According to his biographer, Hugo Grotius was a free thinker, but he was not always free to express his ideas. The third season of the podcast series "Grootspraak" - which was invented by Bureau Queneau - investigates how free we are in this time and age.
A third season of the podcast Grootspraak was published in 2023. The new series focused on the exhibition Monddood (“Silenced”) about political prisoners, which can be visited until February 2024 in the former state prison Loevestein. The podcast is an initiative of the Friends of Loevestein Castle Foundation, with the aim of making Loevestein a stage for free debate.
After an excursion to statesman Thorbecke in 2022, presenter Jort Kelder returned to the question: What meaning does the life and work of Hugo Grotius still have, more than 400 years after his famous escape as a political prisoner from Loevestein Castle? To answer this question, Kelder and Hugo Grotius biographer Henk Nellen had in-depth conversations about current themes related to Hugo Grotius´ biography: character assassination, scientific freedom, the right to revolt, an independent judiciary, and the role of elites. Guests included well-known thinkers such as René Cuperus, Willeke Slingerland and Jelle van Baardewijk.
Grootspraak. Monddood was made possible by Monto Media. PodcastGuru did the production. The music is by Toon Vieijra, Jan van Zomeren designed the original logo, and Pieter Willemsen was the editor. The podcast was conceived and supervised by Bureau Queneau.