“Be careful not to slip and fall into the water.” It is wet in and around a small, unsightly bunker in Nieuwolda. It cannot be seen from the public road. That is about to change.
The Second World War is never far away on the Hoofdweg in Nieuwolda. There are bullet holes covered with mortar in the walls of an old villa. There is a bunker in the backyard, invisible from the main road. That will be different.
“Watch out,” warns Sabine Kokee. “Hold on tight. You have to bend your knees to enter. Be careful not to slip and fall into the water.” It is wet in the bunker. “It is not without reason that we call this a frog’s paradise in the summer.”
The frogs have to find another spot in the adjacent ditch. The gray weathered concrete shelter in the garden of Klaas Bellinga and Sabine Kokee is being renovated by Defense. A work-learning project.
The couple and the other people from the Nieuwolda War Stories Foundation, such as Cees Stolk and Tim van Bostelen, are happy with it. They have big plans for the small bunker measuring 3.60 by 1.60 meters.
A concrete block in the grass, partly sunk into the ground, with two pipes on the roof. Many people from the village played there as children and had no knowledge of the history. That is about to change. “We are removing this relic of a turbulent time from anonymity,” says Kokee.
Old bunker gets new life
“To keep the memories of the Second World War alive, we are making the bunker accessible to the public. It will be an attraction, a mini-museum for anyone interested in the intense war history of Oldambt and Groningen,” says Kokee. “A place to reflect on the madness of war. A place of reflection.”
What is special is that the shelter was created just before the war on behalf of the then resident, Albert Waalkens (1872-1950). Close to the border, he recognized the dangers of an impending war in the 1930s. “Waalkens is afraid that the war will come to the Netherlands, to Nieuwolda, and has the bunker built of reinforced concrete. A shelter with room for six people.”
The bunker tells its own story of fear (for war), of hope (for protection) and is a warning (prepare yourself). “War can be anywhere. Also in a small village in the polder.”
The private bunker is unique, the Nieuwolders know. “As far as we know, it is the only private air raid shelter in Groningen.”
Defense gets to work
The restoration has already started. Defense has planned further implementation for this year. Concrete agreements have not yet been made. “We are dependent on availability due to the tensions in Eastern Europe,” the engineer said.
War is never far away.
Heart of a memorial place
The bunker becomes the heart of a memorial site. There will be a memorial center in a replica of a wooden barracks. A building like those built by Germans in Groningen during the war, such as in nearby Delfzijl. The barracks will be installed this fall by the 103 Defense Construction Company in Wezep. According to original construction drawings of the Reich Labor Service (RAD). The engineers are also constructing an 80-meter-long driveway, from the public road to the memorial site. The foundation wants to hold events there in collaboration with others: theater, orations, lectures, information meetings.
Box full of sadness
The barracks also tell the stories of almost forgotten resistance fighters, as recorded by Cees Stolk in his book Box full of sadness, resistance in the Oldambt . This week he handed in his manuscript to Uitgeverij Leuker.nu. The book will be published in April and is a sequel to War Stories Nieuwolda: Village in Wartime which appeared two years earlier.
Stolk brought 26 almost forgotten resistance fighters out of anonymity and had long, emotional and moving conversations with family and descendants. “They are biographical sketches. Moving stories about often young people, men and women who did life-threatening resistance work. That means something to you. That touches you.”
The title of the book refers to a box. It used to contain chocolates. “Now letters, valuable memories. When you read such original letters, you know that the writer does not return from the war. Most have lost their lives. They have been killed. They were held under the most appalling conditions in the Oranjehotel in Scheveningen, in camps such as Buchenwald. It comes very close.”
With the stories, the resistance members come out of the shadows and Stolk takes them out of anonymity. “At best, there is a street named after them. But who remembers them? Who were these people? I want to give them a face in my book and soon also in the memorial center. They deserve that.”
Take the CG Wiegersweg in Finsterwolde named after resistance fighter Cornelis Gerrit Wiegers (Groningen 1894-1945 Anloo, chief guard at the Royal Military Police and resistance fighter)