page_title: Ommen
section_title: Eerde
hierarchical_section_title: Ommen / History / Eerde
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Kasteel Eerde
context_page_description: Ommen is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the eastern Netherlands. It is located in the Vecht valley of the Salland region in Overijssel. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a city in 1248. The municipality had a population of 17,813 in 2019 and covers an area of 182.01 km².
context_section_description: About four kilometres (2.5 miles) south-east of Ommen and adjacent to the hamlet of Eerde lies the castle Eerde, a castle in the Dutch-classical style from 1715, surrounded by a 1,667 hectare estate in the Baroque style managed by the Natuurmonumenten foundation since 1965.
  The name "Eerde" is a Saxon word meaning "earth". The first castle on this site was built in the 14th century, but was soon destroyed by the bishop's men in 1380 — along with the fortifications of the town of Ommen. In the centuries since, the Van Twickelo, Van Renesse and Van Pallandt families have lived in castles on this site. The castle was used by the famous philosopher and spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, of whom Baron Philip van Pallandt was an avid follower, from about 1924 to just before the start of the Second World War. Van Pallandt granted Krishnamurti a territory at the Besthemerberg, north of Eerde. There Krishnamurti held his Order of the Star in the East lectures and meetings in front of audiences of thousands of people from dozens of countries.
  During the Second World War, a Nazi concentration camp, Kamp Erika, was situated at the Besthemerberg. Only eight Jews were detained here; the camp was designated mostly for Dutchmen convicted of black market trade or resistance to the occupational authorities. The camp was notorious for the brutal behaviour of its personnel, leading Dutch judges to refuse to send convicts there in 1943. The camp was turned into an Arbeitserziehungslager mostly for those refusing to do forced labour, but in the fall of 1944 it once again became a penal camp. The camp was liberated on 11 April 1945. From 1945 to 1946, the camp was instead used to detain Dutchmen who had collaborated with the German occupiers. Their treatment was not much better.
  Nowadays the castle houses the private international boarding school Eerde, which offers the IB programme.
caption: Eerde Castle
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