On 11 April 1996, Aalten was briefly global news. At the Kropveld-Schipstal Aalten (KSA) abattoir, 64,000 British calves were to be culled. This was carried out by order of the Ministry of Agriculture due to the potential contamination with ‘mad cow disease’, or BSE.
Never before in Dutch history had calves been transported to the abattoir with such spectacle as the first 108 head of cattle brought to Aalten from the Veluwe that day. The operation, which was to last six weeks, caused a great stir in the Netherlands and beyond.
For KSA, the slaughter of the 64,000 calves was a massive, and certainly financially attractive, job. The company normally slaughtered 2,000 calves weekly for the Japanese market. Those operations were suspended for six weeks for this special commission, during which approximately 10,000 calves had to be slaughtered per week.
Image: KesselsKramer, Amsterdam
Demonstrations
The lorries in which the animals made their way to the slaughterhouse were escorted by two riot police control vehicles. Upon arrival at KSA, they were met by a crowd of activists and curious onlookers. Members of animal welfare organisations, such as the Vegetarian Association, Lekker Dier, and PETA, had taken up positions at the abattoir fence with banners and sandwich boards. A funeral wreath hung on the metal gate, wooden crosses lay on the street, and the protesters wore black clothing.
As the first three lorry combinations carrying calves approached the iron gate of KSA, the jeering of the crowd swelled. “Murderers, murderers”, chanted a motley mixture of animal rights activists and local teenagers towards the drivers. Half a minute later, the gate slammed shut again. The slaughter could begin.
The private security service hired by the KSA management after a bomb threat had been received at the company the day before ensured that none of the protesters could enter the abattoir grounds. When the gate was closed again, a young PETA sympathiser collapsed and gave free rein to her tears. A group of locals reacted indifferently to the silent grief. Pointing at the piercing the girl had had placed through her lower lip, a corpulent Aalten resident lisped: “A piece of rope through that ring and she wouldn’t look out of place among those calves…”
Press conference
On the day of the arrival of the first British calves, a press centre was set up in café De Driesprong. Mayor Tijme Bouwers presided over the press conference. The municipality of Aalten provided logistical measures to clear the way for the dozens of lorries delivering thousands of calves daily. KSA director H. Swinkels emphasised that stringent safety measures had been taken regarding the potential risks of contamination.
To see for themselves that the slaughter was painless for the animals and, due to the measures taken, risk-free for the staff, journalists were allowed a look inside the abattoir later that afternoon. Wearing special overalls that were destroyed after use, the tour led past the slaughter hall and the specially refrigerated storage silos for the blood. This viscous mass—a total of 450,000 litres—was transported by tanker to Rotterdam to be incinerated. The carcasses were sent daily in sealed containers to companies in Son and the Frisian town of Bergum.
After a number of hectic days, peace returned to Aalten.
The old house in Prinsenstraat, next to the building of the Dutch Protestant Union (Nederlandse Protestantenbond), has been demolished. It was a very old house that had seen a great deal of joy and sorrow. It stood somewhat askew in relation to the street. One corner of the property stood more than half a metre closer to the street than the corner opposite it.
The old house was later extended with an additional storey and demolished in 1989. (Photo: H. ten Dam).
Now, a new building has taken its place. The street has undoubtedly taken on a more attractive appearance due to this redevelopment. The old house was in a state of severe disrepair. It must have stood there for around two centuries and was occupied by the Manschot blacksmith family from the end of the eighteenth century onwards.
Jacob Manschot and his family lived there in Achterstraat, which was then number 193. His wife, Elizabet Arentzen, was a sister of Roelof Arentzen, who later became the assessor of Aalten. Their son Gerrit Willem, born in 1802 and addressed in daily life by his second name, learned the blacksmith’s trade from his father at an early age and subsequently joined his father in the smithy. An older son in the family, Hendrik Jan, who was also a blacksmith, had a smithy elsewhere in the village.1 Then there was also a daughter named Elisabeth.
Double wedding
On 17 December 1833, celebrations took place in the house. Son Willem married Johanna Geertruijt Becking, known simply as Janna. Elisabeth also entered into marriage on that same day, wedding B.D.G. Muller. Muller was a merchant, and his trade was extensive. In addition to drapery and haberdashery, it encompassed grain, paint, hardware, religious books, musical instruments, hay, and straw.
Apart from the Manschot family, the Beckings and Mullers were also related to the most prominent residents, who, as assessors, municipal tax collectors, or “co-judges”, were able to exert a great deal of influence.
Schaars’s inn
Elisabeth left the house on Achterstraat, and Janna moved in with her parents-in-law. It was then number 228. Janna Becking was born on 24 November 1809. She was a daughter of Lourens Becking, a farmer originally from Varsseveld, and Willemina Geertruijd Schaars, the daughter of an Aalten innkeeper. Following his marriage in 1799, Lourens Becking had become the innkeeper there.
Schaars’s inn was located at the beginning of Peperstraat, on the corner of the Markt. It was run by a member of the Schaars family as early as 1748 and currently, after nearly two hundred and fifty years, still serves the very same purpose. Janna grew up there. She would have attended the village school next to the church, where schoolmaster Schotman taught.
Church organists
As mentioned, Jacob Manschot was a blacksmith, but on Sundays, he played the organ during services in the church on the Markt. When the Zelhem congregation had to appoint a new organist in 1829, Jacob was appointed to act as a judge. He had to assess the playing of the three applicants. In his report on the matter, he wrote: “…having given each of them the same Psalm and hymn, it appeared to me that the last to play possesses the greatest aptitude. Done at Zelhem the 24th of July 1829. J. Manschot”.
However, by 1842, he wished to step down, being 73 years old by then. In a petition to King Willem II, he requested that his son Gerrit Willem succeed him as organist. From that time onward, Willem Manschot served as the organist.
The family
Joy and sorrow alternated in the lives of Willem and Janna. Their eldest infant son, Jacob, passed away at the age of two. Their eldest daughter, Louiza, had been born in 1836. Elisabeth (Betje) followed in 1838. Two years later, Willemina Geertruijda (Mina) saw the light of day, and in 1842, a son followed who was again given the name Jacob. In 1844, Hendrika Johanna (Heintje) was born, and in 1847, Hendrik Jan, who was addressed by his second name. The youngest was Barend Johannis in 1850, or Bernard in daily life. Janna’s father had already passed away in 1830, prior to her marriage. Her mother survived her husband by twelve years and died in 1842.
When grandfather Jacob turned 78, his ten-year-old granddaughter Louiza came to him with a poem: “To greet you with my prayers, On this joyful day of today. Day on which it is your birthday, Grandfather, to me so dear and valued! Day on which I must reflect, What Heaven continued to grant me In possessing you, who always Stands by my side so affectionately.” The verse continued for a bit longer, followed by the signature: “Your loving Granddaughter Louiza”.
The girl also composed a poem on the occasion of her mother’s birthday: “Oh what a joy, dear Mother, Since today is your birthday. Grateful to the Preserver of All, I am gladdened on this day.” This daughter also knew how to express her wishes in poetic form for the New Year, composing a “New Year’s Wish to our highly esteemed Grandfather and dear Parents”. She decorated her wishes with borders of vines, flowers, garlands, or ornaments.
The elderly Jacob Manschot passed away in 1850 at the age of 82, after having been a widower for six years. Willem’s brother had also died by that time.
At the time the Manschots lived in Achterstraat, the house had a pointed roof. (Collection: E.M. Smilda).
Willem’s smithy
Willem Manschot dedicated himself diligently to his work in the smithy. For Kobus Prins, he made “a blade for the hoe”. He forged a “haar”, which is a small anvil used to sharpen a scythe or sickle, known as a haarspit. He made a “grepe” (manure fork), repaired the “rear axle of a wagon”, and fitted iron bands around the rims of wagon wheels. He delivered a “knife for cutting bread”, riveted “an iron onto a plate at the hearth”, and manufactured “an oven door” for L. Prins.
In between all these blacksmith duties, Willem also managed his property portfolio of lands and farms, which he leased out. Repairs had to be carried out there from time to time as well. In one place, “4 brass handles with their fittings” were installed; in another, the “latch was repaired, and a new plate bolt with a new catch” was made for the windows.
Sometimes customers paid him in kind, such as Kobus Prins who, for the benefit of Willem’s livestock, collected a few loads of hay from the Ruiterij, the pasture near De Pol. Others transported the harvested rye “from the Esch”. For Willem also ran a small farming operation of his own and owned a barn for his livestock on the opposite side of the street. Like every resident, he kept one or two cows; those of lesser means kept a goat, ‘the poor man’s cow’. In the slaughter month, a home-fattened pig would be hung on a ladder, which a day later was cut into pieces and placed into the salting tub, and even later hung from the kitchen ceiling, the ‘wieme’ (bacon rack). For the daily chores associated with this, he likely employed a farmhand or day labourer. Well-to-do citizens also kept a horse and had a carriage as a means of transport when going visiting.
Horses were no strangers to Willem either. How many had he not provided with new horseshoes in his smithy. Yet on one occasion, this proved fatal to him when he was kicked by a horse. The blow hit very hard. Severely injured, he was placed into his box bed in an unconscious state. His wife nursed him for two weeks, after which he died. Janna had become a widow, the children fatherless, and the church council had to look for a new organist.
The blacksmith and church organist G. Willem Manschot, who died in 1853 following a blow from a horse. (Collection: H. ten Dam).
J.G. (Janna) Manschot-Becking (1809-1892) lived in Achterstraat for nearly sixty years. (Collection: H. ten Dam).
Extensive possessions
Now Janna suddenly stood alone with her seven, still young children. The eldest daughter, Louiza, was only seventeen years old, and little Bernard was just three. Initially, attempts were made to keep the business running with the help of a journeyman, but this proved impossible. Janna was forced to close the smithy.
It was fortunate that there were substantial property holdings. This enabled her to provide for her livelihood from the income they generated, and furthermore, to pay for her children’s education. None of the boys had been in a position to learn the blacksmith’s trade from their father. Consequently, this profession never occurred in the family again.
Since the passing of her husband, Janna kept the accounts for the leased lands and smallholdings. She maintained these records in a folio-sized “Land Lease” (Landhuur) book. In it, the lands were categorised into garden land, arable land, pasture, and uncultivated plots.
Garden land for vegetable plots
By garden land (hofland), Janna meant the relatively small plots situated close to the village that were used as vegetable gardens. In her accounts, she notes the names of plots, some of which are still known today. Most pieces of the garden land were divided into various parcels, and each parcel had its tenant.
There were four parcels on the “Boskerhof”. This may have been near ’t Boske, at the end of Richterinkstraat and on Varsseveldsestraatweg. The plot in “den Kraayenboom” likewise consisted of four parcels. That name is still known today for the land opposite the agricultural school on Lijsterbeslaan. Hendrik Jan Meinen was a tenant for ƒ 3.50, as was Lammert Prange. Willem Kasseler and Lammert Klompenhouwer clearly had a smaller piece, as they paid ƒ 2.00 and ƒ 1.50 respectively. Later, Janna used a garden there herself, as did Willem Huls, Mrs Hoftijzer, and Abraham ten Dam.
Then mention is made of the Knibbelweide, which must have been located on the Kemena. There were six parcels there. The total yield from this was ƒ 14.20 per year, though this had risen to ƒ 19.70 after 1883. Furthermore, there was a parcel in the Paardeweide leased by a man named Laak. The Paardeweide was also located on the Kemena, where the building of the Christian Comprehensive School stands today.
Finally, Janna’s bookkeeping records thirteen parcels of garden land on Het Smees. Gardening there were, among others, Berend Prins, Jan Kappers nicknamed “Hompele”, and Hendrik-Jan Schaapveld. Later tenants included Jan de Wikker, Kris Veldboom, Jan te Hoonte, and “the wife of the Wildeboer”.
The gardens on Het Smees frequently changed tenants. The names of Willem Walvoort, Jan Neerhof, and H.H. ter Beest also appear, the latter later leased to Fles, as well as D.J. Hoitink, G.J. Rots, and Hendrikus te Hennepe.
Until 1862, the garden land generated an annual rental income of ƒ 81.70. From 1863 to 1882, this was leased out through the mediation of notary B.A. Roelvink. The yield was then significantly higher, namely ƒ 98.05. When this notary passed away in 1882, he was succeeded by notary Maitland, but from then on, Janna made the lease agreements herself again. However, the income was then a few guilders less per year.
Not everyone paid their rent on time. It had been agreed that payment would be made on St Martin’s Day, which is 11 November, but some did not bring the money until the following year. Janna sometimes had to wait until May. In a number of cases, when the rental debt kept mounting, the tenancies of those involved were terminated. Some were three years in arrears.
The leased arable land
In addition to garden land, Janna also owned arable land that she leased out. These were often plots of one or more schepelzaad (an old unit of land area) in size. This arable land was located “at the front of the Esch”, by which is meant the plot where the Sonoco factory stands today on Damstraat. On the Smees lay 64.50 ares, and on the Boskeres 55.10 ares. In the Giezenbos “a molderszaad” (another old land measure), furthermore 50.90 ares were located there; the Draaiom arable land was 28.70 ares, which she sold in 1872 to the “Reformed Poor” (Hervormde Armen); the Holland 58 ares; the Neerhoffer Delle 42.50 ares; Smachtschot 65.10 ares, as well as another “molderszaad”. Then mention was made of Langevoren, nine schepelzaad in size, or 1.27.70 ha. Behind the Linde, Janna held more arable land, as well as the Peereboom piece, measuring 38.40 ares, and four pieces of Kempink, five schepelzaad on Prinsenkamp, and another plot located “on the Nes”.
Janna owned several of these lands jointly with her two brothers. Most plots were leased for a sum of money, but a few were also leased against the “third sheaf” (derde garf). This meant that the tenant owed a third of the yield as rent in kind. For the tenant, this had the advantage that if the harvest yielded little, the rent was also less.
The third sheaf concerned the rye crop, while sometimes the landlord/landlady (lessor) was entitled to some fruit from the orchard. In later years, the third sheaf was abolished on “Smachtschot”, which had been leased under those conditions by Lievers. The latter subsequently “bought the sheaves for 8 guilders”.
Janna also made use of services in return on multiple occasions. In 1880, “Derk Hoftijzer brought back a new water bucket from Bocholt”, and a year later, he sowed for her “a schepelzaad of spurrey … a schepelzaad of turnip seed… two schepelzaad of rye… carted soil for a day and two carts”. For all that work, ƒ 7.77 was deducted from the rent.
A certain Heuzinkveld manufactured 23 ells of coarse linen cloth for Janna in 1866. She had likely supplied the flax (or yarn). The service was worth ƒ 2.75, so Heuzinkveld still had to pay the remainder of the rent, being ƒ 1.75.
Pastures
As previously noted, a pasture behind the Pol, called Ruiterij, belonged to the assets of the Manschots. Janna also owned 1.14.84 ha of pasture on the Smees, which was (probably) sold in 1870 for ƒ 1390.00. Another pasture measuring 1.82.40 ha was located on Boterdijk in the Goor, which was also sold in 1870. The proceeds from this were considerably less, namely ƒ 600.00. From the estate of her brother Jan, Janna obtained a pasture “on the Broek”, while she also owned pasture and woodland in the Giezenbos.
Turf and peat land
The woodland and peat lands were not leased out. However, the produce from them could be sold privately or by public tender, such as standing timber. This also occurred with peat lands. The field would first be mown, and the top sod containing reed stubble and roots cut away. These were schadden (peat sods), which were dried and used as fuel. Turf (plaggen) was also cut from the heath-covered plots, which often ended up in the deep litter barn or stable and, mixed with animal excrement, was used as manure on the fields.
Janna owned woodland in the Goor, half of which was owned by her sister-in-law Elisabeth, who was married to Muller. Later, following the death of these parents, the half-ownership passed to the five children, the Muller Heirs.
Then mention is made of two pieces of woodland in the Schaarsheide, of woodland on the Kieftsheide, on the Hollenberg, near the Smeesweide (pine forest, coppice, and heath), and “copses in the Barloschen Esch”, peat land in Varsseveld, and peat sod land in ’t Goor, as well as in “Stapelkamps Bosch”, which she had inherited from her late brother Jan and had to share with her brother H.J. Becking.
In the year 1880, Janna sold ƒ 17.90 worth of turf and peat sods. Shortly beforehand, she had “sold wood to the Prange from Lintelo for 260 Guilders” from one of her smallholdings.
The smallholdings
The property of Janna and partners also included a number of smallholdings. The first mentioned is the Neerhof in Dale, of which D.J. Neerhof was the tenant. The tenancy was terminated in 1866 when the farm was sold.
Then there is the Lubbers smallholding in Barlo (Meinenweg), which was initially leased to J.H. Lubbers, but from 1867 to G.J. Mierdink for “sixty guilders and 96 eggs”. In 1877, the farm was sold to the tenant for ƒ 13,370.00.
Next is the Pennings smallholding (Hofstedeweg). Gerrit Jan Pennings is the tenant, who must yield annually for it “the sum of 48 guilders, 8 rent chickens, 96 eggs, and 4 pounds of flax”. In 1872, Pennings “departed for America”, and the farm was leased to Roelof Somsen for “56 guilders and 96 eggs”. Every now and then, Somsen performed services in return by collecting peat sods for Johanna, earning him ƒ 7.65, which was deducted from the rent.
The Slaa in the Heurne was also, together with her brothers, part of Janna’s property. Until 1868, G.J. Huitink was the tenant, followed by Jan de Breukelaar “Who must pay annually 40 Guilders and 60 eggs”. From 1880, the Slaa was leased to Wensink, who had to put down ƒ 48.00 and sixty eggs for it. In those years, Janna also notes: “sold a calf to Wensink for ƒ 5.50”.
Then there is the Slaa Schoppe, which was leased from 1852 to 1867 by J. Weggelaar, and thereafter by Evert Jan Beernink. The rent was ƒ 20.00. In 1874, Beernink scutched flax for Janna, which earned him 75 cents.
When her brother Jan died childless, he left Janna shares in three smallholdings, namely “Brijzak”, leased by farmer Smees, and “De Scheper” on the Haart, which was leased to Hendrik Jan Rensink for ƒ 65.00. This farm was sold in 1890, however. The third smallholding is Bekker on the Haart, which was leased for ƒ 40.00. This farm was also sold and, together with De Scheper, fetched ƒ 12,600.00. Finally, the Grevengoed in Barlo is mentioned, which consisted mainly of arable land. It must have been a large estate, located “next to Zwietink” and “near Wolterink“, thus on the Markerinkdijk.
In conclusion
Finally, a few notes on Janna’s children. Mina married J.G.H. Martens in Eibergen. She was widowed early and later, with those of her children who were still at home, moved back in with her mother on Achterstraat, after recovering over a period of six years from a nervous breakdown brought on by the death of her husband followed by that of her two youngest children.
After her mother’s passing, she moved to a property on the Markt, currently number 12. Louiza married Hendrik Beukenhorst, a goldsmith and silversmith in Winterswijk. At the same time, Betje also entered into marriage, wedding Abraham ten Dam, who later became a comb manufacturer. Her son Jacob suffered a very deep depression, presumably as a result of unrequited love, for which he had to be admitted to an institution in Zutphen for many years. He died unmarried in 1873. His brother Jan became a doctor in Winterswijk and married A.G. Tenkink of “Meenk” in Miste. Daughter Heintje became the wife of her second cousin B.H. Becking, who owned a ham smokery and wholesaled salt. He was consequently known as “Salt-Becking”.
The youngest son, Bernard, managed the Ten Dam & Manschot comb factory alongside his brother-in-law. He had a house built on Bredevoortsestraat, currently number 51. The Ten Dams lived across the street at number 40.
Janna continued to live on Achterstraat until her death and passed away on 22 January 1892. She was 82 years old.
The above is a summary adaptation of a family chronicle, derived in large part from the “Land Lease Book”, compiled by Henk ten Dam in Zwolle, entitled “Johanna Geertruyt Manschot-Beckings Landhuurboek vertelt (1799-1892)”, volumes I and II, 1985, available for consultation in the archives of the municipality of Aalten.
Footnote
This appears to be incorrect. Gerrit Willem’s older brother Hendrik Jan (*1799) did indeed also become a blacksmith, but he died a bachelor in 1839 in the house on Prinsenstraat, which was then number 228 (sources: ecal.nu and wiewaswie.nl). There was, however, another blacksmith named Hendrik Jan Manschot who lived on Kerkstraat, but he was a brother of Jacob and thus an uncle of Gerrit Willem. ↩︎
Kolossale pilaren ondersteunen in Aalten het gewelf van de NH St. Helenakerk, die met zijn gigantische omvang het centrum van het dorp moeiteloos beheerst. Koster A.J. Heusinkveld gaat mij voor naar het koorgedeelte en wijst naar de plafondschilderingen hoog boven hem. Ik zie Maria met het Kind, het hoofd van Christus, engelen, koningen en een voorstelling van de Heilige Geest. Ze sluiten niet op elkaar aan.
Large patches of white interrupt the paintings, which were discovered and exposed around 1900 and, according to Heusinkveld, were applied in 1471. He points upward again: “Look, it may say 1411 there, but do not let that mislead you. The man who painted that was probably drunk at the time and painted a ‘1’ instead of a ‘7’. At least, that is what my predecessor always used to say.”
Old St. Helena Church, Aalten
Last Judgment
At the end of November last year, the centuries-old paintings on the wall of the Consistory were also uncovered and restored. They depict the Last Judgment, and it is quite a sight: angels lead the righteous to Jerusalem, while the wicked among us are taken to purgatory. Some are already sweating there in enormous iron cooking pots.
The church, featuring beautiful chandeliers, is packed with pews. “On Sundays — when we have three services — these are often all occupied,” says the sexton. “There is room for 1,000 people. Indeed, with three Reformed churches, one Roman Catholic church, our Dutch Reformed church, and a synagogue, many believers live in Aalten. Our village is also known as the Jerusalem of the Achterhoek.”“It is sometimes more than full here,” agrees Evert Smilda, chairman of the Aalten Antiquities Society, who is showing me around. “I was once running a bit late and asked the man by the aisle to move over a little. He did so, but with reluctance. ‘We are frugal with shifting,’ he said.”
Calling the sexton
The building, founded in 1100 and later altered in Gothic style, is open for viewing. Anyone who calls the sexton — 05437-72896 — or knocks on his door at Kerkstraat 2, will be assisted. “As long as people do not call me during dinner.” Aalten (11,000 inhabitants) is quite a pleasant village, with a Market square crowded with cars that was the first in Gelderland to be declared a protected village view. The square owes this primarily to the St. Helena Church and two old buildings that now form the town hall, with a rather unexciting piece of new construction next to it.
Old in years is Restaurant Stegers across the street. A centuries-old stone, originally part of the facade, is built into the terrace wall by the sidewalk. A deer can be vaguely seen standing on its hind legs. A word of 26 letters accompanies it. No one knows what it means. “We are facing the mystery of Aalten here,” says Smilda. “We do know, however, that such a standing deer was a symbol for the administration of justice. Well, justice may have been administered here in the inn in the past.” We continue through the village (a true regional center) with several old buildings such as Huize Ahof and the beautiful 19th-century mansion (now a guesthouse) Beekhuize.
The 18th-century Freriksschure behind the Frerikshuus museum is one of the few preserved farmhouses in the center of Aalten. Those who walk past it will soon find themselves on the car-plagued Market square, with the impressive Dutch Reformed St. Helena Church. (Photo Peter Drent bv)
Frerikshuus
Finally, we arrive at the fascinating Frerikshuus museum on the Market square, which is filled with everyday objects: costumes, silverware, porcelain, and much more. One room is entirely dedicated to the horn industry, which occupied a unique position here for a century until the 1970s. Beautiful pipes, combs, and whatever else could be made from buffalo horns can be seen there.
In the large barn behind the beautiful house, various crafts are depicted, such as wheel-making. The museum is currently open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. From March 31 to May 12, there is a special exhibition about the occupation and the liberation. Many people in hiding successfully sought refuge here in Aalten during World War II.
The village lies within the eternal charm of the Gelderse Achterhoek, with plenty of woods, thickets, enclosed fields and meadows, and quiet lanes.
Bredevoort
Two kilometers from Aalten lies the thousand times more beautiful town of Bredevoort, with its tower mill beckoning from afar, its ancient St. George’s Church, its quiet streets, its endearing old buildings, and its sense of nostalgia. At the last moment, I renew my acquaintance with baker Ben Helmink, the chairman of the local tourist office (VVV), who tells me that restoration work is still ongoing. “Huize St. Bernardus”, he says, “that large building from 1764 on our square ‘t Zand, has just been completed. You won’t believe your eyes. It is truly beautiful now. And so dignified! Bredevoort becomes more beautiful every year. That is it.”
BREDEVOORT – If you do not know him, it would never cross your mind for a single moment that this man’s profession might be that of a bank manager. Bank managers are generally expected to walk around with permanent pound signs in their eyes, but Jan Elferink certainly does not fit that mould. He is witty, always up for a laugh, a fast talker, and never caught off guard. Yet the residents of Bredevoort who deal with Jan Elferink on a business level know that beneath this jovial friendliness lies a sharp businessman—a man who truly knows what he is talking about when it comes to financial matters.
Jan Elferink: “Here, you are engaged both financially and socially”
He certainly learned that over the course of his 42-year banking career. This year, Jan is stepping down. As of 1 September, after he has shown his successor, G.W. te Brinke, the ropes, he will take early retirement. “I am 60 now, and the years beyond sixty are precious. That is why I am bowing out. I still have plenty to keep me occupied. I’ve already told my wife: if I do the work during the day that I currently do in the evenings, I will at least have a few evenings a week to myself,” Elferink says, explaining his departure.
It was 42 years ago when, at the age of 18, he started at the Raiffeisenbank in Lichtenvoorde. “I had always wanted to do that. But when I finished secondary school (ulo) in 1943, my father told me I had to help out in his painting business. Both of my brothers had been conscripted for forced labour in Germany, so I had no choice.”
However, the war was barely over when Jan saw his chance. The post-war monetary reform meant that banks had to take on extra staff. On 1 October 1945, he was hired, and exactly a year later, he transferred to the bank in Bredevoort. “When I first arrived here, I thought: I’ll gain a few years of experience and then move on to another town. But it never came to that. We feel very much at home here in Bredevoort. Happily, we were fully accepted into the community.”
For twelve years, Jan cycled back and forth between Lichtenvoorde and Bredevoort every day, until he married in 1958 and became a true Bredevoorter. You can certainly call him that when you see how deeply integrated he has become in the Bredevoort community.
A hardheaded business
In 1963, Jan was appointed manager of the bank in Bredevoort. “Banking is a hardheaded money business. That really consumes your time. Perhaps that is why, as a counterweight, I took on all those pleasant and social activities outside of my work.”
When Jan begins to list the activities he is or has been involved in, he takes quite some time. The local folk festival, the gondola pageant, the ice rink, board member of the school association, board member of St Bernardus, and so the list goes on. And that is leaving aside all the “ad hoc things” he occupies himself with, such as conducting charity auctions, organising carnival gatherings for the Zonnebloem charity, acting as a compere for the traditional brass band in Lichtenvoorde, and performing as a buutreedner (comic orator) during the carnival season.
“I wanted to call it a day when my partner, Bonekamp from Lichtenvoorde, stopped. But so many requests came in from all sides that I still write a new comic monologue every year. All of that keeps you going. From a young age, I’ve loved being a bit of a rebel. That was already the case at school, and later at the amateur dramatics society, which I joined when I was only fourteen.” His penchant for fun is also well known among his fellow bank managers, who know him affectionately as “Enerink from Smallevoort”.
Elferink makes no secret of the fact that the work of a bank manager in a small community like Bredevoort is rather different from that in a large city. “Here, you are not just engaged financially, but socially too.” Elferink has seen the banking world change dramatically in over forty years: from a small room with a single desk and a safe where savings books were updated by hand, to an exceptionally modern, automated office building where the entire money trade takes place, but where holidays, insurance, and securities are sold as well.
G. te Brinke now manager
BREDEVOORT – As of 1 July, G.W. te Brinke from Lochem will join the Rabobank in Bredevoort as its new manager. Te Brinke was born and raised in Zelhem and is 41 years old. He began his banking career in Doetinchem in 1966 and has been working in Lochem since 1977.
A new wandering editor encounters remnants of Achterhoek nationalism.
Villa ‘Beekhuize’, Aalten
By HENRI BEUNDERS — “The world ended at Arnhem! Long after we came to live here in 1969, friends who called to say they wanted to visit us would ask: ‘Can we bring anything for you?’” Mrs. Pruim says it with a mocking smile, but an indignation that has still not faded shines through.
For two months now, she and her husband—once a lawyer in The Hague and for many years a subdistrict judge in Terborg—have been running a guesthouse in their grand 1826 building “Beekhuize” in Aalten. They never want to return to the west. “The people of the Achterhoek are very tolerant, warm, and hospitable. Here, many cases end in a settlement,” says Pruim while serving breakfast.
Is the IJssel a greater barrier than the national border they live so close to? Anyone walking through the Heelweg in Dinxperlo for a while—left sidewalk Netherlands, right sidewalk Germany—would almost think so. People walk, cycle, and shop across the border as if it does not exist. Mrs. Pruim gets her small breakfast rolls in Bocholt. The customs officers hardly even come out of their booths for the passers-by anymore.
The subdistrict judge therefore never has to deal with border problems. “Well, never—recently a trunk had to be opened. There was a woman inside. ‘I always lie in the trunk when I go out for a drive with my husband,’ she had said. She simply didn’t have a passport. She certainly got a fine for that.”
Backward
However, people in Aalten do not have much regard for the Germans. The exchange of information does not amount to much. In Aalten, an advertising flyer from Bocholt drops through the letterbox; in the “Grenspost” corner, De Graafschapbode reports that the Anholt windmill has sails again. Whether this is because Aalten is Protestant-Reformed and Münsterland is Catholic? No one knows. Perhaps, as some Aalteners believe, it is the mentality reflected, for example, in the placard the Germans hung at the Heurne-Aalten border crossing before the football final in Mexico: “Jetzt betreten Sie das Land des Weltmeisters”. A Dutch customs official gleefully recounts how they were quick to scribble the word “vice” in between afterwards. “Everyone thought it was wonderful that they had lost.”
Except for those from the west, the IJssel also remains a border to another world for many residents of the Achterhoek. The appreciation for that other world has changed significantly lately. “In the past, everything that came from the west was beautiful. Without three apartment blocks, you were considered a backward village. Because of that, much beauty was destroyed,” Mrs. Pruim believes. That time seems to be over. The wave of nostalgia that hit the banks of the IJssel after the storm surge of modernization managed to save some old beauties just in time. Driving around here, you see how people everywhere are busy relaying winding and sloping streets with cobblestones in the village centers, and how the cultural regional renaissance is in full swing.
“We’ll put barbed wire by the IJssel. The people from the west aren’t coming in anymore!” Little more is heard from the Achterhoek “Nationalists” who uttered this threatening language a few years ago—it was the breeding ground for the success of the pop group Normaal. At the harvest festival in De Heurne, a hamlet between Aalten and Dinxperlo, an occasional individual nevertheless walks around with a “paspoart” issued by the Road voor Achterhooks Belang in their pocket. But for most, this disguised sense of inferiority seems to have long since given way to a firmly anchored pride in their own identity.
In the maize landscape, half a hectare of rye has been grown on the small field for demonstrations of mowing with a scythe, binding sheaves, flail threshing, plowing, and harrowing. People laugh and make jokes when even some elderly farmers appear to have almost forgotten these old techniques. Only the hands of the basket and cap maker still move quickly and routinely; they never gave up their craft. The countless telephoto lenses, video, and Super-8 cameras with which the more than 1,500 locals and tourists are filming each other suggest that the harvest festival in De Heurne is already in the dubious transition phase from genuine folk fun to tourist attraction.
Klootschieten
“One must watch out better when a throw is made, because a kloot can hit hard.” (Photo NRC Handelsblad/Vincent Mentzel)
Searching for an expression of revived folklore not yet discovered by the masses, one of the countless colorful tree posters (fair, motocross, variety show—you name it, it’s announced on a beech or oak) points to the border south of Winterswijk. There, almost the entire rural district, more than 80 men, women, and children, has turned out to participate in the klootschieten competitions.
Two teams of 5 or 6 members each try to complete the four-kilometer course through the beautiful ‘bocage landscape’ between Woold, Kotten, and Achterwoold in as few shots as possible. It is not difficult to see why ”t aole spel’ (the old game) is regaining popularity so quickly.
Anyone who can throw can play klootschieten. A rake is placed across the road, one takes a short run-up to that point, and throws the wooden, lead-weighted ‘tennis ball’ of about half a kilogram as far as possible down the street. The others run after it shouting “Astubleef” (if you please); one cheers over his throw of at least 80 meters. “You’re just throwing your hat at it,” calls another who has to search for his predecessor’s kloot in the maize on the other side of the ditch.
At the Esselinkhaar farm, the thermoses are ready on a kitchen table. They are halfway through, time for a break. Organizer Massop of the Winterswijk Klootschieters Association addresses the enthusiastic but inexperienced newcomers warningly once more. “This course is insured, but one must watch out better when a throw is made, because a kloot can hit hard.” As proof, he shows his shin where six months ago a kloot, bouncing over this same stretch of brick road, slammed into it. He is still troubled by it. That is why only coffee is served. “In the past, it was ‘boozing and more boozing,’ which invariably led to trouble.” That was also, he explains, the reason why this cheap entertainment of the ‘common folk’ was often banned in the past.
The fact that the word has since mainly provoked laughter—“there’s no balls to it” the subdistrict judge had assured—no longer bothers Massop. “It is a serious sport. Our federation therefore refused to give in to the Dutch Sports Federation, which wanted us to call it ‘shot put’.” And he presses a flyer and a sticker into one’s hand. ‘Klootschieters do it on the road’. Next year, the national championships, in the cradle of Twente, will be held in the Achterhoek for the first time. For the Kotten border residents, it is primarily a Sunday game. “The weather is nice, you see each other again, it’s sociable,” says one of the women serving coffee. “Next week we have horse teams here.”
Tyrolean Evening
The small amount of alcohol is more than made up for in the evening at the Tyrolean evening organized by the Winterswijk branch of “Jong Gelre” at camping Nieuw Beusink. A good 40 barrels of Grolsch, 200 glasses per barrel, have been brought in for the expected 800 visitors. People sit at long tables, they dance, they drink, the noise gradually swells, but it remains convivial. The Grensland Muzikanten play the Egerländer music by Ernst Mosch that is so popular here. Young and old dance to it. The Achterhoek formation Free Sense plays something more modern and louder for the second half of the evening. Shortly after midnight, the group starts Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up”. “The beer is gone! Oh, how I’m gutted, the beer is gone,” the singer sings. A normal summer weekend along the Achterhoek border is over.
“One must watch out better when a throw is made, because a kloot can hit hard.” (Photo NRC Handelsblad/Vincent Mentzel)
Aalten has a large number of farms with their own names. In the 1967 address book of the municipality of Aalten, about 480 are mentioned. Almost all of these names are unique. To avoid confusion, it was logical to give a farm a name that did not yet exist. However, one finds, for example, the Oude Loo and the Nieuwe Loo, Groot Kampe and Klein Kampe, even ‘t Paske, Groot Paske, Klein Paske and Nieuw Paske. These are often farms that previously formed a single homestead but were split into parts during division among children. Names with “Olde” or “Oude” then point to the original house.
When one examines those names, an interesting discovery is made. They can be divided into different groups. For instance, there is a group of names from which one can deduce what the vegetation around the yard used to be like and in what kind of environment the farm was established. Another group points to the trade that was practiced there in the past alongside agriculture and livestock farming. Many farmers, and especially the small-scale ones, had enough time to do something on the side to earn a bit extra, which was often necessary.
The practice of giving names to farms is very old. In the verpondingskohier (tax register) of 1647/50, the persons who had to pay the ‘verponding’ (a land tax) are recorded under Aalten, as well as under Bredevoort. But under the rural districts, the names of the farms are mentioned, followed by the names of the residents. Thus, we have a list of homesteads that existed at that time. Many of the current names already appear in it.
One must possess a very great imagination to be able to picture what the Aalten landscape looked like centuries ago. Nine-tenths of the land consisted of heath, forest, and swamp. The cultivable area was small and was only used for growing vegetables and a few cereal crops. Most farms were small: ‘stedekes’. Division of the common lands, artificial fertilizer, and better drainage put an end to the ‘prange’ and ‘marode’ (hardship and misery) of the farmer.
The following names require an explanation: Bokkel, called Buclo in 1284, beech forest. The Walfort was previously called the Waldenvort, a ford (through the Slinge) near the Wald (the forest). Similarly, Walvoort on the Haart, with a ford through the Keizersbeek.
’t Olde Brusse, Lintelo
The name Voorst (from forestis) was used for a forest in which hunting was not allowed; it was the private hunting ground of the king or the lord. The site of the Snoeijenbos was cleared in the forest. Brusse is formed from: Brusch, brushwood, ‘t Hagt and the Heegt: forest of low wood, perhaps consisting of hawthorn bushes.
The Slehegge may recall the blackthorn, ‘t Heggeltje: a small ‘hagt’. The Hakstege was located on a narrow path (stege) through the ‘hagt’. The Rieste owes its name to the brushwood (rijshout). The Heisterkamp was established on a site where much brushwood grew.
In 1386, the name Varenvelde appears, and later also the Verrevelt, which is now the Vervelde. The Veernhof also originated in a field full of ferns. The Tente owes its name to the ‘tente’, the common tansy. The Greute recalls the ‘gruit’, the bog myrtle, with which beer was fermented and which grew on marshy ground, as did the reed, which is found in the name the Riete. Waste uncultivated land, ‘vage’, is found in Vaags.
One should not have a grand conception of these heights. An elevation of half a meter was already called a ‘bult’, a ‘horst’, or a ‘heuvel’. These heights offered no protection whatsoever against the damp environment. The houses were very damp.
Names like De Bulte, Bultink and De Heuvel speak for themselves. De Brink (brinc) was a grass-covered elevation. De Bree (from bride) is considered a field on the ‘es’ (open field). Drenthel (originally Drenthelo): forest on an elevation. Haartman and Haartelink: a ‘haart’ is a high-lying heathland. Hengeveld (heng, slope), Hillen (hil, hill), Hoopman, the Klinke (hilly heathland with puddles and pools here and there).
De Horst (an elevation covered with low wood), Leemhorst, Seinhorst, Stokhorst and Winkelhorst. Leeland (lee, hill, also a place of judgment), the Limbarg (loam mountain?). De Pol: a small sand hill that stood out like an island above the surroundings. Pikpolle (pec, poverty): a meager hut on a ‘pol’.
Tammel (in 1384 Tanbulen): pine forest on a ‘bult’? Hondorp: village, mound, elevation the size of a ‘hont’, a unit of area. The Westendorp also points to an elevation. Wierkamp: ‘wier’, ‘wierde’, elevation protruding above a wet environment.
Farms located in or near a swamp
The largest part of the municipality of Aalten used to be swamp. Only the Bocholt–Vragender ridge protruded above the marshes. These ‘broeken’ (marshlands) were created because the small rivers the Slinge, the Zilverbeekje, and the Keizersbeek could not sufficiently drain the water. That is why so many farms have a swamp name, such as Goorhuis, Goorman, Goorzicht, Moorveld, the Stroete (marshy wasteland), Veenemaat, Groot and Klein Veenhuis, ‘t Veentje, Wijnveen (‘winne’ farm, farm in the peat), Hagenbroek (a marshland with hawthorn bushes), Kortenbroek (a marshland with short grass and therefore infertile land), the Woerd (woert, low-lying land).
Bolandsweide (bol, soft, marshy, mud). The Nonhof (in 1281 den Honhof) and the Hennepe (in 1284 Honepe), both names formed from “hoen” and “huun”. Luiten, popularly Luten, was low-lying poor land, ‘lute’, while Maris represented much the same: swamp. Glieuwe: ‘gliede’, black shiny soil, peat. Somsenhuus: ‘somp’, marshy land. Pietenpol (in 1640 Pytenpoel): ‘pitte’, pit, hollow, thus a pool in a low place, De Put (hollow, pool. ‘t Slaa: ‘slade’, heath pool, swamp. Te Sligte (in 1384 Schlichte): flat swamp. Mager: poor, meager land. The Navis possessed a damp meadow; ‘nate’, wet and ‘vis’, Wisch, ‘wiese’, meadow. Near Amerongen, the medieval residential tower the Matewisch still stands.
Pietenpol, Haart
Camp names
Stapelkamp, Heurne
A number of names end in -kamp. Originally, the ‘kampen’ were small pieces of land that had been cleared of brushwood and trees in the forests, thus reclaimed forest. Later, the word ‘kamp’ acquired the meaning of field.
Only a few names recall the reclamation of wastelands. Nijland, Nijveld, Nijhof, Nieuwkamp, Nieuwe Weide. The Bijvanck, what was ‘caught’ or taken additionally. Te Brake also points to reclamation, the ‘breaking’ of the wasteland. Ruwhof: ‘rude’, ‘rode’, reclaimed land.
Farms that recall passes, gates, tolls, etc.
A ‘pas’ is a passage in a ‘landweer’ (defensive earthwork), a wooded bank. The resident of the nearby farm had to ‘oppassen’ (watch out), supervise the persons entering. Such a farm sometimes bore the name “Pasop”. Along the Romienendiek, for example, lie the Paske, the Pasop and the Paskerhut: the residents had to keep an eye on the persons who entered the ‘marke’ (common land) through the Wolboom and the Zwarte Veen. On the border with the Varsseveld area near the Varsseveldseweg, there is also a Pas. On the Varsseveld side, the Loerdijk and the Kijkuit are located here. The ‘marken’ were well protected.
Among those who also had to take the ‘marke’ under their care was the resident of the Markerink, formerly called March-ward-inck. A ‘werde’ was a watch post, a place where one had to supervise the intruding unsavory elements. A similar activity was expected of the Ligterink, which in 1435 was called Licht-werd-inck: the watching apparently felt rather light there. The duty of keeping watch also lay with the Kuier and the Kuierman: ‘koeren’, ‘kuren’ meant “looking out”.
Did the ‘schutte’, who had to seize (schutten) the livestock from another ‘marke’ that had intruded into their own ‘marke’, live on the Schuttenkamp, and did such a person also live on the Man-schot-weide? Recalling the tolls are Slotboom, the Stokkert, ‘t Bonte Hek, Klaphekke, ‘t Tolhuis, Tolkamp and Tolder (toll collector).
Memories of the church
De Pater, ‘t Klooster (named after the Schaer monastery), Kerkhof (a farm of the church), Kerkkamp, Neerhof (den Heerhof, inhabited by the monks), De Kloeze, hermit, perhaps also Klaus. Kosters custerie: the proceeds of this property were for the sexton.
Beestman (herdsman), the Scheper (shepherd), Sweenen (swineherd), Fukker (breeder), Peerdeboer (horse farmer), ‘t Villeken (where dead animals were skinned and the hides were tanned), Baten (‘beten’, the tanning of hides). The Brasse (brewery), Pakkebier (‘backe’, also brewery), Schenk (public house, tavern) and Slikkertap (a tap in the ‘slik’, swamp).
Brethouwer (should we interpret ‘bret’ here in the sense of board, thus someone who made boards?), the Klumper and Klompenhouwer (‘houwen’ is chopping or carving), Kolstee (place where charcoal was burned), Kuiper (cooper), Draaijer (turner), Kappers, Kleuver (recalling the chopping and splitting of wood), the Smid and ‘t Smees (formerly Smedeserve). Papiermolen, the Olde Mölle, ‘t Olde Mulder, the Görter (groat-maker, hulling miller), Te Roele (in 1640 ten Rule – ‘rullen’, hulling of grain, hulling mill).
Bouwhuis Wever, ‘t Klooster
Den Blauwen (blue-dyeing of linen), the Wever (weaver), Bouwhuis Wever, Weversborg, the Pellewever (weaver who wove finer goods, such as damask and table linen), Schreurs, Snieder and Snijdershuis (tailors). Kremer (peddler) and Klodde (ragman). Speelman (someone who cheered up the parties with a musical instrument) and the Piepert (piper, flute player). Krieger (inhabited by a soldier? In 1640, a soldaetencamp also occurred in Barlo).
Farm names ending in -ink etc.
About forty farm names end in -ink. These largely point to the possession, to the estate of a certain person. They are mainly composed of a personal name + -ink. Lists of proper names that occurred in the Middle Ages have been compiled from all possible archival documents, and based on these lists, a number of farm names can be explained.
Hoenink, Huinink and Hunink were located in a ‘hoen’, a ‘huun’, a swamp. Another explanation that we must take into account, according to the CBG Center for Family History, is that names like Hoenink and Huinink go back to the Germanic personal name Huno.
However, there are a number of names that cannot be traced back to personal names. They clearly refer to something else. These are: Bekink (located near a brook), Bultink (located on a ‘bult’), Doornink (located in or near a thorn forest), Eekink (located on a site with oaks), Essink (located on an ‘Es’), Heijink (located on the heath), Kempink (located near or in a ‘kamp’), Haartelink (located on a ‘Haart’). Rengelink can indicate a “rinc”, which was a place of judgment. On the Borninckhof, the Haartse Wetering originates, so there are springs there. On the former Richterink, the judge held his proceedings.
There was a time when the meaning of the suffix -ink was no longer understood. People then began to form names with “stedeke” and “goet”. Thus we find, for example, Heijnengoet, Goossenstedeke, etc. In later usage, the words ‘stedeken’ and ‘goet’ were omitted. Freriksgoet became Freriks, Rutgerstedeken became Rutgers. Here again many farm names formed from personal names: Freers, Freriks, Bullens (from Bullo), Ebbers (from Ebbo), Goosen (Goosen, Goos), Heinen (Hein), Lammers (Lammo), Lievers (Lieven), Lindert (Lindert), Lubbers (Lubbert), Reinders (Reinder), Rutgers (Rutger), Wiggers and Wiechers (from Wigger), Wubbels (from Wubbel), Wolters (Wolter) and Rikkert (Rico).
In addition to the farms classified in the groups above, there are a few others that deserve special mention: the Tuunte was surrounded by a ‘tuun’, a woven fence, as were the Vreman and the Vreveld. The Zigtvrede had some preferential rights in the annual distribution of the ‘marke’ lands. One of these farms was called Seegvreden in 1640, named after the ‘seege’, the goat. The Hegge was surrounded by a hedge. The Sonderen also had rights; a part of the common land could be used for private use. That part was separated (afgezonderd) from the ‘marke’. The Meijnen was also part of the common ‘marke’.
The Haverland and the Haverkamp had the duty to supply oats (haver) to the lord or church, etc. On the Hemelmaat, justice was administered; a ‘hegemael’, a ‘heimael’, was a space surrounded by a hedge where a ‘mael’, a court session, was held. The Akkermaat owes its name to a meadow that could be mown in one day, and the Maandag to the piece of land that could be plowed in one day with the shared livestock. A former name would therefore have been: Mendag. The Hogewind should actually have been called the Hogewend, because this was the high end of the land where the plow was turned (gewend).
The Grotenhuis provides information about the size of the house and the Nieuwenhuis (in 1640 Nijenhuis) points to a then newly built dwelling, just like Nijboer. The Lankhof and Scheel indicate the shape of the land: long and crooked. The Korten (in 1640 Kortenstedeken) had only a short piece of land. The Heurne had the shape of a horn, a tapering piece of land, as did the Timp and the Timpert. Sad was the state of the Prange, the Marode and the Drommelder, which three names can all be translated as misery.
The Smol was “small and insignificant”. Could the Huikert have been a hay meadow or is it a distortion of the popular name Huik for Hugo? The Botervat: butter meadow? The Westendorp, the Oosterbosch, the Oosterhoeve and the Oosterman derive their names from the cardinal directions towards which they are oriented. Agriculture is indicated by: Bouwlust, Bouwhuis and the Bovelt (building field). Is the Hillo (Heiligelo?) a memory of paganism or was it a ‘lo’ on a ‘hil’ (hill)? The Leste Stuver was formerly an inn near Bredevoort where traveling people could squander their last penny.
Boerkoel, G.A.W., The Names of Aalten’s Farms, published in the Oostgelders Tijdschrift voor Genealogie en Boerderijonderzoek (1984, nr. 2, pag. 1), edited and supplemented by Remco Neerhof (Old Aalten). Some farm names appear more than once in the municipality of Aalten; in such cases, the hyperlink provided usually refers to the oldest known farm.
In the early 1980s, Poland was in the midst of a severe economic crisis. There were great shortages, and many basic necessities were rationed. Under the motto ‘Help the Poles through the winter’, aid campaigns were set up throughout the Netherlands. One of these was the ‘Pak van je hart’ (A Load off your Mind) solidarity campaign, in which lorry drivers collaborated with churches to provide the Polish population with food and clothing parcels. Aalten was not to be left behind and organised several aid shipments to the small town of Koronowo.
The Aalten team that travelled to Poland, photographed at the side of a road in the snowy landscape. From left to right: Mrs De Bruijne, T. Westerveld, H. Neerhof, J. Epema, D. Kuiperij; P. van Meggelen, and Rev. C. Gros. The photo was taken by Mr W. Hofs.
In December 1981, the following article appeared in a newspaper:
Tonny Westerveld, of Bevrijding 49, was one of the people who took part in the transport to Poland as a relief driver. The drivers of the first two lorries were Dick Kuiperij and Henk Neerhof. For Tonny Westerveld, who despite having ten years of experience as an international haulage driver, it was the first time he had driven to Poland.
On Saturday 18 December, the convoy departed at three o’clock in the morning, and seven hours later, they arrived at Helmstedt at the border between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR (East Germany). The formalities there took quite some time, as it was about two o’clock in the afternoon before they were able to leave.
Approximately three hours later, they reached the Polish border. Things went much faster there. The officials were required to open parcels, which they did with a few, but otherwise they finished very quickly—perhaps partly due to the many official documents with municipal stamps that could be shown, as Westerveld surmised.
The journey through Poland was hindered by heavy snowfall during the final few hundred kilometres. About 50 kilometres across the border in Łagów, they stayed overnight, but not at the location previously agreed upon; when they reported to the police, they were told they could spend the night at a different establishment.
On Sunday afternoon at around half past four, the convoy arrived in Bydgoszcz, where they were joined by a female guide, Mirca. The committee members had already been in contact with her a few weeks earlier, and she was well-informed about the situation.
In Koronowo
It was around eight o’clock on Sunday evening when they arrived in Koronowo. The priest they reported to was stunned when he saw the two large lorries; he could hardly believe his eyes, thinking that no one was allowed to enter the country.
The Aalteners requested help for the following morning. “You do wonder how long it will take to unload,” says Westerveld. Both vehicles were carrying 34 tonnes of cargo: 12 tonnes of clothing and 22 tonnes of foodstuffs. Of this, 28 to 29 tonnes were to be unloaded in Koronowo. The remainder was to be unloaded in Bydgoszcz. However, by the next morning, 12 Poles were ready to help, and by ten o’clock, that number had grown to about thirty.
Residents of Koronowo help unload the lorries. The goods were stored in a church building, and the priest would personally oversee the distribution.
“The people there were busy with something they didn’t quite understand,” as Westerveld put it. They were utterly amazed. By twelve o’clock, the goods destined for Koronowo had been unloaded, and the return journey via Bydgoszcz could begin. There, they met the minister of the Evangelical congregation, who looked at the Aalteners with no less astonishment than the priest from Koronowo. He had not yet expected any aid, and with increasingly bewildered looks, he watched the items being removed from the vehicles and piled up before his eyes. Finally, the medicines and syringes they had brought were delivered to the Warminsky Hospital in Bydgozcz.
The Return Journey
For the drivers, the question now was: how do we get out of the city as quickly as possible? But hospital staff were already waiting with a car to guide the Aalteners along the shortest route out of the city towards Poznań. They spent the night in their vehicles at a car park somewhere. It was very cold—about 23 to 24 degrees below zero.
On Tuesday morning, the journey continued after breakfast. They had brought various food supplies for the road. When visiting the homes of Polish residents, the meals they brought were heated up, but they could also fry an egg or make coffee themselves along the way if necessary.
About eighty kilometres from the border, they discovered an English motorist whose car had broken down. However, the Aalteners were unable to help him. To their great surprise, they saw a vehicle from the Dutch roadside assistance (ANWB) passing by. The situation was explained to the occupants, and the problem was subsequently resolved. The roadside assistance officers belonged to the large convoy that had returned to the Netherlands earlier, but they had been in Poland for about nine days because some had lost their passports and had travelled to Warsaw to make arrangements.
When asked: “What is the atmosphere like in Poland?” the answer was: “Fearful.” The people are unimaginably afraid. But it was immediately added: “They are also exceptionally hospitable.” On Wednesday 23 December at one o’clock in the afternoon, the two lorries and their occupants arrived safely back in Aalten.
The group keenly inspected the remains of the brick kiln.
Mr H. Hofs from Varsseveld described the uncovering of the remains of an old ticheloven (brick kiln) in the hamlet of ’t Klooster near Bredevoort as a unique find. The kiln dates from 1708. The archaeological fieldwork group of the Antiquarian Working Community of Aalten, Dinxperlo, and Wisch (ADW) has been working for quite some time to carefully uncover the remains of the brick kiln.
The site of the old brick kiln was found partly thanks to Mr W. Lobeek, who used to live on the Götter farmstead. It was this former resident of ’t Klooster who was able to welcome at least eighty interested visitors to the excavation site on Saturday morning. The level of interest was so high that another excursion to ’t Klooster will be organised this coming Saturday. Mr R. Wartena, the regional archivist and an ADW board member, gave an introductory talk on what is known about the brick kiln.
It is virtually certain that this concerns the kiln of Matthijs van ’t Waliën. In return for his services – the planting of a large forest – he received, among other things, approval to build and operate a brick kiln here. The clay was allowed to be dug on the grounds of the monastery. Matthijs, however, was unable to meet his obligations. Many trees died immediately, and the severe winter of 1709 ensured that a third of the trees bit the dust.
Without ceremony
He saw no way to replant the trees, and in those days, protecting employment was not a priority. In 1719, Matthijs was forced to demolish the brick kiln within six months and to remove the bricks within a year. According to the agreement, the waarmanshuis (a worker’s or overseer’s cottage) had to remain standing. No trace of this cottage has been found so far. It is possible, however, that the Götter farmstead is the former waarmanshuis.
The kiln was indeed demolished, but apparently no further than ground level. The floor, with a surface area of 9 by 11 metres, and some small walls have remained, and the clay pits are also still clearly recognisable. Mr Hofs shared some details about the excavations, which the working group has been engaged in since July 1979. The investigations have yielded good results so far, even though they had hoped to find a few more traces in the immediate vicinity of the kiln.
The working group has mapped the remains and will cover them up again shortly. If they were to remain exposed to the open air, not much of them would be left.
In 1978, the Willemstraat was startled by fire three times in a short period, twice in the home of Mr. Eskes and the Van der Donk family, at number 11, and also in the former Maternity Center at number 19.
In the course of the last century, excavation work repeatedly led to the discovery of the mortal remains of old-time residents of Aalten.
A burial vault collapsed
Nieuwe Aaltensche Courant, 9 July 1920
AALTEN – Throughout the whole of Thursday, Kosterstraat (= Köstersbulte, OA) held the full attention of the Aalten public. People stood in dense crowds around a particular spot close to the iron church gates, opposite the building of the Geld. Ov. Bankvereeniging. There were whispers of a burial vault, skulls, and so forth. The police kept the public, especially inquisitive youngsters, at a proper distance.
What had happened? In the morning, a heavy lorry belonging to Mr Jos. Driessen had driven right alongside the gates whilst swerving to avoid another cart. The driver naturally had no idea – as will indeed be the case for most inhabitants of Aalten – that he was driving over a section of the old churchyard that had formerly been laid out around the church. The remains of this churchyard were most clearly observable at the time “Elim” was built, where it was one vast charnel house beneath the ground.
It caught the attention of a passer-by that a sizeable “dent” had appeared in the street, which seemed to be growing steadily larger. Others were called over, and it now appeared as though a section of the ground had caved in. The municipal surveyor was summoned, as was the police, and by the time they turned up, the dent had become a large hole; rubble and mud had fallen onto a wooden coffin, which had collapsed as a result, revealing bones – there was no longer any room for doubt: a burial vault had collapsed.
Nieuwe Aaltensche Courant, 9 July 1920
An iron plate was immediately placed over it, and a hoarding erected around it, so that the public, who came to look in great numbers particularly during the afternoon, were not put in danger. During the afternoon, large quantities of sand were brought in, with which the burial vault was to be filled in during the coming night, after having been emptied.
The length of the vault runs from east to west. The brick arch appeared to be only a single brick thick, and so shallowly subterranean that the bricks of the arch almost touched the cobblestones of the street. It may therefore give cause for wonder that a collapse had not occurred sooner.
Old drawings still show that the churchyard used to extend close to the houses on Kosterstraat. Only a fairly narrow path ran between them. When the street was widened later on, a piece of the churchyard had to be taken away. When the old gates were erected – not the current ones, which were installed under the supervision of Mr H. Navis, who was already president-churchwarden at the time – a division was apparently driven straight through the burial vaults.
The question now is whether there might be more of these weak spots. In our view, it is highly desirable that an investigation be launched into this. Mr Navis informed us – as the older ones among us will remember – that Kerkstraat also used to be much narrower.
In those days, there was a door on that side of the church – that is to say, leading from the chancel – while a flight of steps ran from the door down to the street. During the last restoration of the church, this door was removed along with the two side doors near the tower. When it became apparent that digging away the ground by the street had caused a crack to form in the vaulting of the church, a section of wall three quarters of a metre wide was erected (on the site of the former door) and secured into the ground with anchors to prevent further subsidence.
It is therefore by no means impossible that, given the churchyard extended a considerable distance from the church, further weak spots exist in one or more of the streets surrounding the church.
Early this morning, under the direction of the municipal surveyor, the remains of the coffin and the corpse were gathered from the grave. The grave proved to be 85 cm wide and 2.10 m long.
Urns containing cremated human bones
De Grondwet, 21 October 1884
AALTEN, 25 Sept. Near this village, on one of the highest points of a continuous stretch of arable land known as “den Esch”, workmen digging for gravel recently found, at a depth of 2 metres upon the gravel bed and at fairly equal distances from one another, 3 brown earthenware urns in the shape of fishbowls, filled with cremated human bones; the shards and bones of one of these were collected and preserved, whilst the workmen, upon discovering anything similar, will endeavour to leave it undamaged and have it preserved.
Skeletons found at ’t Blik
Graafschapbode, 14 July 1925
AALTEN – During the groundwork for a newly to be constructed dwelling at ’t Blik, some 5 fully intact skeletons have been found. Some older inhabitants of Aalten, who know of it from their fathers, say that a troop of French and a troop of German soldiers passed through here in 1813, having been quartered in the church here for a considerable time.
A German cook named Hopio, who cooked poorly and meddled with the food, is said to have been killed. The others had then recounted the next morning: “Hopio ist kaput gemacht” (Hopio has been done for). Other soldiers who succumbed to exhaustion at the time were also buried at this spot, so it is highly probable that further skeletons lie there.
In Aalten, whilst laying the foundations for a house to be built, the skeletons of a man and two horses have been found.
Petrified human head in Barlo
Aaltensche Courant, 21 April 1939
Yesterday, the personnel working at the sand quarry of Mr J.W. Loobeek found, at a depth of approx. 1.50 m, a petrified human head along with several other petrified body parts, in which the shapes for the eyes, nose, and mouth can be clearly distinguished.
Urn found
Aaltensche Courant, 16 October 1945
Whilst digging for sand near the „Domme Aanleg” on the Schaarsheide, the farmer J. Jansen discovered a stone pot just beneath the heather turf. The object was carefully extracted and proved to be an urn, still partially filled with funeral ashes. It is a fairly large urn of the Proto-Saxon type, several of which have already been found at that location.
A few years ago, an excavation was also carried out here by the National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden). However, the site has been severely damaged by the sand quarrying, meaning that not much more is likely to come to light.
Path between the old Helenakerk and Elim House
Circa 1955
Adjacent we see the ‘trepkes’ (steps) between the old Helenakerk and Elim House. This path was excavated and widened around 1955. During the excavation of the steps, numerous bone fragments came to light from old-time residents of Aalten who had been buried there in the old churchyard.
Replica of the burial vault in the old Helenakerk in Aalten, photo: Aalten Vooruit, 4 October 2024
Burial vault in the old Helenakerk
16 October 1973
In 1973, whilst carrying out work in the Oude Helenakerk, carpenter Henk Heijnen discovered a burial vault beneath the floor of the chancel. An outsider had claimed that the ‘last priest’ had been buried where Heijnen was working, together with his golden chalice. Heijnen wanted to know more about this and did indeed discover a burial vault at that spot. The vault did not contain a golden chalice, however, but the coffins and remnants of three sets of mortal remains, with initials and dates on the wall. Decades later, Heijnen made a replica of the burial vault.
At the end of 1973, the Netherlands was in the grip of the oil crisis. The crisis was caused by a number of Arab oil-producing countries raising the price of oil by 70% and reducing oil production, causing the price per barrel to skyrocket. The oil crisis had a major impact on the global economy. In the Netherlands, a number of car-free Sundays were announced from November 1973 to January 1974. Furthermore, petrol was rationed. Car owners were issued petrol coupons which they had to hand in when refuelling. (Source: Wikipedia)
“Oiled”
The oil crisis inspired several residents of Keizersweg in Aalten to dress up as oil sheikhs in early 1974 and wish their fellow villagers a Happy New Year. Eventually, the group headed home in high spirits, quite “oiled”:
In 1973, during restoration work at the Old St Helen’s Church in Aalten, carpenter Henk Heijnen stumbled upon a burial vault beneath the choir containing three coffins with human remains. At the order of the church board, the vault was swiftly resealed. However, before this happened, Heijnen had already climbed inside to meticulously measure and photograph everything. In 2019, Heijnen completed a wooden replica of the burial vault.
The Discovery in 1973
On October 16, 1973, the then 23-year-old carpenter Henk Heijnen was involved in restoration and maintenance work at the Old St Helen’s Church. The floor of the choir had been removed, leaving only sand. During the work, he was visited by Jan Tinnevelt from the Kattenberg, who asked if they were searching for the golden chalice. According to legend, this chalice was buried alongside the last priest of the Old St Helen’s Church. Heijnen’s boss at the time ushered Tinnevelt out.
However, Tinnevelt was persistent, returning at least three more times to ask if anything had been found. This prompted Heijnen to start digging at the spot under the choir that Tinnevelt had pointed out. He soon struck a brick vault. Together with his boss, he used a sledgehammer to create a hole in the structure. Heijnen enlarged the opening until he could descend into the space using a ladder. Below, he found a burial vault containing three partially decayed coffins. Of the deceased, only dust and hair remained. He did not find a golden chalice…
Measured and Resealed
As always, Heijnen had a folding rule, a carpenter’s pencil, and paper with him. Before the vault was closed again, he measured the space precisely, noted the dimensions and initials, and made sketches and photographs of the vault, the inscriptions, and the dates. On the wall of the vault were the initials IHW with the year 1746, GWA with the year 1815, and DR, without a date. He preserved all these notes and images.
Meanwhile, his employer had informed the church council. Around ten o’clock that evening, the members of the church board arrived at the church, accompanied by the Reverend Van der Heiden. The minister pointed out that no one should descend into the vault as it would constitute grave robbery. Because the restoration was being carried out without the involvement of the National Heritage Agency (Monumentenzorg) and there were fears that the work would be halted, Heijnen was sworn to strict secrecy. At the request of the church board, he had to seal the manhole with concrete as soon as possible.
While he was closing the opening, Jan Tinnevelt entered the church once more. Upon realising what had been found, he was again politely requested to leave.
Dagblad Tubantia, 2 March 1974
In the week following the discovery, work began on laying the new natural stone floor in the choir, permanently sealing the access to the burial vault. Only Heijnen’s notes and his employer’s photographs remained as a source. Shortly after the completion of the choir, national news channels reported the discovery of a burial vault in the Old St Helen’s Church; it is not known who leaked this information.
Research and Replica
The portraits of Lambert Joost van Hambroick and his wife Mechteld Anna Bentinck-Van Diepenheim, photo: Lydia ter Welle
It was only years later, during a trip to Israel with his wife, that Henk Heijnen visited a burial vault in Jerusalem. This gave him the idea to build a replica of the burial vault in the Old St Helen’s Church.
He produced new construction drawings and came into contact with Herbert Welling from Bocholt and Thaddeus van Eijck from Bredevoort, both of whom were interested in cultural heritage. The trio hit it off, and their combined research led them to the historian J. Grooteboer from Borne.
They discovered that Lambert Joost von Hambroick and his wife Mechteld Anna Bentinck van Diepenheim were closely connected to St Helen’s Church. In 1706, they donated two silver communion cups to the Aalten church, which were later found in a safe within the church.
Replica of the burial vault in St Helen’s Church in Aalten, photo: Aalten Vooruit, 4 October 2024
Who Was Buried in the Vault?
Based on the research, it was determined that the following individuals were buried in the vault:
Judith Hambroick Welvelde († 1746) The connection to the Welvelde and Hambroick families is still visible in the church via the Welvelde coat of arms, which features a wolf’s head.
Gerharda Wilhelmina Arentsen (1777–1815) She had purchased the burial vault at a later date. She was the daughter of the sister of Mayor Christiaan Caspar Stumph and the granddaughter of Roelof Arentsen, the scholte (local official) of De Ahof.
Rev. De Roy († 1762/1785) Uncertainty remains regarding the initials DR. They were linked to a Reverend De Roy. However, in the second half of the 18th century, there were two ministers of that name: Philippus de Roy (1733–1762) and his son Adrianus Rudolphus de Roy (1762–1785). Which of the two might be buried in the vault remains unknown for now.
Completion of the Replica
In 2019, Heijnen completed a wooden replica of the burial vault. Two employees from Broekhout used his drawings to recreate the frame exactly. Heijnen personally handled the painting, including the initials and other details. The replica was later put on public display in the Helenahuis, opposite the church on Landstraat.
Thaddeus van Eijck produced a film titled “Verscholen erfgoed in beeld” (Hidden Heritage Portrayed), which documents the entire process surrounding the replica: from the initial notes and research to the craftsmanship with which the burial vault was reconstructed.
At the presentation of the replica in 2019, Heijnen mentioned that he still always carried his folding rule, even when sitting in church on Sundays, and that he felt nervous if he did not have it on him. That habit led to an extraordinary result: a booklet, a film, the recovery of two silver communion cups, and a skilfully and accurately crafted replica of the burial vault in the Old St Helen’s Church. Hidden heritage, beautifully brought to light.
A report on the presentation of the replica of the Old St Helen’s Church burial vault on the Market Square in Aalten. Video: RTV Slingeland / Henk Nijenhuis
AALTEN — With a resounding thud, the garage of the old police station in the Peperstraatje collapsed yesterday. The rickety structure was unable to serve out its time. Within the foreseeable future, the new police station on the Polstraat will be completed, and the restoration of the building currently serving as the police station can begin. It will then house several municipal offices. The national police in Aalten will likely not be too distressed about the destroyed garage.
They will, however, be concerned about the car that was parked in the garage at the moment it gave way. The police report drawn up regarding the incident states that the vehicle was quite seriously damaged. It is further unknown whether a report was filed against the owner of the property for neglecting maintenance obligations. In that case, it would be the municipality that should be held responsible for the damage to national property.
Source
Daily newspaper Tubantia, 30 October 1970 (Delpher)
Margriet, weekly magazine for women and girls, 7 February 1970
Which woman-of-the-year deserves our tribute in the form of a golden Margriet? Whom may we honor with this gold for her selflessness, her helpfulness, her charity? You answered this question with so many letters that the editors of Margriet, after reading and re-reading all your spontaneous stories, simply had to decide to award more than one golden Margriet: there were no fewer than FIVE!
Fourth Golden Margriet: the rock and mainstay in this family of seven orphans
Aalten; the Hessenweg is a rather hard-to-find path, far behind the newest housing estates of this southern corner of the Achterhoek. To the side of that Hessenweg: a small farm. The property consists of a few cows, a few pigs, a few hectares of land. A young man in blue overalls is working with a tractor; some children are running around. There is no farmer, no farmer’s wife. But in the kitchen-diner there is a scent of freshly brewed coffee, and a girl, small in stature but sturdy, is busy juggling eggs, bread, and bacon to set an evening table for seven hungry mouths.
Joke ter Maat from Aalten
Her name is Joke ter Maat, 18, and she is the rock and mainstay of this family of seven orphans, of whom she is one herself. Her sister Riet: “Mother has been dead since ’61. And in ’69, father also passed away. Joke ensures that everything at home runs smoothly. For years now. She literally does everything, except for the real men’s work that needs to be done on a small farm like this. My brothers do that. The brothers are 23 years old.”
The farm is only small; they have jobs on the side. Riet also works “outside the home”; together, the three of them ensure that the business and family have the necessary financial resources. “But we can only do that because our Joke takes everything else off our hands,” these children say. For Dick (16), Gerard (14), and Ada (11), Joke is also, and perhaps primarily, a second and very caring mother.
“Since father passed away, it has actually become doubly difficult for her,” the older brothers feel. “She has now become the sole pivot around which everything revolves. And in fact, we leave almost everything to her. We decide on major financial expenditures among the older ones, and even then she has the final word; we trust her yes or no. If she didn’t do all this, our little family really wouldn’t be able to stay together as well as we do now…”
To all these praises, Joke herself hardly comments; she laughs and pulls up the chairs. And she doesn’t even sit at the head of the table…
The engaged couple Ossendorf-Hubers in Aalten has no reason to feel down. On the contrary! Their engagement will soon be followed by marriage, and they are already busy furnishing a brand-new home on Molenstraat. And yet, this very house gives Mr. Ossendorf and his future wife reason to be careful not to literally end up in the well—the well found in the garden just behind the house, which is nearly fourteen meters deep.
At this location—as the name Molenstraat suggests—the Aalten mill once stood, the last remains of which were removed last year in the spring. Now, four beautiful homes stand there. The well is over a hundred years old and is constructed of heavy masonry. It belonged to the mill, and the former miller, Mr. Klomps, recalled that the well was to be found somewhere in this vicinity. The future residents of the houses were also informed. All four houses are currently still vacant, but work is already well underway in the gardens. In these gardens, four heavy millstones have since been found.
Mr. Ossendorf also went in search of such objects and the well. After a few “test drillings,” it did not take long before both the millstone and the well were located. That is to say: the well was covered with a millstone. With great effort, the stone—which was no longer in very good condition—was removed in pieces, and the couple then gazed into the depths. According to local residents, the well must have supplied the entire neighborhood with water in the latter part of the previous century. The water is currently at a depth of about thirteen meters. Consequently, the houses will not be much troubled by groundwater. Following tradition, this mill was also built on the highest part of the village.
The well has a diameter of one meter, and climbing bolts have been bricked into the wall, allowing one to descend. Since its rediscovery, no one has yet ventured this experiment. It is unknown what will happen to the deep well. Filling it in or developing it into a beautiful antique well with a lever, for example. That is still a matter of consideration. The latter seems appealing, but in the back of one’s mind, there is also the thought of filling it in before any accidents occur.
The textile industry in Aalten was deeply rooted in the centuries-old tradition of domestic weaving and flax processing. In the 19th century, this craft grew into a flourishing industry, partly thanks to the establishment of German textile families such as the Driessens.
For centuries, flax was cultivated in the Achterhoek and the adjacent Westphalia region, from which linen was woven on farms. This cottage industry led to a lively cross-border trade in woven fabrics.
Numerous farm and street names in Aalten still recall this era, for example: de Weversborg, de Pellewever, de Bleeke, the Vlasspreideweg, and—due to the pure water—the Zilverbekendijk.
The arrival of the Driessens
Import duties on foreign fabrics were increased in 1823 to protect Dutch industry. German textile companies, including the firms Gebrüder Driessen and Peter Driessen & Sohn in Bocholt, moved to the Achterhoek. In 1826, they established themselves in Aalten.
With their arrival in 1826, 56 looms and approximately twenty families from Prussia also came to Aalten. Most of them settled here permanently.
Growth of employment
The number of domestic weavers grew steadily. While the number was 292 in 1828, it had risen to 352 a year later, and in 1833 it was reported: ‘The fustian factories continued strongly, with the factories in Aalten typically employing approximately 630 weavers according to records. Both in this and in the surrounding municipalities of Winterswijk, Dinxperlo, Varsseveld, Lichtenvoorde, etc.’
Spinning flax on the spinning wheel
The first factories
In 1829, there were two cotton mills in Aalten ‘which provide work for about 40 people’, including that of the Driessen brothers. In 1830, there were three, with approximately sixty employees.
On August 15, 1829, Jan Gerard Kraak ten Houten, ‘licensed shopkeeper and merchant in Aalten’, informed the Governor of Gelderland of his wish to establish ‘a fustian factory, spinning mill, dye works, and bleachery’ in his hometown, for which he requested permission. The municipal council had no objections to this establishment, ‘considering that the petitioner’s intention is only to have fustian manufactured by weavers at their homes, without erecting a spinning mill, bleachery, or dye works. This ensures sufficient work for the craftsman’, while no other interests are harmed. Ultimately, the King had to decide on the matter. Favorable advice was given by all advisors. It is not known how long this company existed or where it was located.
Sources
Geweven goed, the textile history of Aalten and Bredevoort H. de Beukelaer, J.G. ter Horst – Fagus, 1992
In 1968, Aalten put itself on the map by participating in the popular TV event ‘Zeskamp’ (Hexathlon). At the time, the municipality had approximately 12,000 inhabitants. The textile industry was in decline, and outside the built-up area, farming remained the primary way of life. During this period, Aalten was a pillarized village. However, Zeskamp appears to have brought about a turning point.
Zeskamp was a sporting event organized by the NCRV and the Belgian BRT, which they broadcast live on TV. At the time, it attracted millions of viewers, making it one of the most-watched TV programs. There were participants from six different locations: three from the Netherlands and three from Belgium.
Residents participated en masse and with great enthusiasm. People of various religious and ideological backgrounds worked together. For the first time, they truly met and got to know one another. In this way, imaginary walls were broken down.
The competitions were held on six Saturday evenings, each time in one of the participating locations. In Aalten, the Market Square served as the arena.
Ultimately, Aalten advanced to the final in Zutphen and won! The participants were honored with a parade through the village.
Demolition of buildings on the Market Square – New town hall and cultural center on the site of the old festival building.
The municipality of Aalten has commissioned an ambitious structural plan that will give the Aalten village center a completely different appearance. According to this plan, several well-known buildings on the Market Square, including the old town hall (see photo), will have to disappear. In their place, a kiosk, bus station, and small shops will be established.
Aalten Market Square with the old town hall, 1967
The old festival building on the Pol will have to disappear according to the plan, and a modern new Town Hall and a Cultural Center are envisioned for this location.
Furthermore, new streets have been projected, which will require quite a few breakthroughs. Realizing all these plans will likely take several decades. But in any case, the residents of Aalten will then know what to expect.
It is sound policy to guide the future growth of the village in a timely, well-considered manner. One remaining question is whether the old Town Hall is actually allowed to be demolished; “Monumentenzorg” (Heritage Netherlands) might object.
The latest insights regarding the construction of a new post office point toward new construction on the site of the existing office. The grounds near the monastery, which were initially intended for this purpose, will soon serve as a parking lot.
Land is available north of the Ringweg for a general Christian hospital that may be assigned to Aalten. Expansion of the industrial estate is possible in a northerly direction up to the railway line, and finally, land is available near the Keizersbeek where farmers who are “displaced” by the land consolidation can settle.
It is truly no wonder that the explanatory memorandum accompanying the 1966 budget for the municipality of Aalten begins with the words: We are pleased to inform you… For not only is the budget for ordinary services balanced at an amount of nearly nine million guilders (including f 26,600 for unforeseen expenditures), there is also limited room for the execution of capital works. And that is a sound that not all municipalities can produce.
1000 guilder banknote, 1956 (for illustration)
For those capital works, apart from the sewage treatment plant and sewerage, the primary consideration is to resume the restoration of the streets in the old town center, with priority to be given specifically to the Prinsenstraat.
That is not to say that everything is coming up roses. Due to a shortage of land ready for construction, there is a threat of stagnation in housing development, while it is expected that the upcoming expansion of the treatment plant will place a heavy burden on the population, who will then likely see the sewage charges to be paid approximately doubled.
Expansive and Pluriform
The fact that the budget is balanced is partly due to a more adjusted allowance from the municipal fund regarding the social care component starting in 1966, as a result of which the general allowance from this fund, in addition to the general increase by raising the allowance percentage, could be estimated at around f 160,000 higher.
An amount of f 60,000 is available for interest and depreciation on new capital expenditures for 1966. This amount is too small to enable a smooth completion of many necessary works, while furthermore the “lending ceiling” established by the government acts as a hindrance. To this end, a multi-year plan was drawn up, in which the streets and roads requiring improvement in the coming years were included.
Regarding the acute shortage of building land, the Mayor and Aldermen state that preparations for making land ready for construction have already been made in various places, but that execution must still wait because agreement had not yet been reached with the owners regarding several plots. The acquisition of land through amicable means, according to the memorandum, is clearly becoming a problem in more and more municipalities, forming a serious stumbling block in the attempt to fully realize an “expansive and pluriform construction policy.”
One Each Year
The memorandum further speaks of the sporadic issuance of urgency declarations for the construction of new schools. The Mayor and Aldermen would consider themselves fortunate if one new school could be built each year over a series of years. They do, however, express their satisfaction that with the completion of the gymnasium at the ULO school and the already intensively used hall of the lower agricultural school, it will soon no longer be necessary to use other locations unsuitable for this purpose, once the municipal gymnasium on the Dalweg is also completed.
Satisfaction is further expressed regarding the administrative contact established between Winterswijk, Lichtenvoorde, Groenlo, Eibergen, Neede, and Aalten. Although there is only mention of contact and no formal body was created, this cooperation is also of value within the framework of broader regional bodies.
In Detail
To remain in style, after these more “general considerations” regarding the budget, we would like to proceed to the discussion of specific parts, without, as they say, being exhaustive.
Slaughterhouse: It is expected that, after the extensive renovation, this will be self-supporting due to the intensive use for export slaughtering.
Drinking Water Supply: Around April 1966, approximately 125 properties of the Heurne-IJzerlo plan will be connected to the water supply network. On the work program of the water company, 150 properties are estimated for Aalten in 1966.
Public Housing: Despite the fact that an average of 100 homes per year have been completed in recent years, the housing shortage is not being reduced. The construction of so-called Bogaers houses outside the quota is also hindered by the shortage of land ready for construction.
Slaughterhouse, Industriestraat
Ring Road: Specifications for the improvement are ready. It is possible that preparatory work, such as the felling of trees, can still take place this year. The road will be provided with a layer of asphalt over its full width, including the existing cycle path.
Kemena Expansion Plan: Waiting for necessary land purchases. For this, however, the approval of the partial expansion plan must first be awaited.
Paving of Dirt Roads: In 1935, 68.90 kilometers were paved, bringing the total of paved dirt roads from 49.430 km to 56.32 km. The paving of the Boshoeveweg and parts of the Kriegerdijk and Bodendijk is in preparation.
Education
Public Primary School Herenstraat
O.L. School Aalten: The possibilities for replacing existing old schools with new ones are so slim that there can be no question of replacing the school for the time being.
R.K. School Aalten: The original plan for the construction of an 8-classroom school has been changed to the construction of two 6-classroom schools. Final applications have not yet been submitted.
Groen van Prinsterer School: An urgency declaration for the construction of three classrooms has been obtained. The possibility of achieving a six-classroom school through industrial construction methods is being investigated.
Allowance per Pupil: This will be significantly increased for 1966, namely for the private G.L.O. f 70.- (f 64) per pupil, for the private ULO f 125.- (f 102), and for the private special L.O. f 135 (f 125) per pupil. The amounts stated in parentheses are those for 1965.
Recreation VVV
The ideal would be a new VVV office in the old building on the Markt, where the Local History Museum is already located. The collection would then be even better presented; perhaps this can be realized in the foreseeable future due to the departure of the current resident.
The establishment of a motel at the intersection of the Bredevoortseweg with the new Hamaland route would be appreciated. This would create an attractive recreation center between Aalten and Bredevoort, with the swimming pool, the municipal estate “‘t Walfort“, the summer cottage area, and the municipal campsite in the immediate vicinity.
Industry: Did not develop to the same extent in 1965 as in previous years. The number of male employees has hardly increased, which may partly be a result of the commute to Germany, which currently amounts to 70 men and 40 women from the municipality.
There is still a synagogue in Aalten. In recent weeks, one could read about it in both the national and international press. Seldom before can this Beth Haknesseth have been so much in the public eye. A procession of journalists has flocked to Aalten. “I can’t bear to see another journalist,” I noted from the lips of one of Aalten’s Jews. They travelled to Aalten because the synagogue has been defaced. It was but one incident among a multitude of anti-Semitic expressions reported in the Netherlands and abroad in recent weeks. One could have learned of those other incidents as well—though not in this publication. One simply cannot keep up with them all.
And not only that: anti-Semitism is not a question of us. It is a disease that proliferates and proliferates, usually in silence, occasionally openly. We ourselves are less upset as long as there is no survival involved, than the groups among whom the tumor rages. We ourselves have become more self-aware, more self-confident. On the one hand, it is because of the appalling that we had to go through only a generation ago — and what could happen to us even worse — because of the stimulating effect that the existence of the State of Israel exerts on us.
Synagogue in Aalten defaced
Perhaps these are the reasons that in Aalten there has been hardly any interest from our organizations — only Chief Rabbi E. Berlinger and the Permanent Committee showed their sympathy. The lack of interest on our part is in stark contrast to the dozens of letters that have been received from non-Jewish quarters. This can be read in one of the letters: “… Since the war, only since the war have many people, including myself, taken into account, not only what has been done to a part of our people in particular, without us having done or being able to do anything of significance against it (?)… And now this: what am I to do — how can we, non-Jewish fellow citizens, undo this insult, this terrible blow to the barely healed, so deeply damaged face. That’s the reason I have to write!!”.
In Aalten, people take note of the letters, of the verbal interest. Is it doing them good? Undeniably, it provides support. All the more fiercely one feels that there has been hardly any reaction from our side. What hardly causes a stir in the relatively large Jewish communities in the West, is still the talk of the town in Aalten. It is not surprising, the cold one is only small. What kind of support can one give each other? Not that there is fear, not at all. In Aalten, too, the defacing of the synagogue is considered an incident. But still…
Only nine families make up the chilly Aalten. Nine families with a total of 28 souls, seven of whom are children. They do not view the smearing of the shul, the destruction of the stones in the cemetery in Winterswijk with a shrug of the shoulders. Because there is a connection between one and the other. They are not unrelated facts. The police investigation has finally shown that those who caused destruction in the cemetery of Winterswijk are the same as those who smeared the synagogue in Aalten. It has been proven by comparison of the manuscripts and chemical investigations of the chalk that was used for chalking. But no matter how active the Aalten police are, there is no question yet that the active anti-Semites could be arrested.
Requirements only
There is another synagogue in Aalten. But shul services are held only sporadically on Shabbath. And only with shul services can one actively prove one’s Judaism in the small kehilloth . Until last year, the services still took place every Shabbath. But in the last five years, three shul visitors have died and some young people have left elsewhere. Only when these young people come over to Aalten is there sometimes a service on Shabbath. However, the synagogue is now only populated on Jamiem Towien.
The synagogue in Aalten, 1965
Nevertheless, Aalten still had its own chazan until 1948. He left for America. He was the last of the many excellent chazanim that this kehilla has known in its long history. Since his departure, one of the people from Aalten acted as Sjeliach Tsibboer. During the Jamiem Noraiem one of the young people comes from Amsterdam. It is no longer possible in Aalten to appoint his own chazan — apart from the question of where he should come from. The cold cannot pay his salary from the tax revenue.
“The Permanent Committee demands a share of this proceeds, the Arnhem district demands a share of the money. And people forget that we have to maintain our shul and that we have to take care of (our) large cemetery. Money is demanded of us, but what do we get in return? If we have a bar mitzvah, we have to beg for the arrival of a chazan. The bill will come later. If we need someone for a lewaje, the bill will be presented later: ƒ 0.25 per car kilometer, beyond the requirement that is not on the bill.”
Butcher knows better
There is another synagogue in Aalten. It is hardly used anymore. There is no more chazan. They have been to Aalten. Some were also mohel, most also sjocheet. This has sometimes led to skirmishes in Aalten. Because the four kosher butchers in pre-war Aalten did not agree with the shechete’s decisions. If the shochete said: the cow is treife, then the butchers knew better. The sjochetim then got all kinds of things thrown at their heads. One of them, Levi Gasan, small in stature and slender, was very afraid of the wrath of the butchers. When he found a cow treife, he quietly left the abattoir, ran the last few meters to the door and only then shouted: “The cow is treife!, because he expected to have a cleaver thrown at the head if he said it to the face of the butchers. His work plus the fear of life preservation was honored in those years with 1800 guilders a year. The respective chief rabbis did not exactly understand the butchers in Aalten either. Chief Rabbi Levisson in particular turned against them.
“The chief rabbis were authorities. If they held an inspection once every six months, people were nervous. They decided in more areas than they formally had to decide. They did not want butchers as parnassims. They kept an eye on the administrative decisions of the parnassim. They interfered with the salaries. And no one dared to contradict the chief rabbi”. Nevertheless, the Aalten parnassim often quarreled with the chief rabbi. They blamed them a lot. But these reproaches never reached the chief rabbi. He was back in Arnhem by then. On the heads of the chazanim the wrath of the parnassim was discharged. They received criticism in many areas: also that they did not provide sufficient education. It also happened because some church members had more knowledge than the chazan. Because there were many chewres in Aalten. They are no longer there. The children receive an hour of Jewish lessons every week. For youth meetings they have to travel to Winterswijk.
Things have sometimes been tough in Aalten. The taxes were low. Those who paid a dime more counted themselves among the prominent ones. Many rights were derived from that dime. In Shul people bid against each other to obtain a mitzvah. Partly because of this, the parnassim sometimes knew better what the income of the congregation members was than the inspector of taxes. Perhaps that is also why people were so committed to being elected parnas. The elections were in reality a get-together. But despite the battle for the kawod, there was great cohesion. The quarrel of one day was settled the next.
Quarrel
But there were frequent arguments. Because the Jewish community of Aalten consisted largely of cattle shochriem. On Friday evenings they quarreled with each other in shul because one had bought a cow from a farmer that had been promised to the other. On Shabbath morning, the quarrel was settled in shul. On Shabbath afternoon they visited each other, also to hear each other out. Shabbath evening people wished each other “gut woch”.
Aalten, which had eighty Jewish souls before the war and one hundred and forty souls shortly before the war; of whom many German refugees, was always a pious cold. “On Shabbath, all Jewish businesses were closed here. No Jew worked. That would not have been possible. The population had not taken that. It once happened that a Jewish representative of a Jewish firm from Amsterdam visited a shopkeeper on Shabbath in Aalten. He was thrown out of the store and his monster suitcase was thrown after him. “On Shabbath there is no Jew in my house,” he was shouted at. There is still a synagogue in Aalten…
M. KOPUIT
This article was written with the help of Mr. J. Weyel and Mr. S.I. de Haas of Aalten.
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