Nijverdal
| Nijverdal | ||
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| Town | ||
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Sallandse Heuvelrug National Park near Nijverdal
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 Location in Hellendoorn, Overijssel, Netherlands |
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| Coordinates: 52°22′N 6°28′E / 52.367°N 6.467°ECoordinates: 52°22′N 6°28′E / 52.367°N 6.467°E | ||
| Country | Netherlands | |
| Province | Overijssel | |
| Municipality | Hellendoorn | |
| Population (22 February 2008) | ||
| • Total | 30,000 | |
Nijverdal (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈnɛi̯vərˌdɑl]) is a town of approximately 30000 inhabitants in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is the commercial centre of the municipality Hellendoorn.
Nijverdal (which means Industrious Valley) was founded in 1836 on the territory of the hamlet Noetsele. It was here that the industrial revolution in the Netherlands took root. Thomas Ainsworth (1795–1841) was one of its founding fathers. Textile production was the focus of industrial activity in Nijverdal, as it was for the rest of the Twente region. Some of the traditional factory buildings in the Art Deco or Jugendstil style still remain.
A river called the Regge runs through the town, and is the official border between the two regions Twente and Salland, and the border of languages, which are Tweants and Sallaands, respectively. Of course Dutch is also spoken (main language), but practically every native inhabitant of Nijverdal speaks either one or both regional languages.
Before World War II, Nijverdal had a small Jewish community. The municipal seat of the area, Hellendoorn, had a small synagogue and Jewish cemetery. The synagogue still exists as a storage shed behind one of the houses in the village, and the cemetery is no longer in use. It has about 20 graves, most from the nineteenth century and early 20th century. The municipality maintains the cemetery and protects it from vandalism.
The Jewish community was essentially erased by the Holocaust. Most of its members perished in Sobibor and Auschwitz.
On 22 March 1945, Nijverdal was severely bombed by allied bombers who were going after the German Reichskommissar of Austrian origin Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Seyss-Inquart was fleeing the advancing Allied forces and had set up his temporary headquarters in the Reformed School in Nijverdal, but had already left town at the time of the bombing. Over 70 people were killed, mainly at the Grotestraat.
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