Loe de Jong

{{Short description|Dutch historian (1914–2005)}} [[File:Loe de Jong - De bezetting.png|thumb|Loe de Jong (1966)]]'''Louis "Loe" de Jong''' (24 April 1914 in [[Amsterdam]] – 15 March 2005 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch [[historian]] who specialised in the [[History of the Netherlands (1939–1945)|Netherlands in World War II]] and the [[Dutch resistance]].

De Jong studied history and social geography at the [[University of Amsterdam]]. He worked as a foreign newspaper correspondent from 1938 until 1940. He wrote on 31 August 1939 that an [[invasion of Poland]] would not escalate into war: "The Second World War has been averted for a long time [for the immediate future], probably for years", was printed on 2 September. He wrote on 6 April 1940 that there was no indication whatsoever that "[[Operation Weserübung|Berlin thought of expanding the war]] [into other countries]".<ref>Rob Hartmans, "Uiteraard schaamde Loe de Jong zich", Groene Amsterdammer, 35 (27 Aug 2014).</ref> After the German invasion of the Netherlands, De Jong managed to escape to London with his wife Liesbeth Cost Budde on 15 May 1940 on board of the ''Friso''. He would work for [[Radio Oranje]], broadcasting to the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.. [[File:Media Network - A Voice from Across the Water.ogg|thumb|Interview with Loe de Jong for Dutch [[Radio Oranje]]]] The [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]] of Loe de Jong, ''[[The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II]]'' (Dutch: ''Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog''), in fourteen volumes and 18,000 pages, is the standard reference on the history of the Netherlands during [[World War II]]. The [[Dutch Institute for War Documentation]] (NIOD) made an electronic edition of the entire work available for downloading from 11 December 2011, licensed under creative commons [[CC BY 3.0]].<ref name=Kingdom>{{cite web | url= https://www.niod.nl/nl/publicaties/het-koninkrijk-der-nederlanden-in-de-tweede-wereldoorlog |title= The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II |author= Loe de Jong |date= 1969–1991 |publisher= NIOD |access-date= 7 January 2024}}</ref>

De Jong contributed to many other historical works on the Netherlands and lectured at [[Academic conference|symposia]] on the European [[Resistance during World War II|resistance]]. In 1988, he was awarded the [[Gouden Ganzenveer]] for his contributions to Dutch written and printed culture.<ref>{{cite web |title= Laureaten De Gouden Ganzenveer vanaf 1955 |publisher= Stichting De Gouden Ganzenveer |year= 2009 |url= http://www.goudenganzenveer.nl/laureaten.html |access-date= 2009-07-28 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090225223755/http://www.goudenganzenveer.nl/laureaten.html |archive-date= 2009-02-25 }}</ref> In 1963 he became a member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref>{{cite web |author= |url= http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00001127 |title= Louis de Jong (1914 - 2005) |publisher= Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |access-date= 28 July 2015}}</ref>

Loe de Jong was [[Jewish]] by birth. He lost the greater part of his family including his parents and his twin brother during the Second World War.

== See also == * ''[[The Silent Historian]]'' - a film about Loe de Jong * [[Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac]] (1917–2015), a French historian with a similar profile

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book |last1=Smits |first1=Boudewijn |title=Loe de Jong 1914-2005: historicus met een missie |year=2014 |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Boom |isbn=9789461054678}}

==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/bamboozling-ourselves-part-6/ Errol Morris writes on Loue de Jong in the New York Times, June 3, 2009]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jong, Loe De}} [[Category:1914 births]] [[Category:2005 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Dutch historians]] [[Category:Dutch people of World War II]] [[Category:Dutch Jews]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] [[Category:Writers from Amsterdam]] [[Category:Dutch media executives]] [[Category:Historians of the Holocaust]] [[Category:Historians of World War II]] [[Category:20th-century Dutch journalists]] [[Category:Burials at Zorgvlied Cemetery]]