Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
1940
Aletta Jacobs
Best speech of the Netherlands
German occupiers
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt
Joop den Uyl
NPOGeschiedenis.nl
Prince Claus
protest speech
queen Juliana
Rudolph Cleveringa
University of Leiden
Monday, 26 January 2015 - 11:12
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Nazi protest speech called Best in Netherlands

Leiden Professor Rudolph Cleveringa's protest speech on November 26th, 1940, has been named the "Best speech of the Netherlands". This was announced on the VPRO radio program OVT on Sunday. Cleveringa's speech at the University of Leiden went down in history as the first public resistance against the German occupiers during World War II. On November 26th, 1940, Cleveringa replaced his fired Jewish colleague Meijers. Instead of lecturing, he held a protest speech, which was received with applause by the students. Cleveringa was arrested for his speech and remained in custody for 6 months. Students spread the text and the speech came to be considered as one of the first illegal pamphlets. Cleveringa's speech is still remembered annually with the so-called Cleveringa-reading. Six speeches from various periods were selected for the final election. The speeches of Queen Juliana (her pacifist speech to the US Congress in 1952) and Prince Claus (shedding of necktie in 1998) also competed. Other contestants were Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (his last words before his beheading in 1619), Aletta Jacobs (her speech after the introduction of General Woman Suffrage in 1919) and Joop den Uyl (speech about oil crisis in 1973). The election was organized in collaboration with the website NPOGeschiedenis.nl. More than 5 thousand visitors to the site participated in the election.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Council of State advises against criminalizing gay conversion therapy
  • Cabinet may use Lelystad Airport, empty churches to shelter asylum seekers & refugees
  • More hospitals, cybersecurity firm also targeted in pro-Russia cyberattack
  • Parliamentary inquiry on Groningen gas earthquakes didn't restore locals trust in gov't
  • Amsterdam to Barcelona night train wins support from European Commission
  • Four men convicted in 1985 gas station cashier murder may have made false confessions

Top stories

  • Cabinet may use Lelystad Airport, empty churches to shelter asylum seekers & refugees
  • Netherlands named 8th least corrupt nation in annual review, but issues remain
  • Dutch human rights institute critical of “disproportionate” arrest of climate protesters
  • Regions outside Randstad against limiting international students
  • Rutte, Macron and Biden not yet ready to give Ukraine F-16 jets
  • Housing construction at highest level in decade; Still 26% below gov't target

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content