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Prince Jean-Engelbert, 12th Duke of Arenberg

1921–2011

Born
14 Jul 1921, The Hague
Country of birth
Netherlands
Died
15 Aug 2011
facts
10
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · The Hague

    Birth, The Hague

  2. Child born: Prince Léopold, 13th Duke of Arenberg

    Birth

  3. Child born: Karl-Ludwig Felix Melchoir Prinz von Arenberg

    Birth, Tervuren

  4. Child born: Marie Gabriele Prinzessin von Arenberg

    Birth

  5. Child born: Heinrich Antoine Marie Prinz von Arenberg

    Birth

  6. Child born: Etienne Albert Marie Melchoir Prinz von Arenberg

    Birth

  7. Died

    Death

What was it like?

The world around The Hague, 1921: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Prince was born around the same time as Federico Fellini, Marlon Brando, and Judy Garland.

Born around the same time

  • Federico Fellini

    1920 · Italian filmmaker (1920–1993)

  • Marlon Brando

    1924 · American actor (1924–2004)

  • Judy Garland

    1922 · American actress, singer, dancer and vaudevillian (1922–1969)

  • Ademir de Menezes

    1922 · Brazilian footballer (1922–1996)

  • John Paul II

    1920 · pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, author

  • Jimmy Carter

    1924 · president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 (1924–2024)

Fashion

Moral Standards and Everyday Attire

In the 1930s, some religious schools strictly enforced modesty, with teachers occasionally sending boys home for wearing sandals without socks because it was considered walking around half-naked. Meanwhile, the earlier introduction of flesh-colored stockings around 1920 sparked intense moral debates, though the sheer number of women wearing them eventually rendered the controversy pointless by 1929.

Preserving the Volendam lace cap

The Volendam white lace cap, called a hul, was part of daily dress in the early 20th century and was kept stiffened in a tin to maintain its shape.

Music

Jazz and the 1920s Dance Craze

In the 1920s, American jazz became wildly popular in the Netherlands, leading to a dance craze where people flocked to halls to perform the Shimmy, Charleston, and Black Bottom.

Musicians at Fairs and Rural Festivals

At fairs in the early 1900s, traveling musicians such as violinists, accordionists, and tamborine players were common, sometimes accompanied by street organs. Musicians playing for dances at rural festivities often sat on wooden chests and tapped their violin bows to signal when dancers needed to pay for the music.

Getting around

Train travel times between Utrecht and Groningen

By 1900, traveling from Utrecht to Groningen by train took four hours, a duration that decreased to three hours by 1932.

Around 1914–1914

Steamboat travel costs in 1914

Around 1914, a steamboat ticket between local towns like Genemuiden and Zwolle cost between 60 and 85 cents.

Daily life

Living conditions in crowded one-room homes

Around 1900, many poor families lived in single-room dwellings where they cooked, slept, and relieved themselves, often using a bucket or wooden box that was collected weekly. Waste was sometimes stored in basements or attics to be sold as fertilizer.

The transition to electric lighting

Lighting was inconsistent, with candles, kerosene lamps, and gaslight all in use, and electric lighting considered a luxury for the wealthy or public spaces around 1900. By the 1920s, electric light and wired outlets for appliances began appearing in modern homes.

Food

Coffee and tea replace traditional drinks

Coffee, tea, and sometimes cocoa with sugar replaced beer, water, and buttermilk as the most common everyday drinks. Previously, buttermilk mixed with well water had been a standard beverage.

Shifting diets from potatoes to varied meals

Ordinary families often ate simple one-pot meals consisting of potatoes mixed with vegetables, beans, or a small amount of fat and bacon. Over time, families began eating more varied foods, such as wheat bread, meat, and processed products like margarine and cookies.

Prices and wages
Around 1930–1939

Everyday food prices in the 1930s

A sliced loaf of bread cost 11 cents, and a single egg cost 2 cents. A pound of butter was approximately 50 cents, while a full meal in a cafeteria could cost 25 cents.

Around 1930–1939

Worker monthly and weekly earnings

An apothecary assistant in the city earned 110 guilders per month in the 1930s. During the same period, some workers struggled to survive on just 22 guilders per week.

Work

Memorable facts of everyday work

Household servants performed grueling tasks like emptying chamber pots daily and scrubbing floors, often for very little pay. Some home-based workers earned as little as 2 to 3 cents for tasks like sorting coffee beans.

Most common jobs in the Netherlands

Agriculture was the largest employer, though many laborers also worked in textile factories, the port of Rotterdam, or as household servants. Home-based industries were common, where people performed tasks like shelling shrimp or stripping tobacco for extremely low wages.

News and letters

Fast newspaper and express transit

Newspapers were delivered to subscribers on foot, while express shipments were moved via trains reaching speeds that could cover the trip to Brussels in five hours.

Frequent daily mail deliveries

In large Dutch cities, the postman could deliver mail up to six or seven times per day.

During their lifetime

  1. 1940

    1940 Rotterdam Blitz Destruction

    On 14 May 1940, German bombers destroyed the inner city of Rotterdam, killing 814 to 900 people and leaving 78,000 homeless.

  2. 1951

    Introduction of national television broadcasts

    The Dutch Television Foundation launched national broadcasts, leading to rapid adoption of television sets in homes.

  3. 1953

    The 1953 North Sea Flood disaster

    A massive storm caused catastrophic flooding that breached dykes and resulted in nearly 2,000 deaths.

  4. 1975

    Large-scale migration after Surinamese independence

    Following the independence of its colony, one-third of the population of Suriname emigrated to the Netherlands.

  5. 1993

    Regulation of euthanasia by doctors

    The government officially regulated euthanasia, acknowledging a practice already estimated to account for 2% of deaths.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.