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Clubhuis De Arend was an early Rotterdam initiative for working youth. It combined recreation and community building with education, crafts, sports, music, and social projects.
Sports group of Clubhuis De Arend, date unknown. The eagle emblems are visible on the shirts.
1920: The Institute for Older Youth
At the end of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth century, Rotterdam grew rapidly. Many young people left school early to start working. Existing youth organizations reached these working youths only to a limited extent.
Therefore, in 1920, the Institute for Older Youth was established. It aimed to offer young people a safe and stimulating environment outside work hours, with opportunities for development, education, and recreation.
W.E. van Wijk became director of the Institute starting June 15, 1921. The organization's first dedicated clubhouse was named De Arend.
1922: Opening at the Schiekade
On March 21, 1922, Clubhuis De Arend at Schiekade 98a was opened. Van Wijk also became the first director of the new clubhouse.
De Arend mainly focused on boys who were no longer subject to compulsory education and often already working. The clubhouse provided a homely meeting place and a broad program.
Opportunities included secondary education, carpentry, crafts, gymnastics, football, music, theater, lectures, chess, checkers, and dance. There was also a reading room with books and magazines.
Volunteers played an important role. Private contributions and donors were crucial for the club's survival in its early years.
Due to limited space and volunteers, admission eventually became more selective. The level of interest shows that De Arend was more than a small local experiment.
Debate around Van Wijk
Van Wijk's characterization of working-class boys received notable support at the time. The main criticism was less about his description of the youth and more about his explanation.
Van Wijk argued that differences in developmental potential were partly biologically determined and later linked this idea to racial categories prevalent then.
Pedagogues like J.H. Gunning and Ph. Kohnstamm rejected this deterministic explanation. Kohnstamm also emphasized its anti-democratic implications.
The debate shows that De Arend was part of practical youth work and broader interwar discussions on upbringing, social class, aptitude, and development.Source: Jan Lenders, 2009, pp. 227–230.
The 1930s: Unemployment and expansion
In the early 1930s, Van Wijk was succeeded by G.H.L. Schouten. Under his leadership, the work took on a more practical and socially engaged character.
Due to the economic crisis, many young Rotterdammers were unemployed. De Arend opened its buildings during the day, offering lessons, courses, recreation, and practical activities.
Alongside evening activities like theater, singing, music, and sports, the Institute became involved in projects for young unemployed people. New clubhouses were also opened in other Rotterdam neighborhoods.
1936: Van Brienenoord
A clubhouse built by sixty boys
Youth from the Institute began using the Eiland Van Brienenoord from 1932 for recreation and activities.
In 1934, the so-called Turkenheim was donated to De Arend. The building had housed Turkish naval officers at a Rotterdam shipyard.
Sixty unemployed boys from De Arend dismantled the stone and iron building over five weeks. The parts were transported to Van Brienenoord and rebuilt there under architect J.H. van den Broek's supervision.
The clubhouse was officially opened on June 20, 1936. In the recreation room hung a list with the names of the sixty boys who helped build it.
The island also featured sports fields, an athletics track, an open-air theater, and allotment gardens. On August 29, 1938, the entire project was formally transferred to the Institute.Source: Regional Archive Eiland IJsselmonde.
1938: Work camps in Nunspeet
In 1938, the grounds around Het Ronde Huis in Nunspeet became available for work camps for Rotterdam boys.
Materials from participants, supervisors, and their families can add to the history of these work camps.
War and reconstruction
Summer activities at Van Brienenoord continued during much of the war. A holiday school was held through 1944.
In autumn 1944, the island was reoccupied by the German occupiers, and activities had to stop.
After liberation, the building was repurposed. At the end of October 1945, the Internaat van Brienenoord opened, training youth leaders for work with unorganized working-class youth.Source: Regional Archive Eiland IJsselmonde.
In the following years, De Arend and the related girls' clubhouse De Zeemeeuw became increasingly connected.
1947: Twenty-five years of De Arend
On April 11, 1947, the mayor of Rotterdam opened an exhibition at the clubhouse on the Schiekade to mark De Arend's twenty-fifth anniversary.
Programs, photos, and documents related to this exhibition are welcome.
A history in progress
This history is based on archival documents, historical publications, and later research. Gaps remain, especially regarding experiences of individual members, staff, and families.
Corrections, names, photos, documents, and additional memories are therefore welcome.
