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 podcast series War on the Veluwe covers war events from five Veluwe municipalities. The episodes consist of a combination of oral history, interviews with experts and results of literature research and new archive research. The first episode deals with consequences of the Putten raid, which will be commemorated next week. Special features of this episode include an interview that the last deceased returned Putter, Jannes Priem, gave at Putten railway station in 2012 about his experiences.

Roel Zuidhof, director of the Nijkerk Library: ‘The podcast series Oorlog op de Veluwe introduces people to the history of the Second World War in an innovative way. The use of background sounds evokes a penetrating atmosphere. Publishing podcasts is a new service ideally suited to libraries. It fits perfectly with several of our statutory tasks, such as making knowledge and information available, providing opportunities for development and education, and introducing people to art and culture.’

In several episodes, people read from original documents. In De gijzeling in het stadhuis, 15-year-old Loïs Bredemeijer reads from the diary of Cootje Callenbach. She was 15 in 1944 when she wrote her story about the taking of over 40 Nijkerkers hostage in the Nijkerk town hall. In the episode Farm De Harscamp, a voice actor reads from a brother’s diary. In addition, the brother’s son is interviewed.

The podcast series focuses on war stories from the Veluwe municipalities of Barneveld, Ede, Ermelo, Nijkerk and Putten. The five participating municipalities are funding part of the production. In addition, as part of 75 years of freedom, a contribution has been granted by the Mondriaan Fund on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. In awarding the grant, the Mondriaan Fund spoke of the project demonstrating “good cultural entrepreneurship”. The podcast series was created by Nijkerk historian Anton van Renssen in collaboration with sound engineer Piet Nelemans from Veenendaal

For the podcast on Oorlog op de Veluwe, Anton van Renssen used interviews from previous projects in addition to interviews with experts and relatives of those involved. For instance, he was able to draw on the interviews he made for the Witnesses’ Stories project. This gave these stories a new target audience.

Renssen officially made the series for the Biblitheek Nijkerk, but also for five Veluwe municipalities: Ermelo, Putten, Nijkerk, Barneveld and Ede. The podcast series has nine episodes. This project brings together his love of history and radio. In this project, he works together with sound engineer and musician Piet Nelemans and more than 50 volunteers. Renssen signed up for the research, script writing, editing and final editing. In short: actually for almost everything.

For these podcasts, Renssen uses new and existing interviews. The music is by Dutch Jewish musicians who were victims of the Holocaust. He may use these with the permission of the Leo Smit Foundation.

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.