The unique story of the Colonies of Benevolence World Heritage site
The unique story of the Colonies of Benevolence World Heritage site
Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord Veenhuizen
Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord Veenhuizen The unique story of the Colonies of Benevolence World Heritage site
Colofon
The unique story of the Colonies of Benevolence World Heritage Site
A publication of the Province of Drenthe
Source Colonies of Benevolence
World Heritage nomination file, 2020
Images Province of Drenthe (site holder for Dutch Colonies of Benevolence in the Netherlands); photographer James van Leuven, photographer Ludo Verhoeven, Drents Archief and Rijksmuseum
Text Jan Paul Schutten
Design Province of Drenthe
Editing Province of Drenthe
For more information and contact kolonienvanweldadigheid.eu
First edition September 2013; second edited edition December 2016; third edited edition March 2021; fourth revised edition, May 2023
Copyright Province of Drenthe
We take great care when sourcing visual materials. If you nevertheless believe an image has been used unlawfully, please contact us.
The Colonies of Benevolence
The Colonies of Benevolence: it may sound like a paradise from an old fairy tale, but these places have really existed in the Netherlands and in Belgium. Their traces are still visible today, in the landscape, the roads and the historic buildings. They still exist in invisible ways, too, in the memories of many families.
From 1818 onwards, in seven years’ time the Society of Benevolence founded seven Colonies of Benevolence, with the aim of fighting poverty through agriculture in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Colonies are: Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord, Willemsoord, Ommerschans and Veenhuizen in the Netherlands, and Wortel and Merksplas in Belgium.
Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord, Veenhuizen and Wortel were granted UNESCO World Heritage status on 26 July 2021. These are the areas where the traces of the past have best remained visible. In 2020, all seven Colonies of Benevolence together were awarded the European Heritage Label because of the significant role they played in the history of Europe.
What are the Colonies of Benevolence? How important are (were) they? And what does it mean that they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site? This brochure will tell you all about the history, the evolution, and the remaining traces of this poverty-fighting initiative, the only one of its kind in the world.
FREDERIKSOORDWILHELMINAOORD
VEENHUIZEN
OMMERSCHANS
WILLEMSOORD
WORTEL
COLONY HOUSE IN FREDERIKSOORD (ARCHIVAL PHOTO)
The origins: A grand plan to combat poverty
It is 1818 and things aren’t going well for the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the area we know today as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In recent decades, the kingdom has waged and lost several wars. Trade is nothing like it used to be and poverty is rife, particularly in the cities. A third of the population depends on aid from others. But who is helping them? In previous centuries, the church had borne responsibility for looking after the poor, but a few years back the government has taken over this task. Thus far, it has left the poorest people to fend for themselves, and too little is happening. That
is why a group of upper-class citizens, led by the former officer Johannes van den Bosch, sets up an organisation to deal effectively with poverty. They call themselves the Society of Benevolence. Prince Frederick, the son of King William I, becomes their patron.
A new chance
The Society of Benevolence’s poverty-fighting plan perfectly suits the prevailing ideas of the Enlightenment (see opposite). It is an ambitious scheme, based on the makeability of people. So many people live in poverty, so many orphans, disabled people, beggars, prostitutes,
“The beggars themselves should be distinguished into two classes, namely those who call upon the Society’s aid of their own free will and those who will have to be forced to do so.”
THE SECOND INSTITUTION (GOVERNMENT WORKHOUSE) IN VEENHUIZEN (ARCHIVAL PHOTO)
THE SOCIETY OF BENEVOLENCE’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE THE STAR (1819)
vagrants and others in need. People who cost money because they need help, cause problems or create a nuisance. But what will happen if these people are given a new chance? What if they learn to build up a good life living as disciplined, honest labourers? By working together to cultivate an area of barren and infertile soil and continue to work the land as farmers? At the time this is a major initiative, which - if it works - will benefit society at large.
OF JOHANNES VAN DEN BOSCH
BY CORNELIS KRUSEMAN (RIJKSMUSEUM)
The Age of Enlightenment: a new way of thinking
For centuries, God was held responsible for everything. Disease, death and poverty were in God’s hands. At the end of the 17th century, however, a new way of thinking emerged. Science, led by people like Newton, Linnaeus and Boerhaave, had made major discoveries that assigned people with an increasingly central role in determining the quality of life. Thanks to science, treating diseases was becoming easier. New discoveries were making life more pleasant. Instead of adapting to their environment, people bent their environment to their will. God had given people the skills to improve their own destiny. According to the new way of thinking, such talents should be made use of. And that is how life became makeable. This period and the way of thinking came to be known as the Enlightenment.
PORTRAIT
Crowdfunding
Such a grand and ambitious plan requires a huge budget. The elite, of course, had money at hand, but funds were not unlimited. So the necessary resources were amassed using a method that wouldn’t be out of place today: crowdfunding. Interested parties could make a donation or join the Society of Benevolence by payment of an annual fee. Not only the wealthy, but also other sections of the population were so impressed by the idea that they were eager to contribute. The Colonies attracted the attention of prominent European thinkers, policymakers and activists of the time. The
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF FREDERIKSOORD (PRINT, 1823)
>> FARMING IN FREDERIKSOORD
project was followed abroad with great interest. Numerous books, pamphlets, magazines and reports on the Colonies were published inside and outside the Netherlands, in most cases with highly favourable conclusions. The idea was that such a project should also be carried out in the authors’ own countries.
Trial and error
In 1818, the first Colony of Benevolence is built: Frederiksoord. The Colony contains 53 farmhouses, each with a 2.5-hectare plot of land to be cultivated from scratch. The families are given their own house, complete with furniture, linens and household goods, but meals are communal, with food provided by soup kitchens. Any means they receive are on loan, to
be repaid in the form of labour. Men grow their own crops on the land; women spin yarn. The necessary carpenters, blacksmiths and other craftsmen are brought in from the surrounding area. The idea is that life in the Colony will eventually become fully self-supporting.
After Frederiksoord, more Colonies soon follow in the Netherlands and Belgium. Each new agricultural colony is organised slightly differently, adapted on the basis of mistakes and discoveries made in the previous settlements. Hence, the Colonies are constantly evolving. Through trial and error, each Colony is adjusted to the time, the new requirements and the circumstances.
COLONY HOUSES IN FREDERIKSOORD (DRAWING, EARLY 19TH CENTURY)
Life as a colonist
Work ennobles
The founders of the Colonies of Benevolence aren’t farmers. All their agricultural knowledge comes from books. The poor from the cities of course have no agricultural experience either. They are no longer used to working, and frequently have alcohol problems. So, these formerly unemployed must be kept in line through severe discipline and a strict timetable.
In other words, labour therapy. Compulsory churchgoing is also part of the plan. Which church doesn’t matter. There are Catholic and Protestant churches as well as synagogues. But because all of this still isn’t enough to make people do their best, punishments and rewards are introduced. Those who don’t do their best are punished and those who work hard are rewarded, for example with a better
<< SCHOOL IN WILHELMINAOORD >> MEDAL OF HONOUR, 1819, PRESENTED TO COLONISTS AS A REWARD
job, a nicer house or a medal. The ultimate goal is for residents to become regular members of society again.
The highly disciplined system is reflected in the layout of the landscape. Colonists’ houses are arranged along parallel roads, so that a close watch can be kept on everyone. The disciplinary system in the Colonies of Benevolence has had a major impact on the development of institutional and detention care in Europe. France and Germany, in particular, experimented with forms of domestic colonies for juvenile delinquents, psychiatric patients and disabled people. Laboratories and educational institutions in the Colonies served as an incentive for science and research in the field of criminology, for example regarding the effect of formal punishment. After 1918, social legislation ushered in a fresh approach to combatting
unemployment. As a result, the Colonies evolved into “normal” villages and areas with prisons and institutions for detention care.
Free and unfree colonies
Apart from the free colonies for poor families, the Society of Benevolence also establishes “unfree” colonies for large groups of individuals, in an effort to keep the approach effective and affordable.
In Ommerschans, Veenhuizen and Merksplas large-scale institutions are built for orphans, beggars and vagrants. They are not expected to independently run a small farm, like the families in the free colonies.
THE DE RIJK FAMILY SOON AFTER ARRIVING IN FREDERIKSOORD IN 1909 (MAIN PHOTO), AND A YEAR LATER (INSET, WITH LIVESTOCK)
COLONY HOUSES IN FREDERIKSOORD (PARTIALLY IN USE BY STAFF)
THE THIRD INSTITUTION IN VEENHUIZEN (PRINT)
The residents of the unfree northern colonies of Veenhuizen and Ommerschans are known as “inmates”. They are housed in large institutions. These Colonies had a collective working method and the residents were kept under continuous surveillance. In all the Colonies, the objective was to enable inhabitants to return to society as good citizens. In the unfree colonies this proved to be extremely difficult.
The makeable human being
So, according to Johannes van den Bosch and his associates, human beings are makeable. Disadvantaged people can be turned into good citizens who will contribute significantly to society. The combination of work, religion and schooling will help them reach this goal. Children in the Colonies go to school every day from the age of five, long before education is compulsory for the children in the rest of the Netherlands and Belgium. The best pupils can follow secondary education. Adults, too, receive (agricultural) training, learning
everything they need to know to be able to lead independent, successful lives later on. Discipline is another important cornerstone. There are countless rules and schedules, uniforms, and even an internal money system.
Completely Self-sufficient
Residents can spend the money they earn in the Colony shops, where everything they need is for sale. And yet life is about more than work; there is time for leisure too. The Colonies are selfsufficient. Everything is available – food, furniture and other household necessities, education, churches, medical care, recreational facilities –at a time when this is certainly not a matter of course for everyone. The word “colony” is apt in this sense: these are literally newly cultivated sites in the middle of nowhere. On the one hand this is out of necessity, because land for the initiative happens to be available there. On the other hand, the remoteness is very convenient. Since residents have nowhere to go, they aren’t tempted to do things like, for example, buy liquor.
LANE IN FREDERIKSOORD (POSTCARD C. 1900)
SERVICE HOUSING OPPOSITE ‘HOSPITAALCOMPLEX’ VEENHUIZEN
Success or failure?
Does the initiative work out? Are the Colonies of Benevolence a success? Certainly not on all fronts. Particularly in the early decades, harvests are deeply disappointing, with yields far too low to feed everyone. Eventually it is decided to partially switch from growing food crops to forestry. Labourers initially receive wages for a day’s work, but because the older colonists can’t do the same amount of work as the younger ones, this reward system is dropped. Rewards and penalties continue to
play a role in the Colonies. A police council applies penalties and can downgrade a colonist from a free to an unfree colony, which happens regularly. On the other hand, colonists could ‘make a career’ by moving to a different Colony to become, for example, free farmers. However, the number of people who actually succeed in building up independent lives outside the Colonies lags far behind expectations. And for many residents, life in the Colony is a true nightmare.
Success and failure
Since the colonists live closely together, contagious diseases can spread rapidly. Each Colony has doctors and medical care (for which colonists have to pay a mandatory contribution), but medical knowledge of the time leaves much to be desired. Occasionally, families are split up, with all its tragic consequences. But the most important thing is that very few people in the end manage to pay off their debts and return to society. So, the initiative fails in a number of
ways. And for many families the Colonies of Benevolence become places of despair, sorrow and shame. On the other hand, the Society of Benevolence has served as a wake-up call for the government and pointed out its responsibilities in different areas. For example, the Colonies are at the basis of laws and institutions that will considerably improve housing conditions, education, health care and working life for the lower strata of society.
The story is told
Over the years, the Colonies’ reputation continues to deteriorate. Or, more accurately, the fact that the number of poor causing problems in society keeps decreasing, results in a negative reputation for the remaining colonists. Families become ashamed of their ties with the Colonies. There is a stigma attached to the residents, which causes them to hide or deny their origins. Only by the end of the 20th century this image changes. The initial shame disappears and the families are proud of the social development they have gone through over the past years. Books recounting those families’ histories are published, for example Susanna Jansen’s Het pauperparadijs (The Pauper’s Paradise).
The archives, too, provide an in-depth look at the – at times tragic - residents’ life stories. In four books on the Colonies of Benevolence, the author Wil Schackmann has used the archives to picture the lives and the community within the Colonies. The landscape recounts that same history in its own way, through the places, the buildings, the homes, the roads and the canals. Anyone who visits the Colonies of Benevolence today will see evidence of a long quest for hope, social equality and betterment. The straight roads and sober buildings exude a strong drive towards order. Order and hope. Hope for a better world – one that, two centuries onwards, has not become reality for everyone.
THE SECOND INSTITUTION AND FIFTH ‘WIJK’ IN VEENHUIZEN
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Colonies of Benevolence are unique in the world. Nowhere else has such a large-scale plan to tackle poverty and improve people’s lives through agriculture been realised. Not only the plan is large-scale. The surface area of the Colonies, too, is unprecedented: a total of around 80 square kilometres. They have a profound impact on the landscape. They stand as a superb and tangible illustration of the way of thinking in the past two centuries, from the Enlightenment to the present. The way in which the poor and the socially undesirable were to be transformed into fully fledged participants in society is still evident, particularly in the areas nominated as World Heritage Site. This makes the landscapes and their buildings of inestimable value, and this certainly also applies to the stories behind them. The Colonies were an experiment conducted through trial and error. Despite the good
intentions, it has led to painful memories and dark chapters in many families’ histories. Indirectly, however, the plan did make an important contribution to current social services, which in the Netherlands and Belgium are among the best in the world. The Society of Benevolence is one of the first organisations to be financed through crowdfunding. All in all, the Colonies of Benevolence are an impressive example of the pursuit of a better world, one with less poverty and more social equality, emancipation and education. They are a living monument to an important part of our history.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
On 26 July 2021, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to inscribe the Colonies of Benevolence (Veenhuizen and FrederiksoordWilhelminaoord in the Netherlands and Wortel in Belgium) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
FARM WITH INTEGRATED HOUSING (MIDDENHUISBOERDERIJ) IN VEENHUIZEN
UNESCO is known for the World Heritage Convention and the associated World Heritage List. The objective of the 1972 Convention is to preserve heritage which mankind considers to be of outstanding and universal value for future generations. Inclusion on the World Heritage List does not come with funding or other financial benefits. Each country is responsible for the preservation and protection of its listed cultural landscape or monument. As well as ensuring its protection, a site’s inclusion on the World Heritage List helps to strengthen cross-cultural understanding. Each World Heritage Site is in its own way unique, of major importance to everyone, and irreplaceable.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee is the most important body in the field of World Heritage, and implements the World Heritage Convention. In its annual meetings, it makes decisions on matters such as new World Heritage List inscriptions, assessments based on World Heritage Sites’ reports on their state of maintenance, the list of World Heritage Sites in danger, the World Heritage Fund, and various thematic programmes.
In 2022, 1,154 cultural and natural sites in 167 countries were on the World Heritage List. Of those, 52 were designated as ‘endangered’. The Netherlands had 12 World Heritage Sites in 2022.
M.A. VAN NAAMEN VAN EEMNESLAAN IN, FREDERIKSOORD
COLONY HOUSE IN FREDERIKSOORD (PRINT)
FREDERIKSOORD (PRINT)
Outstanding Universal Value
The unique layout of the landscape, showing us how a Colony functioned as a domestic agricultural colony to combat poverty, is of outstanding and universal value because:
• The way the landscape is designed and laid out is meant to spur rational and productive behaviour in residents. In other words, the straight lines of the roads and avenues and the rhythm and the regularity of the buildings were intended to make residents think logically and work efficiently.
• The social experiment that aimed to cultivate poor people as well as poor soil. A utopian idea, based on ideas of the Enlightenment, was put into practice. “Elevation” of residents through work, education and moral instruction was the central theme. Even though this certainly didn’t always succeed, the intention was to give them a better life. This system strongly influenced 19th-century institutional care in Europe and beyond.
Why do the Colonies of Benevolence meet the World Heritage criteria?
The cultural landscape of the Colonies is intact and complete, authentic and unique in the world. The Colonies of Benevolence meet two of the 10 criteria for heritage to qualify for the title of World Heritage Site: ii and iv.
(ii) to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, townplanning or landscape design
(iv) to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.
For more information see whc.unesco.org.
COLONY HOUSE IN WILHELMINAOORD
Evolution
In the course of more than a century, the Colony landscape has been enriched. The buildings we see today were built partly by the Society of Benevolence and partly by the government. Through all phases, changes have taken place. When a building becomes vacant, an appropriate new use is found. The significance of the heritage is fully recognised by the population and the authorities, and there is no question of urbanisation pressure in the areas.
The use of the Colonies of Benevolence for agriculture and the pursuit of the social aims formulated by the Society of Benevolence have largely been continued, and supplemented with new functions.
Protection, preservation, maintenance and propagation
Once heritage is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a party is appointed to act as first point of contact on matters relating to the preservation of the unique values of the heritage. This party is responsible for sustainably safeguarding the heritage and propagating its meaning, for example through the visitor centres. The Dutch and Belgian governments share this responsibility. In the Netherlands, the Province of Drenthe has been appointed and in Belgium Kempens Landschap (Province of Antwerp). This is a joint responsibility with organisations in the areas.
The World Heritage status can result in more tourists, business activity, investors and a wider international network. It doesn’t mean placing an area “under glass”. The areas will not become open-air museums where nothing is allowed to change. New developments should, however, be consistent with a Colony’s character and capacity.
MUSEUM DE PROEFKOLONIE IN FREDERIKSOORD
European Heritage Label for visitor centres
In 2020, the European Commission awarded ten sites that have played a significant role in the culture and history of Europe and/or the build-up of the European Union. These sites have received the European Heritage Label. Belgium and the Netherlands have received a joint label for the Colonies of Benevolence. This label once again demonstrates the major importance of the Colonies of Benevolence for European history. Their history illustrates the long evolution in European thinking regarding marginalised population groups and the hardly recognised acknowledgement of their rights as fully fledged members of society. These rights are currently enshrined in Article 2.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The visitor centres in the Colonies of Benevolence – Museum de Proefkolonie in Frederiksoord, Colony 5–7 in Merksplas, and the National Prison Museum in Veenhuizen –propagate European values.
The seven Colonies of Benevolence in order of their founding:
FREDERIKSOORD (1818)
WILHELMINAOORD (1818)
OMMERSCHANS (1819)
WILLEMSOORD (1820)
WORTEL (1822)
VEENHUIZEN (1823)
MERKSPLAS (1825)
Frederiksoord (1818)
The social experiment began here, with a small trial colony that was quickly expanded. A stately drive leads to the Huis Westerbeek estate, which was already there before this Colony was founded and which was used by Johannes van den Bosch as a base. The Foundation Society of Benevolence, which manages large parts of the heritage, still has its offices here.
Wilhelminaoord (1818)
Here we can see how the Colonies invested in education and care, anticipating the subsequent initiative by the state. Wilhelminaoord had the first primary school with compulsory attendance, and the first retirement homes. In this Colony you can see clearly how the organisation of work changed over time. The small farms became homes, and large farms, such as Hoeve Prinses Marianne, were added to serve as a base for collectively working the land.
Wortel (1822)
Wortel was a hybrid Colony, combining the landscape structure of a free Colony with the buildings of an unfree Colony. The small houses were replaced by a large institution – still a prison today – and staff housing.
Veenhuizen (1823)
Veenhuizen was built in 1823. With three institutions, each housing 1,200 people, it was the largest and most ambitious Colony of Benevolence. In contrast to the Fochtelooërveen wasteland and the ‘esdorp’ village landscape, a rational landscape took shape around the institutions, with straight, tree-lined avenues and waterways, farms and workshops. To enhance the self-sufficient character, there was even a steam-powered cotton mill. Unusually, the colony had a Protestant church and a Catholic church as well as a synagogue. It was mostly orphans, beggars and vagrants who ended up here. Inhabitants lived in groups, with strict rules and a rigid hierarchy.
Find out more
Read more: General
• The Colonies of Benevolence, an exceptional experiment
• Het Pauperparadijs (2013) Suzanna Jansen Excerpts in English here: https://www.suzannajansen.nl/ het-pauperparadijs/excerpts
• Tales of Veenhuizen. A long history in short stories, Minsung Wang and Kees Timmerman
Three heritage centres tell the story of the colonies:
• Museum de Proefkolonie, Frederiksoord: proefkolonie.nl
• National Prison Museum, Veenhuizen: gevangenismuseum.nl/en
• Colony 57 visitor centre, Merksplas: kolonie57.be/en
WERELDERFGOED IS VAN ALLE VOLKEREN VAN DE WERELD, ONGEACHT HET GRONDGEBIED WAAROP HET ZICH BEVINDT.
POLDER
Audio tours
• Audio tour of “The Pauper’s Paradise” in Veenhuizen, starting from the National Prison Museum, Veenhuizen
• Audio tour of the free colonies of Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord and Willemsoord, starting from Museum de Proefkolonie, Frederiksoord
Websites
• UNESCO: whc.unesco.org
• Dutch World Heritage Foundation: werelderfgoed.nl/en
• Colonies of Benevolence: kolonienvanweldadigheid.eu/en
SEVENTEENTHCENTURY CANAL RING AREA OF AMSTERDAM INSIDE THE SINGELGRACHT
WATER DEFENCE LINES
AREA OF WILLEMSTAD, INNER CITY AND HARBOUR, CURAÇAO
