the largest painting of the Oud-Winschoten Foundation; Worry about not having as much space

The painting, which measures 1.70m by 0.95m, shows how German soldiers retreated from Weinschoten in 1945 and was painted by Evert Brink.

cityscapes

“An artist who was born in Winschoten and lived here,” says John Roebing, secretary of Oud-Winschoten. “We have many cityscapes of it, but this is a very special one, and we are thrilled about it. It will have a place in our house.”

This residence is the former teacher training college in Stikkerlaan, which is located just outside the city center and is owned by Oldambt municipality. The institution that deals with the history of Winschoten has a number of buildings at its disposal. It contains objects that tell something about that date and everyone can see them at specific times.

Two years homeless

Last year, the establishment moved into this space after being “homeless” for about two years. This is after she had to hastily leave the former St. Lucas Hospital after a dispute between the owner of that building and the municipality over the energy bill. The collection had to be stored in boxes in a moving company.

piles of items

“We were very happy that we could go to coaching college and still be,” says Chairman Trinko Pilgrim. “Since we’ve been here, we get a lot of items. People seem to know we have a home for our collection. Aging may play a role too. People get old and move and want a good place for old stuff and come to us. We receive pictures, documents, stuff from Winschoter stores and more We look at them critically, but love to keep many donations, they are a welcome addition to our collection.”

The result is that classrooms are overcrowded and the institution’s administrators already use the old-school lobby for storage. “If things continue like this, we’re going to have to do something, and maybe look more critically at donations,” Pilgrim said.

Butcher shop in the center

On Thursday, those fears about space were gone for a while and joy reigned over the new acquisition. The painting was donated by Jack Niland, who lives in Eilde, whose father once ran a butcher’s shop in the center of Wenschoten.

‘My father had this butcher shop until 1951, in the years before he bought the cloth from Brink,’ said Neyland. “Later I got it.” Due to the painting’s size, he was unable to find a place for it and loaned it to the Groningen War and Resistance Center. “It had been in a warehouse there for years, but after visiting a gallery in Winschoten I realized the painting belonged here.”