Marga van Mechelen

German has a unique word for coming to terms with its wartime past: Vergangenheitsbewältigung. A concept that originated in academic circles and was adopted by Federal President Theodor Heuss in the early 1950s. It’s a compound word that often defies easy translation, and because of the specific historical context in which it arose, is usually…… Read more

The image often portrayed of the Netherlands, from just before World War II until about a decade after, is that of a country out of step with the times, in part due to its persistent adherence to a strongly pillarized society. That sacred institution was never completely dismantled. In 1956, the broadcasting system had the…… Read more

The ever-active parks department of the Municipality of Arnhem really outdid itself this year: around the trees on the median of the Bakenbergseweg in Arnhem, a ribbon of crocuses in two colors bloomed around this spring. As creative as it was, it simultaneously confirmed that coloring outside the lines is a human intervention in nature—an…… Read more