When war broke out in Europe in the summer of 1914, the Netherlands remained neutral. For Aalten, however, that did not mean the war stayed far away. The municipality lay directly on the German border and was closely connected with Bocholt both economically and socially. On 31 July 1914, the church bells in Aalten were rung as a call to mobilisation. From that moment, the border that had been part of everyday life for many inhabitants suddenly became a military frontier.
31 July 1914: mobilisation
The Dutch government mobilised the army to protect the country’s neutrality. Troops were also stationed in and around Aalten. The call-up was immediately noticeable to local people: men had to report for duty and military guards appeared along the border. During the war, prayer services were held in the Oosterkerk ‘for the distress of the times’.
For Old Aalten’s historical timeline, 31 July 1914 therefore serves as the local anchor date for the First World War. It was not the date on which the war began as an international conflict, but it was the moment when the crisis intervened directly in everyday life in Aalten.
A hardened border with Bocholt
Before 1914, the German border was a daily route for many people from Aalten. Hundreds of workers from Aalten and the surrounding area were employed in Bocholt. The Aalten–Bocholt tram line, opened in 1910, was also particularly important for this cross-border traffic. After the outbreak of war, the border crossing was closed and cross-border tram services initially stopped. They resumed in 1915, but passenger numbers remained much lower, and in 1916 the section was suspended again.
The war therefore brought a sharp break in a pattern that had grown ever stronger in the preceding decades. German money, which had long circulated in Aalten as an everyday means of payment, also lost its former position during this period. According to G.H. Rots’s later account, its abolition was implemented in July 1914.
Effects on businesses and everyday life
Mobilisation and the disruption of international trade also affected businesses in Aalten. In the horn industry, supplies of imported buffalo horn almost came to a standstill, while experienced workers could be called up for military service. Companies had to look for substitute materials and other ways of keeping production going.
As the war continued, goods became scarcer and government intervention in trade and distribution increased. A border municipality such as Aalten also faced restrictions on the transport of goods into the frontier area. The war was therefore felt in shops, businesses and households as well.
Refugees, deserters and prisoners of war
Aalten’s position on the German border made it a transit point during the war for people trying to leave Germany. In 1915, among others, Italian families who had fled Germany were accommodated in Aalten. In the following years, escaped French, Russian and Belgian prisoners of war, as well as German or Austrian deserters, regularly crossed the border near Aalten.
The largest visible influx of refugees came in the autumn of 1918. As the German front in Belgium and northern France retreated, large groups of civilians were evacuated. On 27 October 1918, a substantial group of French refugees arrived in Aalten by train. Men were housed in the Elim building, while women and children were accommodated in the Feestgebouw on Polstraat. The Feestgebouw was temporarily given the name Salle Maréchal Foch.
November 1918
After the armistice of 11 November 1918, another large movement of people began. Released prisoners of war and refugees wanted to return home as quickly as possible. Because of its railway connection and its position near the border, Aalten became part of that transit route. Schools and other buildings were prepared to accommodate hundreds of people temporarily.
The war ended for the Netherlands without occupation or fighting on Dutch soil, but for four years it had profoundly changed the character of the border at Aalten. Cross-border work, trade and traffic with Bocholt were disrupted; soldiers guarded the frontier; refugees and prisoners of war passed through the village; and shortages affected everyday life. The old cross-border connections gradually recovered afterwards. In 1922, people in Aalten even organised food aid for the badly affected population of Bocholt.