Short bio
Leo van Bergen (Venlo, The Netherlands, 1959) studied history at the Catholic University Nijmegen (now: Radboud University) from 1977 to 1985. His main research topic was the history of war and peace. His thesis on the influence of the British-Indian non-violent decolonisation movement on the Netherlands and Dutch-East India/Indonesia, was published. At the end of the 1980’s an interest into the history of medicine was added. The combination proved to be fruitful. A number of books and articles on the history of the relation between war and medicine appeared.
His PhD (Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 1994) on the history of the Dutch Red Cross: De Zwaargewonden Eerst? Het Nederlandsche Roode Kruis en het vraagstuk van oorlog en vrede. (The severely wounded first? The Dutch Red Cross and the question of war and peace 1867-1945), threw a new light on the history of the Red Cross. Furthermore in 1999 he published Zacht en Eervol. Lijden en sterven in een Grote Oorlog, a three times reprinted book on the physical and psychological hardships of the soldiers during the First World War. In 2009 an English version appeared: Before my Helpless Sight. Suffering, Dying and Military Medicine on the Western Front 1914-1918 [extended content and reviews] [goodread review]. Because of this book he was invited to write the chapters on ‘military medicine’ of as well the Cambridge University History of the First World War, as the Online Encyclopaedia of the First World War of the Freie Universität Berlin. For the Online Encyclopaedia he also wrote an article on Dutch humanitarian assistance.
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After in 1999 having written a report on aid by NGO’s to returning war victims in the years after the Second World War, U wordt door iemand verwacht (You are expected by someone) in February 2000 Van Bergen got a job as university teacher and medical history researcher at the department of Metamedica (Medical Humanities) of the VU-university medical center Amsterdam.
His main task was to write a report on the introduction of coronary care units in the Netherlands in the years 1965-1975. It resulted in the conclusion that this – quick and massive – introduction had taken place without any real proof CCU’s would be effective in lowering death by coronary disease, the reason of its introduction. The essence of the project, ended in July 2001, was to throw a light on the proces leading to the introduction of expensive medical innovations and to scetch the role different actors had played (industry, politics, doctors, patients). It also led to a book on the international discussion concerning coronary care units in that same period. (For the text see books and articles on the internet.)
After finishing the coronary care unit-project Van Bergen’s appointment was continued in order to write the history of the VU-university medical faculty from the beginning of the protestant university in 1880 up until 2000, the year in which faculty and academic hospital became one. His research mainly focused on the discussion on religion and (medical) science. It resulted in 2005 in the bulky Van Genezen in Geloof tot Geloof in Genezen (From healing in believing to believing in healing).
A year before he had already published another book, on the Red Cross-aid in the Dutch East Indies from the Atchin-war up until the socalled ‘politional actions’, a eufemism for the war to stop the inevitable Indonesian decolonisation. Question was if, and if so: in how far, this aid had maintained or even strengthened the colonial system. The title of the book: Een menslievende en nationale taak. Oorlog, kolonialisme en Rode Kruis in Nederlandsch-Indië 1870-1950 (A humanitarian and national task. War, colonialism and the Red Cross in Dutch East India 1870-1950) already hints at the outcome. Medical aid was not only given out of humanitarian reasons, but was an instrument for strengthening or repairing colonial relations. It is published in English in 2019: The Dutch East Indies Red Cross 1870-1950: on humanitarianism and colonialism
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This tropical-medical research was continued in the form of a history of 100 years Dutch Tropical Medical Society, titled: Van Koloniale Geneeskunde tot Internationale Gezondheidszorg (From colonial medicine to international healthcare). The tropical-medical interest also led to a three year scholarship to do research into leprosy in Dutch East India (1800-1950), part of a larger project called ‘Leprosy and Empire’, of which research into leprosy in Surinam is the counterpart. Consequence was that Van Bergen left the VU-medical center, partly forced because the medical history section of the Metamedica department was canceled. He joined the KITLV in Leiden (Centre for Indonesian and Caribbean Studies). [KITLV]
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Shortly before (2009) Van Bergen also wrote a report on the history of the Dutch MSF-section ‘Artsen zonder Grenzen’:Hulp in Tijden van Geweld (Aid in times of violence). He furthermore for several years cooperated in a European project, ‘Medical Peace Work’. This contained the shaping of a digital handbook and an online course on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of and medical involvement in societal violence, from small scale violence at home up until large scale warfare. This was done in cooperation with organisations and universities from several European countries such as Norway, Great-Britain, Germany, Turkey and Slovenia. [Medical Peace Work]
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It fits the already mentioned red thread in Van Bergen’s research and lecuturing activities: the relationship between war and medicine, also coming to the fore in his coordinating task (2004-2012) of the student course ‘Healthcare, Ethics, War and Peace’. That Van Bergen was co-editor of the peer-reviewed magazine Conflict, Medicine and Survival [MCS] for seven years (2017-2023) should be seen in this light as well, as his in 2021 this year, after 15 years, ended membership of the board of the Dutch section of the IPPNW: the ‘NVMP-Artsen voor Vrede’ (Doctors for Peace). [NVMP]
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This relationship also characterises his latest projects: first in September 2019 a book was published on the history of Dutch Military Healthcare 1795-1950: Pro Patria et Patienti, for which he had received a two-year appointment at the Dutch Veterans’ Institute and the NIMH (Netherlands Institute for Military History). Around the same time he published a biography of a Dutch military doctor and edited a bulky work titled The First World War and Health: rethinking resilience, published in March 2020. Shortly thereafter he ar first, 2022, published a non-fictional work on how in Dutch newspapers was reflected upon the concentrationcamp-syndrome, (1954-1987) which in Dutch is called Bevrijd (Liberated) and in English From KZ-syndrome to PTSD and after that a 'factional' work on medical 'care' in the Third Reich: De poppenspeler van Mengele (Mengele's Puppeteer). At about the same time he published a bilingual compilation of poems, by him translated into Dutch, of English writing World War I-nurses, called Een Kap van Afschuw in Dutch and A Cap of Horror in English.
For his research into the relationship between medicine, war and peace, on 6 June 2009 he received the Dr. J.A.Verdoorn award.
Even more info on: independent.academia.edu/LeovanBergen and linked.in.com/in/leovanbergen