Opijnen

Opijnen is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It has a population of 1,171 (as of 01/01/2019). The village is part of the municipality of West Betuwe. Before 1978, when Opijnen merged into the new municipality of Neerijnen, the village together with nearby Est formed the independent municipality of Est en Opijnen. The former municipality of Est en Opijnen was called Opijnen until 1 January 1818.

Origin of name
The name used to be written as Op-ijnen, compare Neer-ijnen (Nederijnen). There is an old story about the origin of the name Opijnen: the village owes its name to a raven, which drifted down the Waal on an ice floe. After some time he started to suffer from cold feet. Then he scratched, "Pain, 0, Pain!" Near that place arose Opijnen. In 1265 Opijnen, like Waardenburg and Neerijnen, came into the possession of Rudolf de Cock.

In the cemetery near the Dutch Reformed Church lie eight Americansoldiers, who died on July 30, 1943 in a dogfight with the GermanLuftwaffe.

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