Nieuwlande (
Dutch Low Saxon
Dutch Low Saxon ( or ''Nederlaands Nedersaksies''; nl, Nederlands Nedersaksisch) are the Low Saxon dialects of the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are written there with local, unstandardised orthographi ...
: ''Neilaande'') is a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
village located in the north-eastern province of
Drenthe
Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...
situated in the municipality of
Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen (; nds-nl, 't Ogeveine or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe.
Population centres
Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout ...
. The population, as of 2018 is 965. Nieuwlande is one of only two villages in the world that collectively received
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
award for its
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
Rescue story where nearly all of the towns residents hid and saved the lives of hundreds of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
as well as
resistance fighters
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...
and German deserters during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Nieuwlande is on peat land in the south of Drenthe. It arose where five municipalities meet:
Oosterhesselen
Oosterhesselen is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is located in the municipality of Coevorden, about 9 km north of the city. Oosterhesselen was a separate municipality between 1819 and 1998, when it was merged with Coevorden.
...
(by far the largest part),
Dalen
Dalen (Dutch Low Saxon: ''Daoln'') is a village and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands, in the province of Drenthe. Since 1998, Dalen has been part of the municipality of Coevorden.
The village was first mentioned in the 12t ...
,
Coevorden
Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In ...
,
Hardenberg
Hardenberg (; nds-nl, Haddenbarreg or '' 'n Arnbarg'') is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. The municipality of Hardenberg has a population of about 60,000, with about 19,000 living in the city. It recei ...
, and
Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen (; nds-nl, 't Ogeveine or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe.
Population centres
Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout ...
. For this reason a book about Nieuwlande's history of the village had the catching title "Nieuwlande, village with five burgomasters". This situation obstructed to a great extent the extension possibilities and an efficient governing board: for many municipalities it was but an unimportant peripheral area. Therefore, at the municipal division of Drenthe on 1 January 1998 it was decided for the village to be in one municipality, by moving over to the municipality border of Hoogeveen about 1.5 kilometre to the east. The small part in the municipality of Hardenberg (province
Overijssel
Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the ...
) was, however, not affected by this; and also beyond the new municipality border some inhabitants of Nieuwlande still lived in the new fusion municipality
Coevorden
Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In ...
. The border now, however, no longer goes straight through the village.
Nieuwlande has a new Dutch Reformed church, a Reformed church from 1913, and a church of the meeting of the believers. It also has sport fields; a public and Protestant primary school; a hypermarket with mail agency; children's playgrounds under its jurisdiction, other companies and public places. Rural areas are characterised by agriculture (peat diggings) and some nature reserves - scrub and heathland or peat.
History
The legal beginning of Nieuwlande was on 30 March 1816. On this date the shareholders of
Zwinderen market sold a parcel of 337.5 acres of
fen
A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...
land to Rudolph Otto van Echten and to Warner de Jonge and Hugo Christiaan Carsten in
Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen (; nds-nl, 't Ogeveine or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe.
Population centres
Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout ...
.
Nieuwlande in World War II
Nieuwlande is famous for its collective sheltering of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
in 1942 and 1943, during the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.
The villagers resolved that every household would hide one Jewish family or at least one Jew.
Arnold Douwes, the son of the local
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
, had never had very much to do with Jews or Judaism, but when antisemitic measures were introduced, he threw himself body and soul into the effort to help Jews on the run by convincing the local inhabitants to give shelter to fugitive families. In addition, the villagers provided the fugitives with food, new identification papers, and financial support. Two teens, hidden under the floorboards of a Nieuwlande church building, published a handwritten newspaper for the Jews in hiding. Two copies remain.
In 1988 a monument to honor the village of Nieuwlande was built in
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. In 1990 the village was one of two communities collectively honored as the
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
by
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
for saving Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. The other awardee was the French community of
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (, literally "Le Chambon on Lignon"; oc, Lo Chambon, label=Auvergnat) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.
Residents have been primarily Huguenot or Protestant since the 17th century. Durin ...
.
Nieuwlande had nearly no recognition for its heroism and had no entry in the Holocaust Encyclopedia of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The first museum indicating Nieuwlande's rescue opened in 2018.
References
External links
The Nieuwlande monumentat
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
{{Authority control
Coevorden
Hardenberg
Hoogeveen
Dutch Righteous Among the Nations
History of Drenthe
History of Overijssel
Populated places in Drenthe
Populated places in Overijssel
The Holocaust in the Netherlands