Nowadays, not much in Frisian Lemmer reminds us of the town’s glorious fishing past. Here and there the visitor will still find old buildings with the name of the former destination on them, but that is about it. The Afsluitdijk played a major role in those changes. For example, fishing disappeared due to the Afsluitdijk. But the IJsselmeer also disappeared due to the construction of the Afsluitdijk. The ,hungs of yesteryear where fish were prepared and then smoked, the mast factories, the sail factories and the fish auction have almost all disappeared. What is left is dressed in a completely new and modern guise. The Afsluitdijk put an end to the character of the village and with it the fishing industry also disappeared. What has remained is the fishing mentality, especially among the elderly. They still meet at the bridge to discuss the news. And that doesn’t happen gently. The older generation is used to stating in clear language what they think about a particular subject. In the village everyone also has a nickname that dates from the recent past. Names such as Puteme sju, Sake the Russian and Takebossen often mean more to the original population than the ,real surnames., Moreover, such a mark is transmitted from generation to generation. The nicknames all have their own meaning. The Takebossen, for example, owe it to the fact that all six brothers had so much hair that the hairdresser could not keep up. And Steven Roet, whose real name was Steven Visser, stuck his head in the mantelpiece when the chimney sweep was just doing it. He ended up with a black head and he never lost that name.
Fishing completely disappeared
The construction of the closing dike was catastrophic for the place that thrived on fishing. In the past, there were fishing boats everywhere along the water that ran through the entire village. The men were fixing their nets on the side and the women and men were pickling anchovies, herrings or eels in the hooks. There was always a smell of smoke hanging over the village. It was a mixture of wood with fish and it produced the Lemster buckings and smoked eel. Not only companies were concerned with this. Every Lemster had a barrel in his garden with which he smoked his own fish. People were used to that. The neighbors were informed that another smoking session was planned, the windows were closed, the laundry was taken off the line and then the party could begin. This was preceded by hours of cleaning the fish. Eel first had to be soaked in salt, then the skin was cut open and the intestines had to be removed. Then followed a process of salting and waiting. The barrel then had to be at the best temperature and of course the quality of the wood was of great importance. The eels were threaded onto the pins, which had to be pierced just below the head. Poon was treated the same, but they did not have to be put in salt first. This tradition has also largely disappeared among the population, because the younger generation no longer knows how to smoke fish. The elderly still maintain it, but only during heydays. At the winter market, during events such as Fryslân 2000 and during the Aachen weekend, a small group of men still provide smoked fish to enthusiasts. Standing next to the barrel, life is discussed again and the proceeds go to charity.
The Afsluitdijk was constructed in 1932 under the influence of the Industrial Revolution, the flood of 1916 and the call for fresh water. Due to the inadequate supply, the Frisian surface water was virtually stagnant and a terrible stench arose in the brackish canals of Leeuwarden, for example. Moreover, the water into which filth was dumped, but people also defecated, was a source of disease.
In 1917 there was also a crisis. The Netherlands traded potatoes for German coal to meet energy needs, but this resulted in a food shortage. This ended in a potato call that killed 9 people and injured 114. This event proved the importance of a good food supply and modern agriculture.
Another reason for realizing the Afsluitdijk was that it was seen as a kind of peace work. During the 1914-1918 war, the Netherlands remained neutral and a peace effort such as the Zuiderzee Plan was intended to impress and appease foreign countries. On July 5, 1918, the day that English troops fired their artillery at German positions at the Somme, the approved bill for the closure and partial reclamation of the Zuiderzee, an enlargement of territory without robbery or murder, appeared in the Staatsblad.
The Zuiderzee disappeared with it . Salt water became fresh, the herring and anchovies became extinct and life took a completely different turn for all the villages around the IJsselmeer. Many fishermen became bridge keepers, dike workers or laborers and fishermen’s children moved to the factories. Others continued on the IJsselmeer and had to deal with half-dead water.
The Afsluitdijk between Den Oever and Zurich measures 29 kilometers and 460 meters and is therefore almost 30 kilometers long. People often talk about an Afsluitdijk of 32 kilometers. However, this includes the dike through the Amsteldiep, the so-called Kleine Afsluitdijk. This is 2.5 kilometers long. So there are in fact two closing dikes or dams that closed off the Zuiderzee. The Kleine Afsluitdijk was closed in 1924 and is therefore 8 years ‘older’ than the 75-year-old Afsluitdijk.
In The Schmal End – A journey along the conquered Zuiderzee, the entire history of the reclamation of the Zuiderzee is described, interspersed with many personal stories.