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Our vice-president Patrick van Schie about privacy and far-reaching government interference

Our Vice-President Patrick van Schie discussed on April 11 on the Dutch Public radio NPO 1  the vital value of privacy during the corona crisis and warned against  far-reaching government interference.   The link to the radio programme is available here: https://wnl.tv/gemist/wnl-opiniemakers-202004111600/    

The Hungarian Uprising, October 23 to November 4, 1956

By Patrick van Schie   65 years ago, an uprising against communist rule took place in Hungary. It was not the first uprising behind the Iron Curtain (in June 1953 an uprising took place in the GDR, in June 1956 in the Polish city of Poznan) but it was the largest. The Hungarian uprising was […]

Patrick van Schie on Dutch radio about some political terms

On Monday, October 5, vice-chairman Patrick van Schie, in his position as director of the Telders Foundation, was a guest on the radio program “The Hague lobby“. The subject was the relations “on the right” in view of the approaching parliamentary elections. He also explained what classical liberalism is and that “neo-liberalism” does not exist, […]

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Suffering in the Soviet Union around the death of Stalin

Patrick van Schie   After having ruled the Soviet Union for more than a quarter of a century, Josef Stalin died seventy years ago, in the early morning of March 5, 1953. “The news of Comrade Stalin’s passing will cause deep sorrow in the hearts of the workers, collective peasants, intellectuals and the entire working […]

The communist coup in Prague, February 1948

This month it is exactly 75 years ago that the communists finally seized power in Czechoslovakia (at the time, the current Czech Republic and Slovakia formed one country). In all the countries that would disappear behind the Iron Curtain after the Second World War, a similar process took place of the elimination of pro-democratic forces and the establishment of the dictatorship of the communist party. In Czechoslovakia, however, this took longer, which is why many people – both among the democratically minded Czechoslovaks and in the West – harbored the illusion for the longest time that the country would be spared an ‘equalisation’.

Baltic film weekend in the Netherlands

Ambassadors of Lithuania, H.E. Mr. Neilas Tankevičius, Latvia H.E. Ms. Aiga Liepiņa and Estonia H.E. Mr. Lauri Kuusing invite to the 3rd edition of online Baltic Film Weekend in the Netherlands which will take place from 27 till 29 January. ”The 2023 edition is devoted to the courage and resolve of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians whose combined […]

Why should we remember August 23, 1939

Roger MOORHOUSE British historian and Germanist specialising in the history of modern Central Europe, with particular emphasis on Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and the Second World War. He is the author of “First to Fight: The Polish War 1939”.   Shortly after midnight, on the night of August 23, 1939, Joseph Stalin drank a toast […]

Communism in Albania through children’s eyes

Review of Lea Ypi, Free. Coming of Age at the End of History, 978-0241481851, 313 pages.   Patrick van Schie   Lea Ypi is a curious girl full of questions. That may not be so special, but it is a challenging feature because she grew up in the eighties in Albania, which was then the […]

Maserati, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Cadillac… a glimpse into comrade Brezhnev’s luxurious car choices

By Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska   It is 1980. Not far from Zavidovo, Soviet Republic. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev is driving recklessly from his dacha his black Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, a gift from the Queen Elizabeth II and suddenly he is driving under a truck. His limousine gets demolished but he survives the accident. Not the only car […]

Hill of Crosses in Lithuania a pilgrimage destination and a site of peaceful resistance

By Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska Hill of Crosses situated about 12 km north of the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania is a pilgrimage destination and is extremely impressive. It has been a place of courageous peaceful resistance against the Russian and Soviet oppressors. Crosses are a symbol of faith, hope and freedom. During the Soviet era they were removed […]

Refugee bleeding to death symbolizes the brutality of the Berlin Wall

August 17, 1962: Peter Fechter killed by GDR border troops   By Patrick van Schie   Peter Fechter bleeds to death on the wrong side of the Wall The young East Berlin construction worker Peter Fechter became world famous because of his flight to freedom. More than a year after the construction of border barriers […]

A life in Romania under Ceausescu

Description of Nausicaa Marbe, Waiting for the West (Amsterdam, 2022) ISBN 9789044647280   Patrick van Schie   The Iron Curtain fell away more than thirty years ago. What happened behind that Curtain is history for most Western Europeans. It is different for those people in or from Eastern Europe who are old enough to have […]

This war has never been honestly accounted for

By Roger MOORHOUSE   September 1 is the conventional start date for the European war.  But little in life is set in stone.  Of course, a pedant might want to point out that the British and French only declared war on Germany on September 3, so that date marks the expansion of a German-Polish war […]