Media

Interview on the meaning of freedom as a scientist and human being

1/6/2025 ‘Erkenning van het verleden biedt vrijheid voor de toekomst’ – Vrij Nederland

‘Recognition of the past offers freedom for the future.’ That is Nicole Immler’s position in the conversation with Annemiek Leclaire for Vrij Nederland about the meaning of freedom as a scientist and as a human being.

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140 Jahre Berliner Afrika-Konferenz

23/5/2025 – ‘140 Jahre Berliner Afrika-Konferenz’ – Zeitgeschichte Online

Report by Nicole Immler on her visit of the Africa Conference in Berlin. It is about much more than genocide or restitution: dignity – at the conference commemorating the Berlin Africa Conference of 1884/85. To this day, the conference continues to shape European thinking about Africa and African thinking about Europe. It is worth taking a close look at the narratives that have become established about the conference and examining their consequences.

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Podcast Dialoog: De Geschiedenis is voorbij, de Dialoog niet.

7/4/2025 ‘De Geschiedenis is voorbij, de Dialoog niet’ – Podcast Dialoog

In this podcast episode by Stichting Dialoog NJI, Nicole Immler discusses the impact of trauma and the importance of engaging in dialogue. This is difficult, but according to Immler, you don’t always have to agree to make progress. Listening and self-reflection are key.

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Opinion piece on learning how to demonstrate and how they do it in Serbia

20/03/2025 ‘Demonstreren kun je leren. Zo doen ze het in Servië’ – Trouw

Niké Wentholt wrote an opinion piece to connect the ongoing, inspiring student-led protests in Serbia to the urgency to protest in the Netherlands. Here, too, we can come together in our shared dissatisfaction with right-wing politics and increasing authoritarianism. The piece was published a day before the international day against racism and the mass protest (15.000 people joined) against racism and fascism on March 21.

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Interview on the necessary role of women in the transition in Syria

16/12/2024 ‘Sin las mujeres no podrá haber una transición en Siria’ – Artículo 14

Carla Boulos emphasizes that women have been fundamental to Syria’s survival during the war. She notes that while men were engaged in combat, women managed households, took on various jobs, and led civil society, effectively sustaining the country. However, she laments that Syrian society has not fully recognized this decisive role.

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Interview on pleading for more space at universities for debate and emotions

30-10-2023 ‘Verdeeldheid over hoe verder op Universiteit Utrecht nu debat over oorlog verhardt: waar doe je goed aan?’ – AD

In this article Nicole Immler was interviewed on how the debate on war intensifies at universities, specifically in the conversation about the war between Israël and Hamas. In the interview she pleaded for more space at universities for debate and emotions.

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Call on Dutch institutions for higher education to speak out on (de)humanization in the face of the violence in Palestine and Israël

27/10/2023 ‘Hamas-Israël conflict moet studenten leren niemand te ontmenselijken’ – Trouw

‘Wees niet bang om ‘partij te kiezen’ gericht op humanisering’ – Nieuw Wij

In this opinion piece Siri Driessen, Nicole Immler, Obiozo Ukpabi and Niké Wentholt called on Dutch institutions for higher education to take a stand against dehumanization in the face of terrorist attacks and genocidal violence.

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Towards a broad societal conversation about what repair constitutes

2/7/2023 ‘Klaar met slavernijverleden? Excuses zijn pas het begin’ – AD

In this article by Carla van der Wal about the commemoration of the Dutch slavery past, Nicole Immler argues for a broad societal conversation about what repair constitutes. “This is a collective process and also revolves around what kind of society we want to be.”

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Interview on repair for the slavery past

30/6/2023 ‘Hoe zien de herstelbetalingen voor slavernij eruit?’ – Trouw

Nicole Immler was interviewed by Robin Goudsmit en Maurice Timmermans about repair for the slavery past. It is the elephant in the room during the slavery commemoration: reparations. Will they ever come, and what should restitution look like?

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Opinion piece on how ruling of ‘statute of limitations’ is misplaced in the case of institutional suffering

05/04/2023 ‘Verjaring beschermt foute instituties’ – NRC

Naomi Ormskerk and Nicole Immler published an opinion piece in reaction to the ruling in a claim brought to the court by women who had suffered institutional abuse within a religious institution. Thousands of girls were forced to perform hard labor in Catholic ‘charitable institutions.’ The ruling of ‘statute of limitations’ is misplaced in this case of institutional suffering.

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Opinion piece on how both religious institutions and victims of institutional abuse have a role to play in restoration

11/01/2023 ‘Zowel de slachtoffers van misbruik als kerkelijke instituties hebben een rol in het herstel’ – Trouw

Naomi Ormskerk wrote an opinion piece on how forced labor and exploitation within Catholic institutions have caused significant suffering, for example, among girls in the institutions of ‘De Goede Herder’. In addressing this harm, both the victims and the responsible institutions have a role to play in the process of restitution and reconciliation.

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Hoe je excuses aanbiedt voor historisch onrecht

28/11/2022 ‘Een historisch excuus aanbieden, hoe doe je dat? Deze vijf zaken kunnen het maken of breken’ – Trouw

Nicole Immler in Trouw on how to offer apologies for historical injustices. Rianne Oosterom writes about the debate surrounding apologies for the history of slavery and asks how it can be done properly. Professor Nicole Immler often observes the same mistakes being made when offering apologies for historical injustices.

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Opinion piece calling on Shell to reckon with its controversial legacies in the Netherlands and Nigeria

27/11/2022 ‘Mensen gaan boven economische belangen’ – NRC

Obiozo Ukpabi wrote an opinion piece where she calls on Shell to reckon with its controversial legacies in the Netherlands and Nigeria. Ukpabi writes in reaction to the decision of the four Nigerian widows who sued Shell for their alleged complicity in human rights violations in the Niger delta, to drop their case. After years of litigation they see no more options to seek redress for the ‘unavoidable consequences of the destructive logic of profit over people’.

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Reconstructing how their history became our history

12/11/2022 ‘Hoe de discussie over het slavernijverleden van de brievenrubriek naar de voorpagina verschoof’ – Trouw

In this article, Rianne Oosterom reconstructs how the Dutch slavery past moved from the letters page (with a letter from Volkskrant reader Roy Kaikusi Groenberg) to the front page of the public debate. Recently, the Dutch cabinet announced that it will offer formal apologies for the role of The Netherlands in the slavery past. Nicole Immler provided Oosterom with commentary on this decision.

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Public lecture at the Commemoration of boys and women’s camps in Indonesia during the Japanese occupation

21/08/2022 ‘Herdenken om te verbinden in de meerstemmigheid’ – Impact Magazine

On this special occasion Nicole Immler gave a lecture on ‘Commemorating to Connect in Multivoicedness’. The organisers of the commemoration wished to reflect on the question of renewal of their commemorative tradition. How can we do this in a way that remains relevant for a younger generation when, in future, there will be no more survivors of the atrocities to commemorate with?

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Op-Ed on Court Ruling Birthmothers v The State

03/02/2022 ‘De rechter liet afstandsmoeders in de kou staan. En wat doet de overheid?’ – Trouw

Empathy from the Court is not enough when the State refuses to recognise institutional failures. This opinion piece by Niké Wentholt and Nicole Immler analyses missed opportunities in ruling on Birthmothers v The State.

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Podcast on the Keti Koti debate

01/07/2021 Podcast on the Keti Koti debate – Podcast Pluralistiek

Nicole Immler participated in a podcast hosted by the University of Humanistic Studies (Utrecht). On the 1st of July each year, the celebration of Keti Koti marks the abolition of slavery in Suriname. Nicole and student Farach Winter talked about the importance of dialogue and the meaning of reparations, especially in light of the ongoing debate on recognition of the colonial history of the Netherlands.

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Opinion piece on the need for debate after legal procedures

15/06/2021 ‘Het gesprek over Srebrenica is nu aan ons’ – Trouw

Niké Wentholt and Marrit Woudwijk wrote an opinion piece on the need for debate after legal procedures. They argued that two recent legal developments with regard to the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica demonstrate the limitations of legal procedures and therefore this momentum should be used as an opportunity for a broader debate on recognition and justice.

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Livecast on society vs. fossil energy

25/03/2021 ‘Maatschappij vs. fossiel’ – Pakhuis de Zwijger

Obiozo Ukpabi participated in a panel discussion hosted by Pakhuis de Zwijger on the growing number of (legal) confrontations between citizens and NGOs on the one hand, and fossil fuel corporations on the other.

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Opinion piece on colonial history as shared history

11/03/2020 ‘Geef ons koloniaal verleden een gedeelde taal’ – NRC

Nicole Immler wrote an opinion piece on the public apology made by Dutch King Willem Alexander for the ‘excessive violence’ on Dutch side during the indepence struggle of Indonesia. She argued that current public debate on colonial violence does not sufficiently recognize the need for a broader process in which the colonial history is perceived as a shared history.

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Opinion piece on the legal judgement against Shell

11/02/2021 ‘Shell komt te makkelijk weg’ – NRC

Obiozo Ukpabi wrote an opinion piece on the meaning and limitations of the ruling of the Dutch court in the civil court case against the multinational Royal Dutch Shell. She argued the legal framework provides limited possibility to address the actual problem those affected by environmental harm face.

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