Vught, Netherlands

 

Vught is a municipality in the north of the Dutch province of North Brabant, located in the Meierij of 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality has 26,709 inhabitants (1 August 2020, source: CBS) and has an area of over 34 km² with hardly any water.

 

Location and economy

Vught is located on the Dommel river, about 3.5 km south of the provincial capital 's-Hertogenbosch. In Vught the railway line divides from Herzogenbusch to Tilburg in a south-westerly direction and Eindhoven in a south-southeast direction. Here Vught has a small train station; a stop on the line to Tilburg is "in study". The A2 Herzogenbusch–Eindhoven motorway also runs through Vught (with the A65/N65 junction towards Tilburg).

Vught is a suburb of Herzogenbusch. More than half of the working population works in the neighboring city to the north. There are several nursing homes in Vught, including a psychiatric hospital. The city prison of Herzogenbusch is also in Vught.

 

Sightseeing features

The remains of the former concentration camp Herzogenbusch (Dutch Kamp Vught) can be visited. A national monument is located at the "Fusilladeplaats" (shooting site).
The Dutch Genie Museum (museum of the pioneer troops) is located in a former barracks. Limited opening (see website).
Objects from the former concentration camp can also be found in the local history museum (Vughts Historisch Museum) in the town center; alongside paintings, archaeological finds, toys from the 19th century, etc.
South of the former concentration camp is a beautiful forest and heath area with e.g. the recreation area De IJzeren Man.
Vught and Cromvoirt both have a beautiful village church built around 1500.
To the east of the village lies the Maurick Castle (built around 1500; fully restored around 1890), surrounded by a beautiful little forest, which now houses a luxury restaurant.

 

History

Archaeological excavations allow us to draw a conclusion about the prescription of human settlements on the site of modern Vugt. A coin of the Gallic emperor Tetricus I, who ruled in the middle of the third century AD, was found in Vugta. A coin of Emperor Alexander Severus was also found in the area of the city, and in 1740 it was reported that a treasure of 400 Roman coins was found near the village of Es; this treasure is now lost.

At a certain period, the Vught was probably the center of the whole of Toxandria. In the first half of the 11th century, half of the income from the settlement, then called Fugt, was transferred to the Amersfoort monastery. Towards the end of the 15th century, a large reformist church of St. Lambert was built in Vugte.

In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the city more than once found itself in the center of the fighting of the Dutch Revolution and three times served as a stronghold for the stadtholders of the Netherlands.

 

The Second World War

In 1942, during the German occupation during the Second World War, a large concentration camp was built in the forest near Vugt, covering an area of ten hectares. At the end of 1942, the camp received the German name Herzogenbusch. The first batches of prisoners were transferred there even before the construction was completed from the camp in Amersfoort, which the Germans wanted to close. The camp served as a transit point for European Jews who were sent to another camp, Westerbork (and also directly to Sobibor and Auschwitz).

In just 18 months of the existence of the camp, more than thirty thousand prisoners passed through it. In the first few months of the overcrowded camp, which reached 8,684 prisoners in May, hundreds of prisoners, including many children, died from starvation, cold, bad water, contagious diseases, and ill-treatment. Subsequently, conditions in the camp improved after large batches of Jews were transferred to other locations. In total, 749 prisoners died in the camp, among them 117 people who were shot on September 4 and 5, 1943, 20 Belgian prisoners who were also hanged in September 1943, and 329 Dutch Resistance fighters who were shot in 1944.

Camp inmates recalled beatings, rape and dog-baiting. On January 15-16, 1944, after a mass protest in the women's section of the camp, the then commandant Adam Grunewald ordered that as many female prisoners as possible be placed in one cell of 9 square meters. In the end, ten of the 74 women placed in the cell died of asphyxiation.

Before the arrival of the allied forces in September 1944, the Germans tried to "clear" the camp. Most of the women prisoners were sent to Ravensbrück and the men to Sachsenhausen. Vugt was released in the last ten days of October of the same year, but the camp was empty by that time. Immediately after liberation, the camp was used to hold Dutch collaborators and ethnic Germans and to house parts of the Canadian army. The camp for displaced persons continued to work until 1949, when its buildings were adapted for housing for immigrants from the Moluccas. The other part of the camp still serves as a military base. There is also a prison on the territory of the former camp.

 

Geography

Location

Vught, with an area of 34.46 km2, is bordered to the north by the municipality of 's-Hertogenbosch, to the east by Sint-Michielsgestel, to the south-east by Boxtel, to the south-west by Haaren and to the northwest by Heusden.

 

Transport

In addition to the A2 motorway, the town is served by Vught station, located on the line from Utrecht to Boxtel.

 

Personalities linked to the municipalit

The following personalities were born in Vught:
Arnoldus Molengraaff (1755-1822), Dutch politician.
Simon Tahamata (born 1956), Dutch footballer.
Koen van de Laak (born 1982), Dutch footballer.
Trudi Klever (born in 1964), Dutch actress.

 

Politics

Coalition

Since 2021, the College of Mayor and Aldermen has consisted of a coalition of D66, VVD, PvdA-GroenLinks and CDA. On Friday, January 20, 2023, the coalition fell apart after the adoption of a motion of no confidence against alderman Fons Potters of D66. This happened in an extra council meeting.

Board of Mayor and Aldermen (B&W)

The chairman of the Board of B&W is:
mayor: Roderick van de Mortel (VVD), mayor since 1 April 2007.

The aldermen are:
Mark du Maine (VVD), alderman for Finance
Toine van de Ven (PvdA-GL), alderman for public space
Yvonne Vos (CDA), alderman for Spatial Development
The municipal clerk has been Wouter Keijzers since September 1, 2022. Fons Potters (D66), alderman for Housing, resigned on January 23, 2023 after a vote of no confidence in a council meeting of January 20, 2023.

 

Discussion about reclassification

The municipal council of Vught has chosen to remain an independent municipality. The division and division of the municipality of Haaren means that on January 1, 2021, the core of Helvoirt of this municipality was added to Vught. On November 18, 2020, elections took place for the municipal council of the reclassified municipality of Vught.

 

Media

The municipality of Vught has a local broadcaster: VOS/NOVO3, which took over the broadcasting license in the municipality from Avulo on March 1, 2022. In addition, a number of regional broadcasters can be received, such as Omroep Brabant. Before that there was a regional television broadcaster: TV73 (previously known as VTV1), but it stopped broadcasting on November 11, 2011. This channel then became TV73 and stopped in early 2021, after which Vught was without a local broadcaster. Since 2019 there is a local internet broadcaster NOVO3.

The regional newspaper in Vught is the Brabants Dagblad. This newspaper has its own edition for Vught and 's-Hertogenbosch. There is also a free weekly door-to-door newspaper, Het Klaverblad.

The publishing house De Zolderpers was located in Vught.

 

Education

Vught has twelve primary schools and two secondary schools (a merger of three schools): the Maurick College and a school for special education: the Zuiderbos College. In addition, Vught has two language institutes: the Jeroen Bosch Institute and the Regina Coeli Language Institute, the latter of which is also known as “De Nunnen van Vught”. Vught Evening Training SKO is also located in Vught, a training institute set up for adult education.