The Films of Ernest Kleinberg: The Netherlands: Struggle for Land Reaction! 

1953 gave me some tears. My great grandfather volunteered to go there immediately to help saving people. He got rewarded with a medal. I never knew him but I am so damn proud of him. Not because of the medal but just for going there. Making a difference with all those other people.

I am a polderboy myself, my parents pulled me out of the clay (local expression) 50 years ago. My dad was one of those dijk builders you saw in the documentary. And Even though he passed away last year, he was a proud man knowing he helped getting a job done that's unprecedented in the history of mankind. And although I don't live in the polder anymore, everytime I drive there to visit my mom, at the moment I cross the bridge and see the polder with all it's beauty, I feel at home again.. Even most Dutch don't get it, but to me it is the most beautiful part of the Netherlands...

Love to see this film. As a Dutchman I'm proud of the things we accomplished in those years. But the fight against water goes on. Indeed the rising of the sea will be a problem, but we are aware of it. We will survive!

I remember my grandfather talking about the closing of the Zuiderzee. He was a fisherman and his life changed completely when the Afsluitdijk was completed. But he was also proud of the work that had been done to keep people safe. Beautiful footage from men and women who worked so hard to hold back the water.

My granddad and grandmother both were high ranked officials in the government department responsible for the poldering and the Afsluitdijk. She was one of the first high ranked females in government and he got one of highest chivalric orders civilians could get rewarded ('Officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau'), it was seen as that important to the country. Unfortunately (I feel) the modern generation doesn't really recognize the enormous struggle, effort and innovation it required for decades, with modern machinery making it look simple and obvious nowadays. It really was a war .. Another - underrated - key aspect is that you don't fight nature on your conditions, you adapt to its rules to tame it and find the right sustainable balance. A lesson forgotten by many greedy companies around the world that think slapping tons of concrete is all it takes...

Beautiful video, thank you.👍👍 These polder boards are called "waterschap" and the first ones date back to the 12th century. They made and maintained the dikes in a region. The chairman is called "dijkgraaf" ( dike count ).

The dutch version of feeling proud of our country is watching foreigners react to dutch stuff and I'm here for it.

I was always ask myself why are we Dutch so different from Germany and Belgium. The answer is the polders, that's the place where you learn to work together to make your own land without a Feodale system that is making the difference.

The Dutch keep fighting and design everything to keep us as safe as possible,and we are tough.

This is why the Dutch are the best in dealing/fixing/building anything that has to do with water.

Haha at 11:10 he is not listening, he checks if everything is still in line, no bumps or dips.

I live in Lelystad, seen footage of the build, but not like this though. Good to see this, so thank you! Some of the first buildings (houses) in Lelystad are still there. The land in spring is full of all sorts of tulips, so beautiful to see. Dutch have fought water for centuries and will have to keep fighting as sealevels are rising, but we cannot give up as it will costs lives if we do. That is why we are good at water management and are able to help/advise others, but it will costs a lot of money, but save so many lives too... it's worth it.

Love this video. Lived in Lelystad for 3 years. My son is born in Lelystad 24 years ago. . The new land. ❤

Never seen this one. Crazy how much work went into building all this.. amazing!

respect to the hardworking people who make the land saver.... hard working men

Thnx for the request and highly 4 reacting , great docu, see ya in the next video 👍🏻👌🏻💪🏻❤️

Thank you very much for this video. Never saw the hard work building the dikes in those days better explained. To flee or give up was never an option for us. This is our home and proud of it. Small but precious, to us. 🇳🇱🧡

To make it more clear, this documentary starts with the last flooding by the Zuiderzee in 1916 and consequently the closing of it. The Zuiderzee was surrounded by the provinces of Friesland, Overijssel, Gelderland, Utrecht and Noord-Holland. The flood on January 31, 1953 (mentioned at 18:35) was in a different part of the Nederlands; in the south west, effecting the provinces of Zeeland, Zuid-Holland and a small part of Noord-Brabant. After this flood the gouvernement gave the green sign to start the Deltawerken. Basically that is paid with the money gained from the huge gasfields just found in the grounds mainly under the province of Groningen.

Thank you for this upload, also for me the first time I see my people work on dyks years ago....

Super interesting documentary. I loved how the voice over told the story. The best documentary I saw yet. Learned new things about the past of my country. Great pictures of life in the past. Top!!!

In 1955 our family moved to a small fisher town on the Zuidersea, Harderwijk was the name of the town. I was than 8 years.They just start making the 'Flevo polder' and the begin of the new 'dijk' was in my home town. When i was 10 years old a friend of my lived on the dyk because his father was worked at the 'Zuiderzee Werken'. Walking the new 'polder' was very dangeres because of the wet soil, but my friend showed my some places where they found old sunken ships.

Thats a nice piece of history u got there.. 😀.. I've enjoyed this one.. this reminds us how stubborn we really are. Lol

My uncle moved to Lelystad in the 80’s or 90’s and still lives there. The polder is a very nice area with beautiful nature. This was such a cool video to see 😊

these documentaries are historical gold. Thanks HxC.

I've seen this doc a couple of times now and knowing my own family was part of the delta works, it hits me every time again. I live in a part that was flooded in 1953. I know My family won't let me down. As I won't let the next generations down. This is our land.

I remember the floods and we were glued to the radio for news all day.

11:59 This might explain why the Dutch don't like you to show up uninvited (and why we have air sirens every first Monday of the month at noon). Still, there's a Dutch saying: Better a close neighbour, than a far away friend.

We love you too X!! 👍👍

Those 80 foot pools are used for every house we build otherwise it would sink into the ground

When you see this about the flood in the south of Holland you think it stopped soon, but talking to people who lived there during that time. The told me that it took 3 months to close the dikes and every time the tide was high , the town woud bee in the water again. So it was no surprise when they told me , 50 years later, they still where afraid when there was a big storm.

Hello from the Netherlands Highly . here in the province of Zeeland there is also a slogan on the coat of arms of the province the text is: Luctor Et Emergo = I struggle and come up. which means something like whatever the adversity "I struggle" and I will overcome the adversity. I also had the coat of arms of the province of Zeeland with the text tattooed on my schauder. thinking behind it : whatever adversity comes my way , put your shoulder to it and struggle until you get over the problem . thanks for the video Highly.

"what was he listening for?" He wasn't! He was using his eye-crometer to check the surface was straight.

Thank you very much. Thanks to you I learn a lot about my own country 👍

And so much has changed again since then! Great to see this

he was looking if the blocks lay waterpass..

You look as relaxed as a Netherlander now. The Japanese actually still use the old dutch teqniques we have taught them more than a century ago.

A civil engineer told me that the delta works even necessitated new mathematics to calculate strenghts and currents. I don't know anything about mathematics, but I did not know that. He also said that the whole delta works project was more expensive than the Apollo project to put a man on the moon. Well, it is far bigger at least. Life is a struggle for each new generation. We fought the longest (and rather terrible) war of independence ever in the history of mankind. But those 80 years were nothing compared to the 2000 year struggle against the sea and the rivers. Even the Romans described it 2000 years ago that in Germania Inferior (then the name of this land) more people died in the struggle against water than in struggles against men.

that special villages where they made matrasses, is Sliedrecht my home town, large scale dredging comes from that town, later on those dregdeworkers where all over the world at work.

My granddad worked on the Noord oost polder during the war. I grew up taking this all for granted, but now i appreciate what has been done and accomplished, We are save in this country, a lot of effort is going into that.

My wife and i live in lelystad. Watching this video from our appartment.

aint nothing like the sound of pike stamping in the morning.

wonderful video. I myself live in Zeeland near the coast. And I learned something from this video.

The Dutch offered to help the Thai but if the year after the floodings there are no floodings the Thai lose interest. They just can't think ahead.

These technologies are being updated all the time, they are an important export product and need to be on point. Dutch engineers were consulted a lot on the New Orleans situation after the floods there.

My grandparents were one of the first inhabitants of Lelystad, to help the polder create. Lived there the rest of their lives, watching the city grow.

Mister HxC .You mus seen The Dutch build Palm island Dubai..Nice to see.Big machines .Hytec enginering.

Proud to be a Dutchie and what my ancestors have build to keep us safe. We will never give in to the sea.

Interesting! Of course we learned most of if at school, but it still is nice to see. What I noticed is that mr.Bakker has a very American accent and even speaks of feet and miles instead of meters and kilometers, like we do here. So I guess this is dubbed somewhere in the USA. I just realised you must find the "stone poles" very strange, but most houses here are built on those poles. Maybe not as thick, but when we don't, the houses will sink in the ground due to the water in the ground.

funny to hear the old dutch instead of the modern dutch

1953 my grandparents lost everything . my grandmother, mother uncle and aunt sat on top of the roof of their house.

building ,bigger,bolder,better. nice video

I am glad you liked it thank you for showing this. Now you know how we make the new land whit hard work and strong man,All before machienes

i am so proud to be dutch after seining dish

My father spoke with people who build the Afsluitdijk and they told him that it was bone breaking work.

You made me lol!! The Dutch do have mountains, their just under the dikes. 😂😂 Good one! Now I understand the song by the Nits - In the Dutch mountains. 👍

you can destroy our land, the sea can take it if it want but nothing can destroy a dutchie and his/her love for the Netherlands ❤🇳🇱

The beach thing happens here too. Every so many years beaches are replenished with sand. There's an experiment ongoing with what's called a 'sand motor' which aimes to use the natural currents of the North Sea to counter the sand erosion and make mechanical sand supplementation a thing of the past.

I lived on a terp for years, terpes were created to survive the foods, but they are also built on holy ground, leylines. Frysland has many old terpes still. with churches on them because of the scred pagan origines, stories after stories...clay grounds were most fertile.

If you were to travel to the Netherlands, you should definetely visit ' Neeltje Jans'. It is sort of a museum dedicated to these waterworks and everything living in the sea there.

A "dijk" is actually a mountain under sea level, change my mind :)

That was awesome.

11:15 he wasn't listening, he was looking to see if it was level.

And nice and beautiful video thanks

ik fargot IT all.thanks for It❣️

very interesting for me as dutch citizen, how the dikes are made off!!!... never knew how intense work it took.... I thought it was just dumping bricks....

We are direct because if you talk to long no work gets done.

You mus seen .International shipping salvage .offshore etc etc .Dockwise Boskalis Heerema .Mamoet.The Dutch have the machines extreem big machines .Transport a compleet air carrier cruse ship olie platforms on a ship...Spectaculair .

Great video on The Netherland's water-fighting history, thanks.👌 @10:02 Right! No need to invent the wheel again!🤣 @11:16 He's not listening, he's visually checking the line of the surface. ( right side eye open close to the pavement; left side eye closed.)😉 @32:48 Thank you. You're right, it is a phenomenal video. I just hope you're right about the winning stamina! There are already voices saying the rising of the sea-level due to the global warming, eventually will leave the Dutch no other choice as to abandon most of the land, and they just may be right.😢

Nederland heeft de beste infrastructuur in de wereld veilig en goed onderhouden de beste ingenieurs terwereld

I'm proud to be dutch!

it's stange... my uncle was one of the first people to go and live in flevoland... and where they sunk that first pole? well that was where I was born... someone who fled to a different province because the only good thing my province of birth had to offer was space and the zuidvaardersplassen... now I sometimes come back and see a whole province that's just a " nieuwbouwwijk" Het is niet dat ik niet van je wil houden flevoland.... voor ik 8 was ben ik meer dan 4 keer naar de batavia geweest... ik heb met de watertafels gespeeld in het zuiderzee museum... en toch zijn mn ouders 1,5 uur van je weg gerend... je stort je op nieuwbouw maar erkend niet de helden die je als eerst accepteerde... de mensen uit amsterdam... uit Kampen. personen die elkaar zonder jou nooit gevonden zouden hebben... maar toch vindt je het oke om maar een plekje te zijn voor akkers... windmolens en nieuwbouwwijken... weesr eens een keer trots... wanneer je dat doet ben ik er ook weer Xxx als dochter van mijn lieve flevoland

Hxc The best ever.

Lol Shave a Ninja 😂🤣

ja love it to, as a duch, so much labour heh

if you reading this.....You are loved too!!!!!

Always work .here .hh.Now a great export product .Water enginering .all over the world..Only we know how it.s mus done..

water means life. war against water = war against life.

We the Dutch always say; God created the world; but the Dutch build the Netherlands 🇳🇱. LOL

10:07 exactly. Just put a matras on it. Thats why you should never just wing it....ask for advice from others who have done it before you. Learn what took them ages to learn.

"the Netherlands have mountains.... under the dikes|" 😄😄👍👍💪

We Dutch don't F#@k around. Work has to be done.

This documentary shows beautifully that we were already familiar with climate change! ☹✌🏼

It makes me really sad to think that if the war and the floods were to happen again,we would be doomed. Our generation can't handle that, half of them would be saying they can't do it because of their boo-boo's and the other half wouldn't bother to show up because they're too busy with themselves and their phones. We've become too pampered.

Je maintiendrai. Luctor et emergo. Concordia res parvae crescunt.

I can sometimes get angry at the newcomers the immigrants who have no idea and think that we Dutch have just been lucky and do not realize that the Netherlands really belongs to the Dutch we made it ourselves.

He was looking not listening....seeing if it was nice and level.

I remember Lelystad supposed to being the new capital of Flevoland. It still is officially, but Almere, closer to Amsterdam, is taking al the business away from there. So no interest in this city...

That documentary gives the answer to the current climate change question we hear a lot...."with the rising water places like the Netherlands will be under water. What if that happens? What if its too much for the levees to handle?". Answer: then we will find a way and build better levees. We have done it before. At least this time we are not at war at the same time. You can sit there whining about the circumstances or you can take control and do something about it. Thats the difference between the whiners and the dutch. We will be fine. Someone will find a solution and we will work together and fix the problem like we always do.

The only war worth fighting is the battle against the elements! The US should stop investing trillions in wars against enemies of their own creation and start investing in not only strengthening the coast lines but building homes that can withstand tornadoes and hurricanes too. Invest in infrastructure and education focused on things you truly need. This video is why I am proud of the country I live in (I live in the south-east). THIS is patriotism!! Not military but literally building land from scratch. Thanks for the video