Nieuwe Pekela

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.

Museum Kapiteinshuis Pekela
Museum Kapiteinshuis Pekela