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De Punt
De Punt
Village
	Bridge at night
	De Punt in the municipality of Tynaarlo.
	De Punt Location in the Netherlands De Punt De Punt (Netherlands)
	Coordinates: 53°7′N 6°36′E / 53.117°N 6.600°E
Country	Netherlands
Province	Drenthe
Municipality	Tynaarlo
Area
• Total	6.48 km2 (2.50 sq mi)
Elevation	2.5 m (8.2 ft)
Population (2021)
• Total	235
• Density	36/km2 (94/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	9493
Dialing code	050

De Punt is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Tynaarlo, and lies about 11 km south of Groningen. The village closely cooperates with Yde and they are often referred to as Yde-De Punt, however both are still separate villages.^[3]

History

The village was first mentioned in 1424 as "ter Punte", and means "ferry". It refers to a ferry over the Drentsche Aa. In the early 19th century, it consisted of an inn and one house.^[4] De Punt was home to 7 people in 1840.^[3]

In 2008, De Punt reached national headlines as the site of a fire in a shipyard, in which three firemen, aged 29 (Raymond Patrick Soyer), 38 (Egbert Ubels) and 48 (Anne Kregel), died.^[5] They are commemorated by the asteroid 12156 Ubels.^[6]

1977 train hostage crisis

De Punt was the site for the 1977 Dutch train hijacking crisis. In 1949, Indonesia became independent, and the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army was disbanded. The islands of Ambon, Buru, and Seram had fought on side of the Netherlands. They were opposed to a Java-dominated Indonesia, and proclaimed the Republic 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 from Assen to Groningen 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, the Netherlands 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 Minister Ivo Opstelten in 2015. In 2018, three witnesses came forward and claimed that the marines had been ordered to shoot to kill.^[8]

Gallery

Place name sign
1977 train hostage

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2021". Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 11 April 2022. two entries
^ "Postcodetool for 9493AA". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Yde-de Punt". Plaatsengids (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 April 2022.
^ "Punt - (geografische naam)". Etymologiebank (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 April 2022.
^ Sitalsing, K. "Brandweer Drents dorp rouwt om drie doden" de Volkskrant, 10 Mei 2008, p. 1
^ JPL Small-Body Database Browser naming citation
^ J.H.W. Veenstra (1978). "Ambon, een blok aan Nederlands been". Ons Erfdeel (in Dutch). pp. 511–512. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
^ "De treinkaping bij De Punt (23 mei – 11 juni 1977)". Historiek (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 April 2022.