Geffen had been an independent municipality in the Dutch province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

until 1993, when it became a part of the newly formed municipality Maasdonk. This lasted until 2015, when Maasdonk was dissolved and Geffen became part of Oss. Archeological findings show that the area had been inhabited since the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

(2000 B.C.). The date of settlement is not known. The first time Geffen was mentioned in official documents was on the October 1, 1246. There have been many different names for Geffen, including Ghiffen and Gheneffen. Gheneffen most probably had been created as a fusion between "gen" + "effa", which means "on the water's edge". In the year 1298, Duke Jan II of Brabant granted the town of Geffen rights for peat harvesting. In the following centuries, Geffen became a

fiefdom A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

. The Vassal of Geffen resided in the castle of Geffen close to the border of

Nuland Nuland is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located about 8 km (5 mi) east of 's-Hertogenbosch. History In the Middle Ages, Nuland was part of the Kwartier van Maasland of the Meierij van 's-Hertoge ...

. During a French raid in the 18th century this castle was destroyed and at this time only the ditch and its fortifications can be found.

After the Second World War

Up until the Second World War things did not really change in Geffen; it maintained a population of roughly 1,200. In 1956 the first planned neighbourhood began construction. During this time, neighbouring Oss started to become a true city and many facilities moved away. Geffen itself grew in every direction except north; this is mainly because of the railway embankment which protects Geffen from flooding from the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

. With the creation of the A50 highway, a dig site was opened at the border of Oss, Heesch and Geffen. After the construction of the highway was completed this area was reformed into a swimming point (the Geffenseplas) and a small forest.

Education

There are two schools in Geffen, both are Catholic schools. The Aloysiusschool, which can be found between town hall and the local supermarket, and the Mariaschool, which lies next to the church and has a more religious background. In March 2009, the building of a new school started. The former Aloysius- and Mariaschool have merged into one multifunctional building, containing the new school, called De Wissel.

Religion

Around 1450 the bell tower of the Maria Magdalena Church was built. The church survived numerous fires and floods, even the burning of Geffen by

Charles II, Duke of Guelders Charles II (9 November 1467 – 30 June 1538) was a member of the House of Egmond who ruled as Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen from 1492 until his death. He had a principal role in the Frisian peasant rebellion and the Guelders Wars. Life ...

in 1487. At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the German military tried to blow up the church like they did with the churches of Nuland, Heesch and . At the ceiling level, the marks of this are still visible. One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in

can be found in Geffen. As early as 1693 the archives speak of this cemetery and until 1908, 20 years after the founding of a new regional cemetery, it was in use. Over 300 people are buried here, including many forefathers of the van den Bergh, Hartog and van Zwanenberg families.

Present

Geffen is a typical town of east Brabant with close to 5,000 inhabitants. The biggest sports club is ''Nooit Gedacht Geffen'', a football club founded in 1929. Every year a farmers' market is organized under the name of 'effe noar geffe'. Every year more people visit this festival and in 2004 more than 35,000 people were welcomed. Because of mismanagement of funds, among other problems, integration into Oss and

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

has been approved, and the dissolution of the village, one part into Den Bosch, another part to Oss, is to be effective as of January 1, 2015.

Famous Geffenaren

* Simon van den Bergh (1819), industrial magnate, father of Samuel van den Bergh, co-founder of

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

* Ruud van Nistelrooy (1976), football player, born in Oss The van Geffen family

Literature

* Jacob Becker: Het smouse Kerkhof te Geffen, 1693-1903, Stichting Iacobus Judeaus, Uden 1987

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in North Brabant Former municipalities of North Brabant Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1993 Oss