Slavery in Groningen

Slavery in Groningen? I never thought about these things being connected before… When thinking about slavery, plantations in the Americas come to mind, or the trading and transporting of slaves by companies like the W.I.C. (Dutch West India Company). Little did I know about all the traces of the slave-trading past that can be found in the city centre of Groningen. And honestly, how could I have known?

Walking towards the Groninger Museum on a day quite hot and sunny for the time of year, I thought to myself: “What traces of slavery even are there in Groningen? Not like I’ve even seen them around the city, and I’ve been living here for two years now.” Little did I know how much Groningen’s past is tainted by slavery. At the Groninger museum, together with my classmates, I met up with dr. Barbara Henkes. Dr. Henkes has done quite some research on slavery in Groningen and currently she is working on a similar project in Friesland. In 2016 she published, together with Margriet Fokken, ‘Sporen van het slavernijverleden in Groningen. Gids voor Stad en Ommelanden’, a guide in which more than 60 locations have been brought together, containing a walking route in the city and several cycling routes in the province. On that hot and sunny day in June, Henkes was going to lead us around the city to show us traces of slavery. Just like with the previous field trip, the task for us students was to come up with a heritagescape for the sites visited. A heritagescape, designed by Garden (2006), is a new analytical approach to heritage sites. According to Garden “a heritage site is made up of the tangible components which can be recognized by a set of three guiding principles, which are: boundaries, cohesion, and visibility”.

Image 1. The cover of the book written by dr. Henkes, about the history of slavery in Groningen

As the sun was burning my skin, I walked past buildings that I had seen a million times before. However, they were now presented by dr. Henkes in a completely new light. She told many stories about colonialism in relation to the buildings, which I never would have known. And how could I have known? There are no signs or other visible marks that acknowledge the history that these buildings encompass. People walk by these buildings every day without knowing in which way these buildings are connected to the history of slavery in Groningen. For many people, the only way to find out about the history of slavery in connection to these buildings in the city, is by doing the city walk. I suddenly realized that even though there are lots of stories to be told on slavery in my own city, there is hardly any attention for them. This reminded me again of De Punt, due to the lack of recognition. How could it possibly be that places and events with such a great historical significance, are not commemorated? So, I started imagining..

Image 2. A former tabacco factory that
now serves as appartmentcomplex

It is hard to come up with one clear-cut way of making clear to the layman what happened at sites like these, for it is not only “dark history” but also most often private property which makes realizing memorials such as plaques and statues difficult. Of course, a walking route with small signs is an option, and I think it would be best in this case. The small signs would fence off and acknowledge the landscape of the heritage site and connect the different buildings dr Henkes showed us to each other. To stay with the times, people interested in the history of slavery in Groningen could download an app, and based on location listen to stories on their phone. This overcomes the problem of privately owned property, and also avoids the recognition of the Dutch state of “dark history” when this app is funded by foundations such as NiNsee and Stil Verleden. Then hopefully, everyone who lives in the city of Groningen or visits it, will get to know the history of slavery this city entails.

Authors: MMK, AE, EMvG, WvdV