Ernest Kleinberg Films: The Netherlands: Struggle for Land

The inspiring story of the development of flood control and land reclamation in the Netherlands: the struggle of a people whose hard work, persistence and character built their country and protected their land from natural disaster.
Documents the labor-intensive construction of the dikes and polders of the Zuiderzee and in the Rhine delta. Includes unique historical scenes of the founding of Lelystad on land reclaimed from the sea. Produced in 1969.
Ernest Kleinberg (1910-1980) was born in Breslau, Germany. He grew up in Vienna, where he became a photographer for American news agencies and Life magazine. In March 1938 he was arrested by the Gestapo for photographing Hitler's march into Vienna. Released six weeks later thanks to pressure from American friends, he escaped to New York where he resumed photography and rescued his entire family from Nazi Austria. In the early 1950s he became a self-taught film producer. He subsequently completed more than 25 documentary movies.
Other films by Ernest Kleinberg:
/ @robertkleinberg6278
Europe as it was
:
Belgium: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
Bruges: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
Carcasonne: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
Crossroads Europe: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
Lausanne: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
The Netherlands: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
Nördlingen: • Ernest Kleinberg ...
Vernazza: • Ernest Kleinberg ...

[Riet Valentijn]

This is the time where I was growing up and never realized how much work these heroes did to keep us safe,great movie...riminissing....At the great flood I was seven years old but still remember that.

[farooq ahmad sultanpuri]

@Riet Valentijn b

[Riet Valentijn]

@KEY S Thank You so much for Your' kind words,The Dutch did a brilliant job indead and now just like You and Your' people we have to take it back from the corrupt governement and make it the beautifull place to live in.United we can do it! God bless You in the struggle we all are in now.

[KEY S]

​@Riet Valentijn You have witnessed all this brilliant journey , that's amazing , God bless you Riet

[Riet Valentijn]

@Robert Kleinberg Thanks for Your' response,great that You read my letter and I wish for all of You great Americans that life is going great again as it has to be. May God bless You all.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts!

[ZTruth Prevail]

May God bless the Dutch people. They are amazing people. Very dedicated people

[Ngadi Ran]

@MFH TV CHANNEL ha ?

[Wouter Kulche]

@MFH TV CHANNEL Perhaps use google translate first

[MFH TV CHANNEL]

Ancient Ethiopia jezba neh aydel ? weyim tegre weyim gojame mehon alebeh . sele dutch people meserinet tawqaleh ? ye bariya negde man ende jemere tawqaleh? ahun netherland wust yalut tekuroch hiwotachew men endemimesel tawqaleh? abo bedatam dedeb nec amlaki neh qitehen beduh ende?

[Dirt Church]

My mom and grandparents came to Canada after 53 flood , between the war in witch grandma was shot in foot by a nazi , grandpa was in the Dutch navy then went in to the resistance where he met my grandma, they would not speak about those times this is all we know in our family about those times , the Dutch are a beautiful people I think my love of the water must come from them.

[Robert Heinrich von Seyfenstern]

all in just one sentence

[John Adams]

Great documentary. I saw this almost 20 years ago in a coffee house in Seattle and never forgot it. Thanks for uploading.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you, John.

[Marcus Franconium]

Love the old footage on how they did it in the old days. and its suprising not much has changed through out the centuries . Thank you for uploading this video.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching.

[usmale 49]

What a great film. I enjoyed it thoroughly, thank you for sharing!

[usmale 49]

@Robert Kleinberg You're more than welcome!

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching, and for your comment!

[Sir Wick Music]

Your grandfather? What a wonderful way to honor his work! This is awesome.

[Robert Kleinberg]

@Pit Thank you for the comment. That is great! I don't have more information about the people shown in the film, except for the narrator, Sam Bakker, whom I met personally. Also, thank you very much for sharing the film with others!

[Pit]

@Robert Kleinberg first of all thanks a lot. Funny how your dad did film my great-grandfather 28:37. i did show this to my dad. do u happen to have more about this topic?

[Sir Wick Music]

@Robert Kleinberg My honor. I am actually watching all of them. I have been so fascinated with the Dutch after learning about Lely. What such an amazing history and feats. I can't wait to start learning the language and visit!

[Robert Kleinberg]

My father. His films deserve the attention they are getting. They are the result of tremendous hard work, done to the highest standards. Thanks very much for watching, and for your comment.

[Lillian]

Proud to be a descendant off these hard workers, putting their trust in the hands of the Lord.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Yes indeed. Thank you for watching.

[- dutchman24 -]

Amazing video, I grew up in Lelystad in the late 80's without realizing how much effort has been made by so many people. They deserve we all see this video in schools to commemorate them with the respect they earn. Now living in France for 20 years, I'm happy to show this video to my teenage children so they can understand what a polder is and how it's made. Many thanks to you Robert for posting this documentary.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you very much for the comment. You are right - this film, itself the result of tremendous hard work, should be seen by younger generations, especially in the Netherlands.

[TheBushdoctor68]

These are our heroes.

[Sam]

What A feelgood video. Proud of our ancestors.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching and sharing the film.

[becks6900]

I saw a very similar documentary to this in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It concentrated on the building of a dam with tugboats. It was in Black and White. Does anyone have any idea which film this might have been?

[OHM]

Thanks for uploading, really enjoyed it!

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you!

[v lan]

Amazing! Has this footage been shown before?

[Robert Kleinberg]

All of the color scenes in the film were shot by Ernest Kleinberg. He obtained the black and white historical footage from Netherlands government archives, with their cooperation and support. Thank you for watching and sharing this film.

[Rupinder Sekhon]

God bless u beautiful people of Netherland

[Daniel Mallon]

Thanks 😉

[Co kostwinder]

Thank you . Ik ben een trotse Nederlander .

[Theo de Paus]

i live in the region where the making of the mentioned "matrasses" was part and parcel of the local economy, the men went dredging during spring and summer and in the colder months they were cutting reeds and willow shoots, also the town of Sliedrecht ( south of Rotterdam) is famous for its dredging knowhow, the bucketdredger seen in the film is now moored at the Dutch national dredging museum in this town, even today on many shipyards in this part of The Netherlands modern dredgers are still being built and the dredging industry is stiil going strong.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching, and also for contributing this comment.

[Rareș E.]

Just...Wow!!!❤

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching.

[Daniel Mallon]

Wow wat een mooie video

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching!

[Coffee]

Great video! Very interesting.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching.

[David van Niekerk]

Dankie Robert Kleinberg vir die prima video.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you very much for watching.

[Suzette Bakelaar]

I saw this video through a youtube reactor called Highly Combustible Reacts. It was amazing, thank you for adding it to youtube.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching and sharing.

[Eddy Lumb]

Amazing!

[Adolf Tostig]

i agree in britain it would take us a hundred years to do half of that and an other hundred to get planning permission and put it through goverment

[Rein]

with current dutch politics all this work and the delta works wouldn't be able to happen.

[AudieHolland]

Yes, and you have your own storm barrier in the Thames. But the Dutch have accumulated their experience out of neccessity because half of The Netherlands is below sealevel.

[Alex Jones]

There are actually quite a few Polders in Norfolk - We did it too, the issue being that we don't have a handy inland sea with shallow tides to dam off

[Mark Mathews]

what an amazing story of hard work & determination, now lets give it to some north Africans , I think betraying all this hard work for their future generations is criminal in many ways

[Paul Wary]

No wonder the Dutch are so tall. All the lesser mortals died from the hard work.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching, and for your comments.

[Snowwie]

A time still with the Dutch Guilder, a time without smartphones, a time even without internet, a time of no problems with Black Peet, a time of socializing people, a time without terrorism. There are some good elements of those days. But also less elements, like WW2, the threat of the sea and tedious manual labor to get our land safe again. These days those things are gone. The Netherlands has become one, if not the most, technological advanced countries in the world and our expertise in water management is so well recognized that it is often called upon to apply it also in other countries which faces similar threats of flooding. Even the 'mighty' United States did call in for Dutch engineering to help out after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. A combination of Dutch Engineering and American Muscle Power made that city also safe again. I am really proud of what my ancestors did to my country, and that this wisdom has been also applied in many other countries and we keep on going doing it. Guess who build the Palm Island at Dubai? ;-) - Any Dutch person should be really proud of being Dutch. Not only for this, but also of our hospitality, charity and helping as much other countries as well to make this entire world safer, cleaner and better for all human kind.

[jordy corvers]

like your comment. however, there's always room for improvement. and poldering is still going strong today;)

[Red Sampler]

@TheSuperappelflap because they didn,t get the funding they needed to make the flood protection system complete. you are so right.. it isn,t even funny anymore..

[TheSuperappelflap]

New Orleans is not safe

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching the film and for sharing these comments. Indeed, the Dutch people have many achievements to be proud of.

[Shikhar Gupta]

What happens to groundwater during rains? Water levels in the rivers Meuse and Rhine?

[Rene Kuipers]

Complete very complex system.of water works .to much to say

[Badger]

Really cool video!

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching.

[mutaween464]

If Bangladesh were to do something like this, the country would be saved from climate change! I really hope this gets done. Like Netherlands back then, the sea threatens to sink Bangladesh underwater. But Bangladesh could do this faster! We have more people and dirt cheap labor!

[Donagh]

Wel get carackin!

[Jan Janssen]

mutaween464

[mutaween464]

zavatone Bangladesh politicians can't be bothered to save the country... And Bangladesh is a poor country, it would be very difficult to pay for such a thing. :(

[Isaac Stone]

I remembered they said sea tide and winds, that’s why they engineered that way.

[Patloo Son]

🔴This narrator makes for a good sleep therapist

[Vuurwerk Nederland]

Nederland in 1950: binnen 2 jaar leggen we tientallen kilometers dijk aan Nederland in 2020: na 2 jaar overleg binnen het ministerie is er besloten om een studie uit te voeren naar de haalbaarheid, waarna het nog 5 jaar duurt voor dat er begonnen kan worden met bouwen. Make the Netherlands Great Again!

[tmnvanderberg]

Romantiseren zonder kennis. De overheid en de waterwerken zijn nu veel beter georganiseerd dan toen. De plannen voor het polderen in de zuiderzee waren meer dan een eeuw oud voor men er werkelijk aan begon. Wat betreft de deltawerken: de deltacomissie begon 21 februari 1953, het volledige plan was eind 1955 geschreven, en het duurde tot eind 1958 voor de bijbehorende wet door de tweede kamer was. Toen was er dus nog geen steen gelegd. De aanleg van dit alles duurde tot 1997.

[Rene Ouderling]

@NPC Blacksmith Never to old to learn.

[NPC Blacksmith]

No habla Espanol.

[Robert Kleinberg]

Interesting comment. Thank you for that, and for watching the film.

[Micade]

Awesome!

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you!

[Avro]

Salute!

[Lendra Channel]

👍👍👍

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching the film.

[Spiritual Anarchist]

'They warn us that the polar ice is melting ' ..1969 .

[Robert Kleinberg]

Yes. The sentences which follow that in the film are equally important. Thank you for watching, and for your comment.

[Gino]

Toen geluk nog heel gewoon was ...

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching. You might also enjoy "Impressions of Lausanne".

[Danny Dootjes]

windmills, bridges, tulips and wooden shoes. Yup, that's the Netherlands (.....)

[Leendert Jagt]

beautyfull

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you for watching the film.

[Ysbrand van den Heuvel]

ik ben een Rijswerker en heb dit Werk ook gedaan

[Robert Kleinberg]

Thank you!

[Carlos Peralta Contreras the]

To opinion its open tu Europe life history

[jan van ruth]

wanneer is de tekst ingesproken? melting pole ice

[Ronald de Rooij]

Viel mij ook al op. Maar, ik heb het in 1978 ook al op school gehad, dus het zal tien jaar eerder ook al wel bekend zijn geweest bij Rijkswaterstaat.

[Robert Kleinberg]

The film's narration was recorded in 1969. Thank you for watching.

[Lakshmi Creations]

Nice....Bro...

[Asger Tonsberg]

27:00 That fact the global warming was a fact in 1969, and there was nothing done...

[Sparkling Diva1111]

Why does the narrator keep saying 'our country'? He's not Dutch by the sound of it. (He cannot pronounce simple Dutch words properly.)

[Henk Vandenbergh]

@Robert Kleinberg Yes, that Dutch accent doesn't always come over easily, you can ask my five American sons, though some times I am sure they did not even bother listening. 😎😊😉😂😇 Greetings from Colorado.

[Robert Kleinberg]

The narrator as introduced in the film was Sam Bakker (his real name), an engineer with the Netherlands Water Ministry. As the film was originally made for an American audience, the producer decided to have a native English speaker read the narration. Now, the film is being enjoyed worldwide. Thank you for watching.

[wim V]

it's not bies bosh, it is bies bos...that fellow has dental problems?

[Richard K]

Now it is time for building the Markerwaard polder. More land for our increasing population.