On a crisp October morning, history came alive under the vaulted ceilings of Amsterdam's City Archives. A modest parchment, locked away for

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Get the answers from comedian and author Greg Shapiro a.k.a. The American Netherlander a.k.a. the voice of Donald Trump in the "America First, the Netherlands Second" video.

Greg shares his uniquely American insight into the Netherlands' history and culture, especially how the country relates to the United States.

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photo Greg Shapiro © Adrie Mouthaan

They both lived during the Dutch Golden Age, grew up in Leiden, were taught by the same painter, shared a studio, received all the praise, and painted the rulers of their time. And yet, Jan Lievens is not as famous today as his friend Rembrandt.

In this episode of The Low Countries Radio, we reconstruct the lives and works of these two giants of art, showing how trends and the zeitgeist can drive or hinder an artist's career, but how their legacy is bound to the whims of fate and fortune.

Welcome to the world of the Dutch Masters.

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In this episode, 92-year-old Holocaust survivor Simon Gronowski talks about his spectacular escape from a deportation train to Auschwitz, why he befriended the son of Flemish Nazi supporters and reminds us why we must remain vigilant against political extremism.

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In this podcast, we talk to Christine Kooi, professor of European History at Louisiana State University, about the turbulent Protest and Catholic Reformations in the Low Countries of the sixteenth century.

In her latest book Reformation in the Low Countries 1500-1620, Kooi covers the key moments of both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations as they unfolded in both the Northern and Southern Netherlands in the sixteenth century.

Synthesizing fifty years' worth of scholarly literature, the Canadian-American author and academic with Dutch roots focuses particularly on the political context of the era: how religious change took place against the integration and disintegration of the Habsburg composite state in the Netherlands.

Special attention is given to the Reformation's role in both fomenting and fuelling the Revolt against the Habsburg regime in the later sixteenth century, as well as how it contributed to the formation of the region's two successor states, the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands.

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Why is the tulip a Dutch symbol even though this colourful flower comes from the Ottoman Empire? Why did owning tulip bulbs show your status and luxury in the 17th century? Why did a famous surgeon have his surname changed to Tulip? And to what economic disaster does Tulip Mania refer?

In this podcast, we dig up the bulbs of the past, trim the stems of historical myth and emerge with a lustrous vase of understanding as to where the tulip came from, how it came into vogue in the Dutch Republic and what place the flower holds today in the Netherlands.

Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.

Rebellion, unrest and anti-authoritarianism are as much woven into the fabric of the Low Countries’ histories and cultures as dikes, dams, churches and cheese. In this podcast, we take a look at some of the major and minor protest movements that have occurred across Belgium and the Netherlands, which have helped shape them into the places they are today: the Amsterdam Eel Riots (1886), the Leuven Student Protests (1968), the Amsterdam Coronation Riots (1980) and the Brussels White March (1996).

Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.

The Low Countries have long held mystery and intrigue for people around the world. Over thousands of years, innumerable myths and legends have sprung out of this small corner of Europe, while many more have been created by bemused foreigners looking in from the outside.

Why do the Japanese love a dog from Flanders? Why do Americans admire a Dutch boy who stuck his finger in a dyke? Why are there so many swans in Bruges? Why were cats thrown off the belfry in Ypres? And why is 'The Flying Dutchman' a scary phenomenon?

Find out in this podcast about folk tales and legends from Flanders and the Netherlands.

Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.

Despite making up over 50% of the population, the fundamental role which women have played in the development and progress of Low Country societies has often been neglected in historical accounts. Time to honour some women pioneers in Belgium and the Netherlands: Aletta Jacobs, Corry Tendeloo, Isabelle Gatti de Gamond, Marie Popelin and Marga Klompé.

Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.

When the Netherlands and Belgium did not exist, people spoke of the Low Countries when referring to the area around the river deltas. Water has always played an essential role in the history of that region.

For centuries, living on these waterlogged lands provided the Dutch and the Flemings with opportunities for trade, urbanisation, agriculture and much more.

In this podcast, we discover how the Low Countries, after centuries of battling floods, have gradually learnt to treat water as an ally and a part of the cultural identity of its inhabitants.

Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.