Andries de Graeff

Free Imperial Knight Andries de Graeff (19 February 1611 – 30 November 1678) was a very powerful member of the Amsterdam branch of the De Graeff - family during the Dutch Golden Age. He became a mayor of Amsterdam and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the death of his older brother Cornelis de Graeff. Like him and their father Jacob Dircksz de Graeff he opposed the house of Orange. In the mid-17th century he controlled the finances and politics.
Andries de Graeff followed in his father's and brother's footsteps and, between 1657 and 1672, was appointed mayor some seven times. De Graeff was a member of a family of regents who belonged to the republican political movement also referred to as the ‘state oriented’, as opposed to the Royalists. Andries was called the last regent and mayor from the dynasty of the "Graven", who was powerful and able enough to ruled the city of Amsterdam.
De Graeff was a Free Imperial Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, an Ambachtsheer (Lord of the manor) from Urk en Emmeloord, during the late 1650s chiefcouncillor of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, chieflandholder of the Watergraafsmeer and dijkgraaf van Nieuwer-Amstel.
Together with his brother Cornelis De Graeff he became an illustrious Patron and Art collector.
Family De Graeff.
Origin.
Andries de Graeff was born in Amsterdam, the third son of Jacob Dircksz de Graeff and Aaltje Boelens Loen. His older sister Agneta who married Jan Bicker, was the mother of Johan de Witts wife Wendela Bicker. After he has been finished his study in Poitiers he was married to his niece Elisabeth Bicker van Swieten, daughter of the Amsterdam Mayor Cornelis Bicker van Swieten.
Influence.
Both brothers Andries and Cornelis de Graeff were very critical of the Orange family’s influence. Together with the Republican political leader Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, the De Graeff brothers strived for the abolition of stadtholdership. They desired the full sovereignty of the individual regions in a form in which the Republic of the United Seven Netherlands was not ruled by a single person. Instead of a sovereign (or stadtholder) the political and military power was lodged with the States General and with the regents of the cities in Holland.
During the two decades the De Graeff family had a leading role in the Amsterdam administration, the city was at the peak of its political power. This period was also referred to by Republicans as the ‘Ware Vrijheid’ (True Freedom). It was the First Stadtholderless Period which lasted from 1650 to 1672. During these twenty years, the regents from Holland and in particular those of Amsterdam, controlled the republic. The city was flush with self-confidence and liked to compare itself to the famous Republic of Rome. Even without a stadtholder, things seemed to be going well for the Republic and its regents both politically and economically.
Political career.
Andries de Graeff was from 1646 a member of the vroedschap and from 1657-71 mayor seven times in the difficult times of the First Stadtholderless Period. Between 1650 and 1657 he was advisor of finances and finance minister of Holland at The Hague.
Like his brother Cornelis, their cousin Andries Bicker and Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen De Graeff became one of the main figures behind the building of a new city hall on the Dam, which was inaugurated in 1655.
In 1650 he started his career as advisor in the ministerium of finances in The Hague. After he became a minister he went back to Amsterdam, and took place as a sort of chairing mayor of this city. After the death of his brother Cornelis, De Graeff became the strong leader of the republicans. He held this position until the rampjaar.
He also became an advisor of the Admiralty of Amsterdam and in 1661 he was made an advisor of the States of Holland and West Friesland.
The Dutch Gift.
In 1660 the Dutch Gift was organized by the regents, especially Andries and his brother Cornelis. The sculptures for the gift were selected by the pre-eminent sculptor in the Netherlands, Artus Quellinus, and Gerrit van Uylenburgh, the son of Rembrandt's dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh, advised the States-General on the purchase. The Dutch Gift was a collection of 28 mostly Italian Renaissance paintings and 12 classical sculptures, along with a yacht, the Mary, and furniture, which was presented to King Charles II of England by the States-General of the Netherlands in 1660.
Most of the paintings and all the Roman sculptures were from the Reynst collection, the most important seventeenth-century Dutch collection of paintings of the Italian sixteenth century, formed in Venice by Jan Reynst (1601–1646) and extended by his brother, Gerrit Reynst (1599–1658).
The collection was given to Charles II to mark his return to power in the English Restoration, before which Charles had spent many years in exile in the Dutch Republic during the rule of the English Commonwealth. It was intended to strengthen diplomatic relations between England and the Republic, but only a few years after the gift the two nations would be at war again in the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–67.
Perpetual Edict (1667) and the Rampjaar 1672.
In 1667 De Graeff was one of the "sponsors" (the other signers where De Witt, Gillis Valckenier and Gaspar Fagel) of the Perpetual Edict, that was a resolution of the States of Holland in which they abolished the office of Stadtholder in the province of Holland. At approximately the same time a majority of provinces in the States-General of the Netherlands agreed to declare the office of stadtholder (in any of the provinces) incompatible with the office of Captain general of the Dutch Republic.
The Republic was in a dangerous position and war with France and England seemed imminent. The call for the return of a strong military leader from the Orange family was gaining momentum, particularly among commoners. A number of Amsterdam regents had started to realise that they needed to seek rapprochement with the Orangists. This put increasing pressure on Grand Pensionary Johan de Witts position. In 1670, the Amsterdamse Vroedschap (Amsterdam City Council) led by Mayors Valckenier and Coenraad van Beuningen decided to enter into an alliance with the Orangists and to offer the young prince William III of Orange a seat on the Council of State. This caused a definitive split between De Witt and the Orangist Amsterdam Group of regents around Mayor Valckenier. However, De Witt managed to push the turncoats into the Amsterdam city administration and they were sidelined during the vroedschap elections of February 1671.
Andries de Graeff was once again put forward as mayor and managed to gain control with his Republican faction. During the winter of 1671 it seemed as if – at least in Amsterdam – the Republicans were winning. It was an exceptionally opportune moment to commission a monumental ceiling painting on Amsterdam’s independent position for the ‘Sael’ of his mayor’s residence. De Graeff had a clear message in mind for the ceiling painting: the ‘Ware Vrijheid’ of the Republic was only protected by the Republican regents of Amsterdam. The paintings by Gerard de Lairesse glorify the de Graeff family’s role as the protector of the Republican state, defender of ‘Freedom’. The work of art can be viewed as a visual statement opposing the return of House of Orange.
In 1672, when the Orangists took power again, de Graeff lost his position as one of the key States party figure together with his nephews Pieter and Jacob de Graeff and his brother-in-law Lambert Reynst. In that year, De Graeff was also attacked by the Amsterdam mob crowd at the Haarlemmerpoort.
Marriage and children.
He was married to Elisabeth Bicker van Swieten, and the couple had four children:
Art and Lifestyle.
De Graeff surrounded himself with art and beauty. He was an art collector and patron of such artists and poets like Rembrandt van Rijn, who , Gerard ter Borch, Govaert Flinck, Artus Quellinus and Joost van den Vondel.
Van den Vondel wrote a book about De Graeffs descent and family, which was called "Afbeeldingen der stamheeren en zommige telgen van de Graven, Boelensen, Bickeren en Witsens, toegewyt den edelen en gestrengen Heere Andries de Graeff, enz. met hunne portretten". Het vers "Op den edelen en gestrengen Heer Andries de Graeff, Ouden Raet en Rekenmeester der Graeflijckheit van Hollant, en West-Vrieslant, nu Out-Burgermeester, en Zeeraedt t'Amsterdam"
At his "City Palace" in the Gouden Bocht ("Golden Bend"), the most prestigious part of Herengracht, he assembled a big art collection, including "Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph" of Rembrandt.
In 1674 Andries de Graeff owned 700.000 guilders. He was one of the richest persons from the Dutch Golden Age.
De Graeff-Von Graben connection.
Before De Graeff died, he and his only son, Cornelis, became knights of the Holy Roman Empire. They said, that they descent from Wolfgang von Graben, member of the Austrian noble family House of Graben von Stein, which was an apparent (or illegitimate) branch of the House of Meinhardin. That diplome dadet from 19 July 1677. Diplom loaned to Mr. Andries de Graeff, July, 19th 1677:
Death.
Andries de Graeff died on 30 November 1678 in Amsterdam. His tomb chapel is to be found of at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.


Lucas de Clercq

Lucas de Clercq (1603 – 1652), was a Dutch cloth merchant known today for his and his wife's pendant marriage portraits painted by Frans Hals.
Biography.
He was born in Haarlem as the son of a wealthy Mennonite family from Rumbeeke. He became a merchant who dealt in potash, an ingredient used in the Haarlem bleaching industry for linens and linen yarn. He married the daughter of his supplier, Feyntje Steenkiste and nine years after they married, Hals won the commission for their portraits. In 1638 they moved to a large house at the corner of the Berckenrodesteeg and the Spaarne street, near the central weigh house. De Clercq also owned the estate "Clercq & Beeck" in Overveen. Feyntje died in 1640 and De Clercq remarried Adriaentgen Keyser in 1645. A painting by Dirck Bleker of the two of them with their children from their first marriages is in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum. Both the portrait of Lucas de Clercq and his wife Feyntje or Feyna remained in the De Clercq family for several generations, and were hanging in their buitenplaats called "Vredelust aan 't Geyn" in 1885. These portraits are among the earliest acquisitions of the Rijksmuseum.


Yugoslav torpedo boat T5

The Yugoslav torpedo boat "T5 was a sea-going torpedo boat operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1941. Originally 87 F", a 250t-class torpedo boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in 1914–1915, she was armed with two guns and four torpedo tubes, and could carry 10–12 naval mines. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, "87 F" was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which became the Royal Yugoslav Navy, and was renamed "T5". 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, "T5" and the rest of the navy were involved in exercises of training 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 Sea. Following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, she was returned to the Royal Yugoslav Navy-in-exile and served as "T5". At the end of the war, she was transferred to the new Yugoslav Navy and served as Cer until she was broken up in 1962.
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 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 sail from the Austro-Hungarian Navy () base at the 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, because 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 the T-group. Another tender was requested for four more boats, but when a competing boatbuilder, Ganz-Danubius, reduced their price by ten percent, 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.
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 were 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 T-group. Due to inadequate funding, "87 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. They were the first small Austro-Hungarian Navy boats to use turbines, and this contributed to ongoing problems.
The boats were armed with two Škoda L/30 guns, and four torpedo tubes. They could also carry 10–12 naval mines. "87 F" was laid down on 5 March 1914, launched on 20 March 1915 and completed on 25 October of that year.
Career.
World War I.
During World War I, "87 F" was used for convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations, and shore bombardment missions. On 3 February 1916, "87 F" and two other 250t-class boats were involved in a shore bombardment operation against Ortona and San Vito Chietino, led by the armoured cruiser . Three days later, the scout cruiser , "87 F" and five other 250t-class boats 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 two of the other 250t-class boats. On 9 July, the scout cruiser led a force which included "87 F" and two s in a raid on the Otranto Barrage, the Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto, which resulted in the sinking of two drifters. 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 "87 F" and two other 250t-class boats. The following day, the same three torpedo boats conducted a shore bombardment of Sant'Elpidio a Mare. In 1917, one of her 66 mm guns was placed on an anti-aircraft mount. On 28 November 1917, a number of 250t-class boats were involved in two shore bombardment missions. In the second mission, "87 F" joined seven other 250t-class boats and six destroyers for the bombardment of Porto Corsini, Marotta and Cesenatico.
By 1918, the Allies had strengthened their ongoing blockade on the Strait of Otranto, as foreseen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. As a result, it was becoming more difficult for the German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats to get through the strait and into the Mediterranean Sea. In response to these blockades, the new commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, "Konteradmiral" Miklós Horthy, decided to launch an attack on the Allied defenders with battleships, scout cruisers, and destroyers. During the night of 8 June, Horthy left the naval base of Pola in the upper Adriatic with the dreadnought battleships and . At about 23:00 on 9 June 1918, after some difficulties getting the harbour defence barrage opened, the dreadnoughts and , escorted by one destroyer and six torpedo boats, including "87 F", also departed Pola and set course for Slano, north of Ragusa, to rendezvous with Horthy in preparation for a coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage. About 03:15 on 10 June, while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast, two Royal Italian Navy () MAS boats, "MAS 15" and "MAS 21", spotted the smoke from the Austrian ships. Both boats successfully penetrated the escort screen and split to engage the dreadnoughts individually. "MAS 21" attacked "Tegetthoff", but her torpedoes missed. Under the command of Luigi Rizzo, "MAS 15" fired two torpedoes at 03:25, both of which hit "Szent István". Both boats evaded pursuit. The torpedo hits on "Szent István" were abreast her boiler rooms, which flooded, knocking out power to the pumps. "Szent István" capsized less than three hours after being torpedoed. In October 1918, "87 F" was at Durazzo in Albania 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.
Interwar period.
"87 F" 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, she was allocated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS, later Yugoslavia). Along with three other 250t-class F-group boats, "93 F", "96 F" and "97 F", and four 250t-class T-group boats, she served with the Royal Yugoslav Navy (, KJRM; Краљевска Југословенска Ратна Морнарица). Transferred in March 1921, in KJRM service, "87 F" was renamed "T5". 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 "T5" was one of the torpedo boats involved. The ships and crews made a very good impression 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 and post-war service.
In April 1941, Yugoslavia entered World War II when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time of the invasion, "T5" 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 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 four former F-group boats were then captured by the Italians.
"T5" 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, she was returned to the KJRM-in-exile in December of that year. "T5" was 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.


Menno Meyjes

Menno Meyjes (born 1954, Eindhoven) is a Dutch-born screenwriter, film director, and film producer.
Meyjes moved to the United States in 1972 and studied at San Francisco Art Institute. He was nominated for several awards for his screenplay to the 1985 film "The Color Purple", adapted from the novel by Alice Walker. In 1989, he gained recognition for cowriting "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" with George Lucas and winning a Goya Award for "El Sueño del mono loco".
In 2002, Meyjes wrote and directed the film "Max".
He attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied with George Kuchar, James Broughton, and Larry Jordan.
Filmography.
Uncredited written works:


Jan Ruiter

Jan Ruiter () (born 24 November 1946 in Enkhuizen, North Holland) is a former Dutch football goalkeeper.
Career.
During his club career he played for FC Volendam, R.S.C. Anderlecht, R.W.D. Molenbeek, K. Beerschot V.A.C. and Royal Antwerp FC. He earned 1 cap for the Netherlands national football team, and was included in their squad for the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship. While at Anderlecht he played as they won the 1976 European Cup Winners' Cup Final.
He later managed Berchem.


Cornelis Bronsgeest

Cornelis Bronsgeest (24 July 1878 in Leiden - 22 September 1957 in Berlin) was a Dutch bass-baritone who made his career in Germany. Born to a bourgeoisie catholic family from Leiden cultivating arts and after discovering his musical talent, Bronsgeest decided to give up career as an architect and became an opera singer, touring internationally. Bronsgeest is linked to the beginnings of radio at the beginning of the 20th century. He founded two major institutions, the Berliner Rundfunk Orchester (now the Rundfunk-SinfonieOrchester Berlin) and the Berliner Rundfunck Chor (now the Rundfunkchor Berlin).He directed the opera department at Berlin radio and was a stage manager with "Berliner Theater der Jugend".
Career.
Cornelis Bronsgeest completed his musical studies in Germany under the supervision of Pr. Julius Stockhausen in Frankfurt and Richard Schulz-Dornburg in Berlin. Bronsgeest debuted in Magdeburg in 1900. In 1906, he joined the Berlin Opera (HofOper Berlin, and then StaatsOper Berlin) where he became the first Bass-Baritone of the HofOper Berlin. He performed as a special guest of the major European Opera Houses in the Netherlands, Austria, the UK, Belgium and France with a repertoire including Richard Wagner, Wolfgang Mozart, German contemporary musicians such as Richard Strauss and the Italian repertoire. In 1914, he performed in London under Sir Thomas Beecham. In 1919 and 1920 he toured the US. He appeared at the Bayreuth Festival, as a famous Wagner performer.
Bronsgeest is linked to the beginnings of radio at the beginning of the 20th century. He founded two major institutions, the Berliner Rundfunk Orchester (now the Rundfunk-SinfonieOrchester Berlin) and the Berliner Rundfunk Chor (now the Rundfunkchor Berlin). From 1924 to 1933, Bronsgeest was the Director of the Opera department of Berlin Radio. He created the concept of "ton meister" or "sound engineer" to provide the best possible audio quality. Radio opera performances were adapted by Bronsgeest to suit broadcasting requirements.
Concurrently, Bronsgeest founded in 1922 Deutsche Gast–Opera in the Netherlands, spending two years commuting between Berlin and The Hague. He led this flying Opera Society, staging singers including Anton Sistermans, Gemma Bellincioni, Emmy Bettendorf, Leo Schutzendorf, Frida Leider and Louis Morrison.
In 1933, Bronsgeest was forced by the Nazi regime to give up his position at Berlin Radio. However he continued to perform and direct the Berliner Theater der Jugend from 1935 to 1944. He provided opera performances with a small Opera troupe for German soldiers during World War II. He directed Berlin's first postwar Opera performance on August 12, 1945 (Rossini’s Barber of Seville), singing the Role of Count Almaviva. The performance was staged as a chamber opera and performed before a full house, with representatives from the American military government, Critic Christian Wrickert wrote, "the attempt was an adventure, but the success justified Bronsgeest."
Personal life.
He married Charlotte Kant (1888–1965) in 1912, a German post-impressionist painter, who eased him access to the Berlin and German intelligentsia. She was the niece of Themistocles Gluck (1853-1942 in Berlin) the German physician and surgeon and major contributor to the history of Orthopaedics science and the sister of two famous German neuropsychiatrists, Otto Kant (Contributor to the Vienna Circle, Zur Biologie der Ethik, 1932 ) and Fritz Kant who have emigrated to the US in 1933. Their two children, Dietrich-Cornelis Bronsgeest and Esther Hardeland-Bronsgeest lived respectively in France and in Germany.
Legacy.
His legacy,biography and memoirs are curated by his son Dietrich-Cornelis Bronsgeest and descendants. He was remembered in articles of German "Radio Revue" in 1957 and 1958 that celebrated several anniversaries including the 1924 Radio Premiere, and other events or exhibitions organised by the Berlin StaatsOper or the Rundfunk Berlin.


Kontsy

Кontsy (, plural of конец, "ends") were the five boroughs into which medieval Veliky Novgorod was divided. They were based on the three original settlements that combined to form the city toward the end of the tenth century: the Nerev End, the Liudin ("People's") End (also called the Goncharsky or "Potters" End), and the Slavno End; two later additions - the Plotnitskii ("Carpenters'") End and Zagorodskii ("Beyond the City" or "Beyond the Fortress", as "gorod" meant both "city" and "fortress" at that time) End formed in 1168 and the 1260s respectively.
The city was also divided into two sides, although this was probably not a distinct administrative unit as were the ends. The Sofia Side was named after the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom and consisted of the Nerev, Zagorodskii and Liudin Ends. The Trade or Market Side of the city consisted of the Slavno and Plotnitsky Ends.
It is believed that the decisions of the all-city veche had to be ratified by the veches of each end, though it is not certain. It is also thought that each end governed one of the Fifths, the five organized territories into which the Novgorodian Land had been divided, although this too is unclear from the sources.


SM U-30 (Austria-Hungary)

SM "U-30 or U-XXX" was a "U-27" class U-boat or submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. "U-30", built by the Hungarian firm of Ganz Danubius at Fiume, was launched in December 1916 and commissioned in February 1917.
"U-30" had a single hull and was just over in length. She displaced nearly when surfaced and over when submerged. Her two diesel engines moved her at up to on the surface, while her twin electric motors propelled her at up to while underwater. She was armed with two bow torpedo tubes and could carry a load of up to four torpedoes. She was also equipped with a deck gun and a machine gun.
"U-30" sank no ships during her brief service career. She departed from Cattaro on 31 March 1917 and was never heard from again. She may have succumbed to a mine in the Otranto Barrage but her fate remains a mystery.
Design and construction.
Austria-Hungary's U-boat fleet was largely obsolete at the outbreak of World War I. The Austro-Hungarian Navy satisfied its most urgent needs by purchasing five Type UB I submarines that comprised the from Germany, by raising and recommissioning the sunken as , and by building four submarines of the that were based on the 1911 Danish "Havmanden" class.
After these steps alleviated their most urgent needs, the Austro-Hungarian Navy selected the German Type UB II design for its newest submarines in mid 1915. The Germans were reluctant to allocate any of their wartime resources to Austro-Hungarian construction, but were willing to sell plans for up to six of the UB II boats to be constructed under license in Austria-Hungary. The Navy agreed to the proposal and purchased the plans from AG Weser of Bremen.
"U-30" displaced surfaced and submerged. She had a single hull with saddle tanks, and was long with a beam of and a draft of . For propulsion, she had two shafts, twin diesel engines of for surface running, and twin electric motors of for submerged travel. She was capable of while surfaced and while submerged. Although there is no specific notation of a range for "U-30" in "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921", the German UB II boats, upon which the "U-27" class was based, had a range of over at surfaced, and at submerged. "U-27"-class boats were designed for a crew of 23–24.
"U-30" was armed with two bow torpedo tubes and could carry a complement of four torpedoes. She was also equipped with a 75 mm/26 (3.0 in) deck gun and an machine gun.
After intricate political negotiations to allocate production of the class between Austrian and Hungarian firms, "U-27" was ordered from Ganz Danubius on 12 October 1915. She was laid down on 9 March 1916 at Fiume and launched on 27 December.
Service career.
"U-30" began diving trials on 8 January 1917, and made her first underwater cruise on 27 January. On 1 February, she successfully reached a depth of in compression tests. Four days later she took on a crew for a training voyage, and made her way to Pola. At that port, on 21 January 1917, SM "U-30" was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy under the command of "Linienschiffsleutnant" Friedrich Fähndrich. Fähndrich, a 29-year-old native of Budapest, had previously served as commander of .
"U-30" departed on her first patrol on 26 February, for duty off Cape Matapan and the Gulf of Taranto. During the patrol, "U-30" did not encounter any hostile ships, but did encounter a storm that caused extensive damage. Cutting short her cruise with damage to the parapet on her conning tower, a missing radio aerial, and a broken gyrocompass, "U-30" arrived in Cattaro on 16 March for repairs.
With the repairs complete, "U-30" set out from Cattaro on 31 March and was never heard from again. Author Paul Halpern suggests that a mine in the Otranto Barrage might have been responsible. Authors R. H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast report that there is no evidence in Allied records to indicate the possible fate of the U-boat, and conclude that the fate of "U-30" remains a mystery, and "is likely to remain so for ever". "U-30" was not credited with the sinking of any ships in her brief career. She was also the only member of the "U-27"-class to be lost during the war.


Renske Leijten

Renske Maria Leijten (born 17 March 1979) is a Dutch politician of the Socialist Party. She has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2006. She focuses on matters of public health, quality of life and sports. From 6 February 2014 until 29 May 2014 she was temporarily absent due to maternity leave, she was first replaced by Tjitske Siderius, and since 14 May 2014 by Henri Swinkels.
Since 2005 she has been a member of SP's party executive committee. From 2005 to 2007 she was also chairwoman of SP's youth organization ROOD.
Leijten studied Dutch language and literature at the University of Groningen. She was raised Roman Catholic but is now agnostic.


Inez Pijnenburg

 W.R.J.M. "Inez" Pijnenburg-Adriaenssen (born 13 May 1949) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
Pijnenburg was a member of the States-Provincial of Gelderland from 1999 to 2002. She was an alderman of Arnhem from 2002 to 2006. From 2007 to 2008 she was acting mayor of Neder-Betuwe, and since 2008 she has been mayor of Heerde.


Cornelius Haga

Corneli(u)s Haga (Schiedam, 28 January 1578 – The Hague, 12 August 1654) was the first ambassador of the Dutch Republic to the Ottoman Empire.
Biography.
Cornelius Haga was born in Schiedam. His father was Dirk Lambrechtszoon, merchant and member of the town council of Schiedam, and organist of the church there. Haga was educated at the Latin school in Schiedam before he studied law at the University of Leiden. He went into diplomatic service and became an envoy in Stockholm. After this he became the first diplomatic representative of the republic in Constantinople from 1612 to 1639. He was accompanied on his adventurous journey by Cornelis Pauw (son of the Amsterdam mayor Reinier Pauw), Ernst Brinck, secretary, and Cornelis Sijms, both also sons of regents and Andries Suyderhoeff, who later replaced Brinck as secretary of the delegation, and Lambert Verhaer, who had been a goldsmith in Constantinople and was the only member of the group who had made the journey before.
Haga laid the foundations of diplomatic relations and he erected numerous consular posts at the most important ports and trade-centra in the Ottoman Empire; Patras, Thessaloniki, Athens, Gallipoli, Izmir, Aleppo, Sidon, Dairo, Tunis and Algiers.
Haga, who was married to Alithea Brasser, received the capitulation of the Ottoman Sultan, Ahmed I in 1612. This allowed the Dutch to trade with the Ottoman Empire under their own jurisdiction. The sultan also granted the Dutch several privileges, including exemption of certain taxes and limited autonomy within the empire.
In 1639 Haga returned to the Netherlands. In 1645 he became president of the High Council of Holland, Zeeland and West-Friesland, a function that he kept until his death in 1654. His portrait by an unknown painter is in the collection of the Mauritshuis, on loan to the Rijksmuseum. His wife's portrait by Michiel van Mierevelt is in the collection of the KMSK of Antwerp.
Cornelius Haga and his wife Alithea Brasser were buried in the Great church of Schiedam. His descendants added an epitaph to his grave, reading, amongst others "Foris ac domi et de patria bene meritus fuit" or "He served his country well, both at home and abroad".


History of Lviv

Lviv (Ukrainian: , "L’viv"; ; or "Leopoldstadt" ("archaic"); ; , see also other names) is an administrative center in western Ukraine with more than a millennium of history as a settlement, and over seven centuries as a city. Prior to the creation of the modern state of Ukraine, Lviv had been part of numerous states and empires, including, under the name "Lwów", Poland and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; under the name "Lemberg", the Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian Empires; the short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic after World War I; Poland again; and the Soviet Union. In addition, both the Swedes and the Ottoman Turks made unsuccessful attempts to conquer the city.
Early history.
Recent archaeological excavations show that the area of Lviv has been populated since at least the 6th century. The area between the Castle Hill and the river Poltva was settled by the Lendians (Lędzianie), a West Slavic tribe since the 9th century.
In 981, the Cherven Cities were conquered by Volodymyr the Great and came under the rule of Kievan Rus, after the Kiev expedition he again began in the early Piast monarchy of Bolesław the Brave and Mieszko II (1018–1031), and then occupied by the princess of Kiev, Yaroslav the Wise in 1031.
Halych-Volyn Principality.
Lviv was officially founded in 1256 by King Daniel of Galicia in the Ruthenian principality of Halych-Volhynia and named in honour of his son Lev. The toponym may best be translated into English as "Leo's lands" or "Leo's City" (hence the Latin name "Leopolis").
In 1261, the city was invaded by the Tatars. Various sources relate the events which range from destruction of the castle through to a complete razing of the city. All the sources agree that it was on the orders of the Mongol general Burundai. The "Naukove tovarystvo im. Shevchenka" of the Shevchenko Scientific Society say that the order to raze the city was reduced by Burundai as the Galician-Volhynian chronicle states that in 1261 "Said Buronda to Vasylko: 'Since you are at peace with me then raze all your castles'". Basil Dmytryshyn states that the order was implied to be the fortifications as a whole "If you wish to have peace with me, then destroy [all fortifications of] your cities". According to the "Universal-Lexicon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit" the city's founder was ordered to destroy the city himself.
After Daniel's death Lev rebuilt the city around the year 1270 and, choosing Lviv as his residence, made Lviv the capital of Galicia-Volhynia. The city is first mentioned in the Halych-Volhynian Chronicle which dates from 1256. As a major trade center, Lviv attracted German, Armenian and other merchants. The city grew quickly due to an influx of Polish people from Kraków, Poland, after they had suffered a widespread famine there. Around 1280 many Armenians lived in Galicia and were mainly based in Lviv where they had their own Archbishop.
In 1323 the Romanovich dynasty, a local branch of the Rurik Dynasty, died out. The city was inherited by Boleslaus of Masovia the heir to both the Piast dynasty on his father's side, and the Romanovich dynasty on his mother's side. He took the name of "Yuriy" and converted to Eastern Orthodoxy but failed to gain the support of the local nobles and was eventually poisoned by them.
The city was inherited by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1340 and ruled by voivode Dmytro Dedko, the favourite of the Lithuanian prince Lubart, until 1349.
Galicia–Volhynia wars and the Polish Kingdom.
After Boleslaus Yuriy of Masovia and Halych death in 1340, the rights to his domain were passed to his fellow Piast dynast and cousin, king Casimir III of Poland. The local nobles elected one of their own, Dmytro Dedko, as ruler, and repulsed a Polish invasion during the wars over the succession of Galicia-Volhynia Principality when King Casimir III undertook an expedition to conquer Lviv in 1340, burning down the old princely castle.
After Dedko's death King Casimir III finally returned and his forces occupied Lviv and the rest of Red Ruthenia in 1349 when Casimir built two new castles. From then on the population was subjected to attempts to both Polonise and Catholicise the population.
In 1356 Casimir III granted the city with Magdeburg rights which implied that all city issues were to be resolved by a city council elected by the wealthy citizens. The city council seal of the 14th century stated "Civitatis Lembvrgensis". This started a period of accelerated development: among other facilities the Latin Cathedral was built, around the same time a church was built in the place of today's St. George's Cathedral. Also, new self-government led to the greater growth of the Armenian community that built its Armenian Cathedral in 1363.
After Casimir had died in 1370, he was succeeded by his nephew, King Louis I of Hungary, who in 1372 put Lviv together with the region of Galicia-Volhynia under the administration of his relative Władysław, Duke of Opole. When Władysław retreated from the post of its governor in 1387 Galicia-Volhynia became occupied by the Hungarians, but soon Jadwiga the ruler of Poland, and wife of Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila, invaded and incorporated it into the Polish Crown by Jadwiga of Poland. The city later served as the homage site of some of the vassals of the Kings of Poland.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
As a part of Poland (and later Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) the city was known as Lwów and became the capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship, which included five regions: Lwów, Chełm (), Sanok, Halicz () and Przemyśl (). The city was granted the "right of transit" and started to gain significant profit from the goods transported between the Black Sea and the Baltic. In the following centuries, the city's population grew rapidly and soon Lwów became a multi-ethnic and multi-religious city as well as an important centre of culture, science and trade.
The city's fortifications were strengthened, with Lviv becoming one of the most important fortresses guarding the Commonwealth from the south-east. Three archbishoprics were once located in the city: Roman Catholic (est. 1375), Greek Catholic and Armenian Catholic. The city was also home to numerous ethnic populations, including Germans, Jews, Italians, Englishmen, Scotsmen and many others. Since the 16th century, the religious mosaic of the city also included strong Protestant communities. By the first half of the 17th century, the city had approximately 25,000–30,000 inhabitants. About 30 craft organizations were active by that time, involving well over a hundred different specialities.
Decline of the Commonwealth.
In the 17th century Lviv was besieged unsuccessfully several times. Constant struggles against invading armies gave it the motto "Semper fidelis". In 1649, the city was besieged by the Cossacks under Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who seized and destroyed the local castle. However, the Cossacks did not retain the city and withdrew, satisfying themselves with a ransom. In 1655 the Swedish armies invaded Poland and soon took most of it. Eventually the Polish king Jan II Kazimierz solemnly pronounced his vow to consecrate the country to the protection of the Mother of God and proclaimed Her the Patron and Queen of the lands in his kingdom at Lwów Latin Cathedral in 1656 (Lwów Oath).
The Swedes laid siege to Lviv, but were forced to retreat before capturing it. The following year saw Lviv invaded by the armies of the Transylvanian Duke George I Rákóczi, but the city was not captured. In 1672 Lviv was again besieged by the Turkish army of Mehmed IV, however the Treaty of Buczacz ended the war before the city was taken. In 1675 the city was attacked by the Ottomans and the Tatars, but king John III Sobieski defeated them on August 24 in what is called the Battle of Lwów. In 1704, during the Great Northern War, the city was captured and pillaged for the first time in its history by the armies of Charles XII of Sweden.
Habsburg Era.
The eighteenth century.
In 1772, following the First Partition of Poland, the city was annexed by Austria and became the capital of the Austrian province called the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria as "Lemberg", its Germanic name. Initially the Austrian rule was somewhat liberal. In 1773, the first newspaper in Lviv, "Gazette de Leopoli", began to be published. The city grew during the 19th century, increasing in population from approximately 30,000 at the time of Austrian annexation in 1772 to 196,000 by 1910 and to 212,000 three years later; while the poverty in Austrian Galicia was raging.
In 1784, the Emperor Joseph II reopened the University of Lviv. Lectures were held almost exclusively in Latin, although some lectures, such as Pastoral Theology and Obstetrics, were conducted in Polish. German was used as a second language in some courses, primarily Medicine. Eventually, the University established a Chair of German Language and German became the main language of instruction. In order to educate a new generation of Greek-catholic priests, the University established the Ruthenian Scientific Institut for non-Latin speaking students in 1787. These students were required to learn Philosophy for two years in their native language, Ruthenian and Polish, before studying Theology in Latin. The importance of the institute declined in 1795 after Austria annexed the Polish city of Krakow, which had an ancient and well-established university. Both schools were merged in 1805, and Lviv lost its status as a university city. However, this short period produced a great deal of intellectual activity such as the work of Johann Wenzel Hann, who from 1792 was a University Rector, eminent lecturer, poet and translator of Polish poetry into German after learning Polish himself. Physician Franz Masoch and his assistant Peter Krausnecker made significant contributions to the development of vaccination and the fight against Smallpox.
Wojciech Bogusławski opened the first public theatre in 1794 and Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński founded in 1817 the Ossolineum, a scientific institute. Early in the 19th century the city became the new seat of the primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the "Archbishop of Kyiv (Kiev), Halych and Rus, the Metropolitan of Lviv".
The early nineteenth century.
In the 19th century, blaming the Polish nobility for the backwardness of the region, the Austrian administration attempted to Germanise the city's educational and governmental functions. The University was closed in 1805 and re-opened in 1817 as a purely German academy, without much influence over the city's life. Most of other social and cultural organizations were banned as well. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries a large influx of Germans and German-speaking Czech bureaucrats gave the city a character that by the 1840s was quite German, in its orderliness and in the appearance and popularity of German coffeehouses. A rivalry developed between the new German elites and the older Polish elites.
The revolution of 1848.
The harsh laws imposed by the Habsburg dynasty led to an outbreak of public dissent in 1848. A petition was sent to the Emperor asking him to re-introduce local self-government, education in Polish and Ukrainian, and granting Polish with a status of official language. Six regiments of National Guards were formed after the fashion of the revolutionaries in Vienna, with one-half Polish and the other half Ukrainian. However, the Polish revolutionaries soon forced the Ukrainian regiments to disband and merge into the Polish ones, thus causing ethnic tensions between the groups.
After the uprising in Vienna was crushed on 2 November 1848, discontent spread among the revolutionaries. Arguments quickly broke out between the National Guard and regular Austrian troops garrisoned in the city. The commander of the garrison, General William Friedrich von Hammerstein, ordered the National Guards confined to their barracks. After repeated violations, Hammerstein ordered the arrest of the officers, and this caused the National Guards to seize the town center and throw up barricades.
On 6 November 1848, Austrian forces under the command of General Hammerstein commenced bombardment of the city center for three hours, setting fire to the town hall ("Rathaus"), as well as the Academy building, library, museum, and many streets lined with houses. A committee of public safety composed of prominent residents surrendered to the General that day. A state of siege was put in force, martial law declared, and all houses were subject to search. The terms included the disarming of the Academical Legion, which was composed mostly of students, a reorganization of the National Guards and placed under the General's control, and the registration of all foreigners, as these persons were blamed in the city and many other places for spreading rebellion and discontent.
Developments in the mid-nineteenth century.
After the revolution of 1848 the languages of instruction at the University re-introduced Ukrainian and Polish. Around that time a certain sociolect developed in the city known as the Lwów dialect. Considered to be a type of Polish dialect, it draws its roots from numerous other languages besides Polish. Most of the pleas were accepted twenty years later in 1861: a Galician parliament ("Sejm Krajowy") was opened and in 1867 Galicia was granted vast autonomy, both cultural and economic. The University was also allowed to start lectures in Polish.
In 1853, it was the first European city to have street lights due to innovations discovered by Lviv inhabitants Ignacy Łukasiewicz and Jan Zeh. In that year kerosene lamps were introduced as street lights which in 1858 were updated to gas and in 1900 to electricity.
After the so-called Ausgleich of February 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into a dualist Austria-Hungary and a slow yet steady process of liberalisation of Austrian rule in Galicia started. From 1873, Galicia was "de facto" an autonomous province of Austria-Hungary with Polish and, to a much lesser degree, Ukrainian or Ruthenian, as official languages. The Germanisation had been halted and the censorship lifted as well. Galicia was subject to the Austrian part of the Dual Monarchy, but the Galician Sejm and provincial administration, both established in Lviv, had extensive privileges and prerogatives, especially in education, culture, and local affairs. In 1894, the city hosted the General National Exhibition. Lviv grew rapidly, becoming the 4th largest in Austria-Hungary, according to the census of 1910. Many "Belle Époque" public edifices and tenement houses were erected, and buildings from the Austrian period, such as the opera theater built in the Viennese neo-Renaissance style, still dominate and characterize much of the centre of the city.
The close of Habsburg rule.
During Habsburg rule Lviv became one of the most important Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish cultural centers. The city, granted the right to send delegates to the imperial parliament in Vienna, drew in many prominent cultural and political leaders, and therefore served as a meeting place of Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish and German cultures. In Lviv, according to the Austrian census of 1910, which listed religion and language, 51% of the city's population were Roman Catholics, 28% Jews, and 19% belonged to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Linguistically, 86% of the city's population used the Polish language and 11% preferred the Ukrainian language.
The province of Galicia became the only part of the former Polish state with some cultural and political freedom, and the city then served as a major Polish political and cultural centre. Lviv was home to the Polish Ossolineum, with the second largest collection of Polish books in the world, the Polish Academy of Arts, the Polish Historical Society, the Polish Theater and Polish Archdiocese. Similarly, the city also served as an important centre of the Ukrainian patriotic movement and culture, unlike other parts of Ukraine under Russian rule, where, prior to 1905, all publications in Ukrainian were prohibited as part of an intense Russification campaign. The city housed the largest and most influential Ukrainian institutions in the world, including the Prosvita society dedicated to spreading literacy in the Ukrainian language, the Shevchenko Scientific Society, the Dniester Insurance Company and base of the Ukrainian cooperative movement, and it served as the seat of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Lviv was a major center of Jewish culture, in particular as a center of the Yiddish language, and was the home of the world's first Yiddish-language daily newspaper, the "Lemberger Togblat."
Twentieth century.
During World War I the city was captured by the Russian army in September 1914, but was retaken the following year (in June) by Austria-Hungary. With the collapse of the Habsburg Empire at the end of World War I, the local Ukrainian population under the guidance of Yevhen Petrushevych proclaimed Lviv as the capital of the West Ukrainian People's Republic on November 1, 1918.
Polish–Ukrainian conflict.
As the Austro-Hungarian government collapsed, on October 18, 1918, the Ukrainian National Council ("Rada") was formed in the city, consisting of Ukrainian members of the Austrian parliament and regional Galician and Bucovinan diets as well as leaders of Ukrainian political parties. The Council announced the intention to unite the West Ukrainian lands into a single state. As the Poles were taking their own steps to take over Lviv and Eastern Galicia, Captain Dmytro Vitovsky of the Sich Riflemen led the group of young Ukrainian officers in a decisive action and during the night of October 31 – November 1, the Ukrainian militarymen took control over the city. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 1, 1918 with Lviv as its capital. The proclamation of the Republic—which claimed sovereignty over largely Ukrainian-populated territories—was a complete surprise for the Poles, who constituted a majority in the city. Also the Poles considered the territory claimed by the WUPR Polish. So, while the Ukrainian residents enthusiastically supported the proclamation and the city's significant Jewish minority accepted or remained neutral towards the Ukrainian proclamation, the Polish residents were shocked to find themselves in a proclaimed Ukrainian state. Ukrainian soldiers moved to detain the Austrian governor of Galicia, Count Karl von Huyn. The governor staunchly refused to formally hand over power to the Ukrainian National Council. On November 2, Huyn announced that he is no longer able to perform his official duties and handed his authority over to his Ukrainian deputy, Volodymyr Detsykevych, who in turn relinquished his powers to Ukrainian leaders.
Immediately, the Polish majority of Lviv, a city of over 200,000, started an armed uprising that the 1,400 Ukrainian garrison consisting mostly of teenage peasants disoriented in the city were unable to quell. The Poles soon took control over most of the city centre. Unable to break into the central areas, Ukrainian forces besieged the city, defended by Polish irregular forces including the "Lwów Eaglets". After the Inter-Allied Commission in Paris agreed to leave the city under Polish administration until its future was resolved by a post-war treaty or a referendum, the regular Polish forces reached the city on November 19 and by November 22, the Ukrainian troops were forced out. When the Polish forces captured the city, elements of Polish soldiery begun to loot and burn much of the Jewish and Ukrainian quarters of the city, killing approximately 340 civilians (see: Lwów pogrom (1918)). After securing control of Lviv, Polish authorities shut down all Ukrainian institutions and societies, conducted mass arrests of Ukrainians, forced Ukrainians to work on Greek Catholic religious holidays, and dismissed most Ukrainian civil servants. Ukrainian members of the city council resigned in protest, and no Ukrainian would sit on the city council until 1927.
In the following months, other territories of Galicia controlled by the government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic were captured by the Polish forces, which effectively ended the power of the West Ukrainian government. The April 1920 agreement concluded by Poland with Symon Petlura, the exiled leader of the Ukrainian People's Republic, met with the fierce opposition of western Ukrainians. It recognized Poland's control of the city and the area in exchange for Polish military assistance to Petlura against the Bolsheviks.
Polish–Soviet War.
During the Polish–Soviet War of 1920 the city was attacked by the forces of Alexander Yegorov. Since mid-June 1920 the 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny was trying to reach the city from the north and east. At the same time Lwów was preparing the defence. The inhabitants raised and fully equipped three regiments of infantry and two regiments of cavalry as well as constructed defensive lines. The city was defended by an equivalent of three Polish divisions aided by one Ukrainian infantry division. Finally after almost a month of heavy fighting on August 16 the Red Army crossed the Bug river and, reinforced by additional 8 divisions of the so-called "Red Cossacks", started an assault on the city. The fighting occurred with heavy casualties on both sides, but after three days the assault was halted and the Red Army retreated. For the heroic defence the city was awarded with the Virtuti Militari medal.
Interbellum.
Following the Peace of Riga the city remained in Poland as the capital of the Lwów Voivodeship. The city, which was the third biggest in Poland, became one of the most important centres of science, sports and culture of Poland. For example, the Lwów School of Mathematics embodied a rich mathematical tradition; the school gathered at the Scottish Café and maintained a notebook of problems and results.
Population of Lwów, 1931 (by religion)
Source: 1931 Polish census
Population of Lwów, 1931 (by first language)
Source: 1931 Polish census
During interbellum period Lwów had grown significantly from 219,000 inhabitants in 1921, to 312,200 in 1931 and an estimated number of 318,000 residents in 1939. Although Poles constituted a majority, Jews formed more than a one-fourth of population. Ukrainian minority was also sizable one. There were also other minorities, including Germans, Armenians, Karaims, Georgians etc. maybe numerically not significant, but enriching Lwów's multicultural character and heritage. The city was, right after capital Warsaw, the second most important cultural and academic centre of Poland (in academical year 1937/38 there were 9,100 students, attending 5 higher education facilities including widely renowned university and institute of technology). Together with Poznań, Lwów was Poland's trade fairs centre, with internationally renowned "Targi Wschodnie" (The Eastern Trade Fair) held annually since 1921, which had fostered city's economical growth.
At the same time, the Polish government reduced the rights of the local Ukrainians, closing down many of the Ukrainian schools. or turning them into bilingual Ukrainian-Polish ones that were, in effect, Polish. Increased Polish settlement reduced the relative percentage of the Ukrainian population in the city, from around 20% in 1910 to less than 12% by 1931. At the university, all Ukrainian departments that had opened during the period of Austrian rule were closed save for one, the 1848 Department of Ruthenian Language and Literature, whose chair position was allowed to remain vacant until 1927 before being filled by an ethnic Pole. Most Ukrainian professors were fired, and entrance of ethnic Ukrainians was restricted; in response an underground university in Lwów, and a Ukrainian Free University in Vienna (later moved to Prague) were established . In official documents, the Polish authorities also replaced all references to Ukrainians with the old word "Ruthenians", an action that caused many Ukrainians to view their original self-designation with distaste.
The Polish government also sought to emphasize the city "polskość" or Polish character. Unlike in Austrian times, when the size and number of public parades or other cultural expressions such as parades or religious processions corresponded to each cultural group's relative population, during Polish rule limitations were placed on public displays of Jewish and Ukrainian culture. "Obrona" celebrations, dedicated to the Polish defence of Lviv, became a major Polish public celebration, and were integrated by the Roman Catholic Church into the traditional all Saints Day celebrations in early November. Military parades and commemorations of battles at particular streets within the city, all celebrating the Polish forces who fought against the Ukrainians in 1918, became frequent, and in the 1930s a vast memorial monument and burial ground of Polish soldiers from that conflict was built in the city's Lychakiv Cemetery. The Polish government fostered the idea of Lviv as an eastern Polish outpost standing strong against eastern "hordes."
World War II.
Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and the German 1st Mountain Division reached the suburbs of Lviv on September 12 and began a siege. The city's garrison was ordered to hold out at all cost since the strategic position prevented the enemy from crossing into the Romanian Bridgehead. Also, a number of Polish troops from Central Poland were trying to reach the city and organise a defence there to buy time to regroup. Thus a 10-day-long defence of the city started and later became known as yet another Battle of Lwów. On September 19 an unsuccessful Polish diversionary attack under General Władysław Langner was launched. Soviet troops (part of the forces which had invaded on September 17 under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact) replaced the Germans around the city. On September 21 Langner formally surrendered to Soviet troops under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko.
The Soviet and Nazi forces divided Poland between themselves and a rigged plebiscite absorbed the Soviet-occupied eastern half of Poland, including Lviv, into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Initially, the Jewish and part of the Ukrainian population who lived in the interwar Poland cheered the Soviet takeover whose stated goal was to protect the Ukrainian population in the area. Depolonisation combined with large scale anti-Polish actions began immediately, with huge numbers of Poles and Jews from Lviv deported eastward into the Soviet Union. About 30 thousand were deported in the beginning of 1940 alone. A smaller percentage of the Ukrainian population was deported as well.
When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the NKVD spent a week hastily executing prisoners held in the Brygidki and Zamarstynów prisons, where around 8,000 were murdered.
Initially, a great part of the Ukrainian population considered the German troops as liberators after the two years of genocidal Soviet regime, similarly to many Jewish and Ukrainian inhabitants who had earlier welcomed the Soviets as their liberators from the rule of "bourgeois" Poland. City's Ukrainian minority initially associated Germans with the previous Austrian times, happier for Ukrainians in comparison to the later Polish and especially Soviet periods. However, already since the beginning of the German occupation of the city, the situation of the city's Jewish inhabitants became tragic. After being subject to deadly pogroms, the Jewish inhabitants of the area were rushed into a newly created ghetto and then mostly sent to various German concentration camps. The Polish and smaller Ukrainian populations of the city were also subject to harsh policies, which resulted in a number of mass executions both in the city and in the Janowska camp. Among the first to be murdered were the professors of the city's universities and other members of Polish elite (intelligentsia). On June 30, 1941, the first day of the German occupation of the city, one of the wings of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) declared restoration of the independent Ukrainian state. Yaroslav Stetsko proclaimed in Lviv the Government of an independent which "will work closely with the National-Socialist Greater Germany, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler which is forming a new order in Europe and the world" – as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood". This was done without pre-approval from the Germans and after 15 September 1941 the organisers were arrested. Stepan Bandera, Yaroslav Stetsko and others, were arrested by Nazi Einsatzgruppe and sent to Nazi concentration camps, where both of Bandera's brothers were executed. The policy of the occupying power turned quickly harsh towards Ukrainians as well. Some of the Ukrainian nationalists were driven underground, and from that time forward, they fought against the Nazis, but continued also to fight against Poles and Soviet forces (see Ukrainian Insurgent Army).
As the Red Army was approaching the city in 1944, on July 21 the local leadership of the Polish resistance Home Army ordered all Polish forces to rise in an armed uprising (see also Operation Tempest). After four days of the city fights and the advance of the Red Army in the final phase of the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation the city was handed over to the Soviet Union. As before, the Soviet authorities quickly turned hostile to the city's Poles, including the members of the Polish Home Army (whose leaders were subsequently executed by the Soviets), and the genocidal policies restarted.
Following the Soviet takeover the members of Polish resistance were either forcibly conscripted to the Soviet controlled Polish People's Army or imprisoned.
Lviv pogroms and the Holocaust.
Before the war Lviv had the third-largest Jewish population in Poland, which swelled further to over 200,000 Jews as war refugees entered the city. Immediately after the Germans entered the city, Einsatzgruppen and civil collaborators organized a massive pogrom, which they claimed was in retaliation for the NKVD's earlier killings (though Jews were also killed during the NKVD purge). Many Holocaust scholars attribute much of the killing to the Ukrainian nationalists. However the killers' actual political orientation and relation to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is still subject to debate. During the four-week pogrom from the end of June to late July, 1941, nearly 4,000 Jews were murdered. On July 25, 1941, a second pogrom, called "Petliura Days" after Symon Petliura, was organized; nearly 2,000 more Jews were killed in Lviv, mostly shot in groups by civilian collaborators after being marched to the Jewish cemetery or to Lunecki prison.
The Lwów Ghetto was established after the pogroms, holding around 120,000 Jews, most of whom were deported to the Belzec extermination camp or killed locally during the following two years. Following the pogroms, Einsatzgruppen killings, harsh conditions in the ghetto, and deportation to the death camps, including the Janowska labor camp located on the outskirts of the city, resulted in the almost complete annihilation of the Jewish population. By the time that the Soviet forces reached the town in 1944, only 200–300 Jews remained.
Simon Wiesenthal (later known as a Nazi-hunter) was one of the most notable Jews of Lviv to survive the war, though he was transported to a concentration camp. Many city residents tried to assist and hide the Jews hunted by the Nazis (despite the death penalty imposed for such acts), like for example Leopold Socha, whose story was told in the 2011 film "In Darkness", helped two Jewish families to survive in the sewers, where they were hiding after liquidation of the ghetto. Wiesenthal's memoir, "The Murderers Amongst Us", describes how he was saved by a Ukrainian policeman named Bodnar. The Lvivans hid thousands of Jews, many of them were later recognized as Righteous Gentiles. A large effort in saving the members of the Jewish community was organized by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
Post-war Soviet period.
After the war, despite Polish efforts, the city remained as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Most of the remaining Polish population was expelled to the Polish territories gained from Germany (especially to present day Wrocław) whose German population was respectively expelled or fled in fear of Soviet retribution.
Migrants from Ukrainian-speaking rural areas around the city, as well as from other parts of the Soviet Union arrived attracted by the city's rapidly growing industry requirements. This population transfer altered the traditional ethnic composition of the city, which was already drastically changed as Polish, Jewish and German population was displaced or murdered.
With Russification being a general Soviet policy in post-war Ukraine, in Lviv it was combined with the disestablishment of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (see History of Christianity in Ukraine) at the state-sponsored Synod of Lviv, which agreed to transfer all parishes to the recently recreated Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, after the death of Joseph Stalin, Soviet cultural policies were relaxed, allowing Lviv, the major centre of Western Ukraine to become a major hub of Ukrainian culture.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the city significantly expanded both in population and size. A number of prominent plants and factories were established or moved from eastern parts of the USSR. This resulted in partial Russification of the city and some loss of its western flavour. Among the most notable plants were the bus factory ("Lvivsky Avtomobilny Zavod"), which produced most of the buses in the Soviet Union and employed upwards of 30,000, TV factory "Zavod Elektron" which made one of the most popular brand of television sets in the country, the front-end loader factory ("Zavod Avto-Pogruzchik"), the shoe factory ("Obuvnaya Fabrika Progress"), confectionery "Svitoch", and many more. Each of these employed tens of thousands of workers and were among the largest employers in the region. Most of them survive to this day, although economic difficulties put a drain on their production figures.
In the period of Soviet liberalization of the mid-to-end 1980s until the early 1990s (see Glasnost and Perestroika) the city became the centre of "Rukh" (People's Movement of Ukraine), a political movement advocating Ukrainian independence from the USSR.
Independent Ukraine.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Lviv became part of the newly independent Ukraine, serving as the capital of the Lviv Oblast. Today the city remains one of the most important centers of Ukrainian cultural, economic and political life and is noted for its beautiful and diverse architecture. In its recent history, Lviv strongly supported Viktor Yushchenko during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election and played a key role in the Orange Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of people would gather in freezing temperature to demonstrate for the Orange camp. Acts of civil disobedience forced the head of the local police to resign and the local assembly issued a resolution refusing to accept the fraudulent first official results.
Lviv celebrated its 750th year in September 2006. One large event was a light show around the Lviv Opera House.


Hotel de Wereld

Hotel de Wereld (meaning "Hotel The World") in Wageningen was the site of the capitulation of the German troops in the Netherlands on 5 May 1945, and the end of German occupation during World War II.
"Oberbefehlshaber Niederlande" supreme commander "Generaloberst" Johannes Blaskowitz surrendered to I Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes at the hotel. The capitulation document was signed the next day (no typewriter had been available the prior day) in the auditorium of "Rijks Landbouw Hoogeschool", located next door.
This historic event is celebrated every May 5 as Netherland's Liberation Day national holiday.
History.
In 1669 Jacob Meijnsen had a hotel outsite the city gates of Wageningen. It was a stopping place between Utrecht and Arnhem. The inn appears on a map of Gerard Passevant in 1676. In 1814 the oldest painting of the hotel was made, this painting was commissioned by Gerrit Steuk when he became the owner of the inn. In 1852 a new hotel was built (current building) on the foundations of the old inn. In 1872 a new extension of three storeys was built.
Since 2004 it is again a hotel and restaurant. The in Hotel de Wereld situated restaurant O Mundo was a 1 star restaurant until 2018 according to the Michelin Guide.
World War II background.
When British Field Marshal Montgomery reached Lübeck and the Baltic Sea in the beginning of May 1945, the German troops in Denmark and part of The Netherlands were isolated from their homebase. Without major fights, they surrendered to Montgomery on May 4 at Lüneburg Heath.
On 5 May 1945 the negotiation for the surrender of the Germans in the Netherlands took place in the hotel. I Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes, accompanied by Canadian Brigadier-General George Kitching and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, accepted the capitulation of "Oberbefehlshaber Niederlande" German commander-in-chief "Generaloberst" Johannes Blaskowitz, who was accompanied by German "Generalleutnant" Paul Reichelt. On 6 May 1945 (no typewriter had been available the previous day), the official signing of the capitulation document took place in the auditorium of "Rijks Landbouw Hoogeschool", next door to the hotel. Photos can be seen here. The pen used to sign can be seen in the local museum the "Casteelse poort" (English: Castles gate).
By 1975 the Hotel was fully restored. The restored Hotel was opened by H.R.H. Prince Bernhard, who represented the Netherlands at the capitulation in 1945.
On 8 July 1945 the bronze plaque was attached to the wall of the Hotel by the Canadians. On 9 July Prince Bernhard unveiled the plaque which was given by General Foulkes to remember the capitulation act signed in Wageningen.


Cornelis Engelsz

Cornelis Engelsz. (1575–1650) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and the father of Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck.
Biography.
Engelsz was born in Gouda. According to Houbraken, he was a pupil of Karel van Mander and a colleague of Frans Hals in Haarlem.
The Frans Hals Museum has several works by him and his son, the portrait painter Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck. According to the RKD he was a pupil of Cornelis Cornelisz and he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke in 1593 and was from 1594 to 1621 a member of the schutterij there that he painted in 1618. He died in Haarlem.


Pieter Claude Bijleveld

LLM Pieter Claude Bijleveld (Nijmegen, August 28, 1828 – Nijmegen, September 2, 1898) was a Dutch politician.
Life and work.
Bijleveld was a son of Nijmegen mayor François Pierre Bijleveld and Reiniera Charlotte Rau. He studied law. In 1856 he was appointed mayor of Zaltbommel and in 1875 he succeeded his father as mayor of Nijmegen, a function he held until his death in 1898. Bijleveld was Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau.
Bijleveld married on 4 juni 1857 with Gosuina Alida Rudolphina Ketjen, a daughter of Jan Hendrik Ketjen and Adriana Sophia baroness Van Randwijck. Pieter Bijleveld was a scion of the Dutch patrician family Bijleveld.
Streetname.
A proposal, in 1896, to name a street for his father, during his mayoralty, was rejected by the council of Nijmegen. The street Bijleveldsingel is probably named after Pieter Claude Bijleveld himself.


Theo Bruins

Theo Bruins (Arnhem, 25 November 1929 – Haarlem, 8 January 1993) was a Dutch pianist and composer.
Life and career.
Bruins' earliest piano lessons were with his mother. His professional piano studies commenced in 1946 with Jaap Spaanderman at the Conservatoire of the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum Foundation (merged into the Amsterdam Conservatoire). Starting in 1948 he studied with Yves Nat and from 1951 studied composition with Kees van Baaren.
In the meanwhile he had started a successful career as a performing concert pianist, which took him to North America and South America, and throughout Europe, as well as to Indonesia. Amongst others he played as a soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. For a recital in London he received the Harriet Cohen Beethoven Medal in 1959. He taught at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. Among his students are Bart Berman, Maarten Bon, Loek van der Leeden, and Fred Oldenburg.
Bruins' compositions are few in number, but nevertheless well noted. All his works were published by Donemus and collected on one album by the Q Disc label. His "Syncope for harpsichord" (1992) appears also on a collection by NM Music.


2002 Budapest mayoral election

The 2002 Budapest mayoral election was held on 20 October 2002 to elect the Mayor of Budapest ("főpolgármester"). On the same day, local elections were held throughout Hungary, including the districts of Budapest. The election was run using a First-past-the-post voting system. The winner of this election served for 4 years.
The election was won by three-time incumbent, Gábor Demszky.


Tatyana Pavlovna Ehrenfest

Tatyana Pavlovna Ehrenfest, later van Aardenne-Ehrenfest, (Vienna, October 28, 1905 – Dordrecht, November 29, 1984) was a Dutch mathematician. She was the daughter of Paul Ehrenfest (1880–1933) and Tatyana Alexeyevna Afanasyeva (1876–1964).
Under her married name, Tanja van Aardenne-Ehrenfest, she is known for her contributions to De Bruijn sequences, low-discrepancy sequences, and the BEST theorem.
Education.
Tatyana Ehrenfest was born in Vienna and spent her childhood in St Petersburg. In 1912 the Ehrenfests moved to Leiden where her father succeeded H.A. Lorentz as professor at the University of Leiden. Until 1917 she was home schooled; after that, she attended the Gymnasium in Leiden and passed the final exams in 1922.
She studied mathematics and physics at the University of Leiden. In 1928 she went to Göttingen where she took courses from Harald Bohr and Max Born. On December 8, 1931, she obtained her Ph.D. in Leiden. After that, she was never employed and, in particular, never held any academic position.
Contributions.
De Bruijn sequences are cyclic sequences of symbols for a given alphabet and parameter formula_1 such that every length-formula_1 subsequence occurs exactly once within them. They are named after Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn, despite their earlier discovery (for binary alphabets) by Camille Flye Sainte-Marie. De Bruijn and Ehrenfest jointly published the first investigation into de Bruijn sequences for larger alphabets, in 1951.
The BEST theorem, also known as the de Bruijn–van Aardenne-Ehrenfest–Smith–Tutte theorem, relates Euler tours and spanning trees in directed graphs, and gives a product formula for their number. It is a variant of an earlier formula of Smith and Tutte, and was published by de Bruijn and Ehrenfest in the same paper as their work on de Bruijn sequences.
Ehrenfest is also known for her proof of a lower bound on low-discrepancy sequences.


Vodootvodny Canal

Vodootvodny Canal () is a 4 kilometre long, 30-60 metre wide canal in downtown Moscow, Russia. It was built in the 1780s on the old riverbed of the Moskva River to control floods and support shipping. Canal construction created an island between the Moskva River and the canal. The island acquired its present shape in 1938 with the completion of Moscow Canal megaproject. The canal is spanned by ten bridges; the eleventh is now under construction.
Moscow floods.
Zamoskvorechye, the land on the flat southern bank of Moskva river, was frequently flooded in spring. The river itself used to migrate south from its present site and back, discouraging construction. Low lands on both sides of the river were only suitable for farming. In dry periods, the old river bed used to shrink into isolated muddy swamps, spreading disease. Residents had to combat inundation levels by digging small moats and dikes, with little result. The memory of these moats (ровушки, ендовы; "rovyshki", "yendovy") remains in the names of Raushskaya embankment and Church of St. George v Yendove (literally, "in the pot"). The most notable, permanent moat was that separating St. George from Balchug Street.
Kazakov project, 1775.
The first documented flood control project was drawn up in 1775, presumably by Matvey Kazakov (senior). In addition to creating an island separated from Zamoskvorechye, Kazakov also proposed cutting two flood control dikes west from Bersenevka. This would separate strips of floodland from the mainland, creating two more islands. In the east, Kazakov planned to flood uninhabited farmland permanently, and connect the Canal to the Moskva River inside the present-day Garden Ring. The eastern end of an island would become Moscow's fortified grain port and warehouse. The moat east of Balchug had to be cleared and widened, too.
1783–1786 canal.
A notably devastating flood occurred in 1783, razing the suburbs and damaging Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge (three spans collapsed, killing four people). In order to repair it, the Moskva River was temporarily drained, and its water diverted into the old river bed. Prior to closing the main waterway, the old river bed was cleared and widened.
Kazakov's plan materialized in 1783-1786, excluding the grain terminal. An 1807 plan shows only one "additional" island west of Bersenevka; otherwise, it follows Kazakov's project; the main island is cut into two halves by the Balchug moat.
19th century.
After the Fire of 1812, the western island and the dike separating it from the mainland were reclaimed for development (today, they form the Golden Mile of Khamovniki District). The Moskva River was reduced to about its present-day width (see the 1824 map). The eastern end of the Canal was also reduced to its ordinary width of 30 metres.
In 1835, the city built Babyegorodskaya Dam west of the island. The dam was disassembled each autumn and set back in place after the spring flood, so it was good for shipping but useless against floods. A new channel extension east was built to bypass the old 90-degree turn; as the 1853 map shows, the new canal cut Red Hills neighborhood away from the mainland. For a while, the island was cut into three parts, then, when Balchug moat was filled, in two.
1930s – present day.
The completion of the Moscow Canal (1932–1938) raised the water level in the Moskva River and the canal, enabling reliable shipping throughout summer seasons. Locks on the canal were demolished (this function was taken by Pererva locks downstream). The moat parallel to Garden Ring was also filled in the 1930s, with the completion of Bolshoy Krasnokholmsky Bridge.
The first bridges of the Soviet age, Komissariatsky bridge (1927) and the pedestrian Zverev Bridge (1927) were built with sufficient clearance. Chugunny Bridge (1889) was also compatible with new requirements (completion of a new Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge diverted traffic away from this bridge). All other bridges were rebuilt in the 1930s to 6-8 traffic lanes.
In the 1960s, Schluzovoy Bridge construction connected the embankments on the eastern tip of the island. Chugunny Bridge steel deck was replaced with concrete. Sadovnichesky Bridge was completed in 1963; it is actually a water pipe conduit with a secondary function of a pedestrian bridge. Two more pedestrian bridges, Second Schluzovoy and Luzhkov Bridge, were added in the 1990s. Construction of the Patriarshy Bridge extension over the canal is currently under way.
The city planners entertain plans to build a parking lot under the canal, from across Golutvin sloboda office block (see photo above), to Tretyakov Gallery. This would require setting up dams, temporarily drying up the canal and digging the open pit.


Nicolaes Boddingius

Nicolaes Boddingius, Nicolaas Bodding van Laer or Bodding van Laer (2 August 1605 (baptised) – 1669) was a schoolmaster, writer and minister active in Haarlem in the Netherlands.
Biography.
He was born in Haarlem as the fifth child of Jacob Claesz Bodding and Magdalena Heyns. He came from a well to do family and his parents operated a private school in Haarlem started by Magdalena's father, the well-known writer and publisher Peeter Heyns. His older brothers were the Dutch painters Roeland van Laer and Pieter van Laer. He became a calligrapher and teacher in Haarlem.
For most of his life he lived in Haarlem, where after the death of his parents, sometime before 1628, he took over the school "inde Laurier Boom" which was founded by his grandfather Peeter Heyns around 1593. He also wrote several books about learning how to write, amongst them one called "Stightigh A.B.C.".
In 1655 he was appointed as rector and principal of the Latin school in Helmond, Netherlands, which position he held until 1659. In that year, through a resolution by the "Raad van State", he was appointed as minister in Bakel, Netherlands. It is believed he studied theology in Leiden, Netherlands. He died in Bakel, Netherlands.
In the Brouwerskapel of the "Grote Kerk", also named St. Bavochurch, in Haarlem, hangs a plaque with inscriptions of names of ministers who served the church since the Reformation. The plaque was made and signed by Nicolaus Boddingius, "Anno 1652". The bottom of the plate contains two phrases, one in Greek and the other in Hebrew. The Greek text resembles Philippians 3:7, "but whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ", while the Hebrew text comes from Psalm 121:2, "My help comes from the Lord". The apparent essence of both phrases is to identify that the listing of names of ministers is not for the glory of them, but for their service to God.


Nouvelles Extraordinaires de Divers Endroits

Nouvelles Extraordinaires de Divers Endroits (English: "Extraordinary News from Various Places") or Gazette de Leyde (Gazette of Leiden) was the most important newspaper of record of the international European newspapers of the late 17th to the late 18th century. In the last few decades of the 18th century it was one of the main political newspapers in the Western world.
It was published in French in Leiden, Netherlands. At that time the Netherlands enjoyed a significant freedom of the press. Its circulation likely exceeded 10,000, and it may have reached even up to 100,000.
Background.
The Netherlands (United Provinces) were, in the 18th century, very tolerant in matters of freedom of the press and religious freedom. Compared to most contemporary countries, such as France, Great Britain or the Holy Roman Empire, there was little government interference (censorship or monopolies). Many Huguenots fled France for the Netherlands during the reign of Louis XIV, particularly after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Several of them began publishing French-language newspapers (French being both their language and internationally used - see lingua franca) in a number of European cities covering political news in France and Europe. Read by the European elite, these papers were known in France as the "foreign gazettes" (fr. "gazettes étrangères").
Contents and history.
The paper was founded by a Huguenot family, the de la Fonts, and passed into the hands of another Huguenot family, the Luzacs, in 1738. Sources vary on the exact date it was founded, suggesting 1660, 1667 1669 or 1680; they all agree the publication continued to 1798 (or 1811 under a different name).
It was published twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) in Leiden (hence its popular unofficial name, "Gazette de Leyde"). The newspaper usually contained eight pages arranged as a four-page booklet. The size varied; surviving examples are generally by or by , in which the text is organized into two columns. A four-page, single column supplement was published from 1753. The paper quality varied, war time conditions often enforced use of low quality stock, and the print was small and cramped. Subscriptions from France amounted to over 2,500 by 1778, at an annual cost of 36 livres.
Despite being a French-language publication, the gazette was seen as independent of France. Its production was tolerated and even encouraged by the authorities, who often used "Gazette de Leyde" and other similar publications for their own ends, when wishing to publicize information that could not be released via the official channels. The paper also gave voice to institutions like the Parliament of France that were finding it difficult to publish in the official French newspaper, the "Gazette de France".
"Nouvelles Extraordinaires", like other newspapers of its time, gave primarily political and commercial information, classified by source and date of arrival (the oldest, from the most distant lands, coming first). It offered reports on international politics, such as wars and diplomatic relations, as well as coverage of major domestic affairs. The newspaper also contained trivia, editorials and advertising. Like many other early newspapers, it offered judgments and prognostications, and was in the main a juxtaposition of rumors and announcements from various sources, presented without much unification.
It is distinguished by its position against the French absolute monarchy, support for religious tolerance, including for Jansenism, support for democratic reforms such as the introduction of parliaments, support for the American independence and the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791. The newspaper preferred to praise the changes in Poland (the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) more than those in France, criticizing the violence of the French Revolution, and contrasting it with the peaceful transformation in Poland. This relative lack of support for the French Revolution may explain why the paper was abolished on 23 April 1798, three years after the invasion of the Netherlands by France and the Batavian Revolution. It reappeared as the Nouvelles politiques publiées à Leyde in October, but it was seen as no longer independent. Under a new name—Journal politique publié à Leyde—it lasted from 1804 until 1811, but it never regained its audience and its quality, and disappeared after the annexation of Holland by the French Empire. A new "Leyden Gazette" briefly appeared after the liberation of Holland in 1814.
Impact.
Its circulation reached several thousand, with the highest estimates of about 10,000 issues, and copies of it were found from Moscow and Istanbul to Madrid and the United States. With unlicensed copies and shared subscriptions its circulation might have even been several times higher, reaching at the highest estimates close to 100,000.
"Nouvelles Extraordinaires" was the most popular of about 20 French-language newspapers published mainly outside France, most in the Netherlands and Germany (in terms of popularity, it was followed by "Gazette d'Amsterdam" and later, "Courier du Bas-Rhin"). Thomas Jefferson referred to it as "the best in Europe" and "the only one worth reading" and it was said to be the only journal read by Louis XVI. The paper's impact and recognition on the 18th century has been compared to that of the London "Times" in the 19th century, and the "New York Times" in the 20th, and "Twitter" in the 21st century.
Editors.
The newspaper editors were:


Hans de Bruijn

Johan Adam (Hans) de Bruijn (born 1 September 1962) is a Dutch political scientist and Professor of Public Administration at Delft University of Technology, known by his work in the field of process management.
Life and work.
Born in Gouda, De Bruijn studied law at Leiden University from 1980 to 1986 and obtained his MA of Dutch Law and his MA of Political Science. In 1986 he started as a PhD student at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and in 1990 obtained his PhD with thesis, entitled "Economische zaken en economische subsidies: een instrumentele en organisatorische analyse van de toepassing van economische subsidies" (Economic affairs and economic grants: an instrumental and organizational analysis of the application of economic subsidies).
After his graduation De Bruijn started his academic at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of the Delft University of Technology. Since 1998 he is professor of Public Administration, and chairs the section Policy, Organizations, Law & Gaming with Ernst ten Heuvelhof and Helen Stout. In co-operation with Wil Thissen he is involved in research of multi-actor systems. Since 2004 is he affiliated with the Dutch School for Public Administration in The Hague, and since 2008 to the Netherlands Institute for City Innovation Studies.
The Bruijns research interests are in the field of the management and the steering of complex decision-making processes in the public sector.
Selected publications.
Articles, a selection:


Andy Anstett

Andrue John Anstett (born June 25, 1946) is a former politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the New Democratic Party government of Premier Howard Pawley, and made an unsuccessful bid for the party's leadership in 1988.
Anstett was born in Groningen in the Netherlands, and moved to Kitchener, Ontario as an infant. He received an honours political science degree from the University of Waterloo and did post-graduate studies in Canadian parliamentary procedure and election administration. He moved to Manitoba in 1973 upon his appointment as deputy clerk of the Legislative Assembly and deputy chief electoral officer for the province. He held these positions until resigning in 1979.
Anstett was elected to the provincial legislature in the 1981 provincial election, as a candidate of the New Democratic Party in the rural riding of Springfield. He was appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs on November 4, 1983, and also served as Government House Leader. When Howard Pawley introduced a constitutional amendment to address a court decision respecting French language rights in the 1980s, Anstett was a leading supporter of the measure. As Government House Leader, he was the minister responsible for the constitutional amendment, which was the subject of rancorous debate throughout the province. Most observers cite Anstett's leadership role in the unpopular constitutional amendment as the reason for his defeat by 55 votes by Progressive Conservative Gilles Roch in the election of 1986.
When the Pawley government lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in 1988, Anstett ran to succeed Pawley as leader. He placed third on the first ballot with 317 votes (out of 1,663 valid votes cast), and was eliminated on the second ballot despite the support of fourth-place candidate Maureen Hemphill. The NDP government was defeated in the election which followed, and was reduced to third party status. Anstett contested Springfield in this election, and finished third.
After his career in provincial politics ended, Anstett became chair of the Manitoba Municipal Board, and later served as chair of the Ontario Assessment Review Board until 1998. From 1998 to 2005, he was Vice President of Corporate Affairs for AEC-International in Toronto and through the International Property Tax Institute, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Lincoln Institute on Land Policy, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, he advised governments in the developing world and in countries in transition in Eastern Europe on property assessment and tax policy. He was a property tax advisor to the government of Kyrgyzstan in 2002, and to the government of Macedonia in 2003/04. In 2005, he became director of legislation and policy support services with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation in Ontario and subsequently served as senior policy and issues advisor in their president's office.