Oppression and Freedom

Maps and Atlases

Re-use of maps in times of paper scarcity during WW2

During the Second World War availability of paper was limited, so the backsides of old topographic map sheets were re-used to print new maps. The UBL Special Collections hold a complete series of WWII maps of the Netherlands, several of which were printed on the the backsides of older maps.

Martijn Storms • 09-02-2021

Manuscripts, Archives and Letters

Purging Leiden University after World War II

The end of WWII and the reopening of Leiden University meant the start of the purging of the university, aimed at removing all staff, professors and students from Leiden’s academic community that had sympathised with the Nazi oppressors.

Mart van Duijn • 17-11-2020

Early Printed and Rare Books

Dutch Children Cheering the Canadian Liberators: Four Dutch colouring books from 1945

The liberation of the Netherlands by the Canadians and other allied forces in 1944/45 is one of the brightest pages in Dutch history. Four very rare colouring books of the time keep this memory alive.

Anton van der Lem • 10-11-2020

Middle Eastern Special Collections

Johan Braakensiek’s Cartoon of an Imprisoned Ottoman Sultan (1909)

Turkish prisons tend to house not only criminals but also political opponents. After the Young Turk Revolution, the sultan himself became a political opponent and ended up in prison. Dutch caricaturist Johan Braakensiek noticed the absurd irony of the situation.

Arnoud Vrolijk • 14-09-2020

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

William Louis of Nassau (1560-1620), Saviour of the Dutch Republic

After the assassination of William of Orange (1533-1584), friends feared, and foes hoped the Dutch Republic would collapse. The Republic, however, was saved by a team of professional leaders, laying the foundations for an emergent country and its lasting independence.

Anton van der Lem • 26-05-2020

Photography

Emmy Andriesse: forbidden photographs of the hunger winter and liberation of Holland, 1944-1945

Emmy Andriesse photographed the last years of World War II in Amsterdam while putting herself in serious danger. Her photographs, now in the Leiden Special Collections, gained iconic status in Dutch visual history.

Maartje van den Heuvel • 01-05-2020

Asian Special Collections

The Illustrated Description of the Living Hells

Two copies of a rare and long-forgotten Chinese book are preserved in the Leiden Special Collections where they are awaiting researchers.

Guest author • 02-04-2020

Prints, Drawings and Portraits

Leiden dissertation 1742: “slavery not against the Bible”

The story of Jacobus Capitein, a former slave advocating slavery.

Guest author • 17-03-2020