between his cause and their own independence from Catholic Spain. Conversely, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma and commander of Philip II of Spain's army in Flanders also recognized the linkage between Ernst's cause and his own. A series of Catholic bridgeheads on the Rhine would enable him to move his troops more easily around several of the strongholds opposing the re-establishment of Spanish control in the Netherlands. In 1585 and 1587, Ernst won several important victories, principally through the efforts of the Duke of Parma's army, and several of the German-Catholic counts, such as Karl von Mansfeld.
By 1588, only Rheinberg remained outside the Spanish grasp, and in an effort to salvage a strategic major garrison in the electorate of Cologne for Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Martin Schenck intercepted and defeated seven companies of foot marching to Friesland, to reinforce Francisco Verdugo.
Assault on Nijmegen.
Despite the defeat of Verdugo, however, the rebellious Dutch provinces remained in jeopardy from Spain's Army of Flanders, which could attack from the relatively open border on the east. Holding Nijmegen, with its strategic access to the Waal and the Rhine rivers, would be a key point in securing the border between the Dutch provinces and Friesland. Strategically, it was important to seize, fortify, and provision the city, to prepare it for a potential Spanish siege.
Plan.
Martin Schenck devised a scheme through which he would take Nijmegen and enhance his own treasury. On the evening of 10 August 1589, Schenck and 20 barges of men—approximately 200 soldiers—made their way down the Waal to Nijmegen. Schenck's plan was to find a house with open windows and climb into the house using scaling hooks and ropes. Once the house was secured, they would quietly find the city gate, and open it to the rest of the force, which would be waiting on the river landing. They could then overpower the small local garrison and any citizens who felt resistance was necessary. Not only would they reinforce the city, but there would be opportunity for plunder as well.
Plan goes awry.
Schenck encountered several unforeseen problems. First, heavy summer rains had swelled the river well past the normal stage for August. The Waal was racing closer to its spring flood stage than the norm of late summer. Consequently, maneuvering the barges was far more difficult than Schenck anticipated. The barges that carried more than half his men were swept past both the chosen entry point and the landing point outside the city gate by a strong current.
Second, everyone was awake at the house Schenck chose to enter. The owner was celebrating a wedding, and the house was filled with party-goers, many of whom were armed. Once the house's residents and their guests realized that strangers had made their way inside, they raised the alarm. The party-goers put up a stout defense. Schenck and his men were driven back through the house to their entry windows. One by one, they climbed back to the barges which, in the rough river, had drifted away from the walls, making it necessary for many of the men to swim. Many of the soldiers were swept away by the current and missed the barges.
In the meantime, the men on the barges that had been pushed past the entry point by the river's current had struggled to bring them back to a landing. More citizens rushed out to defend the city against the new group of marauders. Schenck's force, divided and beset at all sides, was pushed back to the river. Several of the soldiers managed to push the barges into the river, and pull some of their comrades to safety, but it was difficult work: the darkness and the swiftness of the current made steadying the barges difficult, and the angry citizens of Nijmegen were firing arrows and small arms at the marauders. Eventually the soldiers forwent the ropes and scaling hooks, and simply jumped into the river, hoping to swim to the barges.
In an effort to escape, Schenck jumped into the river but his heavy armor weighed him down, and, although he tried to swim to a nearby vessel. Most of the soldiers who could not get into a barge either drowned in the river or were pulled downstream; the few who did not drown were hunted down in the next couple of days and summarily executed. Schenck's body also was found a few days later; the body was decapitated, his head placed on a pike, and his body quartered. The pieces were exhibited at four gates.
Consequences.
Schenck was a known and feared mercenary who had shown little regard for the towns belonging to his friends, much less those of his enemies. His arrival to "reinforce" a local garrison was already a mixed blessing; although his military acumen had helped him accumulate multiple honors, his strategies were brutal and merciless, even in this age of warfare. While his death was a military blow, it was a public relations blessing. In Westphalia, Neuss, Bonn, and Godesburg, Schenck had made himself and his men feared, and had done great damage to the personal appeal of the Calvinist Elector of Cologne's reputation and cause.
Nijmegen was eventually captured by a Dutch and English force led by Maurice of Nassau on October 21 1591.


Alex Vermeulen

Alex Vermeulen (born December 9, 1954), also recognised as SOH Alex Vermeulen, is a Dutch artist known for his multimedia projects, films and film books.
Biography.
Alex Vermeulen is an award-winning contemporary Dutch multi-media artist who has worked under his own name as well as SOH-States of Humanity and Syndicaat Alex Vermeulen. Since 2015 he exclusively works under the name SOH Alex Vermeulen.
His work includes film-books, films, performances, sculpture and installations. A longtime resident of Amsterdam, in the last years Vermeulen has divided his time between Amsterdam, the island of Bali and Brooklyn, New York. In May 2016 Alex Vermeulen planned to open a multimedia studio in Greenpoint, New York. The studio would facilitate a complete audio and video editing set up. The space would also be used to present new projects and readings. During the process he changed his original plan and decided to set up a mobile studio which facilities fits in 1 suitcase and functions as a nomadic workstation / experimental laboratory which can be set up anywhere. He collaborates with artists, musicians, composers, designers online or invites them to his workspace or to join the “temporary” studio.
Born in the southern city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on December 9, 1954, Vermeulen is largely an autodidact, although he did study psychology, philosophy, architecture and design at the Design Academy Eindhoven before launching off on his own career in his mid-twenties. His primary early influences were film makers such as the Nouvelle Vague director Claude Chabrol and he got inspired by the obscure movie ""J'irai comme un cheval fou" (1973) by Fernando Arrabal, the absurdist movie "Themroc" (1973) by Claude Faraldo, the theatrical movie 'Querelle" (1982) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the cinematographic fantasy world of Georges Méliès (1862–1938). Vermeulen’s fascination with films would inspire him to put a new spin on an old form – film books. Usually produced to document an existing film, Vermeulen’s versions documented imaginary films in such a way that readers often assumed they were. His visual scripts thus played with the space between reality and imagination a theme seen throughout his work. This film book projects consisting a publication containing the film story with film-stills; on these stills Vermeulen's sculptures function as props.
Vermeulen would first achieve recognition in 1984, when the curators of the Van Abbemuseum, South Netherlands' most prestigious modern and contemporary art museum began a long period of collaboration with the artist that would last for more than a decade. This would lead to exhibitions and purchases for their prestigious permanent collection.
In 1993 Vermeulen moved to Amsterdam and founded in 1995 "SOH-States of Humanity" and the Syndicaat foundation. A year later he presented his final film-book, as part of a large installation, Fuga Futuri, at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum (1996). The chief character introduced in this show for the first time was the stylized humanoid "Eggy", named after his egg-like shape. In the following fifteen years, sculptures of various forms of the enigmatic Eggy would appear in a number of projects mounted in public places around the world including New York (1996) where Vermeulen asked those who passed to select their favorite Eggy and relate it to their personal life. These interviews were edited into a 43-minute documentary film, States of Humanity. Vermeulen's intention was to collect a numerous of "New York" stories and turn them into a screenplay for a feature film. Vermeulen used a small hi8 video camera to shoot the interviews and visuals of street life NYC. Despite his intention, Vermeulen edited the footage. "These talking heads speak for them self." Since the film "States of Humanity" introduced the first six "Eggy" sculptures seen through the eyes of fifty-five New Yorkers, this documentary would become a key work in Vermeulen's career. The premier was at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 1997.
In the following years SOH and Syndicaat Alex Vermeulen produced more than 29 multi-media events including SOH3, "the Mental Urban Labyrinth", with curator Jan Debbaut, at the Van Abbemuseum and SOH1, "the Architectural Film" at MuHKA, the Museum for Contemporary Art in Antwerp, Belgium, both in 1999. In April 2000 he edited the artist edition trailer of "American Psycho" presented at the premiere in New York.
With these two exhibitions, the book States of Humanity (1999) was released. The States of Humanity book is to be a travel guide for a present-day metropolis: a manual full of cross-references, coincidences, allusions, stories, pictures, associations.
The structure of the publication should give 'the visitor' a feeling that the different components refer to the planological structure of an imaginary world - a conglomerate of alleyways, streets, boulevards and squares, each with its own character and social traffic.
Vermeulen has invited the following writers to act as 'architects' for the planology of the book: filmmaker Lodge Kerrigan, the philosophers Arthur Danto and Richard Shusterman, composer David Shea, architect Greg Lynn, the writing team Martin and Annette Meyers, director of interdisciplinary dance theater Ron Bunzl and the author Robert Greene (American author), author of books on strategy.
Beginning in 2000 Vermeulen directed a series of films including. For the Nederlandse Programma Stichting he directed the short dance movie "One Ride Pony" (2000). for the European Union sponsored Democracy Conference SOH13 "the Power of Collective Intelligence and Awareness" (2004). For the Holland Festival, Amsterdam (NL) he directed cinematographic opera: SOH10 "the Opera" (2003-2008) trailer in collaboration with composer David Shea
In 2006 Alex Vermeulen mounted a large installation with 88 enormous black polyester eggs topped with solar panels floating in a pond at Eindhoven's University of Technology (NL). Dubbed "SOH19 States of Nature," the project combines physics, art, technology, spirituality, solar cult, and sustainable energy. Created in association with the Natuurkunst Foundation and some Applied Physics university students, the aim of this self-sustained installation is to lift a levitating Buddha sculpture using the sun's energy!
Part of the project was the release of the international catalogue : SOH19 "States of Nature; Sun enlightenment" Which tells the story of the evolution of the project and its participants, focussing on topics like physics and art, technology and spirituality, solar cult and sustainable energy, biological processes and social interaction.
Essays from (a.o.) Marcel Möring (‘the Great Longing’), (astrophysicist), Robert Greene (‘The 48 Laws of Power’), IJsbrand van Veelen (VPRO), Koert van Mensvoort (TU/e) en Jan van Adrichem (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam).
Alex Vermeulen & Frans Snik (ed.), SOH19 States of Nature; Sun enlightenment, Pijama Publishers, 144 p., release September 12, 2006
In 2012 Vermeulen decided to stop producing "Eggy" sculptures. All "Eggies" so far did not have any arms. However the last "Eggy" has arms; which could either express a "Hurray" or form together with the legs a X shape, a symbol that could be seen as a reference to the unknown. At the same time Vermeulen closed his studio in Amsterdam. In 2014 he set up new studios in both Bali and New York City.
After traveling frequently to Bali, Indonesia since 2013, Vermeulen began working on a new interactive cinematographic WebBook, "The Epic". Directed and produced by Vermeulen, "The Epic" is a multifaceted collaborative project loosely based on the Ramayana Epic written by Valmiki and the tragedy "Othello" by William Shakespeare and takes place in a sprawling Asian metropolis named Raksasa Kota (City of the Future) in the year 2088. The stars of the production are a group of young Balinese dancers between the ages of six and ten. Rien Bekkers designed the sumptuous costumes. The music is composed by David Shea. The large interactive installation will consist of a series of monumental photos, a suggested feature written and directed by Vermeulen shot in collaboration, among others, with photographer Doddy Obenk. The original film score, the interactive WebBook SOH29 the Epic will be launched at the Ubud Writers Festival 2018 in the Museum Puri Lukisan. An Exhibition of all photos was organised by The Erasmus House, Jakarta in the exhibition space Kerta Niaga, November–December 2018 and followed up at the Erasmus Huis, Jakarta January–February 2019, traveling onwards to several venues in Europe, Asia and the United States.
As part of the production, Dutch filmmaker Peter Mariouw Smit, has been directed a documentary, "The Epic: Behind the Scenes". The premiere of the film took place September 27, 2018 at the Balinele, International Film Festival, Bali, Indonesia.
During the period 2003-2019 Vermeulen conducted, in collaboration with University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands a study into the effect of frequencies on human emotions. He processed the results in the three-part project SOH17 the Mood Rooms (2006-2009). and SOH30 The Sonic Service Station (2019)
Solo exhibitions and projects.
1984
- "Het Avontuur der Verwondering" Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL) (catalogue)
1986
- "No one but Onno Trueman" Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL) (catalogue)
1996
- "Fuga Futuri", Stedelijk museum, Amsterdam (NL) (catalogue)
1999
- SOH1 (States of Humanity) Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerpen (B) (catalogue)
1999
- SOH3 The Mental Urban Labyrinth, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL) (catalogue)
2000
- SOH7 The Urban Fashion Crank Lab, Cerruty New York City (USA)
2000
- Artist edition of the trailer of the feature film "American Psycho" a film by Mary Haron showed at the premiere, New York City (USA)
2005
- SOH16 Tour des Sens, deWatertoren AK, Vlissingen (NL)
2003
- SOH10 the Opera, Holland Festival (NL)
2006
- SOH19 States of Nature, Performance featuring Eddy De Clercq and Erik Hobijn Technical University Eindhoven TU/e (NL)
2007
- SOH23 You know why I am so happy?! Gallerie Annette de Keyser, Antwerpen (B)
2017
- SOH19 States of Nature, performance with the Tesla Coil, featuring Eddy de Clercq, Technical University Eindhoven TU/e (NL)
2018
- SOH29 the Epic, TONYRAKA gallery, Mas, Ubud Bali, premiere October 9, 2018
2018
- SOH29 the Epic, performance of the actors in the original costumes, October 27 at TONYRAKA gallery, Mas, Ubud Bali
2018
- SOH29 the Epic, Jakarta, Kerta Niaga Gallery, Jakarta
2019
- SOH29 the Epic, het Erasmus Huis, Jakarta
Films.
1994
- "Ballroom da Capo", 16mm zw/w & colour 12" dansfilm in collaboration with choreographer Cecile Vandeursen
1996
- "States of Humanity" documentary, Betacam 45", première: 28th International Film Festival Rotterdam
1997
- "Cewek" video 3" DVcam 6" dance film in collaboration with choreographer Cecile Vandeursen
1999 - Dishhunt in collaboration with Joop van Brakel video clip MTV Betacam SP 4"
1999 - SOH2 the Urban Hyper Video & Sound Experience in collaboration with David Shea, Montevideo TBA, Amsterdam (NL)
1999 - SOH4 the Urban Crank Lab, De Fabriek, Eindhoven (NL)
1999 - SOH5 the Urban Hyper Video & Sound Experience in collaboration with David Shea, World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam (NL)
1999 - SOH6 The Mental Urban Labyrinth Book presentation, in collaboration with Arthur Danto, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, NYC (USA)
1999 - SOH7 the Urban Fashion Crank Lab, the Artist edition of the trailer of "American Psycho", in collaboration with Cerruti Madison Avenue, New York/Hollywood (USA)
2000
- "One Ride Poney" 35mm film 12", dansfilm in collaboration with performer Susanne Ohmann and choreographer Cecile Vandeursen, NPS / BBC (NL/UK)
2003
- SOH10 the Opera in collaboration with composer David Shea, performer Kate Strong and choreographer Cecile Vandeursen; première: Holland Festival 2003 (NL/FR)
2003 - SOH10 promo (documentary by Claire van de Poel)
2004
- SOH13 The Power of Collective Intelligence and Awareness DVD / live performed at het Vredes Paleis, the Hague (NL) performed before the European Union (B)
2006
- SOH22 We all do it, den Bosch (NL)
2006
- SOH19 States of Nature TU/e collaboration project studenten Natuurkunde (documentary by Bart van Broekhoven)
2018
- The Epic behind the scenes (documentary by Peter Mariouw Smit). Premiere: September 27, Balinale, The International Film Festival Bali 2018
Public Space.
1992 - "Well in time", A.V.I. west, Amsterdam (NL)
1992 - "Rebirth of the Rebirth II" Ziekenfondsraad, Amstelveen (NL)
1994 - "Friend's connection", Hoge School voor Toerisme en Verkeer, Breda (NL)
1995 - Multiple not multiple, balance, MBO college, de Leijgraaf, Veghel (NL)
1996 - Me oh my, Ahold, Zaandam
1996 - SOH ps1 (States of Humanity) Zonder titel, water pump station De Haere, WMG Gelderland (NL)
1997 - "The most profitable Technical Innovation Award" Akzo Nobel Coatings Akzo Nobel, Arnhem
1999 - SOH ps2 (States of Humanity), Oirschot at A58 (NL)
1999 - SOH ps3 (States of Humanity), Woonaard, Alkmaar (NL)
1999 - SOH ps4 (States of Humanity), Hoogland, community Amersfoort (NL)
2000 - SOH ps5 (States of Humanity), Dongen, GGV Midden Brabant, Tilburg (NL)
2001 - SOH ps6 (States of Humanity), Hessenpoort, Zwolle (NL)
2001 - SOH ps7 (States of Humanity), sculpture design Wildehoarne, Joure (NL)
2001 - SOH ps8 (States of Humanity), sculpture design, Diemen (NL)2001
2002 - SOH ps6 (States of Humanity), Hessenpoort, Gemeente Zwolle (NL)
2002 - SOH ps10 (States of Humanity), Land Mark Verrijn Stuart Diemen (NL)
2002 - SOH ps11 (States of Humanity), concept development SITE, a new museum for Almere (NL)
2002 - SOH ps12 (States of Humanity), design Rijswijk (NL)
2002 - SOH19 States of Nature, development project, Technical University Eindhoven TU/e (NL)
2003 - SOH ps13 (States of Humanity), schetsontwerp Adriaan Stoopplein, Bloemendaal (NL)
2003 - SOH ps14 (States of Humanity), Stadhuis Rijswijk (NL)
2003 - SOH ps15 (States of Humanity), sculpture design rotonde Daalmeer, Alkmaar (NL)
2003 - SOH19 States of Nature, development project, Technical University Eindhoven TU/e, (NL)
2004 - SOH ps16 (States of Humanity), "The Coatings Innovation Award", Akzo Nobel, Arnhem (NL/GB)
2004 - SOH19 States of Nature, development project, Technical University Eindhoven TU/e (NL)
2006 - SOH19 States of Nature, Technical University Eindhoven TU/e (NL)
2007 - SOH ps 20(States of Humanity) Landgoed Driessen (NL)
2008 - SOH ps17 Raalte / Heeten (NL)
2009 - SOH ps18 MN services, Rijswijk (NL)
2009 - SOH ps19 Terneuzen (NL)
2019 - SOH19 States of Nature part II, Technical University Eindhoven TU/e (NL)


Tara Bouman

Tara Bouman (born 1970 in Leiden) is a Dutch clarinetist.
Bouman studied the clarinet at the conservatories of Amsterdam and Rotterdam with Walter Boeijkens and Piet Honingh. She plays the clarinet, bass clarinet, and basset horn.
Musicians and conductors she has worked with include Suzanne Stephens, Reinbert de Leeuw, Stephan Asbury, Jonathan Nott, Riccardo Chailly, Roscoe Mitchell, Michael Riessler, Cuarteto de Cuerdas "José White", Simon Stockhausen and Alain Damiens. Her current musical partners include trumpeter Markus Stockhausen, accordionist Edwin Buchholz, percussionist Tatiana Koleva and flutist Helen Bledsoe. With Bledsoe and Koleva she forms the ensemble TEYAS.
Bouman has worked together with a number of composers whose repertoire she has played. Among these are Karlheinz Stockhausen, Georges Aperghis, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin, Roderik de Man, Magnus Lindberg, Earl Brown and Isabel Mundry, as well as composers of her own generation such as Juan Felipe Waller, Vykintas Biliauskas, Robin de Raaff, Sinta Wullur, Hans Koolmees and Symon Clarke. She plays regularly in contemporary ensembles in the Netherlands and Germany (a.o. ASKO Ensemble, Schönberg Ensemble, Ensemble Musikfabrik NRW, Ensemble Köln).
As a soloist and chamber musician Tara Bouman has played concerts all over Europe, Mexico and the United States. She recorded her first CD with solos and duos by Markus Stockhausen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Isabel Mundry and Pierre Boulez.
The composer Ana Lara dedicated her work "Concierto para corno di basseto" to Bouman, who performed the première with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (OFUNAM) on 10 February 2007.


Seminar of Amateur composers

The seminar of Amateur composers - the unique state system of free elective learning in the USSR people gifted in music.
It existed in the USSR from the mid 1940s until the late 1980s. Many famous composers and musicians at the beginning of studies were students of these Seminars. For example, Vladimir Dashkevich and , and others.
The idea of such state institutions grew out of the Leningrad branch of the Union of composers of the USSR in the mid 1940s immediately after the great Patriotic War. One of the most prominent ascetics of this idea was the composer and musical activist, son of Gregor Admoni, Johann Admoni. Later (from 1949), he became head of the Leningrad Seminar of Amateur composers.
The Leningrad Seminar of Amateur composers.
The Leningrad Seminar of Amateur composers was located in the building of the House of composers in Leningrad (now Saint-Petersburg), Herzen street (today Bolshaya Morskaya street), the house 45. Seminar Manager - Johann Admoni, composer and musical activist, son of Gregor Admoni. Known seminarians - Vladimir Dashkevich, , Evgeny Kliachkin, Vladimir Anisimoff, and others.
After a successful experience with participation The Leningrad Seminar of Amateur composers such workshops have appeared in other cities of the USSR. For example, in Moscow at the Moscow organization of the Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR. The seminars were acting within the framework of the Statutes of the Union of composers. This allowed students-seminarians to act in different musical secondary and higher educational institutions. In particular, students-seminarians passed examinations in the Leningrad Conservatory and Moscow Conservatory on a general basis, but they had a great knowledge in the field of music.
At least two dozen composers-graduates of Conservatories were students of the Seminar in start. An important feature of Seminars - the same professors of the Conservatory taught almost all important musical discipline on an optional basis in Seminars. This allowed participants to actually receive the full amount of the Conservatory knowledge, but without giving them the state Diploma. The last fact in the USSR was very important for the further work of musicians. This forced many of them formally to graduate from the Conservatory. However, at least four seminarians of the Leningrad Seminar of the holder of the mid 1970s became a notable musicians without a Diploma of the Conservatory. There are bard Evgeny Kliachkin, folklorist Alexander Sledin, symphonist and physicist Vladimir Anisimoff, songwriter Evgeny Kalinin, and others.
J. Admoni, J. Pustylnik, A. Mnatsakanian, and other professors from the Leningrad state Conservatory taught in the Leningrad Seminar of Amateur composers. Shortly before the end of the Seminar, the main teachers of the Seminar was joined (in 1977) Abram Ysfin, musicologist and music theorist. Because of the political situation before the revolutionary events of the 1990s in the USSR, Abram Ysfin was unable to hold a Seminar in working condition. (Johann Admoni had died in 1979).
An important and unique component of music education in Russia (USSR) has essentially lost in the future its value. The ability for any gifted man to get a free high quality education in the field of musical disciplines became unavailable.


Barbara Baarsma

Barbara Elisabeth Baarsma (born 19 November 1969) is a Dutch economist, and Professor of Market Forces and Competition Issues at the University of Amsterdam.
Biography.
Born in Leiden, Baarsma grew up in Goeree-Overflakkee, where her father was otolaryngologist. After attending the Atheneum in Middelharnis, in 1988 she started studying Industrial Design at the Delft University of Technology. In 1989 she moved to the University of Amsterdam, where she received her MA cum laude in Economics in 1993, and her PhD in Economics in 2000 with a thesis entitled "Monetary valuation of environmental goods: Alternatives to contingent valuation" under the supervision of Jan Lambooy and Bernard van Praag.
After graduation in 2000 Baarsma was researcher at SEO Economic Research, where in 2002 she became head of the Cluster Competition and Regulation, in 2008 deputy director, and since 2009 director as successor of Jules Theeuwes. In 2009 she was appointed Professor of Market Forces and Competition at the University of Amsterdam. In 2012 she was elected as a member of the Social-Economic Council.
Publications.
Baarsma has authored and coauthored numerous publications. A selection:


Gisbert Steenwick

Gisbert Steenwick (also "Gijsbert") (baptized 6 January 1642 – buried 20 August 1679) was a Dutch composer, organist, and carillonneur. He was born in Arnhem, where already at 21 he was a member of the local collegium musicum "Caecilia". In January 1665 Steenwick was appointed organist of St Eusebiuskerk in Arnhem, and on 22 October that year he was made municipal organist. He left Arnhem in 1674 and went to Kampen, where on 6 June 1674 he was appointed organist and carillonneur at the Bovenkerk. He died some five years later in Kampen, at the age of 37.
Today Steenwick is known for a few keyboard pieces contained in a manuscript he compiled before 1674 for a pupil, Anna Maria van Eyl, daughter of an Arnhem patrician. The manuscript contains 33 pieces of music, including dances and arrangements of, and variations on, folksongs. Only nine compositions are signed by Steenwick, but more can be attributed to him on stylistic grounds. Among the securely attributed works are arrangements of popular songs such as "More Palatino", "Puer natus in Bethleem", and "Heiligh saligh Bethlehem", and dances (sarabandes, allemandes) with variations. Opinions differ on the quality of Steenwick's writing: while some scholars have noted a sophisticated variation technique, others have dismissed it as quite ordinary. Some pieces of the collection (which also includes works by the otherwise unknown Georg Berff) display North German influence.


Ricky Koole

Ricky Koole (born 11 September 1972) is a Dutch singer and film actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 1996.
Personal Life and Career.
Koole was school in 1995 at Academy of Cabaret in Amsterdam. After completion of her education, she appeared in stage performances as well as in films. Following her music theatre career, she release four CDs
Koole started her theater tour "Harmonium " with her partner, Leo Blokhuis in 2007. She had her first child in October 2010. In 2012, Koole married to Leo Blokhuis
Her fifth album, "No Use Crying" was released in January 2014.


Mark of the Vampire

Mark of the Vampire (also known as Vampires of Prague) is a 1935 horror film, starring Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Jean Hersholt, and directed by Tod Browning. It has been described as a talkie remake of Browning's silent "London After Midnight" (1927), though it does not credit the older film or its writers.
Plot.
Sir Karell Borotyn (Holmes Herbert) is found murdered in his house, with two tiny pinpoint wounds on his neck. The attending doctor, Dr. Doskil (Donald Meek), and Sir Karell's friend Baron Otto von Zinden (Jean Hersholt) are convinced that he was killed by a vampire. They suspect Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) and his daughter Luna (Carroll Borland), while the Prague Police Inspector Neumann (Lionel Atwill) refuses to believe them.
Sir Karell's daughter Irena (Elizabeth Allan) is the Count's next target. Professor Zelen (Lionel Barrymore), an expert on vampires and the occult, arrives in order to prevent her death. After Irena is menaced by the vampires on several occasions, Zelen, Baron Otto, and Inspector Neumann descend into the ruined parts of the castle to hunt down the undead monsters and destroy them. When Zelen and Baron Otto find themselves alone, however, Zelen hypnotizes the Baron and asks him to relive the night of Sir Karell's murder. It is then revealed that the "vampires" are actually hired actors, and that the entire experience has been an elaborate charade concocted by Zelen in the hopes of tricking the real murderer—Baron Otto—into confessing to the crime. Acknowledging that the charade has failed to produce its intended results, Zelen, along with Irena and another actor who strongly resembles Sir Karell, compels the hypnotized Baron into re-enacting the murder, effectively proving his guilt. During the re-enactment, Baron Otto reveals his true motive: he wished to marry Irena, but her father would not allow it. He also reveals how he staged the murder to resemble a vampire attack.
With Baron Otto arrested, Irena explains the plot to her fiance, Fedor (Henry Wadsworth), who was not involved in the subterfuge and believed that the vampires were real. The film ends with the actors who played the vampires packing up their supplies, and "Count Mora" exclaiming, "This vampire business, it has given me a great idea for a new act! Luna, in the new act, I will be the vampire! Did you watch me? I gave all of me! I was greater than any REAL vampire!" which is met with general lack of enthusiasm by his fellow thespians.
Production.
Co-star Carroll Borland had worked with Lugosi before, in a touring stage version of "Dracula"; she answered the casting call for the younger vampire role without being aware Lugosi was associated with the film, and won the part after the producers were impressed with how closely her physical movements resembled Lugosi's. She did not mention that they had previously worked together.
Makeup artist Bill Tuttle would later recollect to author Richard Bojarski,
According to Borland, the ending of the film (which reveals the "vampires" to be actors hired to trick a murderer) was not revealed to the cast until the end of shooting; Browning felt that their performances would be negatively affected by knowing that they were not "real" vampires. She reports that an alternate ending-in which Professor Zelen receives a telegram from the hired actors revealing that they were unable to make their train (thus implying the vampires that the film depicts were real)-was considered but rejected by Browning. She further claims that both she and Lugosi were disappointed with the ending, and found the twist "absurd."
Different versions.
Early reviews of the film list running times of closer to 80 minutes, strongly suggesting that the film was cut back to 60 minutes by MGM after the early previews. This had led to much speculation about what the deleted footage contained.
Several sources, including critic Mark Viera and TCM writer Jeff Stafford, have claimed that MGM cut out suggestions of incest between Count Mora (played by Lugosi) and his daughter Luna. Viera further claims that the original screenplay explained that Count Mora was condemned to eternity as a vampire for this crime and shot himself out of guilt (which explains the otherwise unaccountable spot of blood which appears on Lugosi's right temple during the film). This was an unacceptable topic according to the standards of the Production Code, and consequently cut from the film. While the subplot was cut, the blood spot on Count Mora's face remains in the finished film and is never explained.
Writer Gregory William Mank (who had access to the shooting script for his book "Hollywood Cauldron") disputes these claims, asserting that the original cut was only 75 minutes (the reports of an 80+ minute run time being the result of a misprint) and that most of the cuts were either exposition or comedy. He further asserts that the alleged incest subplot was never in the shooting script and never filmed, though he acknowledges that it was likely hinted at in the original scenario for the film written by Guy Endore. This claim is backed up by Borland, who points out that the studio would never have allowed such content to be filmed. Lugosi biographer Arthur Lennig asserts that Endore did originally intend an incest backstory, but that it was removed by the studio before the shooting script was written, though he goes on to claim that a cut line of dialogue indicates that Count Mora shot himself after strangling his daughter.
In the commentary which accompanies the film on the "Hollywood Legends of Horror" boxed set released by Warner Home Video, genre historians Kim Newman and Steve Jones seem to concur with Mank, hypothesizing that primarily comedic material—possibly related to the maid character played by Leila Bennett—was cut.
Reception.
Upon its initial release, reviews of the film were relatively positive; a "New York Times" review by Frank Nugent claimed the film would "catch the beholder's attention and hold it, through chills and thrills ..." The review finished, "Like most good ghost stories, it's a lot of fun, even though you don't believe a word of it." It received similar praise from "The Los Angeles Times", "The Hollywood Reporter", and "Motion Picture Daily". The film earned a tidy profit of $54,000, though it drew some distinct criticism as well, most notably from Dr. William J. Robinson, who claimed in a letter to the "New York Times" that,
Modern evaluations of the film are more mixed, largely due to the ending, which reveals that the vampires were actors hired to help trap a murderer (the twist is very similar to Browning's previous "London After Midnight", where Lon Chaney's vampire character is ultimately revealed to be a detective in disguise). While it was not unusual for 1920s films such as "The Cat and the Canary" or "The Gorilla" to end with a revelation that the supernatural threat was a fraud, 1930s films such as "Dracula" and "The Mummy" presented the supernatural elements as real, making "Mark of the Vampire" something of a anachronism for its time (particularly since Browning and Lugosi were most known for "Dracula" just a few years earlier). Some viewers thought that the ending compromised the film; Bela Lugosi reportedly found the idea absurd. Some critics, including genre critics Kim Newman and Steve Jones, have suggested the film may be a satire of the conventions of the horror film, pointing to the broad performances by Barrymore and some of the supporting characters, as well as the film's twist ending.


Albert Vogel

Albert Vogel (18 June 1874, Bergen op Zoom – 8 November 1933, The Hague) was a Dutch officer, teacher and performer.
Biography.
Louis Albert Anthing Vogel was born in Bergen op Zoom and attended the H.B.S. in Haarlem and Leiden. He was trained at a military school in Kampen to become an officer in the Dutch army.
He served in the army for seven years and then left active duty to become a reserve officer; his highest rank was that of lieutenant colonel. Shortly after his active military career he started to perform in the Netherlands but also in the Dutch East Indies.
When Vogel left active duty he became active as a teacher; he taught the art of declamation at the "Hogere Krijgsschool" (Higher Military School) and at Leiden University. He was active as room recitator of Queen Elisabeth of Romania and was the founder of the "Maatschappij tot bevordering van de Woordkunst" (Society for the Advancement of the Art of Words). He was from 1926 to 1931 chairman of the "Haagse Kunstkring" (Art society of The Hague) and was appointed an honorary member, in 1930, by the "Société Académique d'Histoire Internationale de Paris".
He died after a short illness, aged 59. His funeral was held at a Catholic cemetery in The Hague. He was remembered by a special meeting at the "Haagsche Kunstkring". He was officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, komtur in the Order of the Crown of Romania and received several other decorations.
Family.
He and his wife, Ellen Buwalda (1890-1985), who wed in 1916, had two children: Louis Albert Anthing Vogel Jr. (1924–1982), who wrote a biography of Dutch writer Louis Couperus, and actress Ellen Vogel (1922-2015).


Benny Sings

Tim van Berkestijn, better known by his stage name Benny Sings, is a Dutch pop musician, songwriter, and producer. Since 2003, he has released eight studio albums, including his most recent album, 2021's "Music" on Stones Throw Records.
Biography.
Tim van Berkestijn was born in 1977 and raised in Dordrecht, a city in the western Netherlands. He formed his first band in high school. He attended the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where he studied sonology.
In 1999, Berkestijn adopted the stage name Benny Sings when he joined the Dutch hip hop group Abstract Dialect as bassist. During this period, he also worked with hip-hop collective De Toffen and the soul group Heavenly Social.
In 2003, Sings released his first solo album, "Champagne People", which did well in the Netherlands and Europe. During the 2010s, Sings gained more attention in the United States. In 2018, he helped pen the Rex Orange County single "Loving Is Easy." That year, he also joined the roster of American record label Stones Throw.
Beyond his solo career, Sings has collaborated with, written for, and produced many notable artists, including Mayer Hawthorne, Rex Orange County, The Free Nationals, Goldlink, Mac DeMarco and Tom Misch. He also composed songs for the anime "Carole & Tuesday".


Rotterdam Sportsman of the year

The Rotterdam Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year is an annual election, organised by the city's division for topsport named Rotterdam Topsport. The award goes to sportspeople who were born or have lived in Rotterdam. Rotterdam was the first city in the Netherlands to honour its sportspeople for their achievements at the end of the year.


Moscow International Duduk Festival

The Moscow International Duduk Festival, MIDF (; ) is an international annual music festival of Armenian national musical instrument of Duduk held in Moscow.
Organizers.
The Festifal is organized by the project Dudukist, which at this moment consists of Suren Baghdasaryan and Marina Selivanova (until 2016 – also Hovhannes Ghazaryan)
In 2014 organizers of the Festival founded The School of Duduk under the direction of dudukist Hovhannes Ghazaryan.
Purposes.
One of the main objectives of the Festival is to strengthen cultural bonds and cooperation between Russia, Armenia and other countries, as well as to promote the preservation and development of Armenian culture. The Festival also aims at finding and promoting talented duduk players from different parts of the world.
History.
The First Moscow Duduk Festival was held on 30 April 2014, at the Cultural Center “Moskvich”. The participants of the festival included Hovhannes Ghazaryan, Martin Ghazaryan, Vardan Harutyunyan, Valeriy Nam, Argishti, Aram Avedikyan, Yuriy Muradyan, Selena, Gegham Ohanyan, Gevorg Hayrapetyan, David Hovsepyan, Vitaliy Poghosyan, Aleksey Sadoev, Merujan Achoyan, instrumental band “OTTA-orkestr”, singer Diana Dikovski, famous author and performer Yevgeniy Ross, singer and one of the organizers of the Festival Marina Selivanova. Stage-director of the Festival – Artistic Director of “Gavit” Theatre Hamlet Galechyan, the Festival was hosted by Ruben Mkhitaryan. A total number of around one thousand people visited The First Moscow International Duduk Festival.
The Second Moscow Duduk Festival was held on 27 September 2015, in the Moscow State Variety Theatre. The participants of the Festival included Georgiy Minasov, Artak Asatryan, Georgiy Minasyan, Manvel Mnatsakanyan, Kamo Seyranyan, Gagik Malkhasyan, Hovhannes Ghazaryan, Norayr Barseghyan, Martin Ghazaryan, Vitaliy Poghosyan, Emmanuel Hovhannisyan, Argishti, ensemble “Dudukist”, duduk quartet “Urartu”, Tatul Hambartsumyan. Well-known performer of dance, folk and patriotic songs Dzakh Harut was also among those, who visited the Festival. Stage-director of the Festival –Artistic Director of “Gavit” Theatre Hamlet Galechyan, the Festival was hosted by Ruben Mkhitaryan. A total number of around 1.5 thousand people visited The Second Moscow International Duduk Festival.
The Third Moscow International Duduk Festival, organized by “Dudukist” project, took place on 25 September 2016 in the concert hall “Moskvich”. The Third Duduk Festival reached an even higher professional level due to the impeccable musical program accompanied by Russian Academic Concert Orchestra "Boyan". The orchestra has a unique composition and has no analogues in the world. Conductor - the Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation Nikolai Stepanov. The festival brought together the best duduk players of the world. The third festival's participants included Honoured Artist of the Republic of Armenia Georgiy Minasov and his legendary ensemble “Dudukner”, Honoured Artist of the Republic of Armenia Gagik Malkhasyan, Georgiy Minasyan, Artak Asatryan, Norayr Barseghyan, Anahit and Anna Mkhitaryan, Martin Ghazaryan, Vitaliy Poghosyan, Argishti, Arsen Grigoryan, Hovhannes Ghazaryan, ensemble “Dudukist”, Raphael Mkhitaryan, Emmanuel Hovhannisyan, Tatul Hambardzumyan and Selena. The Third Moscow International Duduk Festival was held with the support of the Armenian Youth Congress of Russia. Stage-director of the Festival –Artistic Director of “Gavit” Theatre Hamlet Galechyan, the Festival was hosted by Ruben Mkhitaryan.
On October 1, 2017, the IV Moscow International Duduk Festival was held in the small hall of the State Kremlin Palace. The festival was attended by dudukists from different countries, among which are: Vitaly Poghosyan, Armen Hovhannisyan, Rafael Mkrtchyan, Gegham Ohanyan, Khosrow Manukyan, Georgy Minasyan, Artak Asatryan Tatul Hambardzumyan, Karine Drnoyan Gegham Ohanyan, honored artist of Armenia Georgi Minasov and his Dudukner ensemble, also Acapella Express group and OTTA-orchestra. The host of the annual festival was Ruben Mkhitaryan. Soloists, like the year before, were accompanied by the Boyan State Academic Russian Concert Orchestra (conductor Nikolay Stepanov).
The Fifth Moscow International Duduk Festival took place on October 6 and 7, 2018, during the World Space Week at the Moscow Planetarium. Dudukists of international level from various countries took part in the festival, including Professor of Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory Gevorg Dabagyan, laureate of international competitions, winner of the Babylonian festival Martin Ghazaryan, soloist of the Yerevan State Philharmonic, Harutyun Chkolyan, soloist of the Akunq Armenian folk ensemble Armen Hovhannisyan, musician of the State Orchestra of Folk Instruments, founder of the ensemble The Birds Band Norayr Gapoyan. The concert was also attended by the 0zareniye chamber choir, the multi-voiced Tamzara choir, and modern composers and musicians: Andrei Tanzyu (frame drums, rik, percussion), Gennady Lavrentyev (violin, tabla, fretless guitar), Ivan Muralov (Indian sitar), Paata Chakaberia (fretless bass guitar), Dmitry Losev (keyboards, electronics), Sati Kazanova. Unlike last year's events, the Fifth Festival was marked by a full-domed multimedia show with full immersion in the space to the sounds of the duduk. Especially for this, the organizers shot a unique film that was broadcast directly to the dome of the planetarium.
International Duduk Festival in Spain.
In July 2016, the project Dudukist organized two concerts in the framework of the International Duduk Festival in Spain as part of the "Days of Armenia" festival. On 3 July 2016 duduk festival in Centro Civico Cotxeres Borrel in Barcelona was held, and on 5 July 2016 the festival was held in Catalan city of Lloret de Mar, on the sidelines of which dudukists from Armenia, Spain and Russia performed on the central square of the city, in front of the City Hall. The participants included ensemble “Dudukist” of Moscow School of Duduk (Artistic Director – Hovhannes Ghazaryan), Baeva Larisa, Aleksey Kapitonov, Iosif Gasparyan, Artyom Torosyan, Grigoriy Romanov, Nika Ohanyan, Simon Osepyan, Mariya Khayarova, Gegham Ohanyan, Marina Selivanova, Catalan School of Duduk (Artistic Director – Hovhannes Karakhanyan), Roland Terborg, Gener Omedis, Sedrak Petrosyan, Valentin Carole, Raul, Shushanik Hovhannisyan. The festival was held with the support of the Russian House in Catalonia.