Commemorating a ‘Foreign’ War in a Neutral Country: The Political Insignificance of World War I Memory in the Netherlands

TY - JOUR

T1 - Commemorating a ‘Foreign’ War in a Neutral Country

T2 - The Political Insignificance of World War I Memory in the Netherlands

AU - Ribbens, Kees

PY - 2016/9

Y1 - 2016/9

N2 - The recent creation of a First World War museum exhibit at Huis Doorn reflects the increased Dutch attention paid to this war, accompanying the international Centenary efforts, although the neutral Netherlands had not been actively involved in the military events of wwi. This initiative, on a small estate where the former erman emperor Wilhelm II lived after the defeat of Germany in 1918, was not a natural outcome of the dynamics of Dutch historical culture. This article raises the question of how wwi became increasingly emphasised in the early twentyfirst century, and to what extent this reflects a profound change in the national historical culture, which previously displayed no strong connections to wwi. While familiarity with wwi has grown among the Dutch media and the wider public, governmental interest remained limited (very different from the case of wwii), making it rather difficult to actually speak of politics of memory.

AB - The recent creation of a First World War museum exhibit at Huis Doorn reflects the increased Dutch attention paid to this war, accompanying the international Centenary efforts, although the neutral Netherlands had not been actively involved in the military events of wwi. This initiative, on a small estate where the former erman emperor Wilhelm II lived after the defeat of Germany in 1918, was not a natural outcome of the dynamics of Dutch historical culture. This article raises the question of how wwi became increasingly emphasised in the early twentyfirst century, and to what extent this reflects a profound change in the national historical culture, which previously displayed no strong connections to wwi. While familiarity with wwi has grown among the Dutch media and the wider public, governmental interest remained limited (very different from the case of wwii), making it rather difficult to actually speak of politics of memory.

KW - World War I

KW - Memory

KW - Museums

KW - dutch history

KW - historical culture

M3 - Article

SN - 2211-2898

VL - 131

SP - 87

EP - 98

JO - BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review

JF - BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review

IS - 3

M1 - DOI 10.18352

ER -