With coffee in one hand and a pastry in the other, people walk past the photos in Drouwenserveen. The village has been in existence for three hundred years and that is celebrated today with a photo exhibition that not only the current inhabitants, but also former residents of the village come.
“We hope to receive a little more than three hundred people today,” says resident Marinus Hulshof. “I just heard people say to each other that it was at least sixty years since they had seen each other for the last time. You now get stories like that.”
For the past year and a half, Hulshof, born and raised in Drouwenserveen, has been busy tracing as many people as possible. With results.
“I think all provinces are represented today,” said Hulshof. “There is even someone from Austria and a couple from Germany. I also had contact with a lady who taught at school here. She now lives in Bali.”
The 83-year-old Annie Brosens from Zundert, Brabant, traveled to Drouwenserveen today with her daughter. Brosens lived in the village for more than three years in the 1980s. “I am here to meet people again and to recall memories.”
A large part of her life story is located in Drouwenerveen. “I had a good time here. Despite the sadness, because my husband and my son died here.” Yet today she returns with a nice feeling. “When I lived here I thought a lot about Brabant. Now I live in Brabant again, but I think a lot about Drenthe. A lot of Drouwerveen. When I see something on the television of Drenthe, the ears will open.”
Hulshof mentions the search for former residents beautiful. “I have had a lot of long phone calls, but also visited many towns and villages in the Netherlands.”
And he did not come up with the idea of living somewhere else. “I am always happy when I can go back to Drouwenserveen. Rest. I will never leave here. At least, that chance is small.”