Effects of the Second World War on the Forests of the Southwest Veluwe
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Effects of the Second World War on the forests of the southwest Veluwe A Master Thesis Student: Tim Zwartkruis Student number: 900528-996-120 Course: FNP 80436 Date: 19 December 2014 Page | 1 Foreword In front of you lies the result of my master thesis research, written in conclusion of my Master Forest and Nature Conservation at Wageningen University (Wageningen UR). Having done several historical courses and a historical bachelor thesis, I decided to also end withon a historical subject. In conjunction with my supervisor, ir. Jim van Laar, I decided on a study looking into the effects of the Second World War on the forests of the southwest Veluwe. I selected the southwest Veluwe area due to all the events happening there during the Second World War. I selected the period because of my interest in war history and my knowledge on the battle of Arnhem. Highlighting this study for me were the sources I could use, mainly the archive material in combination with aerial photographs and interviews. I really enjoyed visiting the archives and browsing through the old pages and papers collected there. Comparing this information with high resolution photographs portrayed a nice picture of the effects of events. The stories told by my interview respondents gave it all a more personal touch and helped me to better understand what happened during the war. Although I wrote this master thesis on my own there are several people who I want to thank for their contribution. Firstly I want to thank my supervisor ir. J.N. van Laar for his help, feedback and an interview respondent. I subsequently want to thank ir. M.A. Hoogstra-Klein for her comments on my proposal and concept version. Both of them helped me improve the quality of my master thesis. I also want to thank B. van Beek, S. Geijskes and C. van der Genugten for helping me find and access information and respondents to interview. I want to thank all my respondents for their hospitality and invaluable information. Thanks also goes to those employees of Wageningen UR Library and Dotka data for providing me with high resolution aerial photographs. I also want to thank my family and friends for their support and feedback. I especially want to thank my sister E. Zwartkruis for her help with photoshop and my father E.G. Zwartkruis for sharing his knowledge on the narrative analysis method and his overall feedback during my master thesis research. Description cover page picture Four British paratroopers of the 1st Para regiment near Wolfheze, on 17 September 1944 during operation Market Garden. The solders take cover in a shell crater most likely caused by British artillery fire (Clark, 2004; Dutch Defence Press, 2010). Page | 2 Contents Appendix A: The Second World War: Effects Foreword .................................................... 2 on the study area ...................................... 83 Abstract ...................................................... 4 A.1. Military campaign .......................... 83 1. Introduction ............................................ 6 A.2. Civilian life and the woodlands 1940- 1945 ..................................................... 87 2. Theoretical framework ............................ 9 Appendix B: Anonymous interview 2.1. Historical research and theory use ..... 9 transcription of R4 .................................... 92 2.2. Researching forest history ............... 10 Appendix C: Aerial photograph of 3. Operationalization of the theory ............ 13 Boswachterij Oostereng ........................... 102 3.1 Data gathering ................................. 13 3.2 Sources of data ................................ 13 3.3 Data analysis .................................... 16 3.4 Data representation ......................... 18 3.5 Qualitative research considerations .. 19 3.6 Research structure ........................... 22 4. The southwest Veluwe; a local story ...... 24 4.1. Boswachterij Oostereng: Rationalisation at its finest .................... 24 4.2. Estate De Duno: Abrupt change ....... 29 4.3. Boswachterij Doorwerth: Boersberg and Noordberg ...................................... 35 4.4. Estate Hoekelum: An estate divided 40 5. Stories of local people ........................... 46 5.1. Overview of the interviewees .......... 46 5.2. Respondent 1 .................................. 46 5.3. Respondent 2 .................................. 50 5.4. Respondent 3 .................................. 53 5.5. Respondent 4 .................................. 55 5.6. Comparing found narratives on effects ............................................................. 58 6. Synthesis and conclusion ....................... 61 6.1. Result discussion ............................. 61 6.2. Critical Reflection ............................ 69 6.3. Conclusion ...................................... 72 References ................................................ 76 Page | 3 Abstract This master thesis looks into the effect of the Second World War on a selection of woodlands on the southwest Veluwe area. Woodland and the Second World War are interlinked, but there have been few studies which look at the interplay between nature and war, especially in the Netherlands. A study focussing fully on the effects of the Second World War on the local woodlands is also still missing, while the potential impact of the Second World War on local woodlands in woodland poor countries is considerable. There is at the same time a renewed interest in forest history among Dutch historians and foresters. The purpose of this study is to describe the effects of the Second World War on some selected local woodlands in the Netherlands. The selected study areas on the southwest Veluwe are: Boswachterij Oostereng, Boswachterij Doorwerth, Estate Hoekelum and Estate De Duno. The following research question is used: What were the main effects of war related activities during the Second World War (‘40-‘45) on some selected woodlands of the southwest Veluwe? The theoretical basis of the research is formed from Fulbrook (2002) ideas on scientific background. The scientific background can best be described as the background the researcher has due to his training and experiences and how this influences his way of looking at the data. Together with the research question and methods it forms the basis of historical research, which looks not towards the absolute truth, but the reconstruction of the past. The scientific background Fulbrook (2002) mentions is similar to Creswell’s (2009) worldview which is characterised as a basic set of beliefs that guide action. The worldview used here is a social constructivist one, which assumes that individuals seek to understand the world. While doing so they develop subjective meanings of their experiences, which leads to many varied meanings about the world they live in. This in turn leads to multiple truths and the researcher is to make sense of, and interpret these meanings and truths. Complementary to the social constructivist worldview, the ideas about meaning and truth formulated by Wheatley (1997) are used. She argues that meaning and truth are subjectively formulated and bound to a specific location. In practice this means that everything must be seen in the local perspective. The combination of Creswell’s social constructivist worldview and Wheatley ideas on local meaning and truth form the foundation of this research. In this way they form the scientific background as discussed by Fulbrook (2002). Meaning that they form the theoretical basis in this historical research. A qualitative study is conduced to answer the research question. The information is found using methods described by Busha and Harter (1980) and Wheatley (1997), in combination with the Snowball Effect method as described by Rigney (2010). The main sources come from an archive study, aerial photographs and semi-structured interviews with people who lived near the woodlands during the war. The data from the archives and aerial photographs is analysed using the Six step analysis provided by Creswell (2009). The interviews are analysed using a narrative approach derived from Riessman (1993) and Czarniawska (2004). In the end ten main effects are discussed. These are: The obligatory cutting; as introduced by the Dutch government under German control. The forced cutting; by or for the Wehrmacht during the war. Page | 4 The construction of defence works; with the use of local wood and their destruction in the post-war period. The presence of ammunition; and the removal of it in the post-war period. Damage; occurring due to shelling and fighting during the war. Theft; of wood during the war. The presence and change of management plans; and the influence of the war upon them. Friction during and after the war; and its effects on the woodlands. Measures taken in the woodlands; the type of actions and amount of them, during and after the war. The construction of the highway; its influence and whether it is a war related activity. Most of these events occur in all case study areas or are expected to have taken place there. Only the friction and highway question are unique for the respective case study areas. The interviews, which were not location specific, also mentioned most these effects in their stories. It therefor appears that these main effects occurred on a wider scale then just in the case study areas. Closer inspection however show large differences between the case study areas as well. The main effects differ for each phase of the war. During the occupation period,