RZ-100-wt4-E-flipbook-240702 - Flipbook - Page 38
3 | 1945-1960
Reconstruction
A bitter pill
Rijk Zwaan is also affected by those consequences
In Rotterdam, the war finally ends on 8 May 1945. Although the German army has
of the war. The company ledgers include an entry
already capitulated in Wageningen on 5 May, it takes another three days before
of 2,500 guilders for direct damage caused by
Canadian troops march into Rotterdam . Perhaps Rijk Zwaan is also among the
‘Deprivation by the German Wehrmacht’. An entry
thousands of people lining Coolsingel to welcome the liberators. After so much
of 199 guilders for funeral wreaths gives an insight
hunger and misery there is great rejoicing that the war has ended, but when the
into the human suffering in the Rijk Zwaan ranks.
greatest euphoria is over, it is time to count the huge cost of the war.
The horticulture sector in The Westland suffers the
The Netherlands is a sorry sight after 5 May. More than 230,000 Dutch people
same fate. A large proportion of the greenhouses
have perished, including over 100,000 people of Jewish descent. Besides the
(especially the glass) has been destroyed, the soil
personal suffering, businesses and infrastructure have suffered enormous
is exhausted and the sheds are empty. Recovery
damage: the Germans had moved many factory installations to Germany for
in the Netherlands must initially be financed with
the benefit of their own war industry. Many bridges have been blown up, and
the company’s own resources. The vital materials
20 per cent of homes have been damaged by acts of war. In a final attempt to
required for reconstruction are scarce, and no
stop the advance of the Allied armies, the Germans flooded around 10 per cent
purchases can be made abroad due to the lack
of cultivated land – the Wieringermeer – on 17 April 1945.
of foreign currency. For example, immediately
after the war there is a huge shortage of timber,
iron and glass. In order to provide windows for
houses, the government appeals to the growers to
donate 2 per cent of their remaining glass to the
rebuilding effort. Thanks to the cooperation
of many market gardeners, a large number of
homes in the south and east of the country can
be windproofed again. But of course it also means
that the recovery of the horticulture sector in
The Westland is delayed.
Jaap Zwaan and employees evaluate beans
in the fields in Bergschenhoek.
Rijk Zwaan | Moving forward together
