Urk is a former island and current municipality in the province
of Flevoland in the Netherlands. With 21,135 inhabitants (1 August
2020, source: CBS ) on an area of approximately 11.54 km² (and
98.36 km² of water), Urk is the smallest municipality in this
province in terms of area. Until the dike connecting Urk with Lemmer
was completed in 1939 , Urk was an island in the IJsselmeer, the
former Zuiderzee (until the Afsluitdijk was completed in 1932) . In
1942 the Noordoostpolder became. The island is still alive today for
the inhabitants of Urk. For example, people are not or live in Urk,
but in Urk.
Urk can be described as the most ecclesiastical
community in the Netherlands, 98% of the inhabitants are members of
a church community. It is a very close community with its own
dialect, Urk, which is still extremely vital and differs a lot from
the other dialects in the area. Urk also has its own national
anthem, which is sung during the annual aubade on King's Day and
other official occasions. Urk has by far the largest fishing fleet
and fish processing industry in the Netherlands. The meaning of the
name Urk is unknown, but various theories exist about it.
There is an arc of boulder clay surfacing around
the IJsselmeer , which originated in the Pleistocene : Texel ,
Wieringen , Gaasterland , Urk, the Land van Vollenhove . As a result
of meltwater , a lake, the later Almere , has formed to the south of
that arc . The Vecht flowed into the Almere to the north of the
boulder clay bump of Urk . South of Urk, the IJssel flowed with its
side arms. The van Urk boulder clay bump reaches to a height of 9
meters above sea level .
Due to the warmer climate, the sea
level rose. Around 1200 the Zuiderzee was formed and Urk, like
Schokland , Marken and Wieringen, became an island . Because there
was no facing , large pieces of the island were knocked off over
time. The southwest side, which rose straight from the sea, was
called the High Cliff . Around 1700 the island was provided with a
seawall by the city of Amsterdam .
History
The oldest
known mention of the name 'Urk' is Otto I 's deed of donation from
966 to the Monastery of Saint Pantaleon in Cologne. As was the case
with many isolated population groups, different character sketches
were also given about the Urk people, ranging from hospitable and a
great sense of self-worth to stubborn and undisciplined, tough and
tenacious. This last description is supported by the fact that the
Urkers have mastered many disasters and drastic changes in living
conditions in the past centuries, partly because the former island
is built from boulder clay. This boulder clay is a tough,
low-permeable raw material, which makes it extremely suitable for
protecting the former island of Urk from the vagaries of the former
Zuiderzee.
Ownership
There was already permanent
residence in the 10th century, as evidenced by the above-mentioned
deed of gift. It can also be deduced from this deed that Urk was
then owned by the Monastery of Saint Pantaleon in Cologne . In the
13th century, Urk came into the hands of the counts of Holland and
later on the mayor of Enkhuizen . From 1476, the artisanship of Urk
came to the Utrecht family Zoudenbalch, successively from 1476
to 1495 Evert Zoudenbalch (1424-1503) , from 1495 to 1530 Evert
Zoudenbalch (1455-1530) , from 1530 to 1558 Johan Zoudenbalch
(1503-1558) ) , from 1558 to 1567Evert Zoudenbalch (1540-1567) ,
from 1567 to 1599 Gerrit Zoudenbalch (1541-1599) . He was succeeded
by his sister Walravina Zoudenbalch (1538-1616) who from 1601 to
1614 was the last lady of Urk and Emmeloord of this family.
Between 1614 and 1660 this manor was owned by the Van de Werve
family. In 1660 Johan van de Werve sold the island to Amsterdam .
The craftsmanship of Urk and Emmeloord was governed by various
Amsterdam regents such as Andries de Graeff , Nicolaes Witsen ,
Hendrik Daniëlsz Hooft and Jan Elias Huydecooper. Amsterdam
strengthened its position in the trade with this purchase, because
Urk was the central point in the Zuiderzee, along which all shipping
routes ran.
Urk and the Schokland Emmeloord remained part of
Amsterdam until 1792, after which the States of Holland took over
the island. In 1824 Urk became a North Holland municipality and
until 1950 Urk remained with the province of North Holland , then
until 1986 with the province of Overijssel . From January 1, 1986,
the municipality is part of Flevoland. This makes Urk the only
municipality in the Netherlands that is located in three provinces.
The connection to the mainland
The first connection with the
mainland was by telephone. In 1897 a connection was established that
was especially important for the herring and anchovy trade. A second
cable was laid in 1912. This was to Kampen and cost more than
100,000 guilders. The cable was there before the post office was
renovated, so it could not be used immediately.
In 1939 Urk
was connected to a dike for the construction of the Noordoostpolder
as part of the Zuiderzee works . However, the village was completely
excluded from the planning when setting up that polder. In the years
before the Second World War, the Urk population was even considered
'retarded' by Dutch scientists , incapable of working on the land.
With these ideas, the new 'Urkerpolder' was set up in the 1930s.
In order to solve the Urk problem (the island was overpopulated, had
many diseases and many poor people and the fishing industry was
considered 'doomed'), the proposal was even made that only half of
the population and the future growth would be "out." to push "(
move). This proposal did not make it, but it was clear that the
Urkers were not included in the plans: the polder was renamed
'Noord-Oostelijke Polder' to keep the thought of Urk in the
background as much as possible. Although the island was thus already
connected to the land in 1939, the village did not get a road
connection until 1948. The population of Urk was also not involved
in the occupation, as they did not meet the "model population" that
had to be attracted to the polder. Even the question from a Urk
mayor to engineer Sikke Smeding , who was responsible for the layout
of the polder, or Urk students at the agricultural school in Meppela
chance on a farm in the polder, in response to the overpopulation of
Urk, only resulted in a single allocation of a farm. The fishing
industry was seriously damaged by the Zuiderzee works; with the
arrival of the Noordoostpolder, fishing grounds disappeared (which
in the early years sometimes manifested itself in a hostile attitude
towards the new residents) and the loss of the IJsselmeer forced the
Urk fishing fleet to move to other ports on the North Sea and Wadden
Sea .
Urk during the First World War
During the First
World War, an internment camp for foreign officers was set up on
Urk. Until 1917 there were a few dozen officers, who came from
Belgium, France and the United Kingdom . In addition to the
officers, Belgian soldiers were also interned for service functions.
Because of the Dutch policy of neutrality , soldiers of foreign
powers had to be kept away from acts of war directed against one of
the warring parties.
Urk during the Second World War
The
German occupation also affected Urk. As a small and rather isolated
fishing village, Urk had no permanent occupation during the first
years of the war. The Noordoostpolder had not yet been drained,
which meant that Urk was still difficult to reach via land. Raids
generally had little result, because the Urkers saw the German boats
approaching from afar across the water. An exception was the 'Great
Razzia' of November 18, 1944, in which the Germans approached Urk
via the polder and were able to pick up eighty men and boys in one
go.
From the air, Urk was an easy point of reference for
Allied airmen who carried out attacks on Germany. In the course of
the war it became more and more crowded in the air above Urk. Allied
airmen who crashed above the Noordoostpolder were sometimes hidden
by Urkers. A pilot line ran from Urk via the boat service to
Enkhuizen. Killed airmen found a resting place in the cemetery of
the Kerkje aan de Zee .
From 1944 Urk was faced with
permanent occupation by the Germans. A NSB mayor was appointed. As
the war progressed, the food situation became more dire, but people
in Urk were not really hungry. Some children from the west even
found shelter with Urk families, where there was always some fish on
the table.
The fishing industry suffered greatly from the
occupation. In the course of the war, the occupying forces claimed
most of the Urk cutter fleet and many Urkers lost their livelihood.
After the war, most of the cutters were found scattered across
Europe and the Urk fleet could be rebuilt.
The liberation of
Urk took place on April 17, 1945, a few weeks before the
capitulation. On April 20, the first Canadians in Urk were warmly
welcomed. Some Urkers were killed during the German occupation.
Among them one Jewish family, the Kropveld family. Their names have
been immortalized on the war memorial at the Kerkje aan de Zee.
After the war
The population of Urk doubled in the first
twenty years after the Second World War. The enormous population
pressure may not have led to migration in the 1950s, because there
was also a great housing shortage in other parts of the Netherlands.
To relieve the pressure, it was eventually decided to make border
corrections with the Noordoostpolder municipality, which was formed
in 1962. However, the housing shortage has remained and many Urkers
have therefore moved (among others) to the neighboring Tollebeek and
Emmeloord .
The economic tide turned in the 1960s when a fish
auction was opened in Urk and a lively fishing industry was
established. The Urk fish auction is the largest in the Netherlands.
The skull issue
Some scientists have long thought that the
"ancient Dutch race" would have been preserved on Urk. This led to
studies into the skull size of the population in the 1930s (among
others by the racial eugenicist H. Tj. Piebenga ) and before that to
the robbery of skulls from Urk as part of scientific research (among
others in 1877 by the Hilversum doctor Johannes Fredericus van
Hengel , who managed to steal three skulls by means of an exchange
trick and passed them on to Utrecht University ). Six of them
remained in the possession of various Dutch universities and the
German university of Göttingen until the early 21st century.
However, the entire skull examination yielded hardly any scientific
results. In 2005 these facts were discovered and published on Urk by
investigation. However, the universities refused to return the
skulls, which prompted residents to set up the Urk Skulls Committee
in 2007 to try and get the skulls back on the island. In September
2009, the ethical advisory committee of the Dutch Museum Association
ruled in favor of the committee. On June 5, 2010, six skulls were
returned in a ceremony and church service.
Recent history
In 2008, the Urkers fought in vain against the construction of 48
windmills on the coast, which would obscure them from the sea. After
the closure of the Zuiderzee by the Afsluitdijk in 1932, this was a
new battle.
On 1 January 2019, the municipality on the north
and south sides was expanded with parts of the Noordoostpolder
municipality to enable the expansion of the Urkerbos on the north
side and the construction of a business park to the south of the
town. Since only a small number of residents were involved in this,
Urk was not involved in the 2018 municipal redivision elections.