Thursday 27 november 2025

Annual Conference of the Royal Netherlands Historical Society 2025

On Thursday 27 November 2025, the Royal Netherlands Historical Society (KNHG), the professional body for historians in the Netherlands, will hold its annual conference. This year’s theme is the history and legacy of antisemitism in the Netherlands since 1800. Historian Michel van Gent from the Huygens Institute will explore the world of Dutch sport between 1898 and 1941.

Broadening the debate

With this conference the KNHG wants to broaden the debate about a long and often overlooked history of antisemitism in the Netherlands.

Asking difficult questions

The programme raises some difficult questions. Why does public attention tend to focus almost exclusively on the Holocaust, while the wider history of antisemitism seems to be pushed to the margins? Why, in contrast to debates about slavery, is there little awareness of how this history still shapes the present? And does this perhaps encourage the idea that antisemitism today is mainly a problem of so-called ‘Others’?

Contribution from Michel van Gent (Huygens Institute)

In his talk ‘Join in or stand apart? Jews in Dutch sport 1898–1941’, Van Gent looks at the role of Jewish athletes in Dutch sporting life and how their experiences reveal broader social and political dynamics.

Programme and registration

Full details and registration are available on the KNHG website. An early-bird discount runs until 16 October.

Jewish football and korfball club Hakadoer at the sports ground of the Dordrecht Association for Physical Development, 1932. Collection of the Regional Archives Dordrecht.