As an oud Asperen Association, We have published a book! The booklet is on sale in our museum (open from 30 May to 13 september), in the Grote (St. Catharina) Church in Asperen and in Brasserie Dirk (located in Sportcentrum De Schildkamp). If you do not have the opportunity to visit it during opening hours, you can also order it online here and we will send it as a mailbox package. Pay via THIS link voor de aankoop (€ 18,95) en verzending (binnen Nederland € 5,50) en mail ons op voorzitter@oud-asperen.nl your name and address and we will send the book to you by post.
The book is also available for purchase through the Canadian publisher Pandora Press.
The book is about Dirk Willemszoon, our fellow townsman who, as an Anabaptist (Baptist or Anabaptist) in May 1569, was unfortunately tried for his faith, convicted and burned (alive) in Asperen. It is about the community of Anabaptists in Asperen, our baron Wessel van den Boetzelaer who protected them, the Spanish oppressor who persecuted them and the Asperenarians who between these various parties tried to live their ordinary lives in our city in very turbulent times.
Our Chairman Theo Witjes has spent many hours and days in archives and documents from this period to write a truthful story of the actual events. The book will also be published in the United States and Canada in september 2025 and with the proceeds, the Oud Asperen Association wants to create a statue in Asperen in memory of this special Asperner together with the various Anabaptist faith groups in the world who want to contribute.
Every year our city is visited by buses with Anabaptists from all parts of the world because Dirk Willemszn is a shining example for them. Statues have been erected in various places around the world that bear witness to his deeds. In Asperen, where he was born, lived and was eventually murdered, only one street is named after him, but who knows him and his deeds? Read the book and contribute to the statue!
The booklet (in three languages) is currently also for sale in the NH Church in Asperen and in our museum and it costs (in the Netherlands) 18.95 euros.
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