The value of German-Dutch relations

On Monday, I gave a reading during a follow-up event in Nordhorn on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The first event had taken place on 8. May, and due to the high level of interest among the audience, the continuation took place in the cultural centre “Alte Weberei”. It was my fourth reading in Nordhorn and my ninth event in the County of Bentheim. Since my great-grandfather Hermann Kronemeyer – whose war experiences my book is about – was from here, it is always special for me to return to this German-Dutch border area.

The programme was diverse, with musical performances, speeches and the reading. In a panel discussion – which was moderated by the archivist Christian Lonnemann and the cultural manager Regina Göschl – the historian Dr. Lu Seegers, the journalist and regional historian Manfred Fickers and myself as an author talked about German-Dutch relations and reconciliation as well as dealing with the past.

For centuries there was a friendly neighbourship and intensive exchange between the Germans in the County of Bentheim and the Dutch. Still today the connection to the Netherlands is identity-shaping for this region. That is why the German invasion in 1940 marked a significant break, even though many Bentheimers did not support it due to the good connections. Especially the five years of occupation and the Hongerwinter caused a deep resentment towards the Germans which was particularly painful for the people in the border area. My great-grandfather didn’t dare to cross the border after 1945 for around ten years due to frequent instances of blame and vandalism of cars.

In the discussion, we also mentioned the Dutch plans to annex the County of Bentheim and the long process of reconciliation which took decades and generations. Manfred Fickers explained that in the last thirty years, the people in the Netherlands began to deal in a differentiated way with the own past, looking at both resistance and collaboration, which also led to a relaxation in the German-Dutch relations. It became very clear how valuable the present-day positive connections between people from both countries are.

After the event, Levi Osseforth, my cousin twice removed who is thirteen and also a great-grandchild of Hermann Kronemeyer, helped me to sell the books, as he usually does at my readings in this region. Otherwise I would have coordinated selling books, writing signatures and talking to the people at the same time – and especially in the County of Bentheim where a lot of people come to the table afterwards to buy a book, talk with me and where you can sometimes get the impression as if all Bentheimers are connected in some way, he was a big help.