If this agency could talk, it would be about carnival and the years after the war

1/3 Herman Witte at his desk that traveled with him for years.

“If this agency could talk, it would have a lot to say.” The office furniture of former mayor and former minister Herman Witte has a special meaning for restorer Ferd Quik. “It tells the story of Bergen op Zoom, Eindhoven and the Netherlands.”

Profile photo of Erik Peeters

Since Saturday, the desk and the accompanying cabinets have been in the mayor’s room of the city hall in Bergen op Zoom. The place where Herman Witte was mayor between 1945 and 1952. At his farewell he received the furniture as a gift. As minister and mayor of Eindhoven, he always took the office with him.

“There was a special bond between my father and the city.”

Herman Witte died in 1973. His youngest son Paul: “When my mother moved house in 2019, I found all kinds of photos and newspaper clippings in the desk. This showed, among other things, the enormous gratitude of the people in Bergen op Zoom when dad said goodbye. There was a special bond between him and the city.”

Herman Witte was a member of the KVP, one of the predecessors of the CDA. The politician was loved in Bergen op Zoom because of his energetic approach to the housing shortage. In 1946 he also managed to persuade the bishop, the dean and the pastors to put aside their resistance to the carnival. Bergen op Zoom was therefore one of the first places where the folk festival was restored after the war.

In 1952, Herman Witte became Minister of Reconstruction and Housing in the Drees Cabinet. Between 1959 and 1973 he was mayor of Eindhoven.

“For years he refused to hand over the key to the carnival prince.”

Son Paul: “He loved the creativity of the people during carnival to make something from scarcity. It even went so far that, as mayor of Eindhoven, he refused to hand over the key to the prince for years. He thought the quality of the carnival here was too mediocre. It turned out fine later on.”

During his entire administrative career, Herman Witte worked at that one desk. “You could see exactly where the family photos and the plants had been. Really great”, says Ferd Quik. Thanks to his refurbishment and volunteers from Stichting Decorbouw Groot Arsenaal, the furniture is like new again.

“It’s great that the agency is now back with its rightful owner.”

Paul Witte: “When I asked mayor Frank Petter if he was interested in the agency, he said yes. These things are so connected to Bergen op Zoom. That is why it is great that the agency is now back with its rightful owner.”

Ferd Quik: “This desk was donated to the man who meant a lot to Bergen op Zoom, Eindhoven and the Netherlands. I hope that Petter’s successor will sit down again and be inspired by the man to whom we owe a lot.”

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