De Punt | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bridge at night | |
 De Punt in the municipality of Tynaarlo. | |
  De Punt Location in the Netherlands Show map of Drenthe De Punt De Punt (Netherlands) Show map of Netherlands | |
| Coordinates:53°7′N6°36′E / 53.117°N 6.600°E /53.117; 6.600 | |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Province | Drenthe |
| Municipality | Tynaarlo |
| Area | |
• Total | 6.48 km2 (2.50 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2.5 m (8.2 ft) |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 235 |
| • Density | 36.3/km2 (93.9/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 9493[1] |
| Dialing code | 050 |
De Punt is a village in theDutch province ofDrenthe. It is a part of the municipality ofTynaarlo, and lies about 11 km south ofGroningen. The village closely cooperates withYde and they are often referred to as Yde-De Punt, however both are still separate villages.[3]
The village was first mentioned in 1424 as "ter Punte", and means "ferry". It refers to a ferry over theDrentsche Aa. In the early 19th century, it consisted of aninn and one house.[4] De Punt was home to 7 people in 1840.[3]
In 2008, De Punt reached national headlines as thesite of a fire in ashipyard, in which three firemen, aged 29 (Raymond Patrick Soyer), 38 (Egbert Ubels) and 48 (Anne Kregel), died.[5] They are commemorated by the asteroid12156 Ubels.[6]
De Punt was the site for the1977 Dutch train hijacking crisis. In 1949,Indonesia became independent, and theRoyal Netherlands East Indies Army was disbanded. The islands ofAmbon,Buru, andSeram had fought on side of the Netherlands. They were opposed to aJava-dominated Indonesia, and proclaimed theRepublic of South Maluku which resulted in an attack by Indonesia. In 1951, 12,000 refugees from South Maluku were temporarily resettled in the Netherlands. They started to feel betrayed, because it developed into permanent exile.[7]
On 23 May 1977, the train fromAssen toGroningen was hijacked by 9 armed South Moluccans. On 25 May, the hijackers threatened to blow up the train, if the Dutch government refused to plead for an independent South Maluku. On 11 June 1977, theNetherlands Marine Corps aided by the Air Force, attacked the train. There were eight deaths: six Moluccans and two civilians. The incident remains controversial due to excessive violence from the marines: a total of 144 bullets were fired. A claim for damages was denied by MinisterIvo Opstelten in 2015. In 2018, three witnesses came forward and claimed that the marines had been ordered to shoot to kill.[8]
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