The historical circle of the exhibition is not limited to the 19th century settlement of Cotton

“It’s always time to stay or go somewhere”

By Bernhard Harfsterkamp

WINTERSWIJK – One year later, I was able to show the end of something that has been long overdue. Historical Circle The Unified Exhibition about Cotton Immigration opened on Saturday 20th November. Can only go on Saturdays and Sundays. After this, the bilingual exhibition will travel. It will be seen at next year’s Bochsolt, Alton, Oding and the World’s Wenders in Windsorwig.

Shipwreck with Phoenix
“Today is a special day,” said Henk de Gulwe of the Historical Circle on Saturday. It has been 174 years since the Phoenix shipwrecked on Lake Wisconsin. 154 settlers were killed. Of these, 84 were from the region and 29 from Cotton. The story of this disaster is an important part of the exhibition. The names of all those who died are in the Phoenix Memorial in the old cemetery in Wintersvig. It was placed in 2017 at the initiative of the historical circle. “After that we continued the story of the immigrants,” De Gulvey said. De Kring also hopes to reach elementary schools through this exhibition. “Our mission is to pass on, inform, and learn about history. There have been many diaspora movements in history. Staying or going somewhere is all the time.

Enjoy the exhibition as an expat or wanderer
The official name of the exhibition is ‘Achterhoekers and Westmünsterländer adrift’. Pep Gottlieb, who has been instrumental in collecting documents on the subject for many years, was allowed to open the exhibition. She did this by entering the United States as an ‘immigrant’. After showing a pass and completing the required papers, she was allowed to enter the country and a border tree was planted for her.

Visitors can enjoy the exhibition in two ways: immigrant and survivor in the Netherlands. Then the road goes pastVarious information panels with multiple charts, which attracts the viewer. The amount of text for a panel is manageable, but if you go through all the panels in both roles, you will need to process a lot of information. Therefore, it is better to visit the exhibition twice. Although the exhibition focuses on the great waves of immigration to the United States that were voted on in the 19th century, it also focuses on immigration to other countries and from other emigration movements from Europe.