Paul Consten, Violence and colonial discipline. The abolishment of the punishment of cane whipping in nineteenth century Java
In nineteenth-century Java the punishment of whipping with a cane was very common. Thousands of Javanese suffered this punishment every year for petty theft or other minor offences. This situation lasted until 1866 when the cane whipping was abolished. This abolishment is analysed in the context of the intentions of the liberals to organise the state `rationally'.
Donald Haks, A world-view from the middle class. The diary of Lodewijck van der Saan, 1695-1699
Sometimes an example can tell us more about a specific society than an analysis of structure or trends. This article discusses the world-view of a Dutch middle-class courantier and secretary from the late seventeenth century. The diary of Lodewijck van der Saan (1655-?), written in the years 1695-1699 when living in London, gives a rare view on the importance this man attached to the concept of honour, his perception of the social ordening of society, his belief-system and the rules of behaviour he propagated to follow. This world-view is placed against the background of current Dutch historiography.
Gie van den Berghe, Necessity and impossibility of abandoning the perspective of the victims in the study of the crimes of the nazis
The cruelties during the Naziregime involved many different people. We can distinguish for instance between perpetrators and victims, observers and outsiders. These different groups interpreted the events in different, sometimes contradictory ways. Even in limiting ourselves to the perspective of the victims we do no get a uniform history. The victim's perspective can even hinder historical insight. It is essential for political and moral motivation, but to be able to prevent recurrence, we must look behind and beyond the suffering. The stages of the escalation from discrimination to genocide must be fully understood. One has to include the perspective of the perpetrators. Their ideology and behaviour must be studied as objectively as possible.