RIJSWIJK, 16/10/04 - The Dutch population considers the assassination of Pim Fortuyn the most important event in post-WWII history, according to a survey held by the Historisch Nieuwsblad newspaper. Historians themselves would not choose the politician's death in this connection.

Historisch Nieuwsblad gave 683 people a list of five events from the 1946-2004 period. Almost half (46 percent) chose Fortuyn's assassination in May 2002 as the most important development. Among Dutch people of foreign origin, 32 percent chose the politician's death.

Second place was shared by the discovery of large quantities of natural gas in Groningen in 1959 and the economic malaise in the early 1980s, both with 17 percent. The leftwing protest movement of the 1960s was named by 16 percent. Only 4 percent regarded the loss of the Dutch East Indies as colony in 1949 as the most important event.

Meanwhile, Fortuyn is still in second place, behind William of Orange, in a contest for the Greatest Dutch Person Ever held by public broadcaster KRO. A spokesman for the Historisch Nieuwsblad said on Friday that he was not impressed by the choice for Fortuyn. "It demonstrates a limited historical awareness," he believed.

Historisch Nieuwsblad also asked historians who they considered the Greatest Dutch Person. The most frequently named was philosopher Erasmus. Numbers two to five were William of Orange, artist Rembrandt, Johan Thorbecke (who developed the present constitution in 1848), and philosopher Baruch de Spinoza. ?