On 12 November in the museum commemorating the North Sea flood of 1953 on Schouwen-Duiveland, outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science Gouke Moes announced that 45 so-called ‘gift homes’ and a village hall will receive the protective status of national listed monument.
Catastrophe struck during the night of January 31st to February 1st 1953: a spring tide in combination with an extremely violent storm rapidly gave rise to disaster conditions in Zeeland, on the Zuid-Holland islands and in West-Brabant. That same day the area was hit again by a second wave of flooding. This natural disaster took the lives of 1,836 people and tens of thousands of animals. Many survivors were left homeless. Many farms and houses were completely destroyed or severely damaged by the water and wind.
In the Zeeland village of Hansweert stand these beautiful Norwegian gift houses. More than 70 years after the 1953 flood disaster, these wooden homes still stand proudly.
International solidarity
Large-scale national and international relief efforts got underway. The Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) along with Austria and France also sent aid to the inhabitants of the area devastated by the storm in the form of 850 ‘gift homes’. These prefab wooden houses are well insulated and of a high quality. The housing units were designed and prefabricated in the donating countries. The units have architectural styles that are typical to these countries. The houses were transported to the Netherlands as prefab building kits, assembled in the disaster area and given to shelter those who had been hardest hit by the disaster.
Status of national listed monument
The designation of national monument for the 45 gift homes in the provinces of Zeeland, Zuid-Holland and Noord-Brabant – with the addition of a village hall also donated at the time by farmers in Noord-Holland – is a fitting recognition of the important place these houses hold in the history of the Netherlands, as well as of the esteem with which they are held in the region. The protected status will draw attention to the past, present and future of the overarching story about the 1953 flood, international solidarity and relief efforts in response to natural disasters.
Minister Gouke Moes: These homes are very special and visible examples of a shared history, and it is very important to preserve them properly. They are not only silent witnesses of the tremendous suffering that followed the North Sea flood of 1953, but also remind us of the support we received from our neighbouring countries. I believe that it is very valuable that these 45 gift homes can now receive the status of national listed monument.
Procedure
Members of the Provincial Executives for Culture of the three provinces took the initiative together for securing this status. Gunay Uslu, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) at the time, took their request to heart, which led to the ‘Designation Programme for the Gift Homes of 1953’. The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) will be implementing this programme on behalf of the Minister of OCW.
The decision, however, is not yet final. Municipalities can still make recommendations regarding the designation as national monument and other interested parties may submit a formal presentation of views. After this procedure, the decision will be made final, but anyone interested can still appeal. In about six months all the gift homes will be entered in the register of national monuments, at which point they will be officially considered listed monuments.