Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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even on the subject of World War II, is at variance with intemational scholarship that
identifies the second of the two world wars as a continuum of the first, a Thirty Years' War
of the twentieth century. 14
CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE GREAT WAR
During the Great War itself, people could not get enough infonnation about what
was going on around them. When M. W. F. Treub (Minister of Agriculture, Trade and
Industry until October 1914, then Minister of Finance until January 1916) published a book
entitled Oorlogstijd (Wartime) in 1916 in which he candidly detailed the economic
predicament of the Netherlands in the war, it was so popular that a second edition graced
the shelves of bookstores the following year. 15 A number of general works on the war
situation also appeared during the war. 16 These presented a broad account of the conflict, its
battles and effects, and each, unfailingly, included at least one chapter on the Netherlands,
emphasising its susceptibility to the perils of war. They were targeted as much at youths as
adults: in a rather bizarre manner, for example, a meat processing factory in Deventer
printed a book for adolescents, which included information on their country's uncertain
situation, and distributed collectable picture cards that could be pasted into it. 17 Yet the
Dutch were not alone in bringing attention to their plight in the war: foreign books of the
time accorded entire chapters to the neutrals (especially Switzerland and the Netherlands ).18
This trend continued during the interbellum period. 19
14 Arno J. Mayer, "The Persistence ofthe Old Regime" in Emsley et. al. (eds.), War, Peace and Social Change p. 45.
See also: Liddle et. al. (eds.), The Great World War 1914 - 45.Two Volumes.
15 M. W. F. Treub, 00 rlogstijd. Herinneringen en Indrukken. [Wartime: Memories and impressions] Haarlem and
Amsterdam: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon and Scheltema & Holkema Boekhandel, 1916; M. W. F. Treub
Oarlogstijd: Herinl1el'ingen en Indl'ukken. Second Edition. Haarlem and Amsterdam: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon
and Scheltema & Holkema Boekhandel, 1917.
16 W. A. T. de Meester (ed.), Gedenkboek van den Europeeschen Oarlog in 1914 - 1919. [Remembrance book of the
European war in 1914 -1919] Four volumes. Leiden: A. W. Sythoff, 1914 - 1919; H. P. Geerke, G. A. Brandts, De
OOl'log. Gei'llustreel'de Geschiedenis van dell Wereldoorlog. [The war. Illustrated history of the world war] Two
volumes. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff & Co., 1915; De Groote Eul'opeesche Oorlog van 1914 in Woal'd en Beeld. [The
great European war of 1914 in words and pictures] Amsterdam: N. J. Boon, 1915; De Groote Oarlog in Fotos. [The
Great War in photos] no. 28,1917 to no. 37,1918.
17 Piet Hoorweg, Gedenkboek van de Eul'opeeschen Oorlog in 1914 vaal' de Jeugd. [Remembrance book of the
European war in 1914, for youths] Deventer: Vleeschconservenfabriek "Erica Brand" and A. van del' Heijden, no
year.
18 See, for example: The Times HistOlY a/the War. Volume 13, London: The Times, 1917, pp. 181 - 252.
19 See: fn 41 below.