The first five volumes of the eight-volume Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbeweging in Nederland (BWSA, Biographical Dictionary of Socialism and the Labour Movement in the Netherlands) are now available on line at www.iisg.nl/bwsa/index.html. The entries can be browsed and searched. The text is in Dutch.
To date, the site contains 373 biographies of men and women active in the Dutch labour movement, some of them in prominent positions, others less so: socialists and liberals, anarchists and catholics, communists and christians; politicians and trade union leaders, freethinkers and suffragettes, writers and artists etc. Most of them were active before 1940.
The print edition of the BWSA, which appeared from 1986 to 2001, features 577 biographies. The remaining entries will be added to the website in March 2003. At the same time, an index volume containing additions and corrections will be published in print. The editorial board of the BWSA consists of Mies Campfens, Ger Harmsen, Jannes Houkes, Dik Nas, Bob Reinalda, Ypke Snoek and Johanna M. Welcker.
For more information, please get in touch with Marien van der Heijden (mvh at iisg.nl).