Tulips

Dutch tulips

Tulips here in Holland are already past their prime (high season is mid to late April), but in the other Holland tulip time starts now: The annual Tulip Time Festival starts tomorrow in Holland, Michigan. With tulips, klompen dances, krakelingen, and parades, Holland celebrates its Dutch roots between tomorrow and 10 May.

Meanwhile, Ottawa's Tulip Festival started today and will last until 19 May. The origins of the festival is a gift of princess Juliana of The Netherlands. In 1945, she presented Canada with a gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs, as a thank-you for providing a safe haven to the Dutch royal family during the war and for the role the Canadian army played in the liberation of The Netherlands. Now, more than three million tulips bloom, and an estimated 600,000 people from all over the world will visit the festival.

Links:

• Tulip Time official website
• Tulip Time brochure [PDF]
• Tulip Festival official website

From Dutch roots

The Canadian newspaper The Vancouver Sun published a review yesterday of The Occupied Garden, a book by Kristen Den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski. I did not read the book (yet), but apparently it's "the true-life wartime story of market gardeners Gerrit and Cornelia den Hartog, of the Dutch town of Leidschendam", their life during the second world war in Holland, their ordeal towards the end of the war, their post-war emigration to Canada, and their first years in their new country:

"The book The Occupied Garden offers an amazingly detailed and moving account of one family's life in Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War. But it's much more -- it's the quintessential Canadian story."

The book is written by Kristen Den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski, granddaughters of Gerrit and Cornelia den Hartog.

"The Occupied Garden has been released in time to be in stores when thousands of tulips -- originally a thank-you gift to Canada from Holland -- bloom and when Dutch cities mark the anniversary of the momentous days when Canadian soldiers first rolled through towns, tossing from their tanks cigarettes, chocolates and the chance for a new life."

The last line made me smile. Canadian soldiers - who played an important part in the liberation of nazi-occupied The Netherlands - are famous for leaving behind a trail of cigarettes, chocolates, and pregnant young women - as the author of this article knows: "Canadian soldiers [..] liberate much of the Netherlands and stay to help rebuild the country and seduce Dutch maidens".

The Occupied Garden: Recovering the Story of a Family in the Wartorn Netherlands, by Kristen Den Hartog and Tracy Kasaboski, published by McClelland & Stewart, ISBN 0771026226 / 978-0771026225.

From Dutch roots, The Vancouver Sun, article by Paul Gessell.

12,000 visitors to emigration fair

On Dutch teletext this morning:

"The Emigratiebeurs (emigration fair) in Nieuwegein attracted by a record 12,000 visitors. Among the visitors were many young families. Still popular are countries like Canada, Sweden and Australia."¹⁾

The emigratiebeurs is an annual two-day event, with exhibitions and presentations aimed at prospective emigrants. The post-war emigration peak is long past, but emigration remains popular, and, like 60 years ago, the popular emigration countries are Canada and Australia.

The emigratiebeurs website is also available in English.

¹⁾Translation by me. Original Dutch text of the news item: "De Emigratiebeurs in Nieuwegein heeft een recordaantal van 12.000 bezoekers getrokken. Onder het publiek waren veel jonge gezinnen. In trek zijn nog steeds landen als Canada, Zweden en Australië."

Dutch Canadians

Since the late 19th century, large numbers of Dutch settled in Canada. Prices of arable land in the Dutch-favoured regions in the U.S. had soared, and Canada became a popular alternative. Emigration peeked around the turn of the century.

Emigration stopped almost completely during the world wars and the great depression. Triggered by the low economic prospects and the rampant housing shortage, emigration peeked again after the second world war. Canada became the most popular destination for Dutch emigrants. The first group of post-war emigrants were the war brides (Canadese bruiden, Canadian brides, in Dutch), young women, many of them with babies, who were engaged to Canadian soldiers that took part in the liberation of The Netherlands. Post-war emigrants were not only farmers, but also many skilled and semi-skilled workers, settling in the cities. Currently, a million Canadians claim to be of Dutch descent (or Dutch-born themselves), 300,000 are still able to speak Dutch.

As far as I know, there is no large online database of Dutch immigrants in Canada, but there are some passenger lists scattered around the internet. There is a (small) index of freely accessible passenger lists on Digital resources Netherlands and Belgium.

Links:
Canadian war brides
Post-war emigration
Dutch Canadian Association

Post-war emigration

Emigration from The Netherlands peaked in the fifteen years after the second world war, triggered mostly by the rampant housing shortage. Emigration was actively encouraged by the Dutch government. The most popular destinations were Canada and Australia, and to a lesser extend the U.S., South Africa and New Zealand.

Tracing your roots into The Netherlands is relatively easy if you descend from these emigrants. Many of the emigrants are still alive, and even when they're not it is usually easy to find someone who has known them. You have probably some addresses of relatives in The Netherlands. On the other hand, most post-war archives are not accessible due to privacy regulations, so it may be harder to set the next step.

Once you have traced your ancestry to the 1930s or earlier, you can continue your quest online, or use traditional sources.

To fill the gap between the 1930s and your ancestor's emigration you should:

1. Ask all your relatives for information. Someone will have information dating even further back.
2. Check out family papers that you, or your relatives, still may have. There's probably a copy of your ancestor's birth certificate somewhere in your family, or maybe some letters from their relatives in the old country giving the clues you need.
3. Write (or phone, or e-mail) your relatives in The Netherlands. Even if they don't have the information you need, they will know someone who has. Be persistent (but not annoyingly persistent).
4. The Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG) has information on almost anyone who lived and died in The Netherlands between 1939 and two to three years before now. They provide extracts for a fee. Contact them for details (ask for persoonskaarten).
5. If all else fails, ask for help on the appropriate message board or forum.

North American Dutch Genealogy

Last week a new mailing list started, called North American Dutch Genealogy. There are already over 100 subscribers (including myself), and I've discovered several experts on the list of subscribers. According to the group description:

This group is mostly for people living in North America who are searching for either ancestors or descendants of persons with Dutch origin. Also welcome are people living in the Netherlands who are looking for relatives in North America.

I expect this group is going to be very useful for North Americans (but probably also for people from other parts of the world) looking for their Dutch ancestors.