Interviews with striking Gelderlanders

Mien van der Meulen-Nulle
(The Hague, 17 March 1884 – Winterswijk, 8 January 1982)

Louisa Wilhelmina (Mien) van der Meulen-Nulle was a Dutch teacher of lace technology and director of the Royal Dutch Lace School in The Hague.

Nulle studied useful handicrafts at the Industrieschool voor Meisjes in The Hague. She came into contact with lace through books. She received additional lessons from Elisabeth Manhave, a former pupil of the lace school in Sluis. In 1903, she taught at the Lace School, then based in Apeldoorn. At the age of 22, she became headmistress of the lace school in 1906 when it moved to The Hague. She was given access to an attached studio. She designed the cradle cover for Princess Juliana in 1909. On the occasion of a parade in Leiden depicting the entry of Frederik Hendrik in 1629, she designed several 17th-century lace based on paintings in 1910. It earned several awards.

Louis Frequin
(Arnhem, 29 July 1914 – Berg en Dal, 13 October 1998)

Interview on 11 August 1976 (tape 1 missing – interview 28 April 1976)

Louis Hendrik Antonius (Louis) Frequin was a Dutch journalist, author and resistance fighter. Louis Frequin was married and had eight children, the oldest of whom, Willibrord Frequin, is the best known.

Louis Frequin was Roman Catholic and had worked in journalism since 1930. Former editor-in-chief of the Gelderlander and the Nieuwe Krant.

Herman Martinus Oldenhof
(Apeldoorn, 17 September 1899 – Ede, 11 April 1985)

Interviewer J.P. Gansenbrink, 21 July 1977

Oldenhof was a Dutch mayor. He was a member of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP). Oldenhof was mayor of the municipalities of Lopik, Jaarsveld and Willige Langerak from 1929 to 1936. He then served as mayor of Kampen from 1936 to 1942 and from 1945 to 1952.

Oldenhof left for the municipality of Ede, where he was mayor until 1962. Under his administration, the municipality grew from 47,656 to 60,162 inhabitants and much was invested in new education and infrastructure. In 1962, he became deputy of the province of Gelderland. He continued to live in Ede, though. Here he died in 1985 at the age of 85 in retirement home De Klinkenberg.

Jan Taminiau
(1 April 1903 – 17 July 1993)

Interviewer G. J. Mentink, 16 October 1975

Taminiau was director of the Gelderland fruit processing company Taminiau Elst Overbetuwe (TEO)

Jan Hendrik de Groot
(Alkmaar 13 March 1901 – Zeist 1 December 1990)

Jan H. de Groot was a poet, journalist in Arnhem.

In 1948, he became editor of Het Vrije Volk in Arnhem and from 1950 until his retirement in 1966, he was press chief of the AKU in Arnhem. From 1950 to 1962, he was secretary and treasurer of the Dutch branch of the international authors’ association PEN.

In spring 2015, STUK celebrated. For 37.5 years, the Leuven arts centre has been at the artistic forefront. A book (STUK, a history 1977-2015; Hannibal Publishing House) and an exhibition (Was it now ‘t Stuc, STUC or STUK?; STUK Expozaal) underlined this contrarian anniversary. At the same time, the historical retrospection served to pause for a moment and look back, only to choose a new future as the House for Dance, Sound and Vision. Yet such a radical change of direction is by no means unique in historical perspective. Reinventing itself is in the DNA of the organisation, as a logical consequence of the constant search for artistic renewal.

In this smoothly written book, cultural historian Marleen Brock (KU Leuven) tells the story of 37.5 years of STUK – not a nicely rounded anniversary, but as contrary as the arts centre itself. Amusing anecdotes and quotes from interviews with key figures, photos, posters and documents bring the rich history to life.

The video film was made by Olivier Cohen Stuart and Frank Jan Kat, who are graduating from Erasmus University’s social history sub-faculty with this production.

Frank Jan Kat and Olivier Cohen Stuart worked on the film for over a year. Kat: “We had to do a lot of ‘oral history’. It turned out to us that this period of Rotterdam’s development is a neglected child. Even though the roots of the city of Rotterdam emerged during this period. (…) For the interviews in our film, we had to make do with the second generation of migrants. During our research, we still came across a lot of interesting material, which we could not put in the context of this film, because we limited ourselves to thirty-five minutes. We collected a lot of material that can still be worked out.

The revolutionary development of the Maas city at the turn of the century is discussed, as well as the related influx of ‘migrants’ from all parts of the Netherlands, their problems and the construction of the Boerenzij, as Rotterdam-Zuid was soon called.

The historical footage is provided with newly recorded commentary by Philip Bloemendaal, known from Polygoonjournaal. The film alternately features elderly former migrants talking about their youth in their living rooms, striking fragments from the VARA series Merijntje Gijzens jeugd, cartoons by Albert Hahn and posters from socialist organisations. Offscreen, Jules Deelder recites texts appropriate to the time and Dieuwertje Blok reads the connecting texts.

The entire film can be watched on YouTube.

The project “Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies” is about how returnees from the former Dutch East Indies ended up in Rotterdam in the 1950s and 1960s. The project also marks the launch of Rotterdam heritage organisation Heritage Retrievers, a new cultural institution that will focus on personal family histories.

In collaboration with ‘Stichting Herdenking 15 augustus regio Rotterdam’, an afternoon took place on 15 August 2023 after the commemoration at the Dutch East Indies monument on the Boompjes, during which staff of Stadsarchief were present in the library and the Verolme hall of Maritiem Museum Rotterdam to look at family albums, possibly scan them, metadata them and, if possible, add them to the city collection. The intention is for it to culminate in an online exhibition and, if the finds warrant it, a museum-wide offline exhibition in 2024.

The fire border marks the area where the German bombardment did its devastating work. Rotterdam city council decided in 2006 to permanently mark the fire border in the streetscape, as a place of remembrance and to help tell the city’s story. In doing so, it would make clear in one stroke why Rotterdam has a modern city centre.

In May 2010, the marking of the fire border was completed. The marking consists of lamps in the pavement that are illuminated at night. In it, burning Rotterdam can be seen, a German bomber and the sculpture The Destroyed City by French-Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1890 – 1967).

In the oral history project, 54 eyewitnesses recount what they saw, what they heard, what they felt.

The German bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 completely wiped out Rotterdam’s city centre. What remains of the old city? An audio tour along the fire line gives an insight into Rotterdam life before and during the war.

On 14 May 2010, the LISTENING BOOK Langs de Brandgrens consisting of 4 CDs, each containing a compilation of excerpts from the stories and 60 pages of beautiful photographic material, was presented. The audiobook is available via info@werkenaanverhalen.nl 

Living with water and drought is not only an issue today but also in the past. What did you do as a farmer if the Slinge flooded? How did estates ensure sufficient water in canals and ponds? How did a copper mill work? What was water management like in the past and today?

Farmers, estate owners, (retired) employees, dike wardens, water board heirs, water millers and stream volunteers told their stories.

Since 2016, volunteers from the Oral History Working Group Gelderland have been recording life stories about historical water management in order to make the work of the water authorities (past and present) visible. All kinds of people have been interviewed: a laundry owner, volunteers who maintain streams and springs, estate owners, farmers, millers, people who experienced dike breaches up close. How did they live with water?

This is a special project because these stories have been recorded province-wide for the first time.
All the stories can be read via a map tour on the website of Landschapsbeheer Gelderland.

With fifty notable Bommelaars fifty years back in time

In the past fifty years Zaltbommel has grown from a sleepy little town on the river Waal into a modern city in the middle of the country. In this book well-known Bommelaars tell how life has changed in Zaltbommel. 

Former general practitioner and writer Paul van Dijk has chronicled the history of half a century of Zaltbommel on the basis of fifty interviews. Notable inhabitants of Zaltbommel tell about the recent history of the church, art, education, the police, the housing market, politics, the multicultural society and about their love for their city. 

On the basis of these stories, discover how a city changes and how we continue to write history together, even today. 

The notable Bommelaars have been portrayed by photographer André Dieterman. The book therefore not only gives you a special picture of the recent past of Zaltbommel, but because of the beautiful photographs it is also a unique reading and viewing book that should not be missing on any reading table.

What exactly is the history of the Rotterdam women’s movement and what has it achieved in recent decades? That is the subject of the exhibition ‘Gerse vrouwen’ at gallery and heritage lab DIG IT UP.

If you want to participate, you can now register for an Oral History course. 

Series of workshops

In a series of three workshops Stories in Motion, you’ll learn the ins and outs of Oral History interviewing, and then get to work yourself. You’ll interview up to three people and process the interviews in such a way that they are findable for researchers and other interested parties.

The first workshop takes place on Saturday 16 October at Dona Daria. The second workshop takes place on Friday 12 November at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The third workshop is scheduled for a Friday in January 2022, at the Stadsarchief Rotterdam. The closing of Stories in Motion will take place in the week of 8 March 2022, the week of International Women’s Day.

Stories play a major role in the preservation of Rotterdam’s heritage. DIG IT UP is supported by the Erasmus University Rotterdam, as a result of their ‘stories in motion’ project. 

The recording of stories will be given an even greater impulse by the oral history booth to be set up. From June 2021 until September 2022, visitors will be able to tell their stories and anecdotes about the subjects of DIG IT UP without contact. These stories will then be shared in the database and on the website of DIG IT UP.

Director Simone da Silva is pleased with the support of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. “I expect to be able to attract and train new volunteers. And above all to perform our core task, the recording of Rotterdam’s city culture, even more successfully.” 

digitup.nl/oral-history-booth/

The research project ‘(Re-)Tracing History. New Methodologies for Making the Past Tangible, Palpable and Negotiable’

Three teams of researchers at Utrecht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Radboud University Nijmegen will develop innovative methods that make overlooked or ignored traces of the past tangible, palpable, and negotiable, in order to defuse tensions in society and enrich public debate. They will do so in co-creation with citizens and societal partners, focusing on oral histories (Erasmus University), dance and embodiment (Radboud University), and interactive technologies (Utrecht University). 

Norah Karrouche and Arno van der Hoeven’s subproject, ‘Stories in motion: oral history as sustainable data in urban settings’, seeks to develop, analyse and evaluate methods for making oral histories accessible as sustainable resources for citizens and a range of stakeholders in urban settings.

Oral history projects are generally conducted in communities which may have been overlooked by traditional archival institutions, and around issues that may fall outside the scope of many collection policies. These oral histories are often not stored or curated in a sustainable manner after projects end.

From June 2021 onwards, Arno van der Hoeven and Norah Karrouche will develop a model for collecting and enriching oral history data, making these data accessible through standards for data interoperability, and reusing oral histories to generate knowledge on societal issues in urban settings. They will do so in collaboration with several (local) partners: Dona Daria, Stadsarchief Rotterdam, DIG IT UP, CLARIAH and Geschiedenislab.