Oterdum Cemetery and Memorial

The village cemetery and church had to make way for a raised dyke in the 1970s. As a memorial, there are now gravestones on the dyke showing the outline of the church and a monument.

Oterdum was a village in the municipality Delfzijl in the Dutch province of Groningen. It was between Delfzijl and Termunten in historic Oosterhoek. It was completely demolished in the seventies of the twentieth century to make way for an extension of the estuary of the Eems estuary, which had to be brought to delta height. Up to this point, the industrial area Oosterhorn would extend, but the area is still undeveloped.

The cemetery is located right on the Dollartroute. You should take a little time to take a break there.In the 1960 census, the village had 102 inhabitants. Including the outlying Oterdumerwarven there were a total of 168 people. Shortly thereafter, the decline began due to dike reinforcement and industrialization. Before Oterdum's fate was sealed, it was a lively village. The location, near Delfzijl and the Malecon of the Ems estuary, was such that there were many sailors. In addition, it was an agricultural town. When the dike was raised in order to spend it in delta height, church dating from 1877 had to disappear. There Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem showed interest, but the church was demolished anyway. The church organ moved to Heinenoord, the pulpit to the Market Church in Winschoten. The gravestones in the cemetery were carefully removed and subsequently replaced on the new dike. Not much later, the whole village was there to believe in order to pave the way for the industrial future. The then understanding of the government and the province was that there was no reason to look for alternatives. In 1975, Oterdum no longer had inhabitants. The factories were demolished in Oterdumerwarven. At the place where the village was in 1978, a bronze monument was installed, which was produced by the Groninger artist Thees Reich Masters Keep. This image was stolen in the night of 7-8 February 2011 by source thieves. On 31 May 2013, a replica made of plastic was placed on the pedestal. Source: Wikipedia