Informative series of lectures titled ‘Guera na Korsou?!’ at the National Archives

In the context of the project ‘Guera na Korsou?!’ (War in Curacao ?!) the National Archives has organized a series of lectures where different researchers have been highlighting on the history of Curacao during the Second World War. The local politologist Junnes St. Jago was the first lecturer in this series and he gave a lecture titled ‘Kampamentu pa presunan di guera na Bonaire’. In his lecture, on May, 12^th, he addressed the internment camp where German citizens and citizens who sympathized with the Nazi were kept in Bonaire during World War II.  Various photographs, table of figures and even poems were presented,  by which the listeners could get an impression of the history of the German and other people that have been forced to stay Bonaire during wartime.

Notary Henri Burgers gave an interesting lecture on the topic of legal transfer of corporate bodies from Holland to Curacao, which developed in the Off Shore sector after the War.

Local Historian Erwin Gibbes gave a tremendous lecture on the U-boat attacks in the waters surrounding Curacao and Aruba.

Allan van der Ree, founder and president of Battle Station Blaauw, was also one of the lecturers who had a presentation where he elaborated on the assistance of the American troops in Curacao during World War II. A few unique pictures of the American militaries, from private collections, were shown by Van der Ree in his presentation. In the audience we could appreciate the presence of the US Consul General and the American – ‘Yu di Korsou’ war veteran Rudy Dovale. The attendees got information both on the strategic military elements and the social human aspects of the stay of 3000 American militaries on our island from 1942 till the end of World War II

The last lecture in this series will be given on July 11, by a special guest. The committee ‘Guera na Korsou?!’ has invited the expert in military history, Jos Rozenburg, from Holland to provide information about the central theme of this lecture series. The lecture will be in Dutch and is titled: ‘Oorlog op Curacao’.