Nieuwe Pekela (Gronings: Nij Pekel) is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen.

[9] In 1810, after Napoleon annexed the Batavian Republic, Nieuwe Pekela became a separate commune and a mayor was appointed the next year.

[12] The peat industry started to attract workers from neighbouring Germany who brought their own form of Protestantism: the Lutheran church.

[13] The river Pekel A connected Nieuwe Pekela with the Dollart and the Wadden Sea.

[4] Around 1800, the peat became exhausted, and the skippers started to make longer journeys, to Holland, and later to England, the Baltic and the Mediterranean.

[16] At first the maritime industry flourished, but the increasing popularity of the steamship resulted in a gradual decline.

[16] In 1975, Bram Westers [nl], the former Director of the Groninger Museum, bought the former residential home of Captain Kornelis Jans Boon.

[19] The 18-year-old Grietje Schoonhoven was employed at the factory, and discovered that her male colleagues had been given a raise while the salary of the women had remained the same.

[20] On 15 December 1969, the 30 women employed at Champ Clark decided to call a wildcat strike, and demanded equal pay.

[20][21][22][23] The factory threatened to fire them, however the women went to Fré Meis of the Communist Party (CPN) who had previously organised successful strikes in neighbouring Oude Pekela.