We held two seminars: 1 in the Netherlands and 1 in Germany. The first seminar took place on November 28, 2019. The second seminar took place on March 6, 2020.
We all want peace and freedom, but they cannot be taken for granted. You have to do something for it. You need to know what threats there are and what can be done about them. And it can’t just stay with intentions. You will have to cope with it and really do something about it. And as far as the prosperous Netherlands is concerned, which prides itself on its system of values and its efforts to promote the international legal order, this cannot of course stop at its borders. Not even at the borders of Europe.
On November 28, 2019, the first seminar took place at The Dutch Embassy, Klosterstrasse 50, in Berlin
(this is a special building, designed by the famous Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas):
The theme was “Remembering and Commemorating the Second World War in Europe. Past, Present and Future.”
The chairman of the day was Professor Ben Schoenmaker, director of the Netherlands Institute of Military History.
Topics that were discussed were the persecution of the Jews and of the Roma and Sinti, the culture of remembrance and remembrance in Germany, pseudo-science as a justification for discrimination, and the way in which we have dealt with refugees in the past and present. Surprising and sometimes unflattering insights were presented.
Speakers
- Katja Happ
- Peter Jordan
- Anjes Wolfs-Driessen
- Linda Pollman
- Sarah Grandke
A number of students also prepared a presentation. Furthermore, the participants were given the opportunity to “pitch” a project themselves and to invite other students to participate.
You can read an impression of this seminar here or watch a retrospective with this video!
Our second seminar on March 6, 2020 had the theme “The Future of Peace and Freedom in Europe” and took place at the Royal Military Academy (KMA) in Breda.
During this seminar, attention was paid to critical success factors for peace treaties in Europe, to the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect, the threats to peace and security, the need for a coherent European security strategy and the values and other core elements that underpin it (supposed to be must) lie. We concluded with a forum discussion about whether, and if so, how these topics should be part of our courses.
- The seminar was opened by our chairman Henk Emmens and Dirk Brengelmann, the German ambassador to the Netherlands
- Chairman of the day was Wim Klinkert, Professor of Military History at the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Modern Military History at the Faculty of Military Sciences of the NLDA
- Speakers included:
- Pieter Cobelens, former director of the Military Intelligence and Security Service
- Dick Zandee, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Security Unit of the Research department of Clingendael
- Martin Espenhorst, historian and board member of the Back to Westerbork Foundation
- Prior to the forum discussion, Manon Huiberts, a student at the HvA, gave an introduction in which she discussed a teaching package she designed
- The Veterans Institute provided a dilemma training
Click here for an impression of this seminar.