Alkmaars Exchange Committee

Bath Darmstadt Troyes Tata Bergama

Who are we

Alkmaar maintains city links with 5 European cities. Contacts with Bath began at the end of the Second World War, then 4 more cities were added.

The AUC (Alkmaar Exchange Committee) has the task of coordinating, stimulating and subsidizing exchanges between Alkmaar and its twin cities Bath, Darmstadt, Troyes, Tata and Bergama.

Around fifty exchanges take place each year, involving around 1,000 people.

Twin Cities of Alkmaar

A twin city is a place in another country, with which a municipality maintains friendly contacts. This connection is called jumelage. Often the contacts go so far that the partner cities assist each other over and over again. The city associations are maintained by the municipality itself and/or one or more private organizations within this municipality.

For many years, the Alkmaars Exchange Committee (AUC) has been the driving force behind the city's links with:

Bath (Great Britain), since 1945

Darmstadt (Germany), since 1958

Troyes (France), since 1958

Tata (Hungary), since 1985

Bergama (Turkey), since 2004

Bath

Bath is history in plural. The relationship between the English Bath and Alkmaar is likely to have been one of the first, if not the first international city contact. Bath “adopted " Alkmaar towards the end of World War II.

Darmstadt

The first contacts with Alkmaar date back to a period when the population of Darmstadt still lived in the ruins of a heavily bombed city. The Second World War marked Darmstadt for life.

Troyes

Troyes is a historic town in the Champagne-Ardennes region, Aube department. Once the scene of glorious battles, now, at the beginning of the 21st century characterized by great prosperity.

Tata

In the Eighties we sought contact with a city behind the Iron Curtain. In consultation with the Hungarian embassy, the twinning with the Hungarian city of Tata was established. The agreement was signed in september 1985.

Bergama

Alkmaar and Bergama have had friendly relations since 2000. The first few years we deliberately chose a friendship bond to get to know each other a little better. The aim was to promote contacts between the inhabitants of Alkmaar and Bergama and to learn about each other's society and culture.

In Alkmaar, on the corner of the Bierkade and the Keizerstraat, there is a small building with a simple brick Bell facade from the end of the 18th century. This seemingly simple building is in fact the cradle of the international urban exchange. At the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, the Prins family lived here in Alkmaar. Father Isaak and mother Rosette stay here until 5 March 1942, the day they have to leave Alkmaar. Daughter Rosa Prins, who married Herbert Cecil Tobin (an English editor) in 1936, leaves for England in 1939 and eventually they settle in Bath. When the Germans occupied the Netherlands the following year, his son Eli Prins fled the IJmuiden Harbour with a fishing vessel (De Jonge Jochem, chartered by Goudsmit, director of the Bijenkorf).

Arriving in England, Eli Prins seeks out his sister. Here he addresses the local Rotary Club with the request to do something for the helpless people in Alkmaar. Then, with a small street fee, money and goods are collected for this charity (more than 1000 English pounds). Not much later, Bath and Alkmaar formed a bond of friendship. This fact is seen as the first international city contact. The organ was moved to Alkmaar after the war. It now stands, after a restoration in Bath, in the Grote Kerk in Alkmaar. On August 11, the organ returns to the Hall of the town hall. Alkmaar and Bath are still Twin Cities. The film that was made about this special urban band can be viewed below.

Our brochure

View and download the AUC brochure