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Social divisions in the Schilderswijk of The Hague, 1920-1939
| The Schilderswijk in The Hague was one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city in the 1920s. A large share of the people who lived on welfare rented a house, or a room, in this part of the city. But next to this poverty there were parts of the neighborhood that were better of. Here the residents had to pass a strict screening before they could rent an apartment. The background and the consequences of these differences in neighborhood life are the main subjects of the paper I would like to present on the ESSHC conference 2010 in Ghent, Belgium.
I will research the background of the residents of the Schilderswijk in The Hague who lived on welfare in the 1920s. Based on the welfare registers from 1922, I am able to determine in what part of the neighborhood they actually lived. This information will be visualized using a Geographical Information System. I will include as much information as possible about the people I find, like place of birth and family relations. In this way, I am able to find out what background these people had. Were they born Hagenaars, or mainly migrants from the countryside?
According to different studies, neighborhoods like the Schilderswijk were divided in many ways. People knew each others background and reputation and acted accordingly. Joanna Bourke speaks of invisible boundaries that were not easily to be crossed. Nevertheless, in current debates the old working-class neighborhood is often portrayed as an example of social cohesion and homogeneity. In this paper I will look at the social-economic differences in the Schilderswijk as a reason for division. Which consequences did the financial position of the residents had for their place of settlement and for their reputation in the neighborhood? To put my findings in a context, a part of the paper will treat the policy of the city council on this subject, and the implementation of this policy.
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