engineering

Scholtenhuis

Scholtenhuis is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Scholtenhuis rather than just read about it. In short: The Scholtenhuis (or Scholtenshuis) was a well-known and infamous building located in the centre of Groningen, the Netherlands, on the eastern side of the Grote Markt. It was constructed between 1878 and 1881 in an eclectic style by the Groningen architect Jan Maris for the industrialist Willem Albert Scholten.

Key takeaways

Scholtenhuis belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Scholtenhuis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Scholtenhuis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Scholtenhuis (or Scholtenshuis) was a well-known and infamous building located in the centre of Groningen, the Netherlands, on the eastern side of the Grote Markt. It was constructed between 1878 and 1881 in an eclectic style by the Groningen architect Jan Maris for the industrialist Willem Albert Scholten. The property consisted of two connected houses occupied by two generations of the Scholten family: W.A. Scholten and his son Jan Evert Scholten. Of the original complex, only the former carriage house with chauffeur's apartment at Martinikerkhof 8 remains, featuring an “S” above the entrance referring to the Scholten family.

History

Construction “Rieke” (Groningen dialect for “rich”) Scholten wished to live in style in Groningen and had his eye on several houses on the Grote Markt, which were still occupied. A carpenter was sent to inform the residents that there was an interested buyer. The message caused surprise among the ladies Van Imhoff, annoyance with Jonkheer Alberda van Ekenstein, and a third owner refused outright to sell. Scholten then chose a location on the corner of the Gelkingestraat further south and waited patiently until the previous owners passed away. He then bought and demolished the old buildings and constructed his grand residence. From this vantage point, Scholten had a view of both the Grote Markt and the city hall of Groningen. Because he wanted to know the wind direction, he had a weathervane installed on the city hall, visible from his house.

Second World War

The Scholtenhuis became notorious during the Second World War. In June 1940, the widow of Jan Evert Scholten, Geessien Mulder, and her youngest son Johan Bernhard were evicted. The building was seized by the German occupation authorities and became one of six Dutch Aussenstelle offices—regional headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst and the Sicherheitspolizei. Under the command of, among others, the feared SD officer Robert Lehnhoff, hundreds of resistance fighters were arrested, interrogated, and brutally tortured in the building. Many were later executed at remote sites. The Scholtenhuis thus became known locally as the “vestibule of hell.” During the liberation of Groningen in April 1945, the building was set on fire, shelled, and completely destroyed. The perpetrators of the Scholtenhuis were responsible for the deaths of more than 473 people, including those sent to concentration camps and never returned. This number excludes deported Jewish citizens. Soil from the location of the Scholtenhuis is included in the Groningen urn of the National Monument in Amsterdam.

Notable German SD officers Bernard Georg Haase – commander of SD-Aussenstelle Groningen Friedrich Bellmer – deputy commander Emil Schuchmann – head of Sicherheitsdienst department III Dr. Ernst Knorr – head of Sicherheitspolizei department IV-A Robert Lehnhoff – head of Sicherheitspolizei department IV-B Jozef Kindel – officer, department IV-B Helmuth Johann Schäper – officer, department IV-A

Dutch collaborators Harm Bouman – sentenced to 22 years (expressed deep remorse) Evert Drost – executed Oomke Bouman – executed Eppe Steenwijk – Groningen police officer, sentenced to 15 years Pieter Johan Faber – executed Abraham Kaper – executed Klaas Carel Faber – sentenced to life imprisonment, escaped in 1952, died 24 May 2012 in Ingolstadt, Germany Peter Schaap – executed Zacharias Sleijfer – died in a psychiatric institution

After the war Reconstruction on the site did not begin until 1954, when the student society building Mutua Fides was built for the Groningen student corps Vindicat atque Polit. The building line on the eastern side of the Grote Markt was moved about twenty metres back, making the original position of the Scholtenhuis difficult to recognise. The new buildings included shops and the Naberpassage, named after resistance fighter Caspar Naber, who was arrested there in 1944 and committed suicide to avoid betraying others under torture. A memorial plaque was placed at the site bearing the poem:

Scholtenshuis 1940–1945 Here stood the house of Nazism, of swastika and of SS, Here they gave Germanic lessons in ghastly sadism. Here those who fought for freedom suffered inhumanly. Since April 2009, a virtual tour of the Scholtenhuis has been available online, including films, photographs, and interviews, created under the supervision of the Oorlogs- en Verzetscentrum Groningen (War and Resistance Centre Groningen). The exact site of the Scholtenhuis has since been completely redeveloped with the construction of the Market Hotel. In 2021, the temporarily removed memorial plaque was reinstated in the side wall of the hotel, located on the new Naberstraat. The hotel restaurant is named “Willem Albert” after the original builder.

Further reading Brinks, Monique. Het Scholtenhuis 1940–1945. Profiel / OVCG Oorlogs- en Verzetscentrum Groningen, Bedum/Groningen. Vol. 1: Daden (2009), 204 pp. & DVD. ISBN 978-90-5294-449-4. Vol. 2: Daders (ed. Herman Amelink, 2013), 296 pp. ISBN 978-90-5294-544-6. Vol. 3a: Vlucht / Vol. 3b: Berechting (ed. Herman Amelink, 2015), 188 pp. ISBN 978-90-5294-578-1. Hofman, Beno (2005). Grote Markt oostzijde: van oud stadshart tot nieuw bouwplan. Assen: In Boekvorm. 72 pp. ISBN 90-77548-00-9. (Groningen van alle tijden; vol. 7)

References

External links

Official virtual reconstruction – Scholtenhuis.nl Groninger Archives: Destruction of 15 April 1945 Archived news article from Nieuwsblad van het Noorden

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Scholtenhuis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Scholtenhuis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Scholtenhuis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Scholtenhuis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Scholtenhuis

In research: Scholtenhuis appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Scholtenhuis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Scholtenhuis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 fires, 1945 in the Netherlands, April 1945 in Europe, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Scholtenhuis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Scholtenhuis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Scholtenhuis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Scholtenhuis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Scholtenhuis in simple terms?

Why does Scholtenhuis matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Scholtenhuis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Scholtenhuis.