August 21, 1930, Wieringermeer in the province of Noord Holland. The reclamation of just another piece of the Zuiderzee 'southern sea' was completed. A wooded area, when it was still land, that was called Creilerwoud. Land lost to the sea eight centuries ago during the most destructive All Saints' Flood in the year 1170. The embanked land – or polder in the Dutch language – is now being named Wieringermeerpolder instead of Creilerwoud. A few years after the reclamation, settlers from all corners of the Netherlands moved to the new fertile land. But it was not for long that these pioneers would keep their feet dry.

The first three villages founded in Wieringermeerpolder were Sluis I, Middenmeer, and Wieringerwerf. These were all functional and unassuming names. The word sluis means 'sluice'. Later, the village of Sluis I was elegantly rebranded as Slootdorp, meaning 'ditch village'. A real improvement. The name Middenmeer translates as 'middle lake', hence, in the middle of the lake. Wieringerwerf means ‘werf of Wieringen’, and werf means 'terp', which is an artificial settlement mound. Read our blog post Between Leffinge and Misthusum – Understanding the Basics of Terps to get a better picture of what these earthworks are. The element werf is similar to Warf(t), Wurt, or værft used in northern Germany and southern Denmark, respectively, or as werve used in the southwest of the Netherlands, in particular the province of Zeeland.

The Wier of Wieringen – Wieringen as such is a former island at the convergence of the (former) Zuiderzee 'southern sea' and the Wadden Sea. Its early-medieval names were UUiron, Wironi, and Wirensi. All originating from the Old Frisian word wîr or wier meaning 'raised mound' (Van Berkel & Samplonius 2018). Therefore, the name Wieringerwerf is a tautology, namely the Wier of Wieringen. Moreover, there are indications that Vikings have settled on the island of Wieringen. Especially, two silver hoards found on Wieringen point towards this.

Indeed, when in 1930 the Wieringermeerpolder and the settlement of Wieringerwerf were founded, a brand new terp was built, too. A terp for just-in-case, so to speak, because the polder would be protected with a high dyke already. It is a fancy, four-hectare big, square-shaped terp, including a top-notch fresh water well. We think it is the biggest terp ever built in the world. Back in 1930, this terp was the latest addition to the terp-building tradition that started around 600 BC on the salt marshes of the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. A terp that the Iron Age Frisians could have sucked on. Moreover, the engineers of this just-in-case terp 2.0 had great foresight indeed, as we will see further below.

On April 17, 1945, at 12:00 o’clock sharp, a desperate and frustrated Nazi army, out of anger, blew up the dyke protecting the young Wieringermeerpolder. Most of the 7,000 pioneers of Wieringermeerpolder fled with their bikes, horses, carriages, carts, cattle, etc., away from Wieringermeerpolder, whilst the water was rising steadily to a level between 0.5 and 5 meters above the 15-year-old land. When the inhabitants of the polder reached the surrounding higher grounds and dykes, part of them were awaited by soldiers. Some were taken prisoner, and one leader of the Resistance was shot on the spot.

Beemsterpolder – On February 21, 1945, the Nazi army had ordered also the inundation of the Beemsterpolder already, south of the Wieringermeerpolder in the province of Noord Holland. At the end of May 1945, the polder had been drained again.

But not all fled. Three families from the village of Wieringerwerf, a total of twenty-three people, went to the just-in-case terp that day, including some children from the city of Amsterdam who had fled the capital a few months before during the so-called Hongerwinter 'hunger winter,' also called the Famine of 1944-1945. They walked up the terp, hoping the rising water would not go beyond the highest level of the terp. If it did, they would be trapped. But it did not. The water engineers had done a proper job fifteen years back. On the terp, everyone was protected, not only from the rising water but also from the raging Nazis and the chaotic final chords of the Second World War.

Besides people, animals also reached the terp for safety. There were six cows, a few pigs, a goat, a sheep, and some rabbits, as well as a cat and a dog. The owners of the sheep and the goat were unknown. In addition, several clever – or lucky – hares stayed on the terp as well, albeit without permission. Cows provided the people with milk. Some people lived in a tent, while others were on boats docked on the terp's slope. No moles have been sighted, so they might have had a hard time surviving the inundation of the polder.

Only three days after they had occupied the terp, the first of three storms hit the area. In a way, these were welcome since they provided the newly terp dwellers with driftwood to build a shelter. Who knows, wood washed ashore collected by terp dwellers is as it was many centuries ago, in a time when wood was scarce, too, on the tidal marshlands of the terp regions along the coast of the Wadden Sea. Anyway, after two more storms, it was enough. The group left this safe haven on May 7, 1945, heading for the drier grounds of a country that had been liberated from its occupier in the meantime.

On December 11, 1945, the Wieringermeerpolder was made dry again, and life could resume its pace. Today, the polder has around 13,000 inhabitants.

For the folks living on the Hallig islands in the region of Nordfriesland in northern Germany, the unique sight of people living on a terp surrounded by water, a phenomenon called Landunter, is still the daily norm. For the Dutch, it is no longer so. But once again, the whole tragedy proved that after 2,600 years of terp culture, those raised settlement mounds are still a current and very solid solution in modern water management.

At the spot where the dyke of the Wieringermeerpolder was blown up by the Nazi army, on the east side of the polder, is still a scar. A beautiful one, though. Here, the dyke makes a little semi-circular bend to the east into Lake IJsselmeer. Behind this curve on the landside are two kolks, so-called wielen ‘wheels’ in the Dutch language, and Brack or Brake in the German language. These are small lakes created by the incoming, swirling water when the dyke was breached in April 1945. The area around it is heavily forested, in contrast to much of the rest of the polder.

Within this forest, at the time of writing (2018), you have nature camping Het Bos Roept ‘the woods call’, filled with Millennials and their long-haired children from Amsterdam. Also, in the month of September, at this location at the Dijkhuis, is a modest but charming music festival called Gat in de Dijk 'hole in the dyke'. So, more reasons worth making a detour and staying the night there while hiking the Frisia Coast Trail.

Note 1 – If you are just as excited about terps as we are and cannot wait to construct your own settlement mound, find here the first and only DIY manual Making a Terp in only 12 Steps. Take care and read the warnings carefully!

Note 2 – Hiking the Frisia Coast Trail you will pass the young terp of Wieringerwerf. The fresh water well has been replaced by a swimming pool, though. At the time of writing (2018), he swimming pool is slightly in disrepair. In 2023-2024, the terp underwent a total remake and is now known as Campus de Terp with all kinds of leisure activities.

Note 3 – If you understand the Dutch language, there is also a very informative documentary of the Wieringermeer catastrophe of 1945, click here.

Suggested music

Radiohead, High and Dry (1995)

Further reading

Berkel, van G. & Samplonius, K., Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard. Reeks Nederlandse plaatsnamen deel 12 (2018)

Guðmundsdóttir, L., Wood procurement in Norse Greenland (11th to 15th c. AD) (2021)

Oneindig Noord-Holland, De meidagen van 1940 (2012)

Regionaal Archief Alkmaar (website)

Rooijendijk, C., Waterwolven. Een geschiedenis van stormvloeden, dijkenbouwers en droogmakers (2009)

Zijper Museum (website)