Camp Twilhaar

Camp Twilhaar, located between Nijverdal and Haarle in Overijssel, was built in 1940 to provide shelter for unemployed men, who had to work on the Sallandse Heuvelrug. For two years unemployed fishermen and sailors from the vicinity of Katwijk and Scheveningen stayed in Twilhaar, until they had to make way for Jewish forced labourers.

On July 10, 1942, the first Jewish men arrived by train. 'They were all people from the city of Groningen. Still full of courage and fun', camp manager Henner Hoijmann noted after the war. After the Groningers, men also came from Tilburg and Amsterdam. Twilhaar eventually accommodated nearly a hundred Jewish forced laborers.

The camp consisted of two long residential barracks containing twelve housing units. There was also a canteen, a kitchen with accommodation for the cook / manager, a laundry room and a peeling room. Maurits van Adelbergen wrote after a week of forced stay in the camp: 'There are 8 people in each room, while there is a day care centre for each group (...) The food is decent, of course it can't be like home, but it's best done with a little art and flying.'

A working day lasted from 7:00 in the morning until 16:45 in the afternoon. Under the guidance of employees of staatsbosbeheer, the Jewish forced labourers had to dig away sandy soil with pebbles and stones, remove heathland, clear trees and build roads. Most men weren't used to that physically demanding work.

As time went on, the regime in most labor camps became more aggravated. The relaxation evenings were cancelled and the men had to save themselves. Izaak van Berg wrote: 'Last night we had two guests at tea. Everyone takes a chair and a small thing and we have made it a pleasant evening. That's how we spend our free time and we have to make what we can make of it.'

Maurits van Adelsbergen wrote: 'We are getting stricter provisions here. Smoking and freedom of movement are already prohibited. Next week, I believe, we should exercise and march to and from work, roll call more often, maybe censor mail and parcels.' The camp residents managed to circumvent this censorship with the help of contact persons in Nijverdal; It was arranged with them how mail and parcels from home could still be received secretly.

Thursday evening, October 1, 1942, there was an extremely nervous tension in the camp when rumors circulated that SS men were approaching. The next day the men had to walk on their way to the station in Nijverdal. From there they were sent to camp Westerbork under the guise of family reunification.

Some time after the departure of the Jewish forced labourers, the camp was cleaned and cleaned up. Evacuees filled the vacant sleeping spots. At the end of 1944, the German occupiers built a runway for VI missiles in the immediate vicinity of the camp. The area around the launcher was declared a 'Sperr area' and camp Twilhaar had to be evacuated. At the beginning of 1945 the residents were able to return.

On 22 March 1945 Nijverdal was bombed. Many families became homeless and camp Twilhaar offered a temporary solution for them. But German soldiers, Canadian liberators and returned forced labourers would also populate the camp.

When the last inhabitants had left, the camp lost its function. The barracks were dismantled in parts and traded to buyers.

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