WERE THE BENTHEIMERS DUTCH OR GERMAN?
The
desire to know who we are, where we came from and where we are going is in
all of us. In such a young country as the United States this desire is not
as strong as in Europe, but you find it here too, especially in the
Midwest, which is barely 150 years old. To the question of the identity of
the people of Bentheim, most of the emigrants spoke only plattdeutsh when
they entered the school system and learned German from their teachers.
Probably the best answer to this question is, they were German by
nationality, but Dutch by tongue. To ask a native Bentheimer if he is
Dutch is almost an insult. But the same question asked to a descendant of
Bentheimers will lead into a lengthy discussion. Their grandparents spoke
Dutch in their homes, and prayed Dutch in their churches. Where then did
they belong?
If
you want to understand the people from the County of Bentheim, you best go
as far back as the tribal system. According to history, they belonged to
the Saxon tribes. Although Constantine made Christianity the state
religion in 313 A.D., it still took 400 years for the northern tribes to
be reached with the gospel. Charlemagne introduced Christianity with the
sword to them.
He
introduced the Scholten System, setting a Scholte over the other farmers
to collect taxes and watch over their Christian behavior. The Bishop seat
of this region, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire, was for the lower
County in Uetrecht, and for the upper County in Munster. The counts of
Bentheim were called grafs, and were employees of the emperor. During the
time of the crusades, in which they partook, they changed from being
employees of the State to independent landowners. After a Lutheran period,
the count and his people became Calvinists in 1588.
What
makes the people of Bentheim so distinct, is that, according to Prince
Hubertus of Bentheim for almost 700 years they were independently ruled by
the Counts of Bentheim. (See the Yearbook of the History Society of
Bentheim 1984, page 135.)
In
1753, trouble within made them take out a mortgage to the King .of Hanover
and England. If it had not been for that dark day in history, the County
of Bentheim might be today a principality like Liechtenstein, between
Austria and Switzerland. Of course, it would be between Germany and the
Netherlands.
In
the 17th and 18th centuries the area, which we now call Germany, consisted
of kingdoms, principalities, grand duchies, dukedoms, electorates, free
cities, right down to tiny personal estates of a few acres. Each political
unit had its own laws. In the first half of the nineteenth century the
number of states was reduced to thirty-four. The county of Bentheim never
belonged to The Netherlands. Before 1579 they were together with the
Netherlands part of the Holy Roman Empire and during the Napoleonic wars
they weretogether ruled by Napoleon's brother. When this era was over, the
Netherlands became a kingdom under the House of Orange and the county of
Bentheim became again part of the Kingdom of Hanover and England under
George the III.
In spirit, the people of Bentheim have never lost their independence. They became Hanoverians; they were invaded by Napoleon. Prussia took over the territory in 1866. They lived under the Kaiser and under Hitler. Through all this they came with good courage. If you ask them today about their identity, they just might tell you, "Wy bin't Groofshappers"; "We are Grafschappers."
