Draft:Markerinkdijk 59

Markerinkdijk 59 is a historic farmhouse near the village of Aalten in the eastern Netherlands. During World War II, the town of Aalten had the highest proportion of Jews in hiding of any Dutch settlement, approximately 20% of the town's population, which included at least one woman at Markerinkdijk 59, as well as several German deserters. Today Markerinkdijk 59 has become a tourist attraction as a bed and breakfast named 't Lankhof. The farm is 27.5 acres (11.13 hectares) in size.

History
During the first half of the twentieth century, Markerinkdijk 59 was a mixed farm. The property was owned by the Scholten family from 1858 until 1949 when they immigrated to Southern Alberta, Canada.

During World War II, one Jewish woman, Joop Antoni, was hidden at Markerinkdijk 59 and survived the war.

In 1991, Peter Lurvink published a photograph of "een kamertje van een boerderij in het buurtschap Barlo waar gedurende meer dan twee jaar drie joodse onderduiker waren verborgen. Men sliep met zijn drieen in het eenpersoonbled dat het kamertje vrijwel geheel vulde." Translated, this states that "a small room on a farm in the hamlet of Barlo where during the war for more than two years, three Jewish onderduikers were hidden. Three of them slept in a single bed so that it filled the whole room."

In 2009, a letter written by Hank Scholten, a former resident of Markerinkdijk 59, was published in the Edmonton Journal.

Building and specs
Markerinkdijk 59 is a two floor A-frame farmhouse. The ground floor was designed with two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, one bathroom and a hall with stairs leading to the second floor. The upper floor contains two bedrooms, a small storage room above the stairs, as well as a bathroom. Since its conversion into a bed and breakfast, a sauna has been installed in the second floor bathroom.

Notable residents

 * Herman Dooyeweerd
 * Dirk Scholten (farmer)
 * Gerhard Scholten (chemist)
 * Hans Scholten (computer scientist)
 * Roelof Scholten (politician)

Scholten family
The Scholten family immigrated from the Netherlands to Canada in 1949. The family included twelve children: three farmers, two nurses, two government clerks, one chemist, one computer programmer, one politician, one teacher, and one HVAC technician. In 1985, Marie Sorgard reported in the Sunny South News that "Hendrik and Grada Scholten farmed near the German border in the province of Gelderland... Arrangements were made to emigrate and in 1949 they left Holland, their destination the James Lawlor farm north of Picture Butte. With them came their 12 children--Herman, Gerhard, Jo, Dick, Riek, Wim, Diny, Hank, Willemine, Ina, Roelof, and Hans."

Current usage
Markerinkdijk 59 was converted into a bed and breakfast named 't Lankhof in the late 1990s. In 2018, the Gelderland Nature and Environment Federation reported that biodiversity has been steadily increasing at 't Lankhof as a result of strip farming efforts. This included a noticeable increase in roe deer, as well as hares, butterflies, and birds. Marieke Gorkink stated that "Lidy en Bertus Oldenhave van boerderij ’t Lankhof in Aalten zorgen ervoor, samen met veertig andere boeren, dat de patrijs zich weer thuis voelt in de Achterhoek."