Leudal (Limburgish: Leudaal) is a municipality in the Dutch
province of Limburg that was created on 1 January 2007 from the
municipalities of Haelen, Heythuysen, Hunsel and Roggel and Neer.
The municipality has 35,999 inhabitants (August 1, 2020, source:
CBS) and has an area of almost 165 km². The town hall is in
Heythuysen.
The name Leudal is derived from the nature
reserve that is located between the centers of Heythuysen, Roggel,
Haelen, Nunhem and Neer. This area was created by erosion by the Leu
brook.
The Leudal Monument or Monument of Tolerance is located at the
Leudal Museum in Haelen. It is also called the Monument of
Tolerance, because it is the first monument in the Netherlands where
both Allies and former enemies are commemorated together. The
monument commemorates the battle that took place during the Second
World War in and above the Leudal area, the area between
Noordervaart, Neers Canal, the Maas and the Wessem-Nederweert canal.
The monument
The monument consists of a pedestal and a bronze
cast statue, made by sculptress Thea Houben from Roggel. It was
unveiled on March 8, 2001. Seagulls fly at the top of the
three-meter-high statue, symbolizing freedom. Around the monument
lie Maas boulders, representing the 687 soldiers who died there.
Eleven rays pass through it, symbolizing the eleven nationalities of
those who lost their lives. The dead came from Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, the
Czech Republic, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Commemoration
Leudal was liberated on November 15. The
commemoration usually takes place on the Thursday nearest to it.
This is organized by the Military Memorial Memorial Foundation in
collaboration with the municipality of Leudal. The meeting at the
Monument of Tolerance is attended by veterans from Allied, German
and Austrian sides, and many dignitaries from home and abroad who
together commemorate the past. As a tribute to the fallen, a flyby
is provided during the ceremony.
On November 14, 2007, a
'tree of tolerance' was planted opposite the memorial by eighteen
veterans who had come over from England, Belgium and Germany for the
memorial.
The municipalities of Haelen, Heythuysen, Hunsel and Roggel and
Neer had initially decided, together with the municipalities of Heel
and Thorn, on a voluntary municipal reorganization. It should become
one large rural municipality between the two central municipalities
of Central Limburg: Roermond and Weert. The Provincial Council of
Limburg put a stop to this. Under the General Rules for
Reclassification of Municipalities Act, Parliament took over the
reclassification procedure. There was no more voluntary
reclassification.
Heel and Thorn saw their opportunity to
abandon the idea of a rural municipality and choose a municipality
where the emphasis would be on water recreation and tourism. In
consultation with the province, a provincial reclassification advice
was eventually issued to 'The Hague' to merge Heel and Thorn with
Maasbracht. That has become the municipality of Maasgouw.
The
name Leudal was jointly chosen by the four municipalities as the
name for the reclassified municipality. The Lower House unanimously
approved the bill on June 13, 2006. VVD Member of Parliament
Willibrord van Beek made an attempt to separate Hunsel for a
reorganization with the municipality of Weert, but he received no
support in the House. An important, perhaps decisive argument in
this respect was that both the municipal council of the municipality
of Hunsel (and its inhabitants) and the municipal council of Weert
(in the event of a reclassification imposed from above; confirmed by
the PvdA motion in the municipal council adopted on 12 June 2006).
van Weert) that the majority did not see fit and therefore there was
no support for that construction 'from below'.
On September
12, 2006, the Senate accepted the bills. The formation of the
municipality of Leudal, consisting of the municipalities of Haelen,
Heythuysen, Hunsel and Roggel and Neer, could count on the unanimous
support of the senators.