Loe de Jong 1914-2005: historicus met een missie

Boudewijn Smits

Loe de Jong 1914-2005: historicus met een missie

Boudewijn Smits

Research output: Thesis › Thesis fully internal (DIV)

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Abstract

Een eigenzinnig man, die zich niet door kritiek van de wijs liet brengen. Een man ook met een missie. Dat beeld van historicus Loe de Jong rijst op uit zijn biografie, waarop Boudewijn Smits op 24 april, de honderdste geboortedag van De Jong, promoveert aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Dr. Loe de Jong is vooral bekend van de dertiendelige serie Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog - 16.800 bladzijden in 27 boekbanden. Deze ongeëvenaarde prestatie maakt hem tot de meest in het oog springende, meest productieve en best verdienende Nederlandse historicus ooit. Hij was tevens directeur van het Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie van 1945 tot 1979 en werd bij het Nederlandse publiek beroemd door zijn televisieserie De Bezetting, uitgezonden van 1960 tot 1965. Boudewijn Smits schetst in zijn proefschrift, dat 24 april verschijnt, op basis van vele archieven, correspondenties en gesprekken met tijdgenoten een levendig beeld van de persoon, organisator, historicus en mediafiguur Loe de Jong.

Loe de Jong is een ikoon van de Nederlandse geschiedenis en geschiedschrijving. Er is al veel over hem gezegd en geschreven, maar een biografie kan daar zeker wat aan toevoegen, aldus Smits. ‘De combinatie van leven en werk is nog niet eerder op zo’n intensieve manier onderzocht, aan de hand van een schat aan bronnen. Ik heb onder meer een dossier van de Binnenlandse Veiligheids Dienst (BVD) kunnen traceren. De Jong is vanaf 1948 geschaduwd wegens onterechte verdenking van communistische sympathieën. Daarnaast had ik ook exclusief toegang tot het persoonlijk archief van De Jong bij het NIOD, wat nooit eerder is geraadpleegd,’ vertelt de biograaf. ‘Het bevat unieke correspondentie met zijn vervolgde joodse familie in Nederland.’ Smits sprak met meer dan honderd mensen die De Jong van nabij hebben meegemaakt en met de journalisten die als eersten berichtten over De Jongs geheime onderzoek naar Aantjes. De toenmalige partijleider van het CDA kwam na De Jongs onthulling over zijn oorlogsverleden in november 1978 ten val. ‘De Jong liep hierbij ernstige reputatieschade op,’ merkt Smits op.

‘Deze biografie gaat vooral ook over de verwerking van de Tweede Wereldoorlog door het Nederlandse volk. Dankzij zijn gezaghebbend optreden voor de camera en zijn geijkte opvattingen over de bezettingsjaren maakte De Jong de televisiedocumentaireserie De Bezetting en zijn levenswerk Het Koninkrijk tot een groot succes,’ aldus Smits. ‘Zijn verhaal over onderdrukking en verzet maakte diepe indruk via het nieuwe medium televisie dat begin jaren zestig massaal doorbrak.’ Maar de serie begon in 1965 ook irritaties op te roepen bij een aanstormende generatie linkse journalisten. De Jong had de grens bereikt in zijn aanpak om het aankweken van patriottisch burgerschap te laten prevaleren boven het weergeven van wetenschappelijke inzichten. ‘Hij vond echter een gepast antwoord om het grote publiek te blijven boeien,’ aldus Smits. ‘Hij verrijkte de tegenstelling onderdrukking-verzet door er het overkoepelend thema collaboratie aan toe te voegen, waardoor hij in Het Koninkrijk wetenschappelijk beschouwend kon schrijven en oordelen.’

‘Veel vakgenoten beschouwden De Jong als een “wetenschapper-onder-voorbehoud”,’ vervolgt Smits, ‘die met zijn moraliserende goed-fout benadering naar de gunst dong van het grote publiek, ten koste van objectieve geschiedschrijving.’ Smits maakt er een kanttekening bij. ‘De Jong beoefende het genre van nationale geschiedschrijving dat getuigde van democratische burgerzin en rechtschapen vaderlandsliefde die in de bezettingstijd waren bevochten.’

Original language	Dutch
Qualification	Doctor of Philosophy
Awarding Institution	University of Groningen
Supervisors/Advisors	Renders, Hans, Supervisor Blom, Johannes , Supervisor, External person
Award date	24-Apr-2014
Place of Publication	[Groningen]
Publisher	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Print ISBNs	9789036769600
Electronic ISBNs	9789036769594
Publication status	Published - 24-Apr-2014

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1 Book

Loe de Jong 1914-2005: historicus met een missie
Smits, B., 24-Apr-2014, Amsterdam: Boom. 960 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › Professional

Cite this

@phdthesis{4641dbb636554b8c8d1f4e0ce67bb229,

title = "Loe de Jong 1914-2005: historicus met een missie",

abstract = "A self-willed man, unswayed by criticism. A man with a definite mission. This is the picture painted by the biography of historian Loe de Jong, for which Boudewijn Smits will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 24 April, to coincide with what would have been De Jong{\textquoteright}s one hundredth birthday.Dr Loe de Jong is mainly known for the thirteen-part series Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, a 16,800-page tome about the Netherlands in the Second World War, published in 27 volumes. This unparalleled achievement makes him the most illustrious, most productive and highest earning Dutch historian of all times. He was also director of the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation from 1945 to 1979, and became a Dutch household name thanks to his television series De Bezetting (The Occupation), which was broadcast between 1960 and 1965. Boudewijn Smits has written a thesis based on material from countless archives, correspondence and conversations with his peers, in which he manages to sketch a lively portrait of Loe de Jong the man, organiser, historian and media figure.Loe de Jong is an icon of Dutch history and historiography. Although a great deal has already been said and written about him, Smits thinks that there is still room for a biography. {\textquoteleft}Nobody has explored the combination of his life and work with such intensity, using so many sources. I was even able to trace a file kept on him by the National Security Office (BVD). De Jong was shadowed from 1948 after being mistakenly suspected of having communist sympathies. I was also given exclusive access to De Jong{\textquoteright}s personal archive in the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), a source that has never been consulted before,{\textquoteright} continues the biographer. {\textquoteleft}It contains unique correspondence with his persecuted Jewish family in the Netherlands.{\textquoteright} Smits spoke to more than a hundred people who had known De Jong and with the journalists who first reported De Jong{\textquoteright}s secret investigation into Aantjes. In November 1978, the then-leader of the Christian Democratic Alliance fell from power after De Jong{\textquoteright}s revelations about his war years. {\textquoteleft}This was an episode that seriously damaged De Jong{\textquoteright}s reputation,{\textquoteright} comments Smits.{\textquoteleft}This biography is largely about how the Dutch people came to terms with the Second World War. De Jong{\textquoteright}s authoritative television persona and his set opinions about the occupation brought him huge success in the television documentary series De Bezetting and his life{\textquoteright}s work Het Koninkrijk,{\textquoteright} says Smits. {\textquoteleft}His account of oppression and resistance made a deep impression thanks to television, a new medium that was taking Europe by storm in the 1960s.{\textquoteright} But from 1965 on, the series became a thorn in the side of an up-and-coming generation of left-wing journalists. De Jong had reached the limits of what he could achieve in terms of fostering patriotic citizenship over reporting academic insights. {\textquoteleft}However, he still managed to find a way of holding the interest of the general public,{\textquoteright} according to Smits. {\textquoteleft}He enlarged upon the oppression-resistance contrast by adding the overarching theme of collaboration, thereby providing himself with academic justification for what he wrote and expounded in Het Koninkrijk.{\textquoteright}{\textquoteleft}Many of De Jong{\textquoteright}s peers considered him a {\textquoteleft}scholar-under-restrictions,{\textquoteright} continues Smits, {\textquoteleft}vying for favour from the general public with his moralizing right/wrong opinions, at the expense of objective historiography.{\textquoteright} Smits adds this comment. {\textquoteleft}We must remember that De Jong{\textquoteright}s genre of national historiography was characterized by a hard-won sense of democratic public responsibility and righteous patriotism that had been generated during the occupation.{\textquoteright}",

author = "Boudewijn Smits",

year = "2014",

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publisher = "Rijksuniversiteit Groningen",

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AU - Smits, Boudewijn

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N2 - A self-willed man, unswayed by criticism. A man with a definite mission. This is the picture painted by the biography of historian Loe de Jong, for which Boudewijn Smits will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 24 April, to coincide with what would have been De Jong’s one hundredth birthday.Dr Loe de Jong is mainly known for the thirteen-part series Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, a 16,800-page tome about the Netherlands in the Second World War, published in 27 volumes. This unparalleled achievement makes him the most illustrious, most productive and highest earning Dutch historian of all times. He was also director of the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation from 1945 to 1979, and became a Dutch household name thanks to his television series De Bezetting (The Occupation), which was broadcast between 1960 and 1965. Boudewijn Smits has written a thesis based on material from countless archives, correspondence and conversations with his peers, in which he manages to sketch a lively portrait of Loe de Jong the man, organiser, historian and media figure.Loe de Jong is an icon of Dutch history and historiography. Although a great deal has already been said and written about him, Smits thinks that there is still room for a biography. ‘Nobody has explored the combination of his life and work with such intensity, using so many sources. I was even able to trace a file kept on him by the National Security Office (BVD). De Jong was shadowed from 1948 after being mistakenly suspected of having communist sympathies. I was also given exclusive access to De Jong’s personal archive in the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), a source that has never been consulted before,’ continues the biographer. ‘It contains unique correspondence with his persecuted Jewish family in the Netherlands.’ Smits spoke to more than a hundred people who had known De Jong and with the journalists who first reported De Jong’s secret investigation into Aantjes. In November 1978, the then-leader of the Christian Democratic Alliance fell from power after De Jong’s revelations about his war years. ‘This was an episode that seriously damaged De Jong’s reputation,’ comments Smits.‘This biography is largely about how the Dutch people came to terms with the Second World War. De Jong’s authoritative television persona and his set opinions about the occupation brought him huge success in the television documentary series De Bezetting and his life’s work Het Koninkrijk,’ says Smits. ‘His account of oppression and resistance made a deep impression thanks to television, a new medium that was taking Europe by storm in the 1960s.’ But from 1965 on, the series became a thorn in the side of an up-and-coming generation of left-wing journalists. De Jong had reached the limits of what he could achieve in terms of fostering patriotic citizenship over reporting academic insights. ‘However, he still managed to find a way of holding the interest of the general public,’ according to Smits. ‘He enlarged upon the oppression-resistance contrast by adding the overarching theme of collaboration, thereby providing himself with academic justification for what he wrote and expounded in Het Koninkrijk.’‘Many of De Jong’s peers considered him a ‘scholar-under-restrictions,’ continues Smits, ‘vying for favour from the general public with his moralizing right/wrong opinions, at the expense of objective historiography.’ Smits adds this comment. ‘We must remember that De Jong’s genre of national historiography was characterized by a hard-won sense of democratic public responsibility and righteous patriotism that had been generated during the occupation.’

AB - A self-willed man, unswayed by criticism. A man with a definite mission. This is the picture painted by the biography of historian Loe de Jong, for which Boudewijn Smits will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 24 April, to coincide with what would have been De Jong’s one hundredth birthday.Dr Loe de Jong is mainly known for the thirteen-part series Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, a 16,800-page tome about the Netherlands in the Second World War, published in 27 volumes. This unparalleled achievement makes him the most illustrious, most productive and highest earning Dutch historian of all times. He was also director of the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation from 1945 to 1979, and became a Dutch household name thanks to his television series De Bezetting (The Occupation), which was broadcast between 1960 and 1965. Boudewijn Smits has written a thesis based on material from countless archives, correspondence and conversations with his peers, in which he manages to sketch a lively portrait of Loe de Jong the man, organiser, historian and media figure.Loe de Jong is an icon of Dutch history and historiography. Although a great deal has already been said and written about him, Smits thinks that there is still room for a biography. ‘Nobody has explored the combination of his life and work with such intensity, using so many sources. I was even able to trace a file kept on him by the National Security Office (BVD). De Jong was shadowed from 1948 after being mistakenly suspected of having communist sympathies. I was also given exclusive access to De Jong’s personal archive in the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), a source that has never been consulted before,’ continues the biographer. ‘It contains unique correspondence with his persecuted Jewish family in the Netherlands.’ Smits spoke to more than a hundred people who had known De Jong and with the journalists who first reported De Jong’s secret investigation into Aantjes. In November 1978, the then-leader of the Christian Democratic Alliance fell from power after De Jong’s revelations about his war years. ‘This was an episode that seriously damaged De Jong’s reputation,’ comments Smits.‘This biography is largely about how the Dutch people came to terms with the Second World War. De Jong’s authoritative television persona and his set opinions about the occupation brought him huge success in the television documentary series De Bezetting and his life’s work Het Koninkrijk,’ says Smits. ‘His account of oppression and resistance made a deep impression thanks to television, a new medium that was taking Europe by storm in the 1960s.’ But from 1965 on, the series became a thorn in the side of an up-and-coming generation of left-wing journalists. De Jong had reached the limits of what he could achieve in terms of fostering patriotic citizenship over reporting academic insights. ‘However, he still managed to find a way of holding the interest of the general public,’ according to Smits. ‘He enlarged upon the oppression-resistance contrast by adding the overarching theme of collaboration, thereby providing himself with academic justification for what he wrote and expounded in Het Koninkrijk.’‘Many of De Jong’s peers considered him a ‘scholar-under-restrictions,’ continues Smits, ‘vying for favour from the general public with his moralizing right/wrong opinions, at the expense of objective historiography.’ Smits adds this comment. ‘We must remember that De Jong’s genre of national historiography was characterized by a hard-won sense of democratic public responsibility and righteous patriotism that had been generated during the occupation.’

M3 - Thesis fully internal (DIV)

SN - 9789036769600

PB - Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

CY - [Groningen]

ER -