Hilversum is a town and municipality in the Dutch province of
Noord-Holland and the largest town in the Gooi region. Hilversum is
home to many national broadcasting companies and is also referred to
as the 'media city'.
The municipality of Hilversum has 91,110
inhabitants (August 1, 2020 source: CBS) on an area of 46.19 km² (of
which 0.21 km² is water). After initially prosperous growth, the
place fell sharply in population in the second half of the 20th
century, from 100,000 in 1958 to less than 80,000 in 1999 (source:
CBS). The municipality also referred to itself as a 'garden city'
because of the green environment, which is part of the Green Heart,
and because of the relatively large number of villas, as a 'villa
village'.
The name Hilversum is in any case dated back to 1305
and according to G. van Berkel and K. Samplonius (2006) can be
explained as Hilvertshem, which means "residence or settlement (hem)
of the person Hilvert". That is in accordance with the statement of
farm names such as Hilverink in the Achterhoek. A characteristic of
the ending -hem is that it often occurs in combination with a person
or animal name, such as Arnhem ("settlement of the Arent") and
Bennekom (<Berinchem, "settlement of the people of Bero").
The memorial book Hilversum 1424-1924, compiled and published in
1924 by the municipality of Hilversum, states that if the above
statement is correct, according to tradition this person Hilfert
built his heme on what is now the Havenstraat, and refers to that on
pages 21 to 23 in Paul Klopfers 'book Das Deutsche Bauern und
Bürgerhaus Hilferts' heme is listed and depicted. It is also stated
in the book that if the above statement were incorrect, the name
could also come from 'hil' (hill). In addition, the book mentions
that Hilversum in the local dialect that was used in the past is
called Hulversom, and poses the question whether that should be the
correct spelling, whereby the name explanation would of course also
be different.
The upland Gooi is
one of the oldest inhabited areas in the Netherlands. Prehistoric
burial mounds and finds from the Hilversum culture still bear
witness to this. Water collected in the lower places, and these
became watering holes for the cattle. The villages of Hilversum,
Laren, Blaricum and Bussum have developed around these waterholes.
Due to the poor sandy soils, there was mainly sheep farming. Early
Hilversumbers lived simply. For example, they never gave their
hooves a name and, in contrast to Blaricummers and Huizers, where
farmers placed wide, high hedges as boundaries (often thorns or
beeches), almost all Hilversum farmers left the yard open or put a
simple wooden fence around it. In the living area they often had a
simple lawn with a few trees to provide shade. The hooves also never
had any decoration, except sometimes anchors that were forged into
curls to indicate the year of construction, in the style of austere,
simple Saxon farms. It is striking that Hilversummers almost never
had a floor on their farm: they wanted everything on the ground
floor. The hooves were therefore very elongated. This phenomenon
continued until at least 1880, when the Wilhelmina Hotel was opened.
The 'old' Hilversummers thought that the hotel would not be a
success because the hotel consisted of floors.
On March 4,
1424, Hilversum received the independent status of Jan (III) of
Bavaria ("John without Grace"), of the Netherlands, Zeeland and
Henegouwen (1418-1425) and thus became more independent of
Laarderkerspel (Larekerspel) during the expansion of the own
industry. The sale and processing of sheep wool was Hilversum's
contribution to the regional economy in the Middle Ages.
On
January 2, 1428 an official border (divorce of the ban) was drawn
between Laarderkerspel and Hilversum, completing the independence.
The border was assigned by Splinter van Nyenrode.
In 1585, de
Tassis set fire to many houses during his plunder in Hilversum.
In 1629 Hilversum was again burned to the ground by Croatian
mercenaries, led by the Italian general in Austro-Habsburg service,
Count Ernesto Montecuccoli, who, together with Hendrik van den
Bergh, the commander of the Spanish army in the Northern
Netherlands, left Germany earlier that year. had raided the Veluwe
to lure the troops of Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik away from the
Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch.
In the 17th century, weaving mills
grew strongly, and this industry continued to expand into the 20th
century. The farming village grew steadily, but was ravaged by fires
in 1725 and 1766 that largely destroyed the village.
On
October 22, 1798, the city council decided to renumber all houses,
from 1 to 841.
At the end of 1898 the city council decided to
abolish the fair for a few years because it said it was "a waste of
money" and there was "a lot of alcohol abuse" during the week off,
as well as "dishonesty in the alleys of the village center". In
1899, on the date when the fair week would normally start, this led
to a week of violence, including one death. The fair has taken place
again since 1903 or 1904.
While wealthy Amsterdammers already settled in 's-Graveland in
the 17th century, this only happened in Hilversum after the
connection to the railway network in 1874. In 1882 the construction
of the Gooische Steam Tram to Laren, Naarden, Muiden and Amsterdam
was completed, which because of a number of fatal accidents, it was
named the Gooise Murderer. The connection with Amsterdam was
discontinued in 1939. The last tram in the Gooi was in service in
1947.
The construction of the aforementioned railway ensured
that wealthy families, such as the Brenninkmeijer family (owners of
C&A) and the Gockel family related to them, settled in Hilversum, as
did the well-known Hilversum family Wortelboer. Partly because of
these families, Hilversum gradually acquired a predominantly
Catholic signature. This led to the construction of the large
neo-Gothic St. Vitus Church for 1,800 people, designed by P.J.H.
Cuypers, in 1892. At the end of the 1960s, Hilversum would have
eight parish churches, two of which have already been demolished,
one is in disuse and one has been converted into apartments.
After the arrival of the railway, Hilversum grew very quickly,
initially due to the growth of the textile sector (weaving mills and
related companies) and the establishment of carpet factories (of
which the Veneta eventually remained). In 1918 the Nederlandsche
Seintoestellen Fabriek started and after that the experimental radio
broadcasts also started. This was followed by the establishment of
broadcasters of all denominations. Television initially ended up in
Bussum, but the construction of the Mediapark in Hilversum-Noord
gathered all the broadcasting functions back in Hilversum. Since the
disappearance of the larger industry, the media sector has been
Hilversum's largest employer.
In 1901 and 1903 Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, stayed in Hilversum. Kruger traveled to the Netherlands to request support for the Afrikaners (also called Boers) in the Transvaal, who were at war with the English during the Second Boer War. He ended up in Hilversum after a doctor advised him to live on the high-altitude Trompenberg because he had been diagnosed with pneumonia. The house Kruger stayed in in 1901 was accidentally destroyed by British bombing in World War II. Kruger's second residence, 'Het Krugerhuis', is still there.
On May 10, 1940, the
large transmission mast of Philips at the factory on Jan van der
Heijdenstraat was blown up by order of the army. The mast hit a few
houses. On May 15, 1940 a small column of the Wehrmacht reached
Hilversum and reported to the AVRO studio to put the radio being
under German control. The AVRO cooperated willingly. The occupation
of Hilversum also took place without a bullet being fired.
At
the beginning of the Second World War, the incumbent mayor
K.L.C.M.I. de Wijkerslooth de Weerdesteijn issued a remarkable
proclamation, in which he declared himself willing to take charge of
the Dutch people. He was quickly replaced by mr. Ernst von
Bönninghausen, a NSB member who collaborated with the occupier.
On May 14, 1940, four days after the German invasion, the Jewish
SDAP councilor David Lopes Dias suddenly disappeared from Hilversum.
The mayor later stated that he had a "secret mission". After a few
months he returned unannounced and on September 4 he took his place
as councilor again. When Hilversum got a NSB mayor, Von
Bönninghausen, at the end of October, Lopes Dias resigned. Shortly
afterwards he was arrested and taken away. He then wrote a letter
that was published in the local press. After his arrest, he was
deported to Mauthausen concentration camp, where he died in 1942.
On February 26, 1941 Hilversum workers took part in the (second
day of the) February strike against the persecution of the Jews. The
Nederlandsche Seintoestellen Fabriek (NSF), among others, emptied
and almost 3,000 people took to the streets of that company alone,
but also workers from metal company Ensink, paint factory Ripolin,
the milk factory and other companies took part. In the center a
procession of, according to some 10,000 people, moved to the new
town hall. The procession was stopped there by armed German soldiers
and returned. As of 1942, the municipality was fined for this with
the levy of an extra tax of 2.5 million guilders.
The headquarters of the German army in the Netherlands, the Wehrmacht, under the command of General Christiansen, commander in chief of the Dutch part of the Wehrmacht, was moved from The Hague in 1942 in connection with a possible invasion from the sea and located in the new town hall of Hilversum. The tower was heavily camouflaged for that purpose, while at another point of the building a FLAK section was placed for the anti-aircraft defense. The actual town hall was housed in Hotel Gooiland. The Wehrmacht troops were stationed in the Trompenberg district. As a result of General Christiansen's establishment in Hilversum, part of the municipality, the villa district around the Verdilaan and the Rüdelsheim estate (a former Jewish institution for mental health care), were declared 'Sperrgebiet' and defenses including bunkers were built. For example, a tank wall was laid around the entire municipality and around the still young airport, about 5 km from the built-up area. The bunkers still exist and are nicknamed 'Wisseloordbunkers' after the country house of the same name. or 'Blaskowitzbunker', after the last German general to reside there. The Trompenberg district was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1944.
Before
the Second World War, Hilversum was home to about six hundred Jewish
families and about 1,000 Jewish refugees (a relatively high number).
Most of the Jews were active in trade or butchery. There was a
synagogue on the Zeedijk. After the war there were still 200 Jews.
The Jewish Rüdelsheim Foundation was located on the Verdilaan in
Hilversum, whose aim was to teach mentally handicapped children
skills. In the wooded area of Hilversum, a stately building, "Beth
Azarja", with surrounding land was purchased. In 1930 a second
shelter was built on the site. The number of children rose to 75. In
April 1942, the grounds of the Rüdelsheim Foundation were
confiscated by the Wehrmacht, which established its new headquarters
there. The children were housed elsewhere in Hilversum. On April 7,
1943, all children were deported to concentration camps in Eastern
Europe.
The prosecution of Jewish students and teachers at
Hilversum schools proceeded almost without resistance. In 1942 they
were sent to specially established Jewish schools, including a
lyceum led by Drs. S.A. Rodrigues Pereira. Until his forced
resignation he was a teacher of classical languages at the
municipal gymnasium in Hilversum, and also chief rabbi of the
Portuguese-Israelite Congregation in The Hague. The rector of the
municipal gymnasium, Dr. A. Makkink, like most school leaders,
cooperated without resistance on the assignment to submit lists of
Jewish students to the municipality, so that these students and
teachers could be removed from the schools. At the gymnasium there
were two teachers, plus seven boys and five girls, of whom it was
later revealed that four were killed in Auschwitz and Sobibór in
1943. At the municipal HBS, however, the director, Dr. K.W. Rutgers,
and a teacher, Mr. H.F.J. Westerveld, arrested for their refusal to
cooperate in the persecution of the Jews.
On June 20, 1942,
the Jewish lyceum was again closed by the municipality, because
according to the NSB mayor Jhr Von Bönninghausen most of the
students had already left the lyceum (decision AZ no. 2604, Gooiland
regional archives, Hilversum municipal archives, 1940-1989, inv. No.
A 2015).
Several resistance groups were active, some of which were betrayed and members executed, including eight employees of the Nederlandsche Seintoestellen Fabriek. The Albrecht group also worked with a few scouts in Hilversum, and achieved, among other things, that the estate with the German command bunker of the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht in the Netherlands, General Blaskowitz ('Blaskowitzbunker'), was bombed. The group U61 was also active, to the address Utrechtseweg 61, where a pastor lived. A number of people from this group were also betrayed and taken away or executed.
Hilversum airfield was attacked in the early morning of May 10,
1940 by Luftwaffe aircraft, but damage to the airfield was limited.
One of the flying German planes was hit by the Dutch anti-aircraft
guns and made an emergency landing near Hilversum. After the
capitulation, the airfield was immediately taken over by the German
occupier, after which considerable expansions of the airfield
quickly took place. Various buildings and facilities were added,
including a barracks for the Luftwaffe, parts of which are still in
use by the Royal Netherlands Army as a training center for the
medical troops (Korporaal Van Oudheusden barracks), but initially
with the Royal Navy as the Marine Training Camp (MOK ). In 1942 the
importance of the airfield for the German occupying forces increased
considerably with the establishment of the headquarters of all
German combat troops (Wehrmacht) stationed in the Netherlands, under
the supreme command of General Friedrich Christiansen, in the town
hall of Hilversum.
After the Fokker factories in
Amsterdam-Noord were heavily bombed by Allied aircraft on 17 July
1943, the production of Fokker was moved to Weesp and Hilversum
airport, where about 700 Bücker Bü 181 "Bestmann" training aircraft
were assembled.
In the autumn of 1944, the Germans started a new type of raid, targeting all boys and men between 15 and 55 years old; This system was tried out in Hilversum and Bussum, among others. About 4,000 boys and men from Hilversum were thus arrested from 23 October 1944 and taken away by the occupying forces from the Municipal Sports Park, partly to Bramsche, partly to the vicinity of Hanover. On October 24, another 1,500 men and boys from Laren and Bussum were added. A plaque unveiled in 1997 by Mayor J.G. Kraaijeveld-Wouters.
The local
daily newspaper De Gooi- en Eemlander sided with Nazi Germany and
was banned from publishing for some time in 1945, but then
recovered. The broadcasters also often cooperated to a great extent
with the demands of the German occupiers, as the journalist Dick
Verkijk wrote in his book about the broadcasters during the war, but
remained unaffected after the liberation. Professional musicians in
Hilversum were threatened with the German Arbeitseinsatz in 1944.
The German jazz violinist and orchestra leader Helmut Zacharias, who
performed with his orchestra (formally part of the German army) in
Hilversum for the Nederlandsche Omroep - founded by Germans, and
often participated in private jam sessions), warned Dutch colleagues
times for raids, and as a result was transferred to the Eastern
Front.
After Mad Tuesday (September 5, 1944) the
Nederlandsche Omroep disintegrated. Due to the major raid of October
1944, many radio musicians ended up in camp Amersfoort. Most managed
to get out pretty quickly; orchestra leader Klaas van Beeck and a
few others were put to work in Germany for some time. After the
liberation in Hilversum a purification committee assessed the radio
musicians, but pleaded most of them free from collaboration. Only
Theo Uden Masman of the very popular orchestra The Ramblers and Dick
Willebrandts were not allowed to conduct an orchestra for six
months. The Ramblers nevertheless immediately returned, temporarily
led by drummer Kees Kranenburg, but they faced protests and
demonstrations from former resistance fighters for some time.
In the Rosarium on Boomberglaan is the monument to the fallen
from the occupation (by professor Esser). It is the place where the
commemoration takes place on May 4. In the former central cemetery
near the old church is a monument commemorating Mauthausen. A total
of 2,300 Hilversumbers lost their lives during the war (including
the forced laborers who died in Bramsche).
After the war, Prince Bernhard took up his new position as Inspector General of the Armed Forces on the Zwaluwenberg, located between Hilversum and Hollandsche Rading, until the Prince had to give up this position in 1976 in connection with the Lockheed affair. The Inspector General with his staff still resides here.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Hilversum carried out a major new
construction program in the east and north of the municipality,
while the population increased by one third. In 1958 the number of
inhabitants passed the limit of 100,000 (in schools the students
were given rusk with mice by the municipality). Also in the 1970s
Hilversum expanded with the neighborhoods Kerkelanden and the
Hilversumse Meent in the west, which is close to Bussum. Hilversum
then also had more than 100,000 inhabitants. After this, the number
of inhabitants decreased quite sharply, reaching its deepest point
in 1999 with just over 80,000 inhabitants. The main causes were the
loss of industry and - as was the case elsewhere - lower housing
occupation (a smaller number of people per household). Unclear
municipal politics (such as the halfway termination of the
construction of a four-lane bypass), large-scale vacancy of shops in
the center and the limited possibilities for expansion of Hilversum
were not very conducive to growth.
Fairly significant
demolition campaigns took place in the center (station, old shopping
center, old hotels), in the residential areas (for example due to
the new construction of the AKN building) and at the sports park
(Expohal, trotter track). The restoration of the town hall was
delayed for a long time and then turned out to be much more
expensive than anticipated. Partly because of this, and because of
the strongly declining population, Hilversum got into serious
financial problems for years. Continuing traffic problems have also
taken their toll. The expansion of the broadcaster with commercial
channels, the arrival of Nike's European headquarters and the
construction of the Sound and Vision museum, which proved
successful, were positive. The last few years have again shown a
cautious increase in the population. On the east side, Hilversum
will be expanded with the Anna's Hoeve district.
Dissatisfaction with the inadequate infrastructure and political
quarrels was reflected in the emergence of the first local Liveable
party, Liveable Hilversum.
On May 6, 2002, during the
election campaign for the Lower House, the politician Pim Fortuyn
was shot dead by Volkert van der Graaf at the Media Park.
In
2004, an advisory corrective referendum was held for the first time
in Hilversum on the Parking Regulation. The turnout of more than 27%
was too low to be valid. Incidentally, three quarters of the voters
were against the municipal parking policy - which was not changed.