Oldenzaal, Rossum, De Lutte

To many Dutch people, Herman Finkers (Almelo, 9 December 1954) is perhaps the best-known person from Twente. He became known as a cabaret performer and his ‘ode’ to Almelo -‘The traffic light jumps red, the traffic light jumps green, in Almelo there is always something to do’ - is now legendary. He hasn't lived in Almelo for a long time, but he does live in rural East Twente. And he has a ‘writers’ cottage' in a quiet spot along the river Dinkel, where he stays when he wants to be alone to concentrate.

Finkers is inextricably linked to Oost-Twente in several ways. First, it is because of his constant efforts to save the Twente dialect, a specific form of the Lower Saxon language, from extinction. He did this by using it in his many songs, and by writing television series, films and Catholic masses in Twents. He was closely involved in the television series ‘Van Jonge Leu en Oale Groond’, which ran from 2004 to 2008 on the regional channel RTV Oost. The series was hugely popular, not only in Twente, as it was later broadcast by several other regional channels in the Netherlands and the second season was even shown nationwide on public broadcaster KRO. Finkers himself also starred as an actor in the first season.

Finkers also had great success with the film ‘The Legs of St Hildegard’, which was released in cinemas in 2020. Finkers himself wrote the script for this tragicomic film (an adaptation of the Czech film ‘Teorie tygra’), and starred alongside Johanna ter Steege. In the film, they form the married couple Jan and Gerda, whose marriage is under pressure because Gerda is very caring towards her husband, who cannot always appreciate her interference. Of course, this film also largely speaks Twents.

Apart from Twents, Finkers also promotes traditional Catholic traditions. Twente is the largest Catholic region in the northern Netherlands. That Catholicism remained so strong here after the Reformation and the Eighty Years' War is due to its location near the Catholic diocese of Munster in Germany. In the years when the practice of the Catholic faith was more or less impossible in the Dutch republic, there were many ‘hideaway churches’ in Twente, or people migrated to locations across the border. For many Twente people, the Catholic faith is therefore also part of their regional identity.

For his own wedding, Finkers himself composed a polyphonic traditional Latin mass, the St George mass, and in 1988 he wrote the text and songs of the cartoon ‘Kroamschudd'n in Mariaparochie’ (‘On maternity visit in Mariaparochie’), a Christmas story. In this story, Jesus is not born in Bethlehem, but in the village of Mariaparochie near Almelo. It could hardly be more Twentsy.

You can extend this route with a ‘trip’ to Bad Bentheim in Germany, a location that plays an important role in the film ‘The Legs of St Hildegard’. To do so, from bike point 83, follow points 29, 90, 42, 55, 77, 30, 51 and 26. You will then cycle (there and back) about eleven kilometres extra.


This Premium cycle route was compiled by our editor: Frans Glissenaar.