Just recently, I was reading a Dutch book about certain WW2 events. I am not going to discuss the book here, but the cover photo did attract my attention. It shows an almost deserted street, a couple of people, a lot of emptiness, snow, and two parked cars. In most books, there is some explanation about the cover photo on the inside. But not in this case.
For one reason or another, the image intrigued me; it made a desolate impression. So I decided to try and find out more about it. It may be a coincidence, but in my view, there is a perfect match with this week's prompt: buildings, people, a street, and a couple of cars. But now, the cover photo.
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| Front cover 'The Velser Affair' |
The title of the book refers to the name of a town/municipality in the province of North Holland. It is situated on the Dutch west coast, adjacent to the North Sea. So it will not be a wild guess to suspect that the photo was taken there. Let me first describe the things I see in this picture. But before I do that, the picture does not consist of the front only. It extends to both the spine and the back cover of the book.
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| The complete picture |
A close look reveals details such as the words 'hotel restaurant' on the building to the left (near the A of Affaire) and 'pension' (boarding house) on the back cover, two cars of pre WW2 design, seemingly disappeared buildings on the left side of the street and there seems to be snow on the street and partially also on the sidewalk. The facade on the right, just below the eaves, has been decorated with a capital W. A magnifier reveals the registration on the licence plate: G-70647. It also looks like there are heaps of snow against the building at the end of the street (red arrow).
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| A closer look at the license plate and snow |
Armed with this knowledge, I leafed through address books issued in the 20s and 30s of the previous century, looking for hotels in Velsen. I found most in IJmuiden, part of the municipality of Velsen. The site of the
local historical society shows a number of old picture postcards. One of these cards portrays recognizable buildings.
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| Hotel Augusta in IJmuiden |
Comparing the Augusta hotel building characteristics with the building on the cover, the similarities are evident. Also, W's on the opposite building are clearly visible. As can be seen on Google Street View, the building is still there.
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| Neptunusstraat corner Oranjestraat ex Google Street View |
If you again compare the building characteristics, there can be no doubt, it is the hotel Augusta. The next question, of course, is, where does the cover photo come from? After consulting a number of image banks, that riddle is also solved. The
regional archive of North Holland has the original in its collection.
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| The uncropped cover photo of the Oranjestraat (Orangestreet) |
Usually, photographers do not permit their work to be modified. And that includes cropping. But according to the regional archive, the photographer is unknown 1). Therefore, the publisher apparently felt free to remove parts of the picture, both left and right.
The archive dates this picture to be taken in 1945. And that is very well possible because the further side streets of the Oranjestraat, such as the Prins Hendrik- and the Kanaalstraat, have disappeared. Insofar as they were not sacrificed to create a field of fire for the German coastal defenses (Atlantic Wall), the houses in those streets were destroyed as a result of two Allied bombardments on March 26 and August 24, 1944. With so many German defenses, 'Fortress IJmuiden' was a popular target for the RAF.
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| RAF aerial photo of IJmuiden, March 18,1945 2) |
The Oranjestraat area is in the red rectangle. The lighter area is where the bombarded houses were.
Assuming that indeed there is snow visible on the cover photo, the dating estimate can be more accurate. During the winter of 1945/46, there was hardly any snow in this part of the country. But a winter earlier, there was severe frost and serious snowfall in January 1945 (the Hunger Winter). In many places, it snowed for a long time; there is talk of 14 days with 40 cm of snow. If that is true for IJmuiden, then this photo must have been taken at the end of January, beginning of February 1945. And there is another reason why this picture may have been taken by the end of January.
As I mentioned earlier, the license plate of one of the cars can be deciphered. It is G-70647. The G indicates that the owner lives in North Holland. If this photo was indeed taken in early 1945, you can't help but wonder who would still be allowed to drive around in a car. It must be some notable. Fortunately, the regional archive has preserved the '
registers of registration certificates of motor vehicles'. And there we find the owner of this plate.
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| Jan Hendrik Emck, owner of the license plate G-70647 |
The registration is dated February 27, 1930. In those days, the plate number did not belong to a car but to an owner instead. So we can be certain that the car in the cover photo belongs to Mr. Emck. The address books mentioned earlier also reveal that Mr. Emck holds a high position in the provincial (state) electricity company. So he was important to the German occupation authorities. It is likely that, because of his position, he was allowed to drive a car.
Looking up the personal details of Jan Hendrik Emck, it appears that he was born on January 28, 1889. He passed away on November 5, 1945. So he died well before any snowfall, if any, during the winter of 1945/46. This fact also points to a possible date of the cover photo in January 1945. Fantasizing a little, we see Mr. Emck walking towards his car, returning from his birthday celebration in the hotel on January 28. Obviously, I don't know whether that holds true, but it certainly is a possibility!
The only thing left I am curious about is the make of the car. I am not a connoisseur, but also in this field there are specialists. They put
my question on their site, and one of their members came up with the answer: it is a Ford Model 40, 1934. Personally, I think it is a beautiful design!
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| Ford Model 40, 1934 3) |
Well, there may be more to tell about the cover photo - and there is! - but I challenge you to look for other discoveries on the site of
Sepia Saturday first!
Notes
1) Source: Beeldbank Noord-Hollands Archief, 1098 - Beeldcollectie gemeente Velsen, inv.nr. 6687
2) Source: Een blik op bezet Nederland, luchtfoto's van de geallieerden, by G. Staal and R.P.G.A. Voskuil, blz. 22
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