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.