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Nij Beets (The Netherlands)

Opsterland municipality, Fryslân province

by Jarig Bakker, 16 Sep 2003
Design: J.C. Terluin.

Nij Beets village
Nij Beets CoA

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Nij Beets village

Nij Beets is a village in Opsterland municipality, Fryslân province, with (1954) 1801; (1973) 1428, and (2001) 1611 inhabitants. It is a separate village since WWII, originally built on the territory of the former village of (Oud-) Beets - now Beetsterzwaag for peat-diggers. In Nij Beets was the seat of the "polderboard" Grote Veenpolder. In the village were many admirers of Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (1846-1919), a Lutheran vicar, who became a socialist activist, and later an anarchist. In Nij Beets a street was named after him (and in the Amsterdam cityward Westerpark is a huge statue).
Nickname: "Turfkloeten", "Turftrapers" (peat-lumps, -walkers) - in 1863 peat-digging was started here. The mayor of Opsterland was the first to put a spade in the soil...
Nij Beets CoA: Wavy divided of gold and black with over all a "steekijzer" (peat-cutter) countercharged; in gold with two red cloverleaves; and in black three silver peatblocks placed 2:1.
Flag: three horizontal stripes of black and yellow, of which the central stripes is wavy with three waves, proportioned 1:2:1; the yellow stripe charged with a black peatblock, a red clover, and a black peatblock.
Peat is represented by the black color, and by the peat-blocks, and the peat-cutter. After the peat-digging finished agriculture became important, symbolized by the red cloverleaves.
Design: