Heusden
Encyclopedia
Heusden is a municipality
and a city in the South of the Netherlands
. It is located between the cities Waalwijk
and 's-Hertogenbosch.
, Elshout, Giersbergen, Haarsteeg, Hedikhuizen
, Heesbeen, Herpt
, Heusden, Nieuwkuijk
, Oudheusden
and Vlijmen
. The municipality was formed in 1997 with the fusion between the municipalities of Heusden, Drunen, and Vlijmen.
to replace the castle that was destroyed by the Duke
of Brabant
in 1202. This fortification was quickly expanded with water works and a donjon (castle keep). The city of Heusden received city rights
in 1318. The castle of Heusden was the property of successive dukes of Brabant, in 1357 it went over to the counts of Holland. With the construction of ramparts
and moats the castle became located within the city's fortifications, and the castle lost its function as a stronghold. The donjon was now used as a munition depot. A disaster marked the end of the castle of Heusden and caused the economic demise of the city; on 24 July 1680 a terrible thunderstorm
hit Heusden, and lightning
struck the donjon. Sixty thousand pounds of gunpowder
and other ammunition
exploded, and destroyed the castle. It took the people of Heusden seven weeks to clear the rubble and debris. The castle was never fully rebuilt. However, the original outlines of the main features were restored in 1987.
, the people of Heusden chose to ally with William, Prince of Orange
. William decided to consolidate the town's strategic position near the river Meuse, and ordered fortification works to be constructed. Work started in 1579 with the digging of moats and the construction of bastions, walls, and ravelins. and was completed in 1597.
By early 19th century, the defence works were fallen into disrepair and dismantled. In 1968, however, extensive restoration works started, and fortifications were carefully rebuilt, based on and inspired by a 1649 map of the city of Heusden by Johannes Blaeu, son of the famous Dutch cartographer Willem Blaeu
. In 1980, the city of Heusden received the European Urbes Nostrae restoration prize. Heusden now draws over 350 thousand tourists every year who visit the historic town centre and walk the walls that once made it a formidable stronghold.
, in October 1944, the cities of Tilburg
and 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) are liberated by the allied forces. The bridge
across the river Meuse
makes Heusden, then still occupied by the Germans, a strategic object. The cellars of the old town hall, built in 1588, are a shelter for civilians during artillery
fire. The German Wehrmacht
uses the building as a communication centre and hospital.
A few weeks after Operation Market Garden
, the allied Operation Pheasant starts on 20 October 1944. The 1st Canadian Army (advancing from Belgium) and the 2nd British Army (advancing from the east) fight to liberate central and western Noord-Brabant. On Saturday 4 November, under heavy artillery fire, two Scottish Highlander regiments advance, and 170 civilians seek shelter in the town hall's cellars. Early in the morning of 5 November, three German army engineers detonate the explosive charges they placed earlier. The 40-meter tower collapses, killing 134. Only hours later, the 5th battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
from the 51st Highland Division liberated Heusden.
Heusden was literally decimated, as one tenth of the town's population died that night in the town hall's cellar. A staggering number of 74, i.e. more than half of the total number of victims, were children aged 16 years or younger.
Witnesses have stated that on 4 November German soldiers carried explosives into the town hall's tower, and also into two churches, a windmill
, and dairy factory in Heusden. NCO
(non-commissioned officer
) Bottnick, who was probably following orders from commander
Pfühl, a mining engineer, undermined the eastern part of the tower thus ensuring that it would collapse on the town hall, not on the street.
Later, events were investigated by the British Civil Affairs
. However, this has never resulted in the trial and punishment of the war criminals Pfühl, Bottnick, and their accomplices.
A new town hall was erected in 1956. Designed and built in the style of the Bossche School, it has much less splendour than its late-gothic predecessor. A memorial tablet in the forecourt still remembers the lives that were lost in the night of 4 to 5 November 1944. Its inscription: "Wandelaar, waar gij staat vielen vijf november 1944 honderd vier en dertig burgers den oorlog ten offer." (Passer-by, where you are, on five November 1944 one hundred and thirty four civilians fell victim to the war.) Inscriptions in one of the larger bells in the tower ("Nabestaanden, als ik luid, weet: Uw vele, vele doden zijn niet oorlogs droeve buit, maar aan 't Gastmaal Gods genoden."), and an epitaph ("5 November 1944. Hier staat in steen geschreven geen daad of droom, geen leven, maar slechts het blijvend feit van hun afwezigheid") in the building itself are also dedicated to the memory of the victims.
The massacre ("Stadhuisramp") is commemorated every year.
With the fusion of the municipalities of Heusden, Drunen and Vlijmen in 1997, the town hall has lost its original function. Since 2005, the building houses a visitors centre.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
and a city in the South of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. It is located between the cities Waalwijk
Waalwijk
Waalwijk is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands.It is a member of the Langstraat.It has a population of around 38,920 and is located near the motorways A59 and N261...
and 's-Hertogenbosch.
Population centres
Doeveren, DrunenDrunen
Drunen is a town with a population of 17,783 in the municipality of Heusden in the southern Netherlands. Drunen is part of a region called the Langstraat which is historically known for its leather and shoe industry...
, Elshout, Giersbergen, Haarsteeg, Hedikhuizen
Hedikhuizen
Hedikhuizen is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 3 km east of that city....
, Heesbeen, Herpt
Herpt
Herpt is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 1 km southeast of the center of the city....
, Heusden, Nieuwkuijk
Nieuwkuijk
Nieuwkuijk is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 10 km west of 's-Hertogenbosch.Nieuwkuijk was a separate municipality until 1935, when it became part of Vlijmen....
, Oudheusden
Oudheusden
Oudheusden is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 1 km south of the city of Heusden itself.Oudheusden was a separate municipality until 1935, when it became part of Drunen....
and Vlijmen
Vlijmen
Vlijmen is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Heusden, about 6 km west of 's-Hertogenbosch....
. The municipality was formed in 1997 with the fusion between the municipalities of Heusden, Drunen, and Vlijmen.
Heusden
Heusden was a municipality in itself, incorporating the communities of Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden. In 1997 Heusden was incorporated together with the municipalities of Vlijmen and Drunen to form a new municipality, for which the name of Heusden was chosen.Castle
The settlement of Heusden, bordering on the river Meuse (Maas), as we know it today dates back to the 13th century, and started with the construction of a fortificationFortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
to replace the castle that was destroyed by the Duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
in 1202. This fortification was quickly expanded with water works and a donjon (castle keep). The city of Heusden received city rights
City rights in the Netherlands
City rights are a medieval phenomenon in the history of the Low Countries. A liegelord, usually a count, duke or similar member of high nobility, granted a settlement he owned certain town privileges that settlements without city rights did not have....
in 1318. The castle of Heusden was the property of successive dukes of Brabant, in 1357 it went over to the counts of Holland. With the construction of ramparts
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
and moats the castle became located within the city's fortifications, and the castle lost its function as a stronghold. The donjon was now used as a munition depot. A disaster marked the end of the castle of Heusden and caused the economic demise of the city; on 24 July 1680 a terrible thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
hit Heusden, and lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
struck the donjon. Sixty thousand pounds of gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
and other ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
exploded, and destroyed the castle. It took the people of Heusden seven weeks to clear the rubble and debris. The castle was never fully rebuilt. However, the original outlines of the main features were restored in 1987.
Fortifications and restoration
During the first years of the Eighty Years War (1568-1648), Heusden was occupied by the Spanish. In 1577, however, following the Pacification of GhentPacification of Ghent
The Pacification of Ghent, signed on November 8, 1576, was an alliance of the provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands for the purpose of driving mutinying Spanish mercenary troops from the country, and at the same time a peace treaty with the rebelling provinces Holland and Zeeland.-Background:In...
, the people of Heusden chose to ally with William, Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
. William decided to consolidate the town's strategic position near the river Meuse, and ordered fortification works to be constructed. Work started in 1579 with the digging of moats and the construction of bastions, walls, and ravelins. and was completed in 1597.
By early 19th century, the defence works were fallen into disrepair and dismantled. In 1968, however, extensive restoration works started, and fortifications were carefully rebuilt, based on and inspired by a 1649 map of the city of Heusden by Johannes Blaeu, son of the famous Dutch cartographer Willem Blaeu
Willem Blaeu
Willem Janszoon Blaeu , also abbreviated to Willem Jansz. Blaeu, was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher....
. In 1980, the city of Heusden received the European Urbes Nostrae restoration prize. Heusden now draws over 350 thousand tourists every year who visit the historic town centre and walk the walls that once made it a formidable stronghold.
Heusden Town Hall Massacre - a forgotten nazi warcrime
Towards the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in October 1944, the cities of Tilburg
Tilburg
Tilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....
and 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) are liberated by the allied forces. The bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
across the river Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
makes Heusden, then still occupied by the Germans, a strategic object. The cellars of the old town hall, built in 1588, are a shelter for civilians during artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
fire. The German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
uses the building as a communication centre and hospital.
A few weeks after Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
, the allied Operation Pheasant starts on 20 October 1944. The 1st Canadian Army (advancing from Belgium) and the 2nd British Army (advancing from the east) fight to liberate central and western Noord-Brabant. On Saturday 4 November, under heavy artillery fire, two Scottish Highlander regiments advance, and 170 civilians seek shelter in the town hall's cellars. Early in the morning of 5 November, three German army engineers detonate the explosive charges they placed earlier. The 40-meter tower collapses, killing 134. Only hours later, the 5th battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1793. In 1961 it was merged with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders...
from the 51st Highland Division liberated Heusden.
Heusden was literally decimated, as one tenth of the town's population died that night in the town hall's cellar. A staggering number of 74, i.e. more than half of the total number of victims, were children aged 16 years or younger.
Witnesses have stated that on 4 November German soldiers carried explosives into the town hall's tower, and also into two churches, a windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
, and dairy factory in Heusden. NCO
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
(non-commissioned officer
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
) Bottnick, who was probably following orders from commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Pfühl, a mining engineer, undermined the eastern part of the tower thus ensuring that it would collapse on the town hall, not on the street.
Later, events were investigated by the British Civil Affairs
Civil Affairs
Civil Affairs is a term used by both the United Nations and by military institutions , but for different purposes in each case.-United Nations Civil Affairs:...
. However, this has never resulted in the trial and punishment of the war criminals Pfühl, Bottnick, and their accomplices.
The massacre ("Stadhuisramp") is commemorated every year.
With the fusion of the municipalities of Heusden, Drunen and Vlijmen in 1997, the town hall has lost its original function. Since 2005, the building houses a visitors centre.
External links
Official Website Heusden municipality Heusden Tourist office- Antique map (1649) of Heusden by J. Blaeu
- Account on the liberation of Heusden by the 5th Battalion of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders (website maintained by Richard Sands)
- 51 Highland Division website (tab: "Low Countries") City tour Heusden/Stadswandeling vestingstad Heusden Society for local history/Heemkundekring Onsenoort
- google maps satellite view Berg & Braam, winkel in Keukengoed en Speelspullen, gevestigd in het mooie Heusden