Last year, 49,000 people became naturalised Dutch citizens! This amount is almost twice as much as in 2019.

According to RTL Nieuws, the last time this many people received Dutch citizenship was during the ’90s (echt?!).

This is happening mainly due to many Syrian and Eritrean nationals — who arrived in the Netherlands in 2014 and 2015 — and have now been here for five years.

Who are becoming Dutchies?

Four out of ten naturalised Dutchies originally had Syrian or Eritrean nationalities.

Further, a number of stateless persons and those of unknown nationalities also received a Dutch passport. 🇳🇱

Other methods of Dutch naturalisation

Adding onto the 49,000 who became Dutch citizens, 7,000 more people also became naturalised via other methods.

These methods include adoption and option procedure (you lived in the Netherlands continuously since childhood).

What do you think about more people becoming Dutch? Let us know in the comments!

Feature Image: Denise Jans/Unsplash

The names of more than 102,000 Dutch victims of the Holocaust can all finally be seen alongside each other at the National Holocaust Names Monument in Amsterdam.

Amidst a history lined with legal battles, the €15,000,000 monument, designed by the Polish-Jewish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, has finally been unveiled in the Dutch capital. It already has 3,200 visitation registrations.

In a sombre ceremony led by the chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee, Jacques Grishaver along with King Willem-Alexander, the long awaited memorial was revealed.

It is the first memorial site in the Netherlands to display all the names, dates of birth, and age at death of Dutch victims of the Holocaust.

History

The significance of this monument stems from the fact that it commemorates the names of all Dutch Holocaust victims: both Jews, Sinti, and Roma — with rows of stones showing victims from the same families, and one stone displaying the name of a six-month-old infant who was gassed on their own mother’s arm.

Concerns over the location, size, and security threats were points of argument in the monument’s history until the construction was finally approved in 2019. The unveiling ceremony went thankfully uninterrupted on September 19, 2021.

Lies Caransa who lost her uncle, aunt, nephew, and grandparents in World War II expressed happiness with the new monument in her interview with RTL Nieuws.

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Feature Image: irisphoto11/Depositphotos

Technically the work itself is not new because it was made a long time ago, but it’s new to us! The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has determined that a study made for the drawing Worn Out (1882) was made by the famous Dutch painter.

It is not often that new work is attributed to Van Gogh, according to museum director Emilie Gordenker.

The study shows a tired man sitting on a chair, cradling his head in his hands. He sports a bald head and wears working clothes.

It will be on display to the public from today at the Van Gogh Museum, alongside the final drawing of Worn Out.

The model

The model was a man who often was the subject of Van Gogh’s art (he drew the man over 40 times!).

He was one of the residents of the Dutch Reformed Men’s and Women’s House, and he frequently posed for the artist for a few quarters.

“How beautiful is such an old workman in his patched bombastic suit with a bald head,” remarked Van Gogh in his letters.

“The Hague era”

Van Gogh made this drawing while he was living in The Hague. His works from this period were characterised by “an expressive, quick style with energetic scratches and strokes,” — according to NOS.

The work was also drawn with thick carpenter’s pencil on coarse watercolour paper.

Will you be heading to the exhibition? Let us know in the comments below!

Feature Image: Van Gogh Museum/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain