History Month

They occur in every human life: disasters. From a dying beloved to a washed away village. From having no roof over your head to an entire economy collapsing. From personal disasters to society-distrupting catastrophes. A disaster takes many forms.

How do we deal with adversity? The summary of the 'Disaster Year' 1672 - the people were irrational, the government distraught, the country hopeless - rings true to some even 350 years later. The History Month 2022 highlights all kinds of disasters and their consequences. Besides rescue workers, the media, and disaster tourism, what else is involved in a crisis? How does one finally return to the order of the day, with all those memories of catastrophe? What lessons can we learn afterwards?

At a time when pandemics, wars, wildfires, and floods grip teh newspapers and talk show panels, we don't explore only the destructive powers of disasters. We look at disasters that have been prevented too, pay tribute to the resilience that a disaster can instill in people. The creativity, collaboration, innovation that can result from terrible events. Like the great floods of 1953 led to the construction of the Delta Works, the First World War gave an impulse to the development of plastic surgery. Read more...