1932 Women at the cemetery. St Oda festivities

1916 - a regiment of soldiers posing with the v.d. Kamp family, founder of Odah/Ahrend. Sign says 'date - memory to our stay - regiment call - St Oedenrode'

1944 September - 101st Airborne paratrooper in the fields with three civilians. Area St Oedenrode, Nijnsel, Son.

1910 - market square

1932 - Market square in the summer.

1931 Heuvel, the road to the market square. Trees were removed due to increasing traffic.

1932 - road to the market square. All trees are gone here. A sidewalk is paved.

1931 - a farmer family going to church.

1930 - Windmill built in 1290. This mill was destroyed during liberation in 1944.

1956 - near the entry to the Odah factory

1930 - people and cleric around a stove. The first picture that was colorized by me.

1910's Market square

1919 - police arriving at crime scene. The manager of a local factory was brutally killed during a robbery. The factory at the Lindendijk is nowadays a Chinese Restaurant 'Kam Fa', which is the abbreviation of 'Campina Fabriek', Campina is a company that produces milk and diary products. Farmers used to bring their milk to this factory. Original picture courtesy Bart Beex.

Before 1919. Mr. van Kruysdijk, the factory manager who was brutally killed during an armed robbery. A former worker and a known criminal wanted to steal money before farmers payday. He probably tried to resist, his throat was cut near the safe. His murderers were captured in Amsterdam, 100km away. There is another macabre detail. Amsterdam investigators requested fingerprints 'fingers' in a telegram, but the local police officer did not understand it. He cut off the fingers and mailed them. The fingers still exist. They are now in the Dutch Police Museum, along with the old anecdote of 'rural stupidity'.

1910's, tram station in Nijnsel, a small village near St Oedenrode. The road leads to Son and Eindhoven. This place is completely gone, nowadays there runs a highway, the A50. In world war 2 this road was very important as it was the first part of 'the corridor', the sypply route from Eindhoven to Nijmegen. For the Band of Brothers fans: the 101st airborne paratroopers landed in the fields on the right of this road, just a few kilometers ahead. At school we used to visit these places, guided by veterans. Spielberg and his team visited our 'neighborhood' prior to the production.

1926 - parade. This could be 'carnaval', a big event that lasts (at least) three days in the south of the Netherlands. 'Met Gods Hulp' means 'with the help of God'

1936 - Hambrug, the bridge and the river Dommel. This bridge was destroyed in 1944 during the liberation of St Oedenrode. It was a key strategic object for the supply route to Nijmegen. The German army defended it fiercely and finally blew it up. A lot of houses in the vicinity were heavily damaged also. The bridge was rebuild later that year. New roads and a redirection of parts of the Dommel changed its role, it's now just a bridge you may cross to get to the center of town.

1937 - Mr v.d.Kamp on the right and others, opening of Odah offices, nowadays 'Ahrend'.

1937 - opening of the public swimming pool 'Kienehoef', which unfortunately was closed and completely demolished some years ago. A stupid decision. The Kienehoef is an old park with a small forest, playgrounds, animals and there is a camping site. In the pond there were little boats for rent. For us children it was just a huge wonderland. We spent ages.

1936 - Kofferen, road to Best. The pub is gone, it's now a parking spot near the Ahrend factories. Standing from this position you'd also see the tall Ahrend office building nowadays. The trees are gone also. That's called 'progress'.

1940 June - annual wooden shoe fair, market square. World War 2 had just started in this area. Something you can't tell by this beautiful smile.

1944 - workers rebuilding the Hambrug bridge which was destroyed during liberation.

1944 - center. Allied forces posing with residents.

1944 - castle Henkenshage. For a brief time this was the field HQ during Operation Market Garden. This castle is near an old road from St Oedenrode to Son. Centuries ago it was a small castle, 'Slot Strijpe'. In the 18th century it was expanded to its current form. It is surrounded by a nice park and some woods.

1944 - common wealth troops with civilians

1944

1944 - crashed para glider with jeep in it

1952 - an old couple, married in 1882. Everything in it makes me think of Vincent van Gogh.

1954 - Lindendijk. Behind the building on the right is the Hambrug that was destroyed in 1944. I spent my younger years in one of the houses on the left. The trees are gone, the road is much wider and on the left there are houses. The house on the right is demolished, there are no houses on this side of the riverbank. If you follow this road a bit further you'll be at the 'Corridor', a road that was constructed after the war. On the right there are monuments for the 101st, a monument from them to the Dutch citizens and there is a huge wooden shoe. By the way, the factory where this manager was murdered in 1919 is to the right of the photographer.

1955 - road to the market square 'Heuvel' (hill). The Heuvel is one of the oldest roads. It was a higher river bank on which people settled ages ago. In the 12th century the lords of Rhode built their castle here. For what is seen on this picture, the building on the left was replaced by something modern. The building on the right is one of the oldest buildings in St Oedenrode. There is a Greek restaurant with excellent dishes. Hardly visible, but there is a very old path way between these buildings which leads to a pub behind the restaurant. That place used to be a theater for some time.

1937 - swimming pool Kienehoef

1931 - wooden shoe maker

1936 app. Medieval watermill. This ancient mill just collapsed in the late 1930's and was not rebuilt. The river Dommel was rerouted and nowadays this spot is a pond 'Molenwiel' (mill wheel) with some of the old mill stones as a monument. The mill was built in the 12th century and it was in use until it collapsed.

1963 the cold winter of 62/63. St Oedenrode was really small then as this place would be quite near the center nowadays.

1955

1963

1965 - Market square. These small trees are huge nowadays.

1915 app. - civilians, soldiers and children posing at the market square.