HSwMS Magne (30)

HSwMS "Magne" (30) was a of the Swedish Navy during World War II. She was built at Götaverken and was launched on 25 April 1942 as the second ship of the "Mode" class. The ship was rebuilt in the mid-1950s and reclassified to frigate in 1953 when she received pennant number 74. "Magne" was scrapped in Ystad in 1973. The name comes from Magni, the son of Thor in Nordic mythology.
Design.
"Magne" was 78 meters long, 8.1 meters wide and had a depth of 2.3 meters. The default deployment was 635 tons and the maximum displacement was 785 tons. The machinery consisted of two Penhoët A oil-fired boilers, which supplied steam to two steam turbines which propelled their propellers. The machine developed 16,000 horsepower, which gave the ship a maximum speed of 30 knots (55 km/h). The main armament consisted of three 10.5 cm guns m/42. These were placed in separate towers, one on the back deck, one on the aft deck and one on the aft superstructure. The air defense was consisted of two 40 mm anti-aircraft automatic guns m/36 and two 20 mm anti-aircraft automatic guns m/40. Three torpedo tubes for 53 cm torpedoes sitting in a triple set of the aft superstructure and further were two depth charge thrower and two rack-deployed depth charges. 42 mines could also be carried for mining.
History.
"Magne" was built at Götaverken in Gothenburg and was launched on 25 April 1942 and was delivered to the Swedish Navy already on 26 November that year. After delivery, "Magne" entered the Coastal Fleet, where she served during the rest of World War II.
In 1953 "Magne" was reclassified to frigate and was rebuilt in the mid-1950s. One of the 10.5 cm guns as well as the torpedo racks was then removed and the 40 mm guns m/36 were replaced m/48 with the same caliber. In addition, an anti-submarine granade m/51.
Fate.
"Magne" was decommissioned on 1 January 1966 and was subsequently used as training ship at the machinery school at the Berga Naval Training Schools. In 1973 the ship was scrapped in Ystad.


Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck


HSwMS Tre Kronor

HSwMS "Tre Kronor" was a cruiser of the Royal Swedish Navy built during the Second World War.
History.
At the start of the war most of the ships of the Royal Swedish Navy were quite old and the navy was in need of new ships. In 1940 the government decided that three cruisers were to be built. A political debate broke out about the cruisers and works did not start until 1943. The ship was to be built in Götaverken in Gothenburg. Eventually only two of the cruisers were built, and the third cruiser-squadron of the Coastal Fleet would be led by the modernised AA-cruiser .
The turrets used on HSwMS "Tre Kronor" were built by Bofors and were originally ordered by the Dutch Navy to be fitted on the two "De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers", but after the German occupation of the Netherlands the Swedish government was afraid they would be claimed by the Germans so they were confiscated.
"Tre Kronor" was launched 16 December 1944, commissioned on 25 October 1947, and served until 1 January 1964.


Karina Content

Karina Content is the pseudonym of Karina Schaapman (born 6 June 1960 in Leiden), a Dutch writer and politician affiliated with the Labour Party (Netherlands).
In 2005 Amma Asante (also a councilor for the Labour Party (Netherlands)) and Content, wrote a report, "Het onzichtbare zichtbaar gemaakt" (Making the Invisible Visible). Schaapman had once been a prostitute and was getting information about the influx of organized crime and violence into Prostitution in the Netherlands. Other reports came out around the same time. They concluded that a large number of prostitutes in Amsterdam were being forced to work and were being abused by pimps and criminal gangs, and that the goals of legalization were failing.


Krasnoselsky District, Moscow

Krasnoselsky District ( is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population:
Most of the district's territory is occupied by railroads, rail yards, and the three rail terminals around Komsomolskaya Square. It also contains a narrow sector of central Moscow, extending north-east from Lubyanka Square within the boundaries of Myasnitskaya Square and Bolshaya Lubyanka Street. However, the famous KGB-FSB Lubyanka building technically belongs to Meshchansky District.
The boundary between Krasnoselsky and southbound Basmanny District passes through Red Gates Square and Novaya Basmannaya Street, thus Krasnoselsky District contains the northern edge of historical Basmannaya Sloboda, including the church of Saint Peter and Paul, built in 1705–1723 to a draft by Peter I.
Black Angel of Glory on the coat of arms commemorates the loss of Red Gates in 1927; white Y denoted three railroads that converge in Komsomoskaya Square.
History.
Krasnoye Selo (, lit. "beautiful village"), that gave it name to the district and Krasnoselskaya Street, existed since Middle Ages east of present-day Kazansky Rail Terminal. It was separated from Moscow by a swamp around extinct Olkhovets Creek; construction of dams on the creek created a large pond that occupied present-day site of Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal and smaller ponds downstream.
In the 17th century, Russian military set up a fortified armoury west of the pond, on site of Leningradsky Rail Terminal, exceeding twenty hectares; it blew up during the 1812 fire of Moscow and was abandoned. Accounts of a royal palace placed north of the pond are, likely, not true, however, young tsar Peter I, who was raised in nearby Preobrazhenskoye, used to ride boats on the pond.
In 1851, the state completed the first mainline railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and set up the extant terminal building, designed by Konstantin Thon, west of the pond. This remote site was chosen due to high costs of land in the city and fear of accidental fire.
More railroads followed with Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal (1862, rebuilt in the 1900s by Fyodor Schechtel and expanded by Lev Kekushev), Kazansky Rail Terminal (1864, rebuilt in the 1910s by Alexey Shchusev and expanded after World War II), and the line leading to Kursky Rail Terminal (1870s) with its own station on an overpass. The pond was filled only in the 1900s, in line with Schectel's project. New terminals were inevitably encircled with rail yards, workshops, warehouses and connecting lines, thus over a half of Krasnoselsky District is now occupied by railroad facilities.
In 1935, the first line of Moscow Metro reached Komsomolskaya Square; its service yard was placed east of Yaroslavsky Terminal. At the same time Commissariat of Railroads took over the lands between the terminals and Garden Ring and set up an ambitious office construction program, starting with Ivan Fomin's constructivist "Tank Engine Building", which still houses the headquarters of Russian Railways. In 1947–1952, Railways acquired two skyscrapers—a mixed residential and office tower in Red Gates Square and Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel in Komsomoskaya Square.
In the 1980s, the blocks north-west from these two towers were torn down and rebuilt with Leonid Brezhnev-era high-rise offices. Former Domnikovskaya Street in this office compound, widened to 8–10 lanes, is now named after Andrei Sakharov.
Economy.
United Aircraft Corporation has its head office in the district.
Education.
The Lycée Français Alexandre Dumas de Moscou, a French international school, is located in the district.


Westergasfabriek

The Westergasfabriek is a former gasworks in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, now used as a cultural venue.
History.
In the 19th century the Imperial Continental Gas Association (ICGA) built four coal gas plants in Amsterdam: the Eastern Gas Factory, the Western Gas Factory, the Northern and the Southern. Westergasfabriek was ready in 1885 and was strategically situated between the Haarlemmer trekvaart, and the first railway line in the Netherlands. In 1885 it was the largest gas extraction plant in the Netherlands. The gas was extracted from coal and was used for street lighting. Because of the higher gas prices the City of Amsterdam took over the operation in 1898 and expanded the plant. The plant was perfectly situated between the water and the railway line but gas production was very successful. The big Gasholder was built in 1902. The gas factory produced gas for the city until the late fifties. Amsterdam went over to gas from Hoogovens in IJmuiden, so the production of coal gas from the Factory decreased. In the sixties natural gas was found in Slochteren in the North of the Netherlands. This is why in 1967 the production of gas from the Factory stopped permanently.
After the Western Gas Factory closed the Amsterdam Electricity and Gas Company (GEB) destroyed some of the buildings among them the gas plant itself and the water tower. The other buildings were used for storage and repair and as laboratories and workshops. The remaining buildings were recognised as monuments in 1989. In 1992 the GEB left the buildings and they were taken over by the District Council of Westerpark.
Redevelopment.
Most of the thirteen buildings on site were designed by architect Isaac Gosschalk in the Dutch Neo Renaissance style, popular in the Netherlands between 1870 and 1915. Gosschalk was a famous architect in his time, as famous as Pierre Cuypers and Dolf van Gendt. He was a Jewish architect and he mainly built factories among them the Heineken brewery which is unfortunately completely destroyed and the railway station of Groningen. Gosschalk united the functional nature of the buildings with the beauty of architecture. Symmetry played an important role in his design. Thirteen of the original buildings remain on the site (not all by Gosschalk) and are designated as national monuments.
In the eighties the City of Amsterdam started to think about redevelopment but found out that the site was heavily polluted. In the nineties the District Council of Westerpark took over the responsibilities for the redevelopment.
There were four main problems: remediation of the pollution, constructing a new park, finding new use for the derelict buildings and the overall problem: a lack of money.
Culture Park.
The gas works were re-opened as the "Culture Park Westergasfabriek" in 2003. Its television studios host programmes like Pauw & Witteman (a former late night talkshow), De Wereld Draait Door (an early evening talk show with Matthijs van Nieuwkerk) and Eva Jinek's Sunday morning talk show.
The main grass field of the park allows for six festivals to be organized annually. Thousands of people visit the park and its activities every day.


Geert ten Dam

Geert ten Dam (born Eindhoven, 6 November 1958) is a Dutch scientist. She is the President of the University of Amsterdam.


MT Sitakund

Sitakund was a Norwegian motor oil tanker owned by Tschudi & Eitzen was sailing from Wilhelmshaven to Libya on 20 October 1968, when three explosions occurred, one of which tore a large hole in the side of the vessel. "Sitakund" burst into flames. Three crew members died in the explosion and subsequent fire, while the remaining 31 crew were treated in hospital for burns.
The "Sitakund" had run aground, requiring that the tug "Meeching" come on site for rescue operations. She was beached on 21 October less than 2 km from Beachy Head. The Eastbourne Fire Brigade, the crew of the "Meeching" and that of another tug from Dover fought the fire, however there was another explosion during the night, prompting the decision to leave the vessel to burn herself out. The insurers of the ship declared her a constructive total loss. She was later sent to Spain for scrapping.
Around 500 tonnes of bunker oil and ballast were released in the incident.


Gamlebyen Church

Gamlebyen Church is a private church, belonging to Oslo University Hospital and is also called "Oslo Hospital's" Church, located in the old town of Oslo, Norway. It is leased to the Diocese of Oslo of the Church of Norway and serves as the parish church for the Gamlebyen parish in Oslo. Up to 1925 it had the name Oslo Church, but when the city changed its name from "Kristiania" to "Oslo", the church got the present name. The present church building is listed in 1796 partly on the foundations of the Franciscan monastery church built around 1290. The church is located at the foot of the north-facing slope Ekeberg, across the street from the Gamlebyen Cemetery. The chapel at the cemetery is abandoned as a burial chapel and leased to the Ethiopian community in Oslo. At funerals, the church itself is now used instead.
History.
"The abbey Church" which was built towards the end of the 1200s, was one of Oslo's earliest buildings constructed of brick which came from Duke Hakon's brickworks on the banks of the Alna River.
After the Protestant Reformation in 1536 the church was converted into a hospital.
In 1567, during the Swedish attack, the first church was destroyed. On the ruins of the abbey, the building was divided into several floors and served thereafter as a hospital building with a church on the first floor. The house now known as the "stone building" was added later. This is regarded today as the oldest hospital building. During the 1700s there were also several buildings, including "Dollhuset" for psychiatric patients.
In 1734, a new church was built on the foundations of the nave. After the last fire on 13 January 1794 the church was rebuilt in Louis XVI style two years later, again in brick. The old medieval choir was demolished and replaced with a tower that stands there today. The newly built church was opened on 11 May 1796. In the 1800s the church was rebuilt several times. In the period 1934-1939, it was renovated by architect William K. Essendrop, reestablishing its earlier appearance. The flat murtaket was replaced with an arched vault, and a new sacristy was built. The church was reopened on Christmas Eve 1939, in the presence of King Haakon VII.
Today's church.
The church has seating for just 200 people. It is one of the oldest churches in Oslo that is still in use. The main building is from 1796. The Stone Building is from 1737. In 1880, seating was added and changes were made to the altar and pulpit. From 1934 to 1939, extensive restoration reestablished the look of 1796. The pulpit from 1880 hangs above the altar but is not in use.


Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck

Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck (also: Sommelsdijk) (The Hague, 20 August 1637 - Paramaribo, 19 July 1688) was the first governor of Suriname after the establishment of the Society of Suriname in 1683. He was governor from 27 November 1683 until he was murdered by mutinous soldiers on 19 July 1688. Van Aerssen belonged to one of the richest families of the Dutch Golden Age.
Biography.
Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck was Lord of Sommelsdijk, Plaat, Bommel, and Spijk. Through his French wife Margaret, he was Marquis of Saint André Montbrun and Ferrassières.
He was the fourth generation of a line active in Dutch politics. After a political career in the Netherlands, in 1683 he became tired of Dutch public affairs. Accordingly, he acquired a one-third share of the Society of Suriname, the other shareholders being the Dutch West India Company and the city of Amsterdam. At that time Suriname was a very small colony.
Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck arrived in Paramaribo on 27 November 1683, and discovered a neglected colony. He started to encourage French Huguenots and Labadists to settle and start plantations in Suriname. In 1686, he made peace with the Amerindians tribes.
In order to develop Suriname, he brought in 300 soldiers. The drunken and disorderly conduct of the soldiers was not appreciated by van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck who started to impose strict laws on the soldiers. The soldiers started to complain about their pay and rations. On 19 July 1688, a mutiny started, twenty soldiers advanced to his house, and shot Van Sommelsdijck and his assistant Laurens Verboom.
During his lifetime, he was rumoured to be one of the richest people of Amsterdam. After his death, it was revealed that he had immense debts.


Budapest Spring Festival

Budapest Spring Festival (Hungarian: "Budapesti Tavaszi Fesztivál") is the major arts festival of Budapest, Hungary, sponsored by the city government.
The festival is focused on traditional arts, and is larger than its sister event the Budapest Autumn Festival, which is primarily for modern and avant garde performances.


Sadko (submarine)

Sadko is a civilian submarine launched in 1997. She was designed by the Rubin Design Bureau, which had previously designed nuclear submarines for the Soviet and Russian navies. Capable of holding 40 passengers and diving to depth "Sadko" is intended for use as a tourist excursion vessel. She operated initially in Saint Lucia but since 2001 has been based in Cyprus where she operates out of Larnaca.
Design.
"Sadko" was designed by the Rubin Design Bureau, which had previously designed two-thirds of the Russian and Soviet Navy's nuclear submarines. Rubin had started to design civilian submarines, intended for use on tourist excursions, in 1988. Its first design "Neptun" was launched in 1991. "Sadko" was designed in 1994 as a development of the "Neptun". The project was an example of military technology being turned to civilian use and the vessel was named after Sadko, a Slavic fairytale character who had adventures on the seafloor.
"Sadko" measures in length, holds 40 passengers and has 22 portholes for underwater viewing. She is propelled by an all-electric drive and has no hydraulic systems, minimising the risk to the environment from fluid spills. She was designed to dive up to underwater and can remain there for three days. Her speed is . It was hoped that she would be leased for use by a tourism operator in the Caribbean, Mediterranean or Malaysia and Rubin had plans for further vessels of a similar design.
"Sadko" was built by Petrozavod in St Petersburg. Her construction was hampered by the period of hyperinflation and economic crisis of 1994–95 but was completed in 1997. "Sadko" was blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest in a ceremony on 19 June 1997 and was launched at 4 a.m. on 26 June. She was transported by road from the shipyard to the dock. With the water too shallow for her to be safely launched she was transported by barge to deeper waters.
Service.
"Sadko" operated firstly in Saint Lucia in the Caribbean but since 2001 has operated in Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Based out of Larnaca she is Russian-owned and operated, under the Larnaca Napa Sea Cruises brand. She makes trips that offer tourists views of marine life only normally visible to scuba divers. To attract fish to the vicinity the submarine is accompanied by a scuba diver who distributes chum as bait. This practice has been criticised for distorting the natural food chain. "Sadko" has also made trips to a number of shipwrecks in Cyprus such as HMS "Cricket" and the ferry "Zenobia", as well as a sunken helicopter and armoured car.


Robert van Voerst

Robert van Voerst (bapt. 8 December 1597 in Deventer – before October 1636 in London) was a Dutch engraver.
He studied under Crispin van de Passe. He arrived in England in 1628 and soon afterwards Charles I of England appointed him his royal engraver. He principally reproduced works by Anthony van Dyck, also active in the British court, who gave van Voerst the exclusive commission on reproducing his portraits.


A Gun for Sale

A Gun for Sale is a 1936 novel by Graham Greene about a criminal called Raven, a man dedicated to ugly deeds. When he is paid, with stolen notes, for killing the Minister of War, he becomes a man on the run. Tracking down the agent who double-crossed him, and eluding the police simultaneously, he becomes both the hunter and the hunted. The novel was published and filmed in the United States under the title "This Gun for Hire".
The novel prefigures Greene's later, more famous, work, "Brighton Rock", wherein Pinkie Brown's killing of Hale sets the events of the novel in motion in much the same way that Raven's assassination of the Minister of War sows the seeds for conflict in "A Gun for Sale".
Plot summary.
Raven, an English assassin, is hired to kill a government minister in a European country (in fact, Czechoslovakia), an act calculated to provoke a European war. Returning to London, he is paid off in cash by his contact, who uses the false name "Cholmondeley". However, when Raven starts spending the notes, he discovers they were stolen. Furious at being cheated and hunted by the police who think he was the thief, without a ticket he follows "Cholmondeley" onto a train going to Nottwich.
Also on the train is Anne Crowder, a chorus girl travelling to start work in a pantomime. Her fiancée, Mather, is the detective leading the hunt for Raven. At Nottwich, Raven uses Anne's ticket to get off the station and, since she has recognised him, he takes her to an empty house to kill her. Escaping, she does not report what has happened, out of sympathy for Raven, but instead goes to the theatre to work. There, she is asked out to dinner by one of the backers, Davis, who is "Cholmondeley". After dinner he takes her to a house where, when he realises she knows about his involvement with Raven, he smothers her, though he does not kill her.
The owner of the house helps herself to Anne's smart monogrammed handbag and the next day is seen with it in the street by Raven, who forces his way into the house and finds Anne weak but still alive. She agrees to co-operate with him, since both want Davis/Cholmondeley dead, and he takes her to a hideout he has found. While in hiding, they discuss Raven's murder of the government minister; Raven also talks to Anne about his childhood and the difficult circumstances in which he discovered his mother's suicide—details that will anticipate Raven's own death and the imagery the novel uses to depict his final moments.
In the night, the hideout is surrounded by police, led by Jimmy Mather, and Anne decoys them so that Raven can escape. Nonetheless, Raven has to shoot and wound a policeman to flee. There is gas drill practice, in preparation for war, and everyone, except Raven, is wearing a gas-mask, so he forces a student participating in a rag to undress and give him his clothes and gas mask.
Thusly disguised as a student participating in the rag stunt, Raven spots Davis, without a gas-mask, in the street, and fines him for charity. Davis says he has no cash and will pay him in his office. Going there, Raven discovers it is the headquarters of a giant steel company that will profit hugely from a war and that the boss is Sir Marcus, a corrupt industrialist. Upon discovering that Marcus is Davis/Cholmondeley's boss Raven takes him at gunpoint up to the suite of Sir Marcus. After explaining his reasons, he kills both men and is himself shot dead by police who have surrounded the building.
Publication history and adaptations.
The novel was first published by Doubleday Doran in the US in June 1936 as "This Gun for Hire" and by William Heinemann in the UK in July 1936 as "A Gun for Sale". Several film and television adaptations have been made; a 1942 film version transposed to wartime California starred Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake under the title "This Gun for Hire", a Turkish adaptation ("Günes Dogmasin") was made in 1961 and 1972 as "Yaralı Kurt", and an Italian television mini-series, "Una pistola in vendita", followed in 1970. The 1942 film was remade in 1957 under the title "Short Cut to Hell" and as a TV movie in 1991 starring Robert Wagner.


Arno Rutte

 Arno Rutte (born 24 April 1972 in Hengelo) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie) he has been an MP since 20 September 2012. Previously he was a member of the municipal council of Groningen from 2010 to 2012.
He is also the singer of the band 'Hairy Harry & The Ladyshavers'.
In August 2019 he announced he was going to leave the House of Representatives.
He is unrelated to Prime Minister and Party Leader Mark Rutte.


Battle of Nijmegen

The Battle of Nijmegen or Liberation of Nijmegen occurred in the Netherlands from 17 to 20 September 1944, as part of Operation Market Garden during World War II.
The Allies' primary goal was to capture the two bridges over the Waal River at Nijmegen – the road route over the "Waalbrug" (Waal Bridge) and Nijmegen railway bridge – and relieve the British 1st Airborne Division and Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade at Arnhem, 10 miles (16 km) north of Nijmegen. The Allied infantry units at Arnhem were surrounded by German forces, and involved in heavy fighting for control of bridges over the Rhine.
Delays caused by hastily-organised German reinforcements at Nijmegen ultimately led to the failure of Operation Market Garden. It took the Allies longer than expected to secure a land route to Arnhem, where the British and Polish forces were forced south of the Rhine and sustained massive casualties. In addition, fighting at Nijmegen cost hundreds of civilian lives, and caused significant damage to many buildings in the city.
Background.
The River Waal at Nijmegen was an important natural barrier, which was not overarched until 1879 by the Railway Bridge, and in 1936 by the Road Bridge, commonly known as the Waal Bridge. At the time, the Waal Bridge was a remarkable feat of engineering: it was the longest tied-arch bridge in Europe. On 10 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands, the Waal Bridge had been demolished by Dutch military engineers to prevent a rapid advance of the Wehrmacht. In the course of the German occupation, the bridge was repaired, and reopened in 1943.
On 22 February 1944, the Allied Bombing of Nijmegen took place. Its intended target of opportunity was the railway station area (which the Germans used for weapons transport), but because the attack was carelessly executed, most bombs dropped on residential buildings in the city centre, killing about 800 civilians. After the fact, the Nazis seized on the incident, and focused their propaganda on it, attempting to sway popular opinion against the Allies. Their efforts failed, however, and may have even been counterproductive. On the eve of Market Garden, most Nijmegeners were passionately awaiting Allied liberation, despite the bombardment.
That liberation seemed to come soon when in late August Heeresgruppe B collapsed in Normandy and made a rushed, chaotic retreat to Germany, leaving the Allies to capture Northern France and Belgium in a matter of days. Reports spread that the British had conquered Brussels and Antwerp on 3 and 4 September, and allegedly –but incorrectly– Breda as well. This gave rise to a euphoric ambiance throughout the Netherlands on the next day, later known as Mad Tuesday, when one exaggerated rumour after another fed the hope that liberation would occur in a matter of hours. However, the German forces managed to regroup, and would not be driven out of the Netherlands without a fight. British general Montgomery then designed the ambitious plan Market Garden, to surprise the Germans by the deployment of airborne forces. These would quickly seize several crucial bridges across major rivers, after which the heavy armour could advance straight through the Netherlands, along Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, and reach the Ruhr, where a vital part of Germany's war industry was located. The airborne landings were given the codename "Market," and the ground force operation was given codename "Garden." The airborne drop would capture the bridges, and the ground forces would be the main invasion. The airborne drop would secure the bridges that were vulnerable to being blown up by the Germans and protect the invasion route. The operation may have been sufficient to finish the war before the end of 1944.
Preparation.
The success of Market Garden depended on the timely and intact capture of a number of bridges in the southeastern Netherlands by American, British, Polish and Canadian airborne forces. These were to clear the way, Highway 69 or later nicknamed "Hell's Highway"– from Belgium to the north Nether Rhine bank for the advance of the heavily armed British XXX Corps (supported by the Guards Armoured Division), consisting of dozens of Sherman tanks and artillery. If this firepower could be moved across all major Dutch rivers in time, Germany might be defeated and the war ended before 1945.
The 82nd Airborne Division – comprising the 504th, 505th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIRs)– commanded by Brigadier General James Gavin, was tasked with taking all of the bridges between Grave and Arnhem. The bridges in question were the Grave Bridge, four bridges spanning the Maas–Waal Canal, the Railway Bridge and, most importantly of all, the Waal Bridge near Nijmegen. The 82nd's main body and the 504th PIR would land north and south of Grave to capture the first 5 bridges, while the 505th and 508th PIRs would jump at Groesbeek to secure the vital Groesbeek Heights to block any German counterattacks from the Klever Reichswald, to advance towards Nijmegen and lastly to occupy the Waal Bridge.
Course of the battle.
The Grave, Canal and Road (Waal) bridges.
On 17 September at 12:30, Companies D, E and F of the 504th PIR (placed under the 82nd Division for the operation) were dropped near the Grave Bridge, which was seized and defended successfully against German counterattacks after a two to three hour firefight. The 1st Battalion of the 504th, led by Major Harrison, had to seize the four Canal bridges, designated as no. 7, 8, 9 and 10. Bridge 8 was destroyed by the Germans at 16:15; Bridge 9 near Hatert was blown up at 20:15 as well; but at 19:00, Bridge 7 near Heumen was captured by the Americans. At around 02:30 on 18 September, Companies F, D and HQ occupied Grave without any resistance; they waited until the arrival of the British XXX Corps, which came at 08:30.
At about 18:00 on 17 September, the 1st Battalion, 508th PIR (1/508th) left its half-dug trenches at Groesbeek and advanced towards Nijmegen to take the Road Bridge. Ironically, this particular initiative may have resulted from miscommunication between Gavin and Colonel Roy E. Lindquist, commander of 1/508th PIR, allowing a delayed advance on the bridge giving German troops enough time to occupy the bridge. The 82nd Division's own website states:
March on Nijmegen.
17 September: battle of Keizer Karelplein.
Around 22:00, Companies A and B of 1/508th advanced, whilst C waited. Company A was guided by a member of the Dutch resistance for about 8 km until a crossroads at the southern end of Nijmegen, where he suddenly disappeared and was never seen again. After long waiting, the American soldiers decided to march on. Several blocks before the Keizer Karelplein, a platoon came under fire by a German machine gun, which, however, was soon taken out. On the square, a major firefight broke out: German soldiers shot at the paratroopers from the square's centre and the houses surrounding it.
Both the Germans and the Americans received reinforcements (the latter first Company B 1/508th, later other companies). However, when the German 406th Infantry Division attacked the landing zones near Groesbeek in the morning of 18 September, almost the entire 1/508th was pulled back. Only Company G 3/508th stayed in town in an attempt to capture the Road Bridge anyway. They relinquished the Keizer Karelplein, and tried a more eastern route, systematically cleaning up every German guard post underway, and almost reaching the bridge.
Waal Bridge not demolished.
The Allies' greatest fear was that the Germans would blow up the Road Bridge, which would render Market Garden a failure. Indeed, the Germans had already installed explosives on the bridge, ready to be detonated when that would be deemed necessary, but this never happened during the entire battle. Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model, commander of the German forces in the Netherlands, counted on an Allied defeat at Arnhem. This meant the bridge could still be of use for a large-scale counteroffensive, and so it was not destroyed on 17 September. On 18 September, resistance member Jan van Hoof allegedly sabotaged the explosives, but this remains uncertain. However, when he was arrested and executed by the Germans the next day, he was soon heroised as the "Saviour of the Waal Bridge". An official investigation after the war concluded the Germans would have had enough time to charge the bridge with explosives once more and demolish it anyway; however, they again did not do so out of strategic considerations. According to another hypothesis, the Germans supposedly failed to blow up the bridge on 20 September, because the ignition system malfunctioned.
18 September: German reinforcements.
On 18 September, Model sent reinforcements from Arnhem to keep the Waal Bridge out of the Allies' hands. Because elements of the British 1st Airborne Division were still in control of the Arnhem bridge at the time, the 1. Kompagnie SS-Panzer-Pionier-Abteilung commanded by SS-Untersturmführer Werner Baumgärtel and the 2. Bataillon SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 19 under leadership of SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl-Heinz Euling crossed the Rhine at Pannerden as the 500 man strong 'Kampfgruppe Euling', used the still intact Waal Bridge and dug in at the Hunnerpark. These reinforcements enabled the SS to regroup under the command of Sturmbannführer Leo Reinhold, who set up his headquarters on the north Waal bank. Fallschirmjäger Oberst Henke prepared the Railway Bridge's defences. The two roundabouts and beltway were reinforced during the next 48 hours. The Americans would have to wait for the XXX Corps' help in taking the bridges, even though according to the planning, they should have been captured before the British arrival.
19 September: battle of Keizer Lodewijkplein.
The British and American commanders Browning (British 1st Airborne Division), Gavin (82nd Airborne Division), Horrocks (XXX Corps) and Adair (British Guards Armoured Division) held a meeting in the morning of 19 September in Molenhoek to determine their strategy. The binational force was split in two groups: the western group would take the Railway Bridge, and the eastern group the Road Bridge. The arrival of the British gave Gavin the necessary sense of security to send some of his troops from the Groesbeek Heights to join the assault.
At 16:00, the Anglo-American combat forces moved into town, resulting in a heavy firefight at the Keizer Lodewijkplein. The British tanks and armour exchanged fire with the German anti-tank cannons and infantry entrenched at the Valkhof fortress, while the American paratroopers fortified themselves in residential buildings on the square's south side. Meanwhile, heavy German artillery bombarded the attackers from Lent across the river Waal.
Soon it became apparent that a mere head-on assault on the German positions might take several more days. However, the Allies did not have that much time to spare in relieving the British troops in Arnhem. It necessitated capturing the north end of both bridges to isolate the German forces on the south bank. To accomplish this, infantry would have to cross the river under fire. The 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR crossed the Heumen bridge in the evening of 19 September, and set up camp in the Jonkerbos at 21:15. Brigadier General Gavin ordered Captain Julian Cook to find boats to cross the Waal. Initially, Cook had no idea where to get them. Eventually, canvas boats had to be transported from Belgium, delaying the Waal crossing by a day. Originally, these would be 32 boats, but underway a truck carrying six boats was destroyed, and so only 26 reached their destination.
20 September: battle of Nijmegen centre.
To make the river crossing a success, a renewed attack on the bridge's south sides was needed to divert the enemy's attention and firepower. Nijmegen's city centre had to be swept clean systematically first, block by block. This operation began in the morning of 20 September at 08:30, succeeding unexpectedly quickly. The occupying force was easily pushed back, as long as it could delay the Allies. Much of the combat took place on rooftops, where parachutists rapidly hopped from one rooftop to the next. Only in the Kronenburgerpark, where the elite SS troops of Kampfgruppe Henke had a clear field of fire, did the advance go slowly. Meanwhile, the II. Fallschirmjäger Corps of General Eugen Meindl charged the U.S. formations at Groesbeek and Mook, but failed to force a breakthrough.
20 September 15:00 : Waal Crossing.
The planned crossing at 8:00 had to be delayed time and again because of logistical problems: the supply of canvas boats by truck from Belgium was difficult, since Hell's Highway was narrow, and constantly blocked by burnt-out vehicles.
The crossing finally took place at 15:00, about two kilometres downstream from the Waal Bridge, near the old Gelderland Power Plant. Two British Spitfires were to provide air support, but flak shot one down, after which the other returned to England. The men of the 3/504th were fired on by German tanks, artillery and small arms, suffering heavy losses (48 paratroopers were killed with several dozens more were wounded). Some boats capsized or sank during the crossing.
Despite the losses, at least 16 boats survived the initial crossing. A field telephone line was laid on the riverbed for communication across the river.
In several waves, most of the assault force from 3/504th succeeded in crossing the river.
By the late afternoon, 3/504th had taken the northern end of the railway bridge, and began preparations for a German counterattack. Instead, however, at dusk about 200 to 300 German soldiers approached the Americans to surrender. Around the same time, the Waal Bridge's northern end was seized by another group after heavy fighting. The 1st Battalion then relieved the 3rd to guard the railway bridge.
Time was ticking away for the British tanks and artillery on the south bank of the Waal, as their munitions were running low. This and unforeseen delays in supply logistics presented a long-term problem, because of the munitions required by XXX Corps to complete its advance to the Rhine.
In the battle for the Waal Bridge in the Hunnerpark and on the Keizer Lodewijkplein, over 300 of Kampfgruppe Euling's 500 soldiers lost their lives, 60 were taken prisoners, and the rest were able to escape.
Aftermath.
March halted.
Around the same time the Nijmegen bridges were captured, the British paratroopers under John Frost had to surrender the Arnhem Bridge to the Germans. A rapid advance from Nijmegen to Arnhem to retake the bridge, was blocked by a combination of factors, including sunset, unfamiliarity with the terrain ahead (the Betuwe), German reinforcements near Ressen coming from Arnhem (3 Tiger tanks and 2 infantry companies), ongoing firefights and chaos in Nijmegen, and continuous logistical problems on "Hell's Highway", due to events such as the German counterattacks near Veghel. The march of XXX Corps was delayed for another 18 hours after the Waal Bridge's conquest, but eventually it was so worn out after 5 days of combat, that the offensive could not be resumed. On 21 September, a battle near Elst obstructed further progress of the XXX Corps and the Guards Armoured Division on the road to Arnhem. The 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division played an important role on 22 September by creating a side corridor to Oosterbeek (where the British parachutists under Roy Urquhart had fortified themselves against a superior German enemy that vastly outnumbered them) via Driel (just liberated by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade under Stanisław Sosabowski). Attempts were made to still turn the Battle of Arnhem into an Allied success now that the forces were linked up, but these were thwarted on 23 September. On 24 September, the XXX Corps' generals decided in the Valburg Conference to abandon Market Garden, pull the troops out of Arnhem, and let the frontline fall back to Nijmegen. Remaining British troops tried to escape to the south, or hide in occupied territory. During Operation Berlin (25–26 September), more than 2,400 of them could be evacuated with Canadian help. Operation Pegasus (22–23 October) managed to save another 100.
Nijmegen front city.
After the Allied withdrawal from Arnhem and the Betuwe, the frontline was again at Nijmegen, which would be bombarded regularly for the next five months. Historians wonder why Nijmegen was not evacuated right after liberation –just like Arnhem would be by the Germans on 23 September – which could have prevented hundreds of extra civilian casualties. The German forces especially tried to destroy the Waal Bridge on several occasions in numerous ways, but they failed every time. The best attempt took place on 29 September, just before 17:30. A group of German "Kampfschwimmer" ("combat swimmers") succeeded in placing floating mines on both bridges, managing to destroy the middle section of the Railway Bridge, and blowing a hole in the road deck of the Road Bridge. However, the latter could be saved with a British bailey bridge.
Political revolution.
On 17 September NSB burgemeester Marius van Lokhorst and the more moderate NSB locum burgemeester Harmanus Hondius were put out of office by the Allies. Hondius fled to Arnhem, whilst Van Lokhorst had already fled to Groningen around Mad Tuesday. Petrus van der Velden was installed as the new burgemeester on 19 September. This aroused a lot of criticism from the Nijmegeners, because during his previous tenure as burgemeester (1 May 1942 – 24 February 1943) he had complied more with the commands of the German occupiers than his predecessor. On 16 October 1944, he was succeeded by Charles Hustinx, who would remain burgemeester of Nijmegen until 1 January 1968.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands, which the Germans temporarily moved from The Hague to Nijmegen in 1943, was partially purged after the liberation. Justice Minister Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, who still resided in London, ordered the dismissal of all pro-Nazi judges appointed by the Germans, but also the temporary suspension of all other judges of the Supreme Court, including those who had already been appointed before the war, which was unconstitutional. Besides, although Nijmegen already lay in liberated territory, most judges who were fired by the Zuivering-Decreet were still in occupied areas, leading to a complex legal situation.
Historiography and memory.
During the Battle of Nijmegen, there were only two reporters with the 82nd Airborne Division at hotel Sionshof, and they were both busy covering the actions on the Groesbeek Heights. Therefore, contemporary British and American press did not pay much attention to what was happening in Nijmegen, which had to be reconstructed from other sources later.
Historian Joost Rosendaal found out that the Bombing of Nijmegen of 22 February 1944 has been registered in collective memory much more clearly than the liberation and the five months as a front line city, even though these caused roughly the same number of casualties. The city suffered about 7% (over two thousand) of all war deaths in the Netherlands, which is far out of proportion. Moreover, many of the fallen were not commemorated officially for many years, because they were 'pointless' civilian casualties; the nationalistic commemorations preferred to give attention to 'heroic sacrifices' such as soldiers and resistance members who 'died for the fatherland'.
In the course of the war, 10,000 Nijmegeners were wounded, 5,500 of whom were permanently disabled. 5,000 houses (nearly a quarter) were destroyed, and another 13,000 homes were more or less heavily damaged. With 12,000 homeless people and another 3,000 evacuees from the surrounding areas, there was an extreme post-war housing crisis.


Yugoslav torpedo boat T6

T6 was a sea-going torpedo boat that was operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1941, after spending World War I in Austro-Hungarian Navy service. Originally 93 F, she was a 250t-class torpedo boat built in 1915–1916. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, escort, patrol and minesweeping tasks, and anti-submarine operations. Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, "93 F" was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became the Royal Yugoslav Navy, and was renamed "T6". At the time, she and the seven other 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels of the fledgling maritime force.
During the interwar period, "T6" and the rest of the navy were involved in training exercises and cruises to friendly ports, but activity was limited by reduced naval budgets. The ship was captured by the Italians during the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. After her main armament was modernised, she served with the Royal Italian Navy under her Yugoslav designation, conducting coastal and second-line escort duties in the Adriatic. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, she was scuttled by her crew as she had insufficient fuel on board to reach an Allied port.
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 an expectation that the Strait of Otranto, where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian Sea, would be blockaded by hostile forces during a future conflict. In such circumstances, there would be a need for a torpedo boat that could still sail from the Austro-Hungarian Navy (, ) base at the Bocche di Cattaro (Bay of Kotor) to the Strait during the night, 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. Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) of Trieste was selected for the contract to build the first eight vessels, designated as the T-group. Another tender was requested for four more boats, but when Ganz & Danubius reduced their price by ten per cent, a total of sixteen boats were ordered from them, designated the F-group. The F-group designation signified the location of Ganz & Danubius' main shipyard at Fiume. "93 F" was the seventh boat of the F-group to be fully completed.
Description and construction.
The 250t-class F-group boats 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 38–41 officers and enlisted men. The boats were powered by two AEG-Curtiss steam turbines driving two propellers, using steam generated by two Yarrow water-tube boilers, one of which burned fuel oil and the other coal. The turbines were rated at with a maximum output of and designed to propel the boats to a top speed of . They carried of coal and of fuel oil, which gave them a range of at . The F-group had two funnels rather than the single funnel of the preceding T-group. Due to inadequate funding for a more robust design, "96 F" and the rest of the 250t class were essentially coastal vessels, despite the original intention that they would be used for "high seas" operations. The 250t-class were the first small Austro-Hungarian Navy boats to use turbines, and this contributed to ongoing problems with them.
The boats were armed with two Škoda L/30 guns, and four torpedo tubes. They could also carry 10–12 naval mines. Laid down on 9 January 1915, "93 F" was launched on 25 November 1915 and completed on 16 April 1916.
Career.
World War I and interwar period.
During World War I, "93 F" was used for convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, and anti-submarine operations. On 3 May 1916, "93 F" and five other 250-class torpedo boats 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 one of the destroyers. In 1917, one of her 66 mm guns was placed on an anti-aircraft mount. On the night of 11/12 May 1917, the , along with "93 F" and two other 250t-class boats, were pursued in the northern Adriatic by an Italian force of five destroyers, but were able to retire to safety behind a minefield. On 3 June, the destroyers and "Csikós", along with "93 F" and another 250t-class boat, had a brief encounter with three Italian MAS boats off the mouth of the Tagliamento River in the far north of the Adriatic. The boat survived the war intact.
In 1920, under the terms of the previous year's Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye by which rump Austria officially ended World War I, "93 F" was allocated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS, later Yugoslavia). Along with three other 250t-class F-group boats, "87 F", "96 F" and "97 F", and four 250t-class T-group boats, she served with the Royal Yugoslav Navy (, KJRM; ). Taken over in March 1921, in KJRM service, "93 F" was renamed "T6". When the navy was formed, she and the other seven 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels in the KJRM. In 1925, exercises were conducted off the Dalmatian coast, involving the majority of the navy. In May–June 1929, six of the eight 250t-class torpedo boats accompanied the light cruiser "Dalmacija", the submarine tender "Hvar" and the submarines and , on a cruise to Malta, the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia. It is not clear if "T6" was one of the torpedo boats involved. The ships and crews made a very good impression on the British while visiting Malta. In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that Yugoslav ships engaged in few exercises, manoeuvres or gunnery training due to reduced budgets.
World War II.
In April 1941, Yugoslavia entered World War II when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time of the invasion, "T6" was assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Division located at Šibenik, which included her three former F-group sisters. 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 Zara on the Dalmatian 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 four F-group boats were then captured by the Italians.
"T6" was then operated by the Italians under her Yugoslav designation, conducting coastal and second-line escort duties in the Adriatic. Her guns were replaced by two L/40 anti-aircraft guns, but no other significant alterations were made to her. After the Italians capitulated in September 1943, in order to avoid her falling into German hands "T6" was scuttled by her crew north of Rimini on 11 September as she had insufficient fuel on board to reach an Allied port.


Cornelis Schuyt

Cornelis Floriszoon Schuyt (1557 – 9 June 1616) was a Dutch organist and Renaissance composer.
Life.
Cornelis Floriszoon Schuyt was born in Leiden in 1557. He was the son of Floris Corneliszoon Schuyt (1529/30–1601), the organist of two churches in Leiden, the Pieterskerk and the Hooglandse Kerk.
Schuyt was introduced to Renaissance music. on a study trip to Italy.
In 1593, alongside his father, Schuyt became an organist in the Pieterskerk and the Hooglandse Kerk, . After his father's death in 1601, he became the Pieterskerk's main organist.
Schuyt published four volumes with compositions, with three volumes of madrigals. None of his organ music has survived.
Schuyt died on 9 June 1616 and was buried in the Pieterskerk, a church in Leiden.
Remembrance.
His name is written in the main hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the () in Amsterdam-Zuid is named after him.


Guillaume Daniel Delprat

Guillaume Daniel Delprat CBE (1 September 1856 – 15 March 1937) was a Dutch-Australian metallurgist, mining engineer, and businessman. He was a developer of the froth flotation process for separating minerals.
Delprat was born in Delft, the Netherlands, son of Major General Felix Albert Theodore Delprat (1812–1888), later minister of war, and his wife Elisabeth Francina, "née" van Santen Kolff.
Delprat attended a high school in Amsterdam and later became an apprentice engineer on the Tay Bridge in Scotland. He attended science classes in Newport-on-Tay and learned calculus from his father by post. On returning to the Netherlands, he is said to have acted as assistant to Johannes Diderik van der Waals, physics professor at the University of Amsterdam. From 1879 to 1882, Delprat worked in Spain at the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Mines.
In 1898, chairman E. N. Wigg of Broken Hill Proprietary invited Delprat to Australia to become Assistant General Manager of BHP. He moved there with his wife and children. On 1 April 1899, he was promoted to General Manager, a position he held until 1921. At BHP, he pioneered the froth flotation process for refining sulphide ore. Delprat foresaw the exhaustion of BHP's mine at Broken Hill, and pushed for moving the company's smelters to Port Pirie; also construction of the Iron Knob railways. He shifted BHP from silver and lead mining to zinc and sulphur production. These moves were the basis of BHP's later success.
Delprat also pushed construction of the BHP steelworks at Newcastle, New South Wales. The contract was signed on 24 September 1912 and the steelworks were opened by Governor-General Novar on 2 June 1915. For Delprat's visionary judgement in the project he was made a CBE.
In 1935 Delprat was the first recipient of the medal of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Family.
G. D. Delprat married Henrietta Maria Wilhelmina Sophia Jas (died 5 December 1937) in Holland on 4 September 1879. Their seven children included:


Nicolaas Hartsoeker

Nicolaas Hartsoeker (26 March 1656, in Gouda – 10 December 1725, in Utrecht) was a Dutch mathematician and physicist who invented the screw-barrel simple microscope circa 1694.
Biography.
He was the son of Anna van der Meij and Christiaan Hartsoeker (1626–1683), a Remonstrant minister in Moordrecht near Gouda. His father took the family to Alkmaar in 1661 and finally to Rotterdam in 1669. Nicolaas started to make a living as a lens maker in Rotterdam, and was instructed in optics by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. In 1674, he and a fellow student, assisted by Van Leeuwenhoek, were the first to observe semen, a situation that would later lead to a priority dispute between Hartsoeker and Leeuwenhoek over the discovery of spermatozoids.
In 1677, Hartsoeker met Christiaan Huygens and initiated him in the making of lenses. In June 1678, Hartsoeker accompanied, in the role of an assistant, Huygens on a trip to Paris, where they made a great impression with their microscopes. However, Huygens failed to mention Hartsoeker even once in a subsequent publication in France, leading to a fall-out between the two.
Hartsoeker returned to Rotterdam, where his parents still lived and where he married Elisabeth Vettekeucken in October 1680. His business as an instrument maker and wine merchant failed and, after the death of his father in August 1683, he moved his family in 1684 to Paris, where he made instruments for the Paris observatory and the academy. Hartsoeker also came up with contrivances for aiming very large aerial telescopes originally popularized by Huygens. He remained there until 1698.
It is often said that in 1694, while observing human sperm through a microscope, Hartsoeker believed that he saw tiny men inside the sperm, which he called homunculi or animalcules. However, he only postulated their existence as part of his spermist theory of conception and never claimed to have seen them. The 1694 "Essay on dioptrics", in which this hypothesis appears, was a highly lauded book, in fact tackling several misconceptions of the time. For example, Hartsoeker disavows the contemporary position (e.g. of Robert Hooke) that with refractor telescopes one soon would be able to see man-sized creatures on the moon, if any in fact existed.
At the end of the century, Hartsoeker had become quite famous. In 1699 he was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences and in 1704 of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, in both cases as one of the first foreign members. Czar Peter met him in Amsterdam and offered him the chair of mathematics in St Petersburg. Hartsoeker did not accept, but the czar did finance an observatory for him in Amsterdam. Later, in 1704, Hartsoeker accepted the offer of Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine to become "first mathematician and honorary professor of philosophy" at the University of Heidelberg. The last years of his life were spent in Utrecht.
External links.
Digitized works by Nicolaas Hartsoeker from the Linda Hall Library


Brethren of the Common Life

The Brethren of the Common Life (Latin: Fratres Vitae Communis, FVC) was a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a religious experience and preached a life of simple devotion to Jesus Christ. Without taking up irrevocable vows, the Brethren banded together in communities, giving up their worldly goods to live chaste and strictly regulated lives in common houses, devoting every waking hour to attending divine service, reading and preaching of sermons, labouring productively, and taking meals in common that were accompanied by the reading aloud of Scripture: "judged from the ascetic discipline and intention of this life, it had few features which distinguished it from life in a monastery", observes Hans Baron.
Gerard Groote.
Of wealthy burgher stock, Groote was born in Deventer in the Oversticht possession of the bishopric Utrecht in 1340. Having read at Cologne, at the Sorbonne, and at Prague, he took orders and obtained preferment, a canon's stall at Utrecht and another at Aachen. His relations with the German Gottesfreunde and the writings of John of Ruusbroec, who later became his friend, gradually inclined him to mysticism, and on recovering from an illness in 1373, he resigned his prebends, bestowed his goods on the Carthusians of Arnheim and lived in solitude for seven years.
Feeling himself constrained to go forth and preach, Groote went from place to place calling men to repentance, proclaiming the beauty of Divine love, and bewailing the relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline and the degradation of the clergy. The effect of his sermons was marvelous; thousands hung on his words.
A small band of followers attached themselves to Groote and became his fellow workers, thus becoming the first "Brethren of the Common Life" (). The reformer was opposed by many, including the clergy, for his preaching on moral decadence, and in 1383 his license to preach was revoked. Nonetheless, his zeal for purifying the Catholic faith and the morality of its followers won many to his cause. Members of the secular clergy even enrolled themselves in his brotherhood, which, in due course, was approved by the Pope.
The majority of the Brethren were laymen who did not take monastic vows. They devoted themselves to doing charitable work, nursing the sick, studying and teaching the Scriptures, and copying religious and inspirational works. They founded a number of schools that became famous for their high standards of learning. Many famous men attended their schools, including Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas à Kempis, and Erasmus, all of whom studied at the Brethren's school at Deventer.
Devotio Moderna.
The Brethren's confraternity is the best known fruits of the "Devotio Moderna", (the Modern Devotion), an undogmatic form of piety which some historians have argued helped to pave the road for the Protestant Reformation. In the fifteenth century, the movement spread to southern and western Germany.
Windesheim Congregation.
Groote, however, did not live long enough to finish the work he had begun. He died in 1384 and was succeeded by Florens Radewyns, who two years later refounded the famous monastery of Augustinian canons at Windesheim, near Zwolle, which was now the centre of the new association.
Education and activity.
The Confraternity of the Common Life were in many ways similar to the Beghard and Beguine communities which had flourished two centuries earlier but were by then declining. Its members took no vows and neither asked nor received alms; their first aim was to cultivate the interior life, and they worked for their daily bread.
Books and the library were central to the communities of Brethren, whose scrupulous copies of works of piety supported their houses and put the texts in which they found spiritual sustenance in many hands. The houses of the brothers and sisters occupied themselves with literature and education, and their priests also with preaching.
When Groote began, education in the Netherlands was still rare, unlike in Italy and the southern parts of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation; the University of Leme of the schools of Liège was only a vague memory. Apart from some of the clergy who had studied at the universities and cathedral schools in Paris or in Cologne, there were few scholars in the land; even amongst the higher clergy there were many who were ignorant of the scientific study of Latin, and the ordinary burgher of the Dutch cities was quite content if, when his children left school, they were able to read and write the Medieval Low German and Diets.
Groote determined to change all that. The Brethren worked consistently in the scriptorium; afterwards, with the printing press, they were able to publish their spiritual writings widely. Among them are to be found the best works of 15th-century Flemish prose. The Brethren spared no pains to obtain good masters, if necessary from foreign countries, for their schools, which became centres of spiritual and intellectual life of the Catholic Church; amongst those whom they trained or who were associated with them were men like Thomas à Kempis, Dierick Maertens, Gabriel Biel, the physician Vesalius, Jan Standonck (1454–1504), priest and reformer, Master of the Collège de Montaigu in Paris, and the Dutch Pope Adrian VI.
Martin Luther studied under the Brethren of the Common Life at Magdeburg before going on to the University of Erfurt. Another famous member of the Brethren of the Common Life was Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. His mystical and scholarly efforts produced many works of literature. One of his greatest contributions to the Christian faith was a critical Greek New Testament (1514) which challenged the previous New Testament text translations (specifically the Vulgate). Commonly called Erasmus, he embraced ecclesiastical structure yet challenged the Augustinian view (people do not choose God, but God is the only one who brings people into grace and salvation), the nature of the human will, and the corruption and problems of the late medieval church.
Through the trade connections of the Dutch Hanseatic cities Deventer and Zwolle the ideas of the Modern devotion spread over the whole of the Hanseatic trade area. Before the fifteenth century closed, the Brethren of the Common Life had placed in all Germany and the Netherlands schools in which teaching was offered "for the love of God alone."
Gradually the course of study, at first elementary, embraced the humanities, philosophy, and theology. The religious orders were not impressed, as the Brethren were neither monks nor friars, but they were protected by Popes Eugene IV, Pius II, and Sixtus IV. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa had been their pupil and so became their staunch protector and benefactor. He was also the patron of Rudolph Agricola (Rudolf de Boer), who in his youth at Zwolle had studied under Thomas à Kempis; and through this connection the Brethren of the Common Life, through Cusa and Agricola, influenced Erasmus and other adepts in the New Learning. More than half of the crowded schools —(in 1500, Deventer had over two thousand students) were swept away in the religious troubles of the sixteenth century. Others languished until the French Revolution, while the rise of universities, the creation of diocesan seminaries, and the competition of new teaching orders gradually extinguished the schools that regarded Deventer and Windesheim as their parent establishments.
Lutheran community in Herford.
The community of the Brethren in Herford went over bodily to the Reformation, but the local council nonetheless threatened to close their house. The Brethren wrote to Martin Luther 1532, who defended their community life by writing to the council of the city. To Jacob Montanus and Gerhard Wilskamp he wrote in the end of January 1532: "Your way of life, since you teach and live according to the Gospel, pleases me no end". If only "there had been, and today there were more convents like yours!...Abide by your way of life and use it to spread the Gospel (as you do)!" The house of the Brethren of the Common Life in Herford remained in existence as a Lutheran brotherhood until 1841.
Impact.
A 2016 study in the "Economic Journal" finds that the BCL "contributed to the high rates of literacy, to the high level of book production and to city growth in the Netherlands."


Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a fantasy novel written by Laini Taylor. Published in September 2011 by Hachette Book Group, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. The story follows Karou, a seventeen-year-old Prague art student. Karou was raised by chimaera, or creatures that have attributes of different animals and humans. The chimaera she lives with demand teeth in exchange for wishes and send Karou to fetch these teeth for them. In the beginning, Karou has yet to discover what the teeth are eventually used for and why there are rules such as "no baby teeth" and "no rotting". While on one of these missions, Karou finds a seraph named Akiva who finds something familiar in her. "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" received high reviews from critics such as Chelsey Philpot from "The New York Times", and Universal Pictures has acquired the rights for a film adaptation.
"Daughter of Smoke and Bone" is the first in a trilogy. The second book, "Days of Blood and Starlight", was released on 6 November 2012. The third and final book, "Dreams of Gods and Monsters", was released on 8 April 2014.
Plot summary.
Karou, a 17-year-old art student living in Prague, goes about her daily life attending classes and hanging out with her best friend Zuzana, while simultaneously trying to evade her ex-boyfriend Kazimir. It is soon revealed, however, that Karou was raised by four chimaera living in a workshop on a trans-dimensional plane between the human world and Eretz, from where the chimaera originate. The workshop is owned by Brimstone, who is her father figure.
While with Zuzana, Karou is summoned by Brimstone to do a job, which requires her to collect teeth - both of human and animal origin - from her world and bring them to him. He uses the teeth for unspecified purposes and pays Karou in physical trinkets which she uses to perform wishes. Karou, having grown weary of her job, which usually includes dealings with illegal dealers and graverobbers, reluctantly departs. When she returns to the workshop via portal doors that connects to all parts of the world, she finds the door scorched with a black handmark.
Across the world, more of Brimstone's doors are marked with the black handmark. The perpetrators turn out to be an angel named Akiva and his, essentially brother and sister, Liraz and Hazael, belonging to a race of seraphim at war with the chimaera in their local Eretz. When Karou returns to the workshop for another mission, the chimaera tell her of their fears of her "taking her freedom" and abandoning them. Feeling uncomfortable with the thought of leaving her family, Karou ventures into Morocco to purchase human teeth from an old graverobber, Izil, who is burdened with a cursed angel, Razgut, on his shoulder. In her meeting with this man, the graverobber tells her Brimstone once asked to purchase baby teeth.
Razgut recognizes and makes contact with Akiva, who was watching Karou. Akiva promptly attacks Karou, and she barely escapes his sword by fleeing into the workshop through a portal door. Inside of the workshop, Karou is taken by curiosity and decides to slip beyond the door leading to Eretz and has her first look at this world. When Brimstone discovers her, however, he is taken by anger and returns her to Prague, sealing off the entrance back in. While Karou is sealed off from Brimstone's workshop, all the portals in the human world leading to it are burned away by the seraph's black handprints. Consumed by a desire to see her family again, Karou travels the world, taking the physical wishes from Brimstone's teeth dealers by force. She eventually uses one of her wishes to obtain the ability to fly. In Marrakech, she connects with Razgut, and makes a deal with him to take her to Eretz. She returns one last time to Prague for the sake of seeing Zuzana's puppet show. In Prague, however, Karou is once more pursued by Akiva. She confronts and defeats him in a mid-air battle, and takes him to her apartment, where she questions him about Eretz and the chimaera-seraphim war. She strikes up a careful friendship with the angel. Eventually, Akiva discovers Karou's wishbone-necklace - the only thing she still has left from her chimaera family - and cries out, proclaiming he knows who she "really" is.
Upon realizing Karou's identity, Akiva defies his brother and sister, who want Karou dead. In a confrontation that takes place in public, exposing angels to the human world, Akiva sends Karou off to safety from his siblings. In Akiva's flashbacks, the truth is unveiled - Brimstone's business was to build new bodies using the teeth he collects, by which means he was able to endlessly resurrect fallen chimaera soldiers in the war against the seraphim, and "Karou" is simply the human incarnation of a deceased chimaera - born into a human body using the baby teeth once mentioned by Izil. Karou's original identity was that of Madrigal Kirin, a chimaera who once spared the life of Akiva when she found him on the battlefield, and subsequently fell in love and started an affair with the seraph. Because of this, she was eventually publicly executed. Once Akiva realizes this, he also helps Karou see the truth by shattering her wishbone necklace, restoring the memories of Karou's previous life. At last, however, Akiva must also reveal to her that his previous efforts to end the seraphim-chimaera war was by destroying Brimstone's business, and that all Karou's chimaera family is dead.
Critical reception.
"The New York Times" reviewed "Daughter of Smoke and Bone". The reviewer was disappointed that it was the first in a series, saying that she "felt stood up", but was positive of the book in itself. She called it a "breath-catching romantic fantasy" and said that the "descriptions and language stop your heart and then ... start it up again." She ended by saying that even though she had wanted it to be its own book, she would "be back for more".
"Kirkus Reviews" also reviewed "Smoke and Bone" and were also rather positive. They said that though the novel "hinges on major contrivances", the language was "heightened ... even casual banter came off as wildly funny". The review ended with saying that the series began "deliciously".
"Daughter of Smoke and Bone" was a finalist for the 2011 Andre Norton Award.
Film adaptation.
Universal Pictures acquired the rights for a film adaptation. The producer for the movie was announced on 18 December 2012 to be Joe Roth. Stuart Beattie was attached as writer. However as of 2021, no film has been made.


Giel Beelen

Michiel Antonius Adrianus Beelen (born 25 May 1977 in Haarlem), better known as Giel Beelen, is a Dutch radio DJ and presenter, working primarily for public broadcaster VARA. Since 2004 Beelen hosted his own breakfast show "GIEL!" on national radio station 3FM.
In 2014 Beelen achieved a Guinness World Record for the longest radio DJ marathon ever, lasting 198 hours of non-stop broadcasting, after having improved the world record for the longest duration continuous crowd surfing in 2011.
Other shows Beelen presented were the Friday night show 'FreakNacht' from 1:00 to 4:00 am, as well as the extreme participation TV show "Factor giel" and a TV talk show called "GielTV". In one part he and the interviewed person are naked (but largely this amounts to showing the bare shoulders).
Career.
From an early age, Beelen was determined to become a disc jockey. When he was just a little kid, he made himself a mock radio station to pretend he was a dj. After starting at a local Haarlem broadcasting company, presenting a show for kids, he soon moved to Radio 10 Gold and later to Radio Noordzee to work as an engineer.
In 1997 Beelen moved to the AVRO at Radio 3FM, where he hosted a show during night time.
In October 2003 he won a Dutch Marconi Award, for best radiomaker of 2003. He won the award again in 2005, 2006 & 2007.
From 2004 until 2017 Giel worked for the NPS, back to the VARA, to present his breakfast show 'GIEL!' and his Friday night show Nachtegiel, as part of 'The Friday Freak Night'.
The Friday Freak night has also, Ekdom in de nacht ('Ekdom in the night'), presented by Gerard Ekdom, between 4.00 and 7.00 am.
Since 2017 Beelen has a morning show at Radio Veronica.
In 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 he lived in the Glass House ("Het Glazen Huis") a week prior to Christmas without anything to eat to collect money for projects supported by the Red Cross in a show called Serious Request.


Torkel Knutsson

Torkel (Tyrgils or Torgils) Knutsson (d. 1306) was Lord High Constable of Sweden, member of the Privy Council of Sweden ("Riksråd"), and virtual ruler of Sweden during the early reign of King Birger Magnusson (1280–1321).
Biography.
Torkel hailed from an old noble family of West Geatish ancestry and was related to the House of Bjelbo ("Folkungaätten"). He was first mentioned in 1282. In documents from 1288, he is mentioned as a knight and a member of the privy council ("Riksråd").
Career.
Before his death, King Magnus Ladulås (ca. 1240-1290) ordered his kinsman, Torgils Knutsson, the Constable of the Realm, to be the guardian of his son Birger. When King Magnus Ladulås died, Torkel became regent for the underage Birger Magnusson (1280–1321).
When Tavastland had been attacked by the Republic of Novgorod, in 1292, Torkel led the Third Swedish Crusade against Novgorod, in 1293 and conquered parts of Karelia, where he founded the stronghold of Vyborg Castle. In 1299–1300, he led an attack against the Novgorodians, and he founded the Landskrona fortress on Okhta river at the influx of Neva.
The old trade treaties with Lübeck were re-established, on condition that the town did not provide Novgorod with weapons or provisions.
Torkel showed the same concerns about Swedish domestic politics. During his regency, the law of Uppland was established. He acted as Birger Jarl had done in the conflict against the church, in order to abolish the clergy's tax exemption. The clergy's discontent became apparent in 1303.
In the struggles between King Birger Magnusson and his brothers, Erik Magnusson, Duke of Svealand (c. 1282 – 1318) and Valdemar Magnusson, Duke of Finland (c. 1282 – 1318), Torkel was faithfully on the king's side. At Torkel's castle Aranäs, in 1304, the two dukes had to sign a declaration that they would neither in Sweden, nor abroad, work against the king nor cause him harm. In spite of this declaration, the two dukes fled abroad and with the support of the Norwegian king Haakon V of Norway, they attacked Västergötland. Torkel helped the king conquer the castle of Nyköping, which belonged to Duke Eric, and in Kolsäter (1305), he forced the two dukes to sign a declaration that they would not cause any harm to Torkel either.
When the power of the dukes was on the rise again, Torkel had to reconcile with the church, and he ordered a charter on the renewal of the church's old rights, in 1305. However, Torkel was finally struck by the vengeance of his enemies. The dukes managed to win the trust of the king and poisoned the king's mind against Torkel In December 1305, King Birger and the dukes arrived at Torkel's estate of Lena (where formerly the Battle of Lena had taken place) in Västergötland, and arrested Torkel who was taken to Stockholm in chains. In February 1306, the marshal was decapitated. His body was interred at the place of execution. It was later moved and buried at the Franciscan church in Stockholm.
Family.
Torkel was married twice. His first wife, whose origins are unknown, gave him a daughter Kristina Torgilsdotter, who married Torkel's godson and later enemy Duke Valdemar. She appears to have been repudiated by the duke upon her father's execution, as Valdemar is soon reported to have married with Ingeborg Eriksdottir of Norway. Torkel's second wife was countess Hedvig of Ravensberg .
Remembrance.
Torkel's powerful personality and tragic end has been the matter of poetry, in e.g. B. v. Beskow's tragedy "Torkel Knutsson". A statue of Torkel (by Ville Vallgren) was raised, in 1908, on the square Rådhustorget in Vyborg.


Maaria

Maaria ("S:t Marie" in Swedish) is a former municipality of Finland in what is now the northern part of the city of Turku. The area has been inhabited since the Iron Age, and it became an important village in the 15th century with the construction of a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary (hence the district's name). Also Koroinen, with the former residence of the Bishop of Finland is in the area. The municipality of Maaria was founded in 1868, and it included the northern parts of modern Turku south of Paattinen, some enclaves to the north of Paattinen, and the island of Hirvensalo to the south of Turku.
In 1944, Hirvensalo, Raunistula and some other parts of the municipality were annexed into Turku, and the rest of the municipality followed suit in 1967. Since then, it has seen considerable growth. The Maaria Reservoir, which serves as an alternative source of tap water for Turku, was constructed in the area in 1982.
The area that used to be central Maaria is currently divided into the districts of Jäkärlä, Saramäki, Turku Airport and Yli-Maaria. The former municipality's name is preserved in administrative units such as the parish of Maaria, the district of Yli-Maaria and the ward of Maaria-Paattinen, which includes the five northern districts of Turku.


Sarina Prabasi

Sarina Prabasi (born 1973/1974) is a Nepalese-American charity executive specialising in international development. She served as chief executive officer (CEO) of WaterAid America from May 2014 to September 2019. She was previously Deputy Chief of Programs at Orbis International, and had been a Country Representative at WaterAid Ethiopia.
Prabasi is also an author, her first book, "The Coffee House Resistance Brewing Hope in Desperate Times", will be published April 9, 2019 by Green Writers Press. The book documents Prabasi's journey to become an American citizen and how the results of the 2016 election left the entire family feeling less certain about their place within their new home.
In addition to her charity work and writing, Prabasi co-founded Buunni Coffee with her husband in 2011. This is an independent company that sells its own roasted Ethiopian coffee; the coffee is organic and fair trade. They also a coffee shop called Café Buunni located in Upper Manhattan, New York.
Personal life.
Prabasi was born in The Hague, Netherlands, and was brought up in Nepal. She moved to the United States to attend university. She studied at Smith College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree having majored in economics. She later attended the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, graduating with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in development studies.
Prabasi is married to Elias, an Ethiopian. Together they have two daughters.
Honours.
In 2015, Prabasi was named one of the 'Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink' by "Food & Wine". In 2016, she was named a 'Woman of Influence' by the "New York Business Journal".
Published Work.
Prabasi's first book, The Coffee House Resistance Brewing Hope in Desperate Times will be published April 9, 2019.


Vondelpark

The Vondelpark is a public urban park of 47 hectares (120 acres) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is part of the borough of Amsterdam-Zuid and situated west from the Leidseplein and the Museumplein. The park was opened in 1865 and originally named Nieuwe Park (English: New Park), but later renamed Vondelpark, after the 17th-century playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel. The park has around 10 million visitors annually. Within the park is an open-air theatre, a playground and several food service facilities.
History.
19th century.
In 1864 a group of citizens led by Christiaan Pieter van Eeghen established the "Vereeniging tot Aanleg van een Rij- en Wandelpark" (). They bought several hectares of grass-land and marshes at the rim of the city of Amsterdam, in order to create the new park. They assigned its design to the architect Jan David Zocher, and in 1865 "Het Nieuwe Park" (English: "The New Park") was opened free for members of the association and with other citizens paying an entrance fee.
Two years after the park opened, in 1867, a statue of writer and playwright Joost van den Vondel by sculptor Louis Royer was placed in the park on a stand designed by architect Pierre Cuypers As a result, people started to call the park "Vondelspark" (English: "Vondel's Park").
In 1873 a bandstand was built. In the same year, brewer Gerard Adriaan Heineken was denied permission to open a bar in the park, so he built the "Bierhuis Vondel" (English: "Beer House Vondel") in a nearby street in what is now Vondelstraat 41.
The last part of the park was designed by Louis Paul Zocher, Jan David Zocher's son, and was realized from 1875 to 1877. The park then arrived at its current size of 47 hectares. The English garden style design of the Zochers has been roughly maintained, although in the late 19th century the elongated park had a stream of water running through it with many paths and bushes alongside it.
In 1878 the "Pavillon" (English: "Pavilion") was built to replace a wooden chalet built by Louis Paul Zocher. The "Pavillon" is currently known as the "Vondelparkpaviljoen" (English: "Vondelpark Pavilion"). The park's name officially became "Vondelpark" (English: "Vondel Park") in 1880.
Already in the 1880s and 1890s cycling in the park was causing problems. The park management tried to resolve this with restrictive measures against cyclists, such as special bike paths, limited opening hours, and fines for cyclists that were going faster than a horse's trot. It was only after mediation of the "Algemene Nederlandsche Wielrijders-Bond" (English: "General Dutch Cyclists Union"), that helped fund the park, that a park guard was installed and cyclists were again permitted to cycle normally.
20th century.
In 1936, a rose garden was created in the center of the park.
One year later in 1937, the "Blauwe Theehuis" (English: "Blue Tearoom") was opened. This tearoom is a round modernist building, designed by the architectural office Baanders.
In the following years the overall maintenance of the park became too expensive for the "Vereniging tot aanleg van een rij- en wandelpark" (English: "Association for the creation of a park for riding and strolling"), due to an intensified use, and in 1953 the association donated the park to the city of Amsterdam. The landscape architect Egbert Mos renovated the Vondelpark for the city in the 1950s. The purpose was improve the park for both usage and maintenance. Small bushes were grouped into larger bushes, superfluous paths were removed, and the rose garden was renovated. Also the stream of water in the "trunk" near the northern entrance of the park was removed.
In the 1960s children's playgrounds were created. During the flower power era in the 1960s/1970s the Vondelpark became a symbol of a place where "everything is possible and (almost) everything is allowed". In the 1980s an open-air theatre was built.
The Vondelpark received the status of "rijksmonument" (English: "state monument") in 1996.
21st century.
In the 1990s the number of visitors grew to approximately 10 million visitors annually. The grassy areas are used as sports field and the paths as bike paths. Consequently, the city renovated the park from 1999 to 2010. The purpose was to beautify the park and lessen the need for maintenance. The renovation took more than ten years in order to increase convenience for visitors and for the security of resident animals.
Starting in September 2008, adults were legally allowed to have sex in the park, as long as they "[took] their garbage with them afterwards and never [had] intercourse near the playground. Sexual activities were to be limited to the evening hours and night.", in the words of current Amsterdam Alderman Paul Van Grieken.
Facilities.
Open-air theatre.
The Vondelpark Openluchttheater is an open-air theatre with shows from June until August. There are performances of classical music, pop music, world music, dance, musical theatre, and cabaret. The theatre receives a subsidy from the city government. And although all performances have free entrance, visitors are asked for a donation of one euro.
Food service.
In the park are several food service ("horeca") facilities (listed in alphabetical order):
Statues.
There are some statues in the park:
Events.
Every Friday there is the Fridaynightskate that starts in front of the Filmmuseum.
Yearly events include the golf tournament Vondelpark Open and the running contest Vondelparkloop.
The King's Day celebrations on 27 April in the Vondelpark focus specifically on children. There is a "freemarket" () and there are games and other activities for children.
From June until August there are music and dance performances in the open-air theatre.
Since 2011 on the evening of All Soul's Day people gather and float many small "remembrance" boats with a lighted candle in the big pond to remember those who have died in the last year(s).
Popular culture.
The park is referenced in Acda en De Munnik's song "Vondelpark vannacht" from the album "Acda en De Munnik" (1997), in Omar Rodríguez-López's song "Vondelpark bij nacht" from the album "Omar Rodriguez" (2005) and in John Craigie's song "Vondelpark" from the album "Working On My Farewell" (2015).
1990s' 2009 album 'Kicks' opens with a track entitled "Vondelpark", which is a tour diary from one of the band's trips to the Netherlands. The English dream pop band Vondelpark took their name from the park.


Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg

Isaak Nicolai or Isaac Claesz van Swanenburg (1537 – 1614 in Leiden) was a Dutch Renaissance painter and glazier active in Leiden and Gouda. He was a city council member from 1576 and became mayor of Leiden five times.
Biography.
According to Houbraken, Swanenburg was a very good painter, whose paintings hung in various council buildings of Leiden. Houbraken was surprised that Swanenburg was never mentioned in Karel van Mander's "Schilder-boeck". Houbraken was however mistaken, because Swanenburg is mentioned as one of more than 20 disciples of Frans Floris in Van Mander's long list of pupils. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, Swanenburg was in Antwerp studying with Floris for 6–8 years in his youth, and settled in Leiden after his training in 1565. He briefly fled to Hamburg for a year during the Siege of Leiden, but had returned by 1574. He kept a large and respected workshop in Leiden, for oil- and glass painting. His pupils were Jan van Goyen, Coenraet van Schilperoort, Otto van Veen, and his three sons. He was buried in the Pieterskerk, Leiden.
Paintings.
Swanenburg created the "cartoons" for the stained glass windows no. 25 and 26 from Leiden to the Janskerk in Gouda. The reference in Van Mander is to "Isaack Claessen Cloeck", which is revealing considering that the registers of Gouda show Swanenburg was paid a third of the sum that went to the Leiden glasspainter Cornelis Cornelisz "Clock". This Clock was a probable relative.
Legacy.
Swanenburg's paintings of various notable burgers of Leiden have survived, as well as a series of monumental historical allegories on the wool trade, an important source of income for the city during his time as councilman.
Swanenburg's oldest son, Jacob Isaacsz Swanenburg, became a painter and a master of the young Rembrandt. Claes Isaacsz Swanenburg also became a painter and lived and worked in the Hague, where his art was appreciated. The youngest son, Willem Isaacsz Swanenburg, became an engraver.


Rianne Donders-de Leest

M.J.D. "Rianne" Donders-de Leest (born 22 July 1960, in Eindhoven) is a Dutch politician for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Donders-de Leest started her career as a teacher at a primary school. She was elected into the municipal council of Etten-Leur in 1990. Till 2002 she was a councillor, among others as leader of the CDA fraction. In 2000 she also became an alderman, dealing with spatial planning, traffic, transportation, housing and sports.
From 1 September 2004 to 9 January 2015 she was mayor of the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo. Since 30 January 2015 she has been mayor of Roermond.


Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen

Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen (Arnhem, 13 November 1957 – Amsterdam, 27 September 2005) was a Dutch film director.
He made his acting debut in the 1986 Academy Award-winning movie "The Assault". His directing debut came in 1990, with the television series "". He directed 16 movies in his career, many of which received international praise. His movies won 21 awards and were nominated for an additional 11 awards. Of these, six awards and three nominations were for the Golden Calves. His 2001 art film Touch and his 2002 television movie "The Enclave" were nominated for an Emmy Award. Van de Sande Bakhuyzen died from cancer in 2005, the day before the premiere of his movie "Life!".