The Second World War and Dutch Society: Continuity and Change

In the Netherlands the first official inter-religious dialogues were initiated in the first half of the 1970s. But the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk, one of the most important churches had taken the first steps towards an attitude of dialogue already in 1949 and 1950. The atrocities against the Jews and the deportation of the 90 per cent of the Dutch Jews in the Second World War as well as the solidarity deeply felt by many church members with the new state of Israel prompted this church, and later two other large mainline churches, to alter their attitudes towards Jews and Judaism. After 1970 they extended these dialogues to Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, who together outnumber the Jews today. The altered Dutch religious landscape had made inter-religious dialogue inevitable. This dialogue was held with migrants, so the position of the adherents of non-Christian religions was weaker than that of Christians. This inequality is reflected in the dialogue, for it became predominantly a dialogue of life, in which the Christians started with helping their partners to find a good position in Dutch society. The dialogue with the Jews, however, already quickly became a dialogue of the mind. In the second half of the 1990s a dialogue of the mind was initiated with Muslims, and in the first decade of the twenty-first century with some Hindus. The vulnerability of migrants was underscored by the impact of the governments in their countries of origin and by the fact that the Christians paid for almost everything. In 2000 the churches began to hesitate; nonetheless they remained in dialogue.

Download Full-text

What the Seasons Tell Us. The Monthly Movement of Marriages, Economic Modernization, and Secularization in the Netherlands, 1810-1940

Historical Life Course Studies ◽

10.51964/hlcs9346 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 165-180

Author(s):

Theo Engelen

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Seasonal Pattern ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Second World War ◽

Dutch Society ◽

World War ◽

Economic Modernization ◽

Second World ◽

Over Time

This study focuses on the seasonal pattern of marriages in seven provinces of the Netherlands from 1810 to 1940. We ask whether the prevalence of May as the preferred marriage month was diminishing when industrialization changed the course of workload over the year. And if so, when did this occur, and were there differences between the regions? Given the ban on marriages during Lent and Advent, by studying the number of marriages during these months (approximated as March and December), we can determine which provinces adhered most to the religious rules, and how this pattern developed over time. In doing so, we have an excellent demographic measure for secularization. The analysis is based on the LINKS dataset which currently includes almost 2 million marriages that were contracted in seven Dutch provinces: Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, Gelderland, Noord-Holland, Zeeland and Limburg. The main conclusion of this study is that although Dutch society substantially transformed (economically, socially, politically and culturally) during the 19th and early 20th centuries until the Second World War, it was both the agricultural calendar and the Roman Catholic regulations that determined Dutch marriage seasonality.

Download Full-text

The Centre d'Accueil Nord-Africain: social welfare and the ‘problem' of Muslim youth in Marseille, 1950–1975

French History ◽

10.1093/fh/crz067 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 444-470

Author(s):

Dustin Alan Harris

Keyword(s):

Social Welfare ◽

Second World War ◽

North African ◽

World War ◽

French Society ◽

Continuity And Change ◽

Muslim Youth ◽

Before And After ◽

African Youth ◽

Second World

Abstract In recent years, historians have paid increasing attention to social welfare initiatives undertaken in post-Second World War France to integrate Muslim Algerian migrants into French society and the legacies of these initiatives after decolonization. This article engages with this field of research by focusing on a topic it has largely ignored—the so-called ‘problem' of the integration of Muslim youth. The central point of focus is the Centre d'Accueil Nord-Africain (CANA), a private welfare association founded in Marseille in 1950 that well into the mid-1970s considered the integration of male Muslim North African youth its central objective. In exploring the origins and operations of the CANA over a roughly twenty-five-year period, this article offers new insights into issues of continuity and change related to the target, approach and objectives of integrationist social welfare for Muslim North Africans in France before and after decolonization.

Download Full-text

Women in Banking: Continuity and Change Since the Second World War

Work Employment and Society ◽

10.1177/0950017089003002002 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 141-156 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Rosemary Crompton

Keyword(s):

Second World War ◽

World War ◽

Continuity And Change ◽

Women In Banking ◽

Second World

Download Full-text

‘Like a baby with a box of matches’: British scientists and the concept of ‘race’ in the inter-war period

The British Journal for the History of Science ◽

10.1017/s0007087405006990 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 307-324 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

GAVIN SCHAFFER

Keyword(s):

Second World War ◽

World War ◽

Scientific Communities ◽

Continuity And Change ◽

Perceived Need ◽

Wide Range ◽

Racial Issues ◽

Science And Politics ◽

The Relationship ◽

Second World

Historians of science have often presented the inter-war period as a time when British scientific communities radically questioned existing scholarship on ‘race’. The ascendancy of genetics, and the perceived need to challenge Nazi ‘racial’ theory have been highlighted as pivotal issues in shaping this British revision of ‘racial’ ideas. This article offers a detailed analysis of British scientific thinking in the inter-war period. It questions whether historians have exaggerated or oversimplified the prevalence of anti-‘racial’ reform. It uses a wide range of scientific writings to consider issues of continuity and change in ‘racial’ thinking in mainstream British scientific communities. The article probes the relationship between science and politics, focusing on the extent to which ideological factors affected both the scientific agenda and conclusions as regards ‘racial’ issues. Far from dismissing the idea that events in the inter-war period triggered changes in the way in which British scientists dealt with ‘race’, the article argues that the seeds of the post-Second World War international scientific rejection of ‘race’ were sown in inter-war Britain amid considerable ambivalence and discord.We must remember that the investigator, whether a biologist, an economist, or a sociologist, is himself a part of history, and that if he ever forgets he is a part of history he will deceive his audience and deceive himself.J. B. S. Haldane, Heredity and Politics, 1938

Download Full-text