Today is a special day, because it is our Drenthe flag’s birthday. He is no less than 75 years old. We asked Henk Nijkeuter of the Drents Archive four pressing questions about the fluttering pride of Drenthe.
Why was the flag ever designed?
“After the war, a Drenthe society was founded in our province. The members of it wanted to break through the Cinderella complex: for a long time it was said that Drenthe was not a full-fledged province, but ‘a landscape’. The Drenthe society wanted to make Drenten aware. of their identity. They also had an interest in historicity: they wanted to indicate that Drenthe had a past. That also included a beautiful flag.”
Who designed the flag?
“Gerlof Bontekoe. He is the master of arms in Drenthe. Bontekoe has designed many weapons for municipalities in Drenthe, such as those of Sleen, Coevorden, Emmen, Ruinen, Smilde, Vries, Westerbork and Zuidlaren. He was mayor of Sleen.”
What about the symbolism of the flag?
“The colors red and white are traditional Saxon colours. The six stars stand for the six thing games: Beilen, Diever, Noordenveld, Oostermoer, Rolde and Zuidenveld, the old division of Drenthe. And the castle depicts the castle of Coevorden: an important place , where you entered the province.”
Is there anything else we should know about this flag?
“That the Drenthe flag has its own song. The flag song. It was written by the well-known Drenthe dialectologist Jan Naarding. It is about Drenthe, about the flag, about the colours, symbols and what that means. Naarding wanted to see if such a song could also get the status of a Drenthe national anthem, but it didn’t become that.”