All submitted material must first be digitized and then reviewed. Erik Willems has now spent dozens of hours on it and is happy with what he sees so far. “It’s a lot of material,” he agrees. “Of course there is a lot of cheese market and Alkmaar Relief, but also everyday life on the street. The latter is what we are interested in.”
Squatters, fires and the Spoorbuurt
“I use all the material to compose the story of how Alkmaar has become the city it is today in just a century,” Erik explains. “What is very nice are images from the Spoorbuurt from the late 1960s. There is resistance to the demolition of that neighborhood. The fact that this has largely been recorded is very special. But a film has also been submitted about squatting in Alkmaar.”
What also stood out is a box full of films of only fires in Alkmaar in the 70s and 80s. “Who the maker was initially remained a mystery,” says Rob. “But it turns out to be one Kars Kriegsman who, in addition to working in the control room and was therefore quickly informed of incidents, was a hobby filmmaker.”
“But there was also filming of a little boy in 1966 after his first day at school walked home. Then you walk from the Nieuwlandersingel to the Paardenmarkt, and that at that time. That is a fantastic thing.”
Spicy video from 1973
Many tires and cans that are returned come with a note stating what is written on them, but not everything. And that also produces surprises. “People don’t have a projector themselves and therefore don’t always know what they’re handing in,” Rob laughs. “There is also a spicy video from 1973 of two naked people having sex in the kitchen.”
“We don’t know who they are, but we might want to use a piece of it. Because this is also typically something from that ‘free’ time of the early 1970s. But we will first contact the donor to finalize this. Maybe they are the parents? We don’t show any of those images yet,” says Rob.
AZ in De Hout is still missing
There is now more than enough film material of the Relief and the cheese market. “But what would be very nice is if images were found of the De Hout, the old AZ stadium,” says Erik. “And especially the people who go to football.”
“In addition, it would be very nice if there were film recordings of post-war neighborhoods. Because Alkmaar is more than the historic center and it should be a film about the whole of Alkmaar.”
If you still have old videos to share, you can do so on the website of the Alkmaar Historical Association.