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11 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

Introduction

The Friends’ Day held on January 26, 2012, was dedicated to Women’s Work, a major research project for which the Friends of the iish ap- propriated the funds in February 2002. Ariadne Schmidt and Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk presented an overview of the enormous amount of women’s work that went into the project and the impressive results that have already been obtained. A brief summary appears in this issue. As usual, the Institute’s recent acquisitions range broadly, from Essequebo to the Donets Basin, and from eighteenth-century Egypt to twentieth-century Prague.

Members of the Friends of the iish pay annual dues of 100 or 500 euros or join with a lifetime donation of 1,500 euros or more. In return, members are invited to semi-annual sessions featuring presentations of iish acquisitions and guest speakers. These guest speakers deliver lectures on their field of research, which need not be related to the iish collection. The presentation and lecture are followed by a recep- Colophon tion. In addition to these semi-annual gatherings, all Friends receive a 40 percent discount on iish publications. Friends paying dues of 500 euros or more are also entitled to choose Institute publications from a broad selection offered at no charge. The board con- sults the Friends about allocation of the revenues from the dues and delivers an annual financial report in conjunction with the iish administration. cruquiusweg 31 The iish was founded by master collector N.W. Post- P.O. Box 2169 humus (1880-1960) in the 1930s. For the past two 1000 cd Amsterdam decades, two of the institutions established by this Tel. +31206685866 ‘history entrepreneur’ have operated from the same Fax +31206654181 premises: the Netherlands Economic History Archive socialhistory.org founded in 1914 and the International Institute of So- cial History, which is now 76 years old. Both institutes [email protected] continue to collect, although the ‘subsidiary’ iish has abnamro: 0555958892 grown considerably larger than its ‘parent’ neha. Ad- iban: nl69abna0555958892 ditional information about the Institute may be found bic: abnanl2a in Jaap Kloosterman and Jan Lucassen, Rebels with Editors: Jan lucassen and jaap kloosterman a Cause: Five Centuries of Social History Collected by Translations: lee mitzman the iish (Amsterdam 2010). For all information con- Photography: hans luhrs cerning the Friends, see socialhistory.org/en/friends. Production coordination: Aukje Lettinga Design and layout: ruparo (ivo sikkema) Printed, with generous support, by: a-d druk b.V. Zeist Website: monique van der pal We wish to thank Bouwe Hijma, Gijs Kessler, Frans van der Kolff, Piet Lourens, Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk, Kees Rodenburg, Ariadne Schmidt Financial administration: guusje varkevisser and tjerck zittema Administrative support: yvonne bax Composition of the Board: Jan Lucassen (chair/ treasurer), Jaap Kloosterman (co-chair), Bart Hageraats (secretary), Wim Berkelaar, Pieter Jacobs, Bauke Marinus, Jacco Pekelder, Mieke IJzermans issn 1574-2156

2 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

From All Nooks and Crannies

When members of our collec- viet Union, Kees decided the tion development staff retire, Rumanian was an unlikely they often leave small legacies author of the letter. Yet he also that may be hard to determine. picked up a cue when he noted One such item was an unsigned Istrati’s involvement with the copy of a French letter dated fate of Victor Serge (1890-1947), July 1st, 1928, that was ad- the cosmopolitan revolution- dressed to Henri Barbusse by ary, who in 1928 was expelled Hier illu someone who had obviously from the Communist Party of just left a prison of the gpu in the Soviet Union because of Leningrad. The letter had been his links with the opposition van de found by Leo van Rossum, re- against Stalin. Further investi- sponsible for Eastern Europe, gation proved that Serge had in a book on Panaït Istrati. His in fact written three letters to brief van colleague Tristan Haan, respon- Barbusse in 1928, which would sible for France, suggested that be published on the pages of the letter might actually be by les Humbles (no 8-9) in 1937. Our Serge? Istrati, who visited the Soviet letter was one of them. Union in 1928. Since this was As Kees noted, this long all part of the collection of the story should probably be seen Italian anarchist Ugo Fedeli, against the background of a the letter was then passed on, certain type of akribeia. Separat- together with the book, to ing the letter from the book Rudolf de Jong, responsible for would destroy the context, but Anarchism. When he retired in as long as it remained unidenti- 1994, it was ‘inherited’ by Kees fied nothing definitive could First page of Rodenburg, who – anticipating be done with the book. Long Victor Serge’s his own retirement next year – responsible for Spain, Kees sim- letter to Henri now took a closer look at this ply recalled the saying las cosas Barbusse, 1 july unsolved riddle. de palacio van despacio – some- 1928 (iish Ugo Checking Vers l’autre flamme, thing akin to the mills of God. Fedeli) Istrati’s travelogue on the So-

Twenty-forth Friends’ Day, 26 January 2012 Presentation of recent acquisitions to be a very far cry indeed from five per cent of the Atlantic economic history, and it is. The slave trade. The debate about reason for the purchase was the profitability of this enter- Two Sides of a Coin the print’s reverse side, which prise is still in full swing (see, One of the latest acquisitions of features a manuscript of the eg, the novel contribution from the Netherlands Economic His- Staat der Negotiatie ten behoeven Karwan Fatah Black, University tory Archive (neha) is a print van planters te Essequibo en Demer- of Leiden, and Matthias van depicting the Plegtige Optogt der ary onder de directie van Jan van Rossum, iish, in the Tijdschrift Begrafenis van Wijlen H.M. Frederi- Rijneveld & Soonen in dato primo voor Sociale en Economische Ge- ka Louisa Wilhelmina, Koningin der July 1785 [Account of the negoti- schiedenis). In addition, the Nederlanden, Geb. Prinses van Prui- ation for planters in Essequebo Dutch colonies were the site of ssen op den 26 October 1837 [Sol- and Demerara, supervised by hundreds of slave plantations. emn funeral procession for the Jan van Rijneveld & Sons, 1 July Those in Suriname were the late H.M. Frederika Louisa Wil- 1785] (neha bc 785). Two sides best known, but the adjacent helmina, Queen of the Nether- of a coin: royal mourning and Demerara, Essequebo and Ber- lands, born Princess of Prussia, blood money. bice (British since 1796) was on 26 October 1837]. This seems Dutch ships processed about another infamous slave colony

3 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

(see On the Waterfront 8, p 3). ing and managing monetary which listed the interest pay- Even though this industry loans. Eligible plantations were ments for 1777-1795 (neha bc was highly profitable, financ- assessed by certified apprais- 266). In the new item we now ing the slave plantations was ers (“priseurs”), after which up have an excerpt from the ac- complicated from the outset. to 5/8 of the amount might be counts from the middle of this At the start of the eighteenth disbursed. These negotiations period as well. At the time the century a sugar plantation with may be considered the precur- negotiation concerned 36 plan- 50 slaves would have required sor to investment funds. This tations, whose main crop was an investment of Fl 23,000 case ushered in a trend, and coffee, although sugar and cot- (about € 225,000 today); sixty from 1766 to 1775 in Amster- ton were grown there as well. years later a sugar plantation dam, Middelburg, and Utrecht Their total value was estimated with 119 slaves, no less than Fl negotiations totalling over 10 to exceed 4 million guilders, on 100,000 (close to € 1 million). million guilders were issued for which the consortium granted In both cases, purchasing the Essequebo and Demerara. a maximum mortgage of 2.25 slaves would have accounted One was the negotiation of million guilders, of which 2.2 for 55 per cent of the total Tulleken de Vos & Comp, million was disbursed. The price, also indicating that the founded in 1767 in Amsterdam interest equalled nearly 10 per cost of slaves rose substan- and taken over by the firm Jan cent, suggesting an enormous tially. Amsterdam brokers for van Rijnen en Zoonen in 1771. risk. In return, the total output the products cultivated on the Our new chart from this negoti- of course had to be provided plantations were the main fi- ation lists as its most important to the consortium, which then nanciers. At first, they operated items the plantations and their auctioned off the products in on their own; later on, they set owners and their estimated Amsterdam. up financing firms. In 1751/53 value and production (mainly the first “negotiation” for cane sugar and coffee, as well Memory Loss West-Indian plantations came as cotton). The neha already As our previous issue, with its about, a type of company issu- had a prospectus for this firm, note on Egyptian politics, was going to press (On the Waterfront 23, pp 10-11), the fire that en- Frontispiece to gulfed the Egyptian Scientific ‘Antiquités, nr Institute in Cairo made global 1’, in the Pan- headlines on December 17. The coucke edition English-language edition of al- of Description Masry al-Youm recalled that this de l‘Egypte institution had originally been (iish zf 00172.l) established by Napoléon Bona- parte as the Institut de l’Egypte during his ill-fated campaign in the country. “Its library contains more than 200,000 books, including the original volumes of the Description de l’Egypte […], begun in 1798 by French scientists in Egypt.” Photographs showed the Description lying on a heap of badly damaged books collected by students outside the building. Yet, even though the paper quoted the Minister of Culture as saying that two more copies were present in Cairo and another – incomplete – one in Asyut, there was almost universal mourning of an irrecoverable loss. The loss was indisputably enormous. In commercial terms, a very fine copy of the first edition’s 23 volumes, “in their original mahogany display case,” fetched over a million euros at Christie’s in Paris last year. With only slight hyperbole, the auction house called it “the most extravagant official publishing enterprise ever accomplished.” As is well known, when Bonaparte

4 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

“Shaft of the ‘Peter the Great’ rock salt mines near Bakhmut,” picture postcard issued by the firm Grilikhès in Bakhmut and sent from Stupki on 23 June 1902, with a note that the photograph was taken about 10 years before (Van den Muijzenberg- kiessler archive, Album 0701, no 281).

sailed for the East in 1798, he Salty Adventures another Dutch businessman in took a large group of scientists Families and family archives russia, see On the Waterfront 6, with him. Upon his return to come in all shapes and sizes: pp 3-4). he jokingly invited his France in 1799, he left them small, large, well-organized or nephew from hellevoetsluis behind with his army under utterly confused, interesting to come along. The small boy, the command of Jean-Baptiste or uninteresting (although this all of eight back then, agreed kléber (1753-1800), who in vain is rare). The archive of the Van and accompanied Uncle Dirk tried to extricate the French den Muyzenberg-kiessler fam- to the train in rotterdam. Al- forces from a hopeless predica- ily that the Institute received though he was pried out of the ment. It was kléber who fi rst last summer is both large and train, with considerable diffi - devised the idea of a unifying well-organized and is above culty, leendert Willem van den research publication. Once the all fascinating beyond belief. Muyzenberg (1869-1947) none- savants had fi nally returned, Since 2005 the eponymous theless travelled to join his the French state started to foundation has even issued the fund work on the Description, journal Piepende in de steppe, launched under the Consulate referring to the South-russian and continued through the steppe northeast of the Sea of Empire into the Bourbon res- Azov. toration. The fi rst volume ap- In 1885, on the Ilyinovka estate peared in 1809. there in Stupki (near Bakhmut, At a full meter when upright, now Artemivsk, in the Donets some of the volumes of plates Basin) some Dutchmen decided are among the largest books to open a salt mine and named in existence. In addition to it Pyotr Veliki (Peter the Great). its scientifi c and scholarly The initiators of the holland- value, after all, the publica- sche Maatschappij tot Zoutex- tion had all the trappings of ploitatie in rusland included expensive state propaganda. the rotterdam freemason Dirk As such, though certainly rare, van der Made, already expe- it had suffi cient panache to rienced in the Tsarist Empire be included in quite a few li- with building gas factories (for brary collections, among them that of the royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Propaganda postcard designed by which is kept by the iish. The S.F. Sokolov, quoting a resolution Academy, and consequently of the Sixteenth Congress of the the Institute, also holds the Communist Party of the Soviet second edition, published by Union (1930) on the revolutionary Pancoucke, which started to events in China (Van den Muijzen- appear even before the fi rst berg-kiessler archive, Album 0705, one was completed. no 308).

5 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

over three decades – even photographs of the staff . Espe- cially important items are the countless letters from russia, as well as from Warsaw (where the fi rm had its sales offi ce, and where most of the children were born), but the hundreds of photographs and picture postcards are indeed a treasure trove for social and economic historians. As the large off spring grew up, some entered the construction industry, as well as various other occupations, including teaching agriculture and danc- ing. They frequently corre- sponded with each other, presumably a good habit acquired during their residence abroad. All these letters seem to have been preserved, although some show signs of being chewed by … yes, indeed: mice (the family name translates as ‘mountain of mice’). Soest’s infestation by mice in September 1943 is documented in one of these same letters. The correspondence reveals a strong sense of social com- mitment, which the parents had exhibited as well. All conceivable social movements and political affi liations are mentioned. Alternative healing methods, the International Or- ganization of Good Templars, vegetarians, Theosophists, as well as communists, socialists, and even the fascist Black Front. The communist sympa- thies of children who had been expelled from russia are certainly remarkable. In 1932 the architect Diederik Bernardus (Dick) actually returned at age 29 on a research visit, track- An “illustrated uncle ten years later. leendert as late as 1917, and operated as ing down some relatives in the souvenir” of met Olga lily Mary kiessler, part of a French-russian-Dutch process. A fi ne series of picture the opening of born there to leendert’s older salt syndicate. This lasted until postcards and propaganda the so-called co-worker, the machinery man- 1920, when the reds celebrated material remains from his “Oosterlijn” ager Erwin Woldemar Botho their fi nal victory against the journey. he was still a member from Pretoria kiessler, from Gera in the harz, White russians under General of the Dutch Communist Party to lourenço and his British wife. The couple Anton Denikin, and the mine in 1956, when he travelled to Marques, 1895 was married in 1898 before the was nationalized. After a long hungary. To off set this, we’ll (iish l 11/608) Dutch consul in the lutheran and eventful journey, in which conclude with his younger Church, and had a total of nine he lost everything, leendert brother, Theodor Joseph lud- children, of whom one died in eventually escaped to the wig, born in Stupki in 1910. infancy. Johannes Cornelis van Netherlands. By then he was he and his wife performed as den Muyzenberg (1881-1964) 51 years old and had rapidly a professional dance couple in later followed his older brother turned from an aﬄ uent direc- the German reich until well leendert Willem as well. tor into a destitute repatriate, into the war. They adopted the At fi rst, leendert Willem’s who was subsequently sacked stage names Tschernoff and russian enterprise was very from his equally destitute fi rm. Tschernova, no doubt deriving successful. The fi rm generated A great deal remains from this from the engineer Chernov, good profi ts, up to 25 per cent russian exercise that spanned who in 1882/84 was the fi rst to

6 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012 mine salt in the place where Theo was born. Trains for the Boers On two previous occasions, we wrote about members of the Van der Goot family, whose history is in various ways intertwined with that of the Institute (On the Waterfront 22, pp 10-11; 23, pp 6-7). This was in part triggered by the donation by Claire Posthumus of her personal papers, which comprised several memorabilia from her mother, Willemijn van der Goot (1897-1989), the second wife of iish founder Nicolaas Posthumus. They include albums of photographs related to Willemijn’s youth in Pretoria, where she was born as the fi rst child of Fiepko van der Goot (1868-1940) and Elisabeth Mari- jna Castens (1875-1929). In 1896 Fiepko, a communi- cations engineer from the Poly- technic School of Delft, moved received the nzasm records but shots tell their own story, such “On the way to to South Africa in the service transferred them to the present as the one showing little lilly Europe”, little of the Nederlandsche Zuid-Afri- Nationaal Archief in 1974. yet in lourenço Marques on Janu- Willemijn van kaansche Spoorweg Maatschap- the neha still retains substan- ary 20, 1900, after the Van der der Goot with pij (nzasm). he was one of tial documentation fi les in its Goots had travelled over ‘their’ (probably) her many hundreds of Dutchmen Special Collections (bc 493). railway to the ship that would mother, from to do so, as the company, The Van der Goot albums take them back to holland. a Van der Goot founded a decade previously, constitute an interesting adden- family album tried to solve a problem ensu- dum. While many photographs Family History (Claire Posthu- ing from the Anglo-Boer War of are of course family snapshots, Thanks to the good offi ces of mus Papers). 1880-1881. The Boers, who were there are also pictures of sta- our colleagues at the State concentrated in the Orange tions and railroad tracks, along Social-Political library in Free State and the Transvaal, wonderful vacant stretches of Moscow, we received the hoped to arrange free passage countryside. And some snap- typescript of a novel about outside the British-controlled areas to the south by construct- ing an eastbound railway through Portuguese territory to lourenço Marques (present-day Maputo) on the Delagoa Bay. The line was formally opened in 1895 and is still in use. The nzasm, however, was rendered non-operational by the new war that broke out in 1899 and led to the expulsion of large numbers of Dutch railway staff . Many years later, the company’s history was written by P.J. van Winter (Onder Krugers Hollanders, 1937), a Board member of the neha, which had been founded by Posthumus in 1914 and is now integrated in the iish. In 1940 the neha

“Travelling on the Oosterlijn” at the end of the 1890s, from a Van der Goot family album (Claire Post- humus Papers).

7 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

Alexander Parvus (1867-1924) part in the revolutionary events up to the Molotov-ribbentrop written by his granddaughter, in St Petersburg in 1905, and, Pact. In 1939 he was arrested Tatyana Evgenevna Gnedina also like Trotsky, he escaped. and began a spell of some (*1924). Novelesque indeed: Parvus remained active in poli- fi fteen years in the gulag. Parvus, whose real name was tics, including in the Ottoman After his return to Moscow he Izrail’ lazarevich Gel’fand (or Empire, earned considerable became increasingly involved helphand), was one of several money in the arms trade dur- in the dissident movement in adventurers who traversed Eu- ing the Balkan wars, and was the 1970s. A volume of mem- rope in the decades preceding said to have ties with more oirs, Katastrofa i vtoroe rozhdenie and following the First World than one intelligence service. (Disaster and rebirth, 1977) was War, leaving occasional traces Perhaps his most renowned published in Amsterdam by the that raise more questions than feat is his alleged involvement Alexander herzen Foundation, they answer. in Vladimir lenin’s clandestine of which the records are now Descended from a Jewish fam- trip from Switzerland to russia at the iish. Another volume, ily living near Minsk and raised in 1917. After the war he led an Vykhod iz labirinta (Exit from the in Odessa, Parvus left for Swit- inconspicuous but active life labyrinth), appeared in New zerland in 1887 and graduated near Berlin. york in 1982 and, in an expand- from the University of Basel. Tatyana Gnedina is the daugh- ed version, with Memorial in he then became involved in ter of Parvus’s son, Evgeny Gne- Moscow in 1994. The Institute the German social-democratic din (1898-1983), who took his holds what is possibly a rare movement and is sometimes mother’s surname in the 1920s. portrait of Evgeny as a young- credited with designing (or re- Evgeny had by then long since ster, found among the papers designing, after karl Marx) the moved from Germany to rus- of karl kautsky. theory of ‘permanent revolu- sia, where he rose in the ranks Whether he was in fact a son tion,’ usually associated with of the People’s Commissariat of Parvus’s was still questioned lev Trotsky. like Trotsky, he of Foreign Aff airs and became a by Zbyněk Zeman and Anthony was sent to Siberia after taking privileged observer of the run- Bohuslav in a biography that revived interest in his father’s activities in the mid-1960s “Sohn of Par- (Freibeuter der Revolution, The vus”, Evgeny Merchant of Revolution). The book Gel’fand- was critically reviewed by leo Gnedin, a pho- van rossum, then head of our tograph from East European Department. the karl kaut- Boris Sapir, one of the iish’s sky Papers (iish fi rst staff members, had a copy bg a6/147). of the German edition in his private library, which was donated to the Institute in 2001. According to his notes in the margin, he was struck by the authors’ observation – missing from the English version – that Parvus, though “shapeless” and “of an almost subtle ugliness,” easily won women’s hearts. how his granddaughter treated this topic can now be studied in her manuscript. Government Anarchist By contrast, there was nothing subtle about the ugliness of Federica Montseny – if we are to believe horacio Martínez Prieto (1902-1985), who was the secretary of the National Com- mittee of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (cnT), when the Spanish Civil War erupted in July 1936. he wrote a thoroughly antipathetic sketch of one of the most celebrated women of Iberian anarchism as part of a series entitled Utopistas. Together with his memoirs (¡Ananké!), a book of refl ections on the Civil War

8 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012 and the leaders of the republic (Señoritos), a volume of essays (Vaniloquios), and other papers, they constitute his largely unpublished, typewritten legacy, which was deposited at the Institute by his son, César lorenzo. Prieto was a construction worker from Bilbao who spent years in prison as a militant anarchist. In 1936 he became an outspoken proponent of a strategy that would involve the libertarian movement in the exercise of state power up to the highest echelons. As such, he was one of the architects of anarchist participation, fi rst in the Generality of Catalonia and later in the national government of Francisco largo Cabal- lero. These steps were highly controversial inside the movement, of which the revolutionary credentials were closely linked to the classical anti-state theory of such thinkers as Mikhail Bakunin and Pyotr kro- potkin. In the situation ensuing from the military coup, many among the anarcho-syndicalists of the powerful cnT and the grupos de afi nidad of the Feder- ación Anarquista Ibérica (fai) sensed the possibility of a social revolution that would abol- ish capitalism once and for all. In Prieto’s view, however, these forces were not strong enough even to win in Spain, let alone to defend the country from for- from anarchist defeat. When of the Entente by denying self- The eign intervention. he therefore César lorenzo published Les determination to the Germans unpublished sought to adapt both theory Anarchistes espagnols et le pouvoir in Bohemia and Moravia. he memoirs of and practice to circumstances in 1969, based in part on the joined the Communist Party horacio Prieto, in which they would have to documents now in Amsterdam, of Czechoslovakia, of which undated stand alongside other groups his book instigated the same the membership was one-fi fth typescript not under their control. sort of outrage his father had German. he was also an active (horacio The members of Caballero’s met. yet, however these old freethinker, wrote Marxismu a Martínez Prieto cabinet had included Federica battles are replayed, horacio náboženstvi (Marxism and reli- Papers). Montseny, the daughter of Fed- Prieto was an interesting man gion, 1932) and fi gured in the erico Urales (Juan Montseny) in his own right, as his writ- International of Proletarian and Soledad Gustavo (Teresa ings – now available for all to Freethinkers, which split at a Mañé), perhaps the most pres- read – attest. congress held in the Sudeten tigious couple in Spanish an- town of Tetschen, the present archism. A great many people Sudeten Communist Děčin, in that same year. Dur- were highly perplexed when Through hazel Elfriede rosen- ing WW ii, he worked at the she took up the post of Minis- strauch, whose own small col- Sudeten German radio station ter of health. After stepping lection we obtained a few years in Moscow. After the war he down in May 1937, however, ago, we received a manuscript settled in Austria. he left the Montseny resumed her original written by leopold Grünwald communist party in 1969 after anti-government position and (1901-1992) with the title An der the suppression of the Prague became sharply critical of Pri- Schwelle des XXi. Jahrhunderts: Re- Spring but remained interested eto. later, in the often acerbic fl exionen 100 Jahre nach Karl Marx. in Euro-communism, as his polemics among Spanish exiles, A German-Jewish native of Su- manuscript makes clear. little space remained for impar- detenland, Grünwald deplored Grünwald is best known as the tial discussion of the Civil War the Treaty of Saint-Germain, historian of those Germans and the lessons to be learned which confi rmed the sentiment from the Sudetenland who defy

9 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

tended for private consumption (on which no more than 5 ares, equalling 500 m2 of potatoes, were planted), maintained both by farmers and by non-farmers in the Netherlands during the Second World War covered about 60,000 hectares, i.e. 2.5 per cent of the cultivation land and 5 per cent of the land available for farming and market gardening. Potatoes, which accounted for 13 to 14 per cent of private consumption, were grown on 25,000 hectares of this area. Adding the fruit to the vegetables reveals that produce from private gardens, in both the countryside and the city, was indeed essential, especially in times of scarcity. And this despite the low productiv- ity of such gardens. Gerard Trienekens, an authority on the subject, estimates it at less than half that achieved by the professionals, due in part to extensive fragmentation, less continuous use of the area, and lack of expertise. These are all macro data, but the micro data, i.e. the actual proceeds of real gardens, continue to mystify historians. We were therefore delighted to obtain the booklets of housekeeping accounts from the De Waal-Schotsman family (neha bc 784) covering the period 1912-1969. These booklets also comprise ‘garden accounts’ for the years 1926-1948, thus including the war. The family leased a garden plot of 200 m2 next to the Vliegenbos in Amsterdam North. The table on page 11 summarizes the con- tents of this booklet. This table ofcourse concerns The Spanish the stereotype of fi fth-column of thousands of people tried the surpluses, after the family’s People is Fighting hitlerites. he had opposed the to fl ee, only to be stopped and needs had been met. Commer- (Prague: Zupka, Sudeten German Party of kon- turned back by Czech offi cials. cial market gardening by an ca 1937), a pam- rad henlein, comparing him to In the end, some 7,000 politi- urban proletarian family is re- phlet by leo- Francisco Franco. Many years cal and 30,000 Jewish refugees markable in and of itself. After pold Grünwald later, he brought to light in sev- managed to leave. all, this practice ensured that (iish, 45/648). eral books the mostly forgotten the surplus that all amateur opposition against the Nazis, Thrift and Industry gardeners inevitably had was who entered the region in During the Second World War put to good use. During some early October 1938, following in the Netherlands fully 45 per Depression years, the ‘busi- the Munich Agreement. The cent of the vegetables came ness’ was loss-making, at least fate of many Sudeten-German from private gardens. This ac- if personal consumption is not socialists and communists who counted for over 402,500 tons counted. resisted the occupation has of domestic consumption (not During the war, the production been largely obscured by the counting that of the Wehr- listed for 1943 is impressive. abominable reputation of their macht), which equalled 890,000 Apparently, demand was high more prominent compatriots. tons in 1942-3 and over 1 mil- from neighbours and others According to Grünwald, tens lion tons in 1943-4. Gardens in- who previously had purchased

10 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012 on the market or from shops. This family’s housekeeping was from the Drenthe village During the years of severe booklets are kept with dozens of Norg. He studied medicine scarcity in 1944 and 1945, this of similar accounts throughout in Groningen and served with effect is no longer noticeable. the neha and iish collections the Medical Troops as a con- In 1946-1948, the widow ap- (see also On the Waterfront 4, pp script. In 1950, together with pears to have focused on grow- 4-5, 9). his wife, five years his senior, ing strawberries, achieving a and two children, he shipped record harvest surplus of 35.5 Health and Heathens off for the Sumba-deputaten lbs in 1946. The decolonization of Indone- as a missionary doctor to the Putting the data in perspec- sia was fraught with difficul- newly independent Indonesia. tive (cf the journal De Volkstuin, ties, to put it mildly (see On The iish has acquired his per- of which we hold issues from the Waterfront 5, pp 6-7; 9, pp sonal papers, which largely 1920 onward) requires relat- 10-11). This held true not only concern his years in Indonesia ing the results to those of the for Dutch government civil until 1958, a period rife with housekeeping accounts, where, servants and corporate industry tensions between the mission unfortunately, they are not but also for the Protestant and and the Indonesian govern- listed. Unlike the expenditures, Catholic missionaries, who had ment and between the mission income is not indicated, nor expected to remain unaffected and its Indonesian staff. Kuiper are weekly credit and deficit because of the philanthropic wrote reports (in Dutch and balances. The person donating duties they had taken upon Bahasa, which later became this archive, Niek de Waal from themselves. Much of their work compulsory) to his principals Hilversum, now 85, has since consisted of healthcare (on care in Groningen and letters to the provided us with a lot of infor- provided by the colonial au- home front providing extensive mation conducive to a clearer thorities, see On the Waterfront detail about his daily medical interpretation, although many 12, pp 4-5). As an example, the practice, thus yielding an ex- questions remain unanswered. Dutch Calvinist Churches of ceptional source about medical The metal turner Pieter de the three northern provinces conditions during those years Waal (1888-1931) worked in the (Groningen, Friesland, and in rural Indonesia. shipbuilding yard De Kromhout Drenthe) had started a mis- His correspondence reflects the in Amsterdam and married sion on the island of Sumba, inner conflicts he experienced Geertje Schotsman (1891-1973), where they opened medical as a Dutch Calvinist missionary the daughter of a schoolteach- clinics and hospitals as well. doctor between professional er, in October 1913. In 1914 The operation was run from medicine and missionary work, their son Thomas was born; Groningen by the ‘Sumba-dep- between being Dutch and Gerard Nicolaas, who donated utaten’ formed by these three working in Indonesia, between this little archive, was born 12 churches. Christianity and ‘heathendom’ years later. So Niek knew his Jan Pieter Kuiper (1922-1985) (his term for Islam), and be- father only briefly. The widow received assistance from family members and is likely to have Income Expenditures Balance Remarks had a widow’s pension as well. 1926 53.35 45.87 +7.48 Rent 4x6 = fl 24; youngest The oldest son was a ship’s son Piet is born electrician and started to work 1927 45.67 31.05 +14.62 for the municipal telephone 1928 50.29 48.94 +1.35 service in 1939. Until he left 1929 58.60 67.02 -8.42 Rebuilding or new home in December 1945, he construction at fl 24,35; rent presumably gave a large share fl 32 of his income to his mother. 1930 48.89 37.22 +11.67 The youngest son would have 1931 37.09 34.00 +3.09 Pieter de Waal (1888-1931) been able to start helping his dies at age 43 mother in 1942, when he took 1932 22.19 30.00 -7.81 his first office job at age 16. He 1933 12.44 16.10 -3.66 Rent reduced to fl 16 paid 5 to 10 guilders toward 1934 7.22 19.54 -12.32 room and board from his 1935 19.28 19.00 +0.28 monthly wages of 25 guilders. 1936-1941 No data In 1951 he married and togeth- 1942 ? ? Only in kind (84 lbs of er with his wife Tilly rented brown beans, 25 lbs of green part of his parental home for beans, 50 lbs kale, 4 lbs of 15 guilders. In 1954 they moved gooseberries) elsewhere, after which their 69.00 ? ? rooms were taken over by a 1943 cousin, who later married the 1944 6.60 ? ? well-known liberal politician 1945 5.30 ? ? Henk Vonhoff. The widow did 1946 35.00 ? ? Only strawberries: 35.5 not remain alone, as a continu- pounds on 6 July ous stream of nephews and 1947 8.55 ? ? Ibid: 8 pounds from Sat. 13 – nieces coming to Amsterdam as Wed. 24 June students boarded there. 1948 8,35 ? ? Ibid: 10 pounds

11 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

tween Protestant politics and can we also say that practising medicine at the Free Univer- socialism. Time and again, he medicine on Sumba derives sity in Amsterdam (1972-1985), noted that the Indonesians from the Christian Church as where he was able to impart were grateful for the medical a manifestation of compassion much of his experience work- care provided but did not be- and a way of proclaiming the ing in tropical regions. come more receptive to Chris- Gospel? I cannot entirely deny tian salvation, let alone to con- this.”). he also worried about Drawing with Scissors version. One of his annual re- the conduct of Christian Indo- The Netherlands Press Mu- ports reads, “Over 1,600 people nesians. he was very aware of seum, which is housed at were admitted in 1955, 1,600 the ‘threat’ of state socialism, the iish, acquired material people that God sent down our which he encountered when concerning the artist Wim path for help, to treat their the hospital staff organized in Berthauer (1918-1956). Born and wounds, to nurse them, to socialist trade unions and made bred in Amsterdam, Berthauer provide them with medicine demands. was the son of a tram driver. Cover designed and in some cases to operate After returning to the Nether- he received his training at the by Wim on them, to treat them with lands, kuiper worked for the rijksakademie van Beeldende Berthauer Christian brotherly love, and to labour inspectorate in Breda kunsten [State academy of visu- for an issue proclaim the Gospel to them.” (1959-1964) and Voorburg (1964- al arts] in Amsterdam and lived of Mandril Each time, however, he con- 1972). In 1968, he obtained his in the city’s Indische Buurt. he (Netherlands cedes that proclaiming the Gos- phd degree. he concluded his was employed for some time at Press Museum). pel was a daunting task (“But career as a professor of social the advertising studio of Wilm Pätz along the rokin in Amster- dam, and subsequently opened his own business. Berthauer designed book jack- ets for De Arbeiderspers, the socialist publishing house, and covers and illustrations for peri- odicals such as the daily Het Pa- rool and the journal Ariadne. his covers for Mandril: maandblad voor mensen, a satirical monthly that appeared from 1948 till 1953, are particularly colourful. Berthauer designed covers for the early issues in a style resem- bling that of his contemporar- ies Jan Bons (*1918), Dick Elff ers (1910-1990), and Otto Treumann (1919-2001). Fiep Westendorp contributed illustrations to Mandril as well, and Annie M.G. Schmidt wrote texts that were published there. Berthauer also produced so- called ‘paper plastics.’ Whether they have actually been preserved remains unknown, but they are depicted on photographs. Cut-up portraits of Mme de Sévigné and Girolamo Benzoni were printed in the cpn youth journal Uilenspiegel of 18 October 1952, accompany- ing the article ‘Wim Berthauer tekent met de schaar’ [Wim Berthauer draws with scissors]. Another portrait produced from cuttings may represent the illustrator Eppo Doeve. The collection also includes photographs of still-life depictions cut and pasted by Berthauer for the Advertentiejaarboek. Additional research revealed that the iish and Dutch Press Museum archives contain other materials by Berthauer, eg,

12 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

among the records of the Ned- death in December 2011 of for- slovakia in The hague, urging An exhibition erlandse Federatie van Beroeps- mer Czechoslovakian president that all dissidents currently and concert at verenigingen van kunstenaars Václav havel was a proper occa- in detention be released and Václav havel’s [Dutch federation of artists’ sion to highlight this material. recalling the self-infl icted death home in the occupational associations] (no The archive of the Stichting of Jan Palach in January 1969. 1980s. (iish bg 322). The intriguing collection Informatie over Charta ’77 has In addition to the paper ar- a 64/829) features the modest and all now been arranged, and the chive, the photographs, some but forgotten oeuvre that this photograph collection has been taken by helmer himself, off er designer produced in his short described. interesting glimpses of the dis- lifetime. The archive reveals informa- sident scene. Included are pho- tion about the dissidents and tographs of heavily attended Remembering Prague about journeys to Prague by gatherings at havel’s home At the end of 2010, the IISh representatives of Dutch po- in the countryside, illegal art received an envelope from Jef litical parties and churches. It manifestations, depictions helmer containing dozens of also provides an impression of of the John lennon Wall in photographs relating to the solidarity campaigns organized Prague, and many snapshots Czechoslovakian dissident in the Netherlands. It includes of havel and other well-known scene in the 1980s, as well as a an interesting typescript by and lesser known dissidents. special Samizdat edition. This Maarten van Traa, who visited Besides the archive and the material complemented the Prague in 1984. he writes about photographs, the IISh received archive of the Stichting Infor- the sociologist rudolf Battek, a special Samizdat edition, the matie over Charta ’77, previ- imprisoned since 1980, compar- fi fth issue in a series with a cir- ously received from helmer in ing his predicament to that culation not exceeding 100 cop- 1991. helmer was active in the of party leader Gustav husak, ies. This publication comprises Ken (kommunistiese Eenheids- who was also incarcerated from writings by havel, lyrics by the beweging Nederland), a typical 1951 until 1963. On 4 November underground rock group The Maoist organization of those 1984, a manifestation at De Plastic People of the Universe years, and became involved Balie in Amsterdam addressed and by Ivan Jirous, its manager, in Czechoslovakia because of the birthday and fate of Bat- who has been compared to a 1978 Ken campaign called tek, who was released in 1985. Andy Warhol. The original and ‘Denk aan Praag 68’ [remem- Similarly remarkable is a letter bewildering pictures by diff er- ber Prague ’68]. he founded dated 22 March 1989 from the ent photographers that have and chaired the Charta ’77 writer A.F.Th. van der heijden been pasted in the issue are information foundation. The to the ambassador of Czecho- special as well.

13 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012

women contributed to the rise Ten Years of in income and the standard of living, i.e. to the economic success of the Dutch republic. Women’s Work To test these two hypotheses, we split the labour market and examined women’s work Overview of the research project Women in four separate projects: (1) and work in the early modern Northern women’s work in the textile industry (Elise van Nederveen Netherlands, ca 1550-1800 Meerkerk); (2) production and trade of beverages (Marjolein In February 2002 the research tion of women on the labour van Dekken); (3) trade (Danielle project Women’s work in the market. Until recently, how- van den heuvel); and (4) the early modern northern Nether- ever, little was known about non-economic service sector lands started. Precisely ten how the two were related. Two (Ariadne Schmidt). years later, on 26 January 2012, opposing hypotheses could be The project was based on com- Ariadne Schmidt and Elise van formulated. parative research. In each of Nederveen Meerkerk gave a Initially, historians assumed the projects several cities and presentation to the Friends of that female labour market rural areas were selected, ena- the iish about the making of, participation was lower in the bling regional diff erences to the results, and the spin-off of Dutch republic than in neigh- receive consideration, as well as the project. The research pro- bouring countries. Because of the infl uence of the economic ject was initiated and fi nanced the economic prosperity and structure of local labour mar- by the Friends of the iish and the high standard of living, kets on women’s work. We received extensions thanks to many Dutch women could af- examined women’s work in dif- subsidies from the Stichting ford not to work and withdrew ferent economic sectors as well Professor Van Winterfonds and from the labour market as ear- as changes over time. Many the Netherlands Organisation ly as the seventeenth century. of the research results have for Scientifi c research (nWo). Moreover, the early separation already been published in three The primary objective of the of the industrial activities from dissertations written by Elise Women’s Work research project the home was conducive to the van Nederveen Meerkerk (De draad in eigen handen, 2007), Dan- Presenting ielle van den heuvel (Women Women's and entrepreneurship, 2007) and Work: Marjolein van Dekken (Brouwen, clockwise, branden en bedienen, 2009), and from top in many articles published by left: Ariadne the project members, both Schmidt, Elise individually and jointly, in aca- van Nederveen demic journals as well as in pe- Meerkerk, riodicals catering to a broader Danielle van readership. The synthesizing den heuvel, monograph by Ariadne Schmidt and Marjolein will summarize the research van Dekken. results and place them in an international context to assess whether the position of Dutch women was indeed as remarkable as is often presumed.

The research results were not only published in various ways but also presented by the pro- was to assess the relationship realization of the ideal of do- ject members at conferences. In between the economic success mesticity. the fall of 2003, we organized of the Dutch republic in the The second hypothesis, which a workshop at the iish, where, seventeenth century and the is diametrically opposed to the in addition to presenting our position of working women. fi rst, suggests that female la- project, colleagues from the We therefore needed to pro- bour participation rates in the Netherlands and Flanders vide missing qualitative and Dutch republic were higher talked about their own re- quantitative information and than elsewhere. Dutch gender search on women’s work. This to understand more specifi cally norms were relatively permis- resulted in the publication of Dutch women’s work in the sive, and high demand for the fi rst special issue on early early modern period. It seemed labour in the early capitalist modern women’s work in the rational that the economic economy encouraged women Low Countries Journal of Social and success of the Dutch republic to perform paid work in mas- Economic History (Tseg) in 2005. would be refl ected in the posi- sive numbers. As a result, The next event was the session

14 On the Waterfront 24 – 2012 dedicated to the project at the ment of the bourgeois model and work in the early mod- European Social Science History of domesticity suggested was ern period. In addition, Elise Conference (esshc) in Berlin in very clearly demonstrated in van Nederveen Meerkerk has 2004. This was memorable not the paper Van Nederveen and teamed up with Jenneke Quast only because attendance was so Schmidt presented at the end and Sanne van de Voort to massive that some participants of the meeting on January 26. develop web pages devoted to had to sit on the fl oor, but also Women’s labour force partici- Women and Work worldwide for the opportunity it gave us pation in the Netherlands was for the new iish website, avail- to meet experts on the history no lower, indeed perhaps even able at socialhistory.org/en/col- of women’s work from the higher than elsewhere in the United kingdom, Sweden, and pre-1800 period. like in other elsewhere. It marked the start Western European countries, of fruitful international coop- the decline of women’s eration with colleagues abroad. labour In addition to the session ‘The force par- role of Gender in Economic ticipation and Social Development,’ two (especially sessions on ‘Partners in Busi- among mar- ness’ were organized at the ried women) next esshc, held two years started in later in Amsterdam. Elise van the nine- Nederveen Meerkerk and Dan- teenth centu- ielle van den heuvel edited a ry, although special issue on this subject it was prob- that was published in Continu- ably faster ity and Change. In 2007 during here than else- the conference Gender and Work where. Further in the Early Modern Northern details appear European World: Institutions and in the article economic performances in inter- co-authored by national comparative perspective, Van Nederveen organized by Ariadne Schmidt Meerkerk and Schmidt to be lections/women- and Maria Agren in Uppsala, published in Feminist Economics at-work-collection- we had the opportunity to com- (2012) and in the monograph guide. The Women at Work pare our results with the pre- on Dutch women’s work by Collection Guide provides liminary ones from the Swed- Schmidt. information about the history The three ish research project Work and of working women worldwide. dissertations, Gender directed by Maria Agren. These and other publications Throughout history, women resulting from This comparative perspective will not be the end of the have worked at various trades, the project. was further extended during research project on Dutch from bakers, typists, weavers meetings in Cambridge (2010) women’s work. Van Nederveen to butchers, from industrialists and at the session ‘Industrious Meerkerk has developed a re- to road-sweepers. Over the past Women and Children of the search project on Dutch wom- thirty years women’s history World? Jan de Vries’ “industri- en’s work in the nineteenth has evolved as a historical dis- ous revolution” as a conceptual century and its manifestations cipline. Projects about women tool for researching women’s in the Dutch East Indies. She and work are expanding. This and children’s work in an in- and Schmidt will continue to guide refl ects the broader areas ternational perspective’ at the contribute to the iish’s Global of interest to the fi eld of wom- World Economic History Conference Collaboratory on the history en’s history. The International (2009), organized in coopera- of labour relations, both by Institute of Social history has tion with Jane humphries. providing data on work in the many archival resources about After having participated in early modern Netherlands and the work of women, but the two esf workshops on the by sharing their expertise. documents are scattered over subject in Barcelona (2008, The aspirations of the pro- all the collections. The guide 2010) Elise and Ariadne will ject members have extended structures all these documents remain part of the network beyond publishing results in and collections about working of researchers from England, academic journals and mono- women, both Dutch and Inter- France, Sweden, and Spain, graphs. We have helped place national. The website contains working to develop methodolo- women’s work back on the links to archives, images, re- gies and reconstruct female academic agenda. To ensure searchers, and research projects labour force participation rates on-going consideration for on women at work, as well as in the European past between the subject after all research to other interesting sites about 1600 and 1900. That the rates results have been published, the history of women at work of Dutch women participating the network we have built over worldwide and to ViVa, the in the labour market in the the last ten years needs to be bibliography of women’s and seventeenth and eighteenth maintained. We have therefore gender history in historical and centuries were not as low as established a linkedIn site for women’s studies journals. the hypothesis on the develop- historians interested in women Ariadne Schmidt

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