Den Helder (The Netherlands)

Noord-Holland province

Last modified: 2011-03-26 by andrew weeks
Keywords: den helder | julianadorp | huisduinen |
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Shipmate Flagchart :  http://www.flagchart.net
adopted 2 Oct 1962; design: Kl. Sierksma.

• Den Helder municipality
• Den Helder old flag (c.1939)
• Den Helder Coat of Arms
• The forgotten flag of Julianadorp
• Huisduinen villageflag

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Den Helder municipality

Den Helder old flag (c.1939)

According to "Wie, Wat, Waar? 1940", an annual published by the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad in Nov. 1939, the flag of Den Helder was: white, with in the center the full municipal arms.
Jarig Bakker, 26 May 2005

Den Helder Coat of Arms

Arms: gules three chevrons, surmounted by a crown, all or.

The forgotten flag of Julianadorp

Julianadorp is a small village at the southern end of Den Helder municipality, Noord-Holland province; it was founded in 1909, the year Queen Juliana was born. Huisduinen is a base of the Dutch navy, just west of Den Helder city.

The forgotten flag of Julianadorp.
A friend recently sent the design of the flag of Julianadorp to the webmaster of that site. They were quite surprised to see the date of 1936 on the design. No Julianadorper ever knew about this design, dug out from the municipal archives of Den Helder.
The flags of Julianadorp and Huisduinen have probably been derived from the arms of Den Helder, based on the arms of the Egmond family (yellow and red), the former owners of the Lordship of Huisduinen. These colors were also used for the flag of Den Helder, adopted in 1962.
The flags of both villages are divided in three main stripes, of which the middle one is itself divided in seven stripes, alternating red and yellow. The difference between the flag: for Julianadorp the top and bottom stripes are green (for the Koegras-polder), while for Huisduinen they are blue (for the Sea).
In 1984 the organisers of the celebrations of 75 years of Julianadorp's existence had no idea that this design existed, otherwise the village would have been totally covered by seas of flags. It is expected that this will happen in 2009, when the village will tally a century.
Source: this webpage.
Jarig Bakker, 11 Aug 2005

The flags of Julianadorp and Huisduinen were almost certainly derived from the arms of Den Helder, as on the Julianadorp website is part of the original design sheet, with the caption: "Ontwerpen - Vlag van Huisduinen en Vlag van Julianadorp (in verband met het gemeente-wapen): "Designs - Flag of Huisduinen and Flag of Julianadorp (in connection with the municipal-arms).

In the narrow space below that text was added the addition "en in verband met de geographische <correction> <illegible>": "and in connection with the geographical ..."
(This would probably be readable on the full scan, but here the head and the part for Julianadorp have been brought together in one image, without regards for that extra bit of information.)

Further information given is given on the web page, telling us that:
"De "vergeten" vlag van Julianadorp is ontworpen door dhr. Sierksma uit Groningen, deskundige op het gebied van de banistiek(vlaggenkunde). Hij heeft gelijkertijd ook een gemeentevlag en een vlag van Huisduinen ontworpen. De gemeentevlag is afgeleid van de vlag van de Egmonds, de vroegere eigenaar van heerlijkheid Huisduinen, met toevoeging van marine-elementen. Het ontwerp van de gemeentevlag is in 1962 officieel goedgekeurd door de gemeenteraad.":
"The "forgotten" flag of Julianadorp was design by dhr. Sierksma from Groningen, expert in the field of banistics (flag science). Simultaneously he also designed a municipal flag and a flag for Huisduinen. The municipal flag is dereived from the flag of the Egmonds, the previous owner of the seigniory, with addition of navy elements. The design of the municipal flag was officially approved by the municipal council in 1962."

And:
"De vlag van Huisduinen en de vlag van Julianadorp zijn waarschijnlijk van dat ontwerp afgeleid. De vlaggen van beide dorpen zijn verdeeld in drie hoofdbanen, waarbij de middelste baan nog weer bestaat uit 7 smalle banen, afwisselend rood en geel. Het verschil tussen de dorpsvlaggen is de kleur van de bovenste en onderste baan. Deze banen zijn bij de Julianadorper vlag groen (van Het Koegras) en bij de vlag van Huisduinen blauw (van de Zee).":
"The flag of Huisduinen and the flag of Julianadorp probably are derived from that design. The flags of both villages are divided in three main stripes, whereby the middle stripe exists of again 5 narrower stripes, alternating red and yellow. De difference between the village flags is in the colour of the upper and lower stripe. These stripes are green in the Julianadorp flag (for Het Koegras) and blue for the flag of Huisduinen (for the Sea)."
"Het Koegras" is the name of the polder Julianadorp is situated in.

The "expert" is of course Klaas Sierksma, and hence it should come as no surprise that the design is a full construction sheet, giving the overall ratio,
lengte = 1 1/2 x breedte, as well as the ratio of the stripes: 13/40, 1/20, 1/20, 1/20, 1/20, 1/20, 1/20, 1/20, 13/40.

Now, the bad news is: There's no way to simplify this ratio, so it's never going to fit a height of 216 pixels, though we could slightly improve the approximation.

The good news is: all information the construction sheet giffers need is right here. This flag too could be fully specified which such a beautiful image.

Note: The text doesn't mention the design ever being adopted. Considering that at the time Sierksma's design for the municipal flag had been ignored (rejected?), it could well be that the same happened to the village flags.
Source: village website.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 17 Aug 2007

Huisduinen villageflag

Info: see above.