Even during the First World War (1914-1918), the Netherlands was an important location for foreign correspondents due to its neutral status. And they not only reported on politics, but also on sport, international courts, tulips, and the royal family.

On November 14, 1925, a group of correspondents founded the ‘Buitenlandsche Persvereniging’ in the Hotel Twee Steden in The Hague to represent the interests of international journalists, especially in dealings with the authorities. Because these founding fathers found that “the foreign press is totally excluded” 

Over the years, the BPV established a network of contacts with the government, the royal family, companies, and social organizations. The first major test for the new organization was the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. The BPV ensured that information was also sent to international journalists and that they also received an Olympic press card.  

The Second World War and the German occupation of the Netherlands from 1940 to 1945 put an abrupt end to press freedom and the work of the BPV, but correspondents continued to report from the Netherlands. For example, about the February strike against pogroms against Jews in 1941. 

The BPV itself resumed its work in 1945 after the end of the war. And in 1946, the board offered honorary membership to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during his visit to the Netherlands, and Churchill, formerly also a foreign correspondent, accepted.

On the night of January 31, 1953, the dikes in Zeeland burst - the flood disaster was one of the country's biggest natural disasters. Correspondents reported, their photos and articles went around the world and triggered an international wave of aid. And the members of BPV also helped: They gave money to buy and plant trees for the destroyed areas in the province of Zeeland - honorary member Churchill was one of the first donors. 140 trees were planted along a path on the island of Schouwen Duiveland, which was given the name “Weg van de Buitenlandse Pers”.

The royal family also made international headlines during these years. The affair surrounding Greet Hofmans, Queen Juliana's advisor, in the 1950s was initially brought to public attention by foreign media. The protests at the wedding of Crown Princess Beatrix to the German Prince Claus von Amsberg in 1966, when smoke bombs were thrown, were shown on TV around the world. And the Lockheed affair about the bribery of Prince Bernhard also made headlines around the world.

Economically, the Netherlands was interesting with Rotterdam, then the largest port in the world, Philips, Shell - the discovery in 1959 of a huge gas deposit in Groningen. Politically, there were the Moluccan terrorist attacks in the 1970s and the independence of the former colony of Suriname in 1975.

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