Romienendiek 2a, Aalten
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Old Cemetery on the Varsseveldsestraatweg became increasingly enclosed by the expanding development of the village of Aalten. This made the establishment of a new general cemetery necessary.
In 1920, the municipality purchased the Oosterman farm near ’t Walfort with the intention of creating a new general cemetery there. This plan ultimately did not proceed. Instead, a suitable site was found on the Romienendiek, where the ‘Berkenhove’ cemetery was brought into use in 1923.
The original section of Berkenhove is enclosed between Romienendiek, Barloseweg, and Koningsweg. Over the years, the cemetery has been expanded regularly. In 1960, a Catholic section was added because the Roman Catholic cemetery on Piet Heinstraat had reached capacity. The new Roman Catholic cemetery was consecrated by Father Kerkhofs. The priest himself found his final resting place there in 1964.
The oldest part of Berkenhove features an orthogonal layout, with rows of graves along a central path, surrounded by a rich variety of trees and shrubs. The cemetery was later extended to the northern side of the Koningsweg.
Funeral Centre and Crematorium
Located at Berkenhove is a modern funeral centre and crematorium, managed by GUV. In 2015, a scattering field called ‘De Akker’ (The Field) was established adjacent to the cemetery, providing space for the scattering of ashes, urn graves, and a columbarium wall.
War Victims
A lasting memorial to their sacrifice for our regained freedom are the 18 uniform headstones in this cemetery. These mark the graves of five British airmen who crashed in IJzerlo and 12 British soldiers from the ground forces who fell during the liberation of Aalten in April 1945. Alongside the graves of the British war victims lies the grave of resistance fighter Cornelis (Kees) Ruizendaal.
Furthermore, dozens of other graves of war victims can be found at Berkenhove. Many of these graves are marked as such.
View the graves on Findagrave.
