Welcome dear visitor We are Cor and Ellen and together we live in the beautiful and quiet village of Vries in the north of The Netherlands. I, Cor, have always been interested in history, but in 2012 that gained momentum because of my grandfather's diary. We in our family knew something about his adventures, but not many details. So that changed with the finding of that diary. In the diary Grandpa had described how he, as a sailor, had smuggled weapons to Spain on the ship the Andra in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). I used the diary to write a historical novel entitled Journey to the Spanish Civil War. Press the button ‘Our novels’ to read more about it. Since a diary is not yet a complete story, it took me over two years of research. My interest in the Spanish Civil War was born and I continued to research and do all kinds of other activities, such as visiting Spain where my grandfather's adventure took place. I also give lectures about Grandpa's adventure and the Spanish Civil War. Done dozens of times throughout the Netherlands and for all kinds of organizations. We are now writing together and our new novel will be published at the end of 2021 and is now available in various places in the Netherlands. Ellen and I really enjoyed working on it. The novel is titled La Batuta, Spanish for the baton. Why? Press the button below to read more about it. There is much to tell about the Spanish Civil War. It was the war that brought Franco to power in Spain as dictator. He remained that way until his death in 1975. Now you might think it was a local Spanish event. Nothing is less true. In fact, the whole world has had something to do with it. For example, Germany and Italy have already been fighting against Russia during that war. Certainly Germany regarded it as an exercise for the coming Second World War.