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Bonaire

Between December 7th, 1973 and January 14th, 1974, Gerda and Pierre Schunck-Cremers made a trip to Curaçao and Bonaire. It was not the first time.

In 1947, Pierre Schunck first went alone to the Dutch Caribbean island Bonaire to found a clothing factory. It should produce work clothes, especially for the oil industry of Curaçao, Aruba and Venezuela.
Pierre Schunck wrote in “Starting in Bonaire” among other things:

In 1947 the company A. Schunck was converted to an N.V. (roughly equivalent to public limited company)
Papa always had been engaged in involving me in his lifework. He came to Valkenburg to animate Gerda and me, to leave everything, to put a final stroke under the past and to take a management function in this N.V.
After consultation with Gerda I agreed, under the condition not to get any function in the commercial area. Papa suggested Human Resources.

The coincidence was that a Shell manager called Bloemgarten came to his home town Heerlen and asked Papa about a Jewish co-religionist Salm (Papa bought the factory building Molen from him). So they started talking about the Mill and me. Bloemgarten brought Papa to the idea of founding a company in the Caribbean.

Later his wife and children followed. At first they did not intend to stay there in the long term, because Pierre hoped for a place in the managment team of the company A. Schunck in Heerlen. It came to nothing. Furthermore he had to return to Bonaire several times. At one of these stays, he was accompanied a second time by his wife and children. But not all children could come along this time, because there was no secondary school at that time. The four older ones stayed in the Netherlands at Uncle Joseph’s, while the younger (meanwhile 4) came accompanied the parents to Bonaire. When on June 30, 1954 one more child had to be brought to the secondary school in the Netherlands, Pierre J.A. Schunck was staying on the island with the three youngest ones. On 15 January 1955 the family was reunited in the port of Amsterdam.
From the economic point of view, the chapter Bonaire was not successful. That is to say: for the family Schunck. For the island it has been very profitable. After the war many men were missing, including 34 soldiers from Bonaire (more than from the other islands of the then Netherlands West Indies).
Because of the lack of jobs on the island itself, many men from Bonaire always used to go to sea. During the war, German submarines tried to eliminate the shipping around the refineries of Aruba and Curaçao, in order to destroy the fuel production for the allied aircrafts. During these battles also ships were involved, which had a crew from Bonaire.
There was some shipbuilding where the traditional wooden load sailers were built, and a little intensive salt production.
So it was a great solution that a company came to Bonaire, which would provide work for women and train them themselves. A consequence of this company foundation was also that the power supply was significantly improved. Pierre Schunck wrote:

The only handicaps for our new establishment there were: the lack of a suitable building and power supply by day. There was a power plant, operated by a private company.
Technically, this power plant was able to supply us with electricity, but it could not work profitably for only one company. Through personal intervention by his Exellency Gouvernor Dr. P. Kasteel, the government promised to give a deficit guaranty to this power plant for the electricity supply in the daytime, because of the economic benefits for Bonaire, implied by the founding of small industries. This commitment was made in a supplement to the budget in 1948 via the so-called Gebiedsdeel Curaçao.

Their travels around the turn of the year 1973-1974 and in February 1984 to Bonaire have shown that these two pioneers are not forgotten. This is also evident from the album below.
Meanwhile, the island had completely changed. Tourism brought prosperity. But they still knew exactly who had given the first cautious approach to this prosperity.

See also the albums Resistance Laundry and Schunck-Cremers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schunck%27s_Kledingindustrie_Bonaire


927 - Pierre Schunck at the cutting machine
Pierre Schunck at the cutting machine
928 - Pierre Schunck produces workwear on Bonaire
Pierre Schunck produces workwear on Bonaire
778 - Op Bonaire 1948
Op Bonaire 1948
729 - 1948 A Pioneer on Bonaire
1948 A Pioneer on Bonaire
780 - Kralendijk from above
Kralendijk from above
781 - End Dry Season 1953 in the Cunucu
End Dry Season 1953 in the Cunucu
782 - HMS van Speyk, december 1953
HMS van Speyk, december 1953
783 - The “Black Van” (Ford), beginning 1954
The “Black Van” (Ford), beginning 1954
786 - DC3 on the airport of Bonaire, 1954
DC3 on the airport of Bonaire, 1954
785 - Lac bay, Bonaire, August 1954
Lac bay, Bonaire, August 1954
233 - Schunck Clothing Bonaire LTD
Schunck Clothing Bonaire LTD
952 - 12/23/1954 The last letter
12/23/1954 The last letter
789 - KNSM Oranjestad in the North Sea Canal, January 15th, 1955
KNSM Oranjestad in the North Sea Canal, January 15th, 1955
820 - 1964, sewing hall of the clothing factory Cambes, Bonaire
1964, sewing hall of the clothing factory Cambes, Bonaire
798 - Factory 25 Years 1
Factory 25 Years 1
799 - Factory 25 Years 2
Factory 25 Years 2
800 - Factory 25 Years 3
Factory 25 Years 3
801 - Factory 25 Years 4
Factory 25 Years 4
802 - Factory 25 Years 4a
Factory 25 Years 4a
803 - Factory 25 Years 5
Factory 25 Years 5
804 - Factory 25 Years 6
Factory 25 Years 6
805 - Factory 25 Years #7
Factory 25 Years #7
744 - Bonaire Feb. 1984 01
Bonaire Feb. 1984 01
746 - Bonaire Feb 1984 02
Bonaire Feb 1984 02
747 - Bonaire Feb 1984 03
Bonaire Feb 1984 03
748 - Bonaire Feb 1984 04
Bonaire Feb 1984 04
749 - Bonaire Feb 1984 05
Bonaire Feb 1984 05
750 - Bonaire Feb 1984 06
Bonaire Feb 1984 06
751 - Bonaire Feb 1984 07
Bonaire Feb 1984 07
752 - Bonaire Feb 1984 08
Bonaire Feb 1984 08
753 - Bonaire Feb 1984 09
Bonaire Feb 1984 09
754 - Bonaire Feb 1984 10
Bonaire Feb 1984 10
755 - Bonaire Feb 1984 11
Bonaire Feb 1984 11
756 - Bonaire Feb 1984 12
Bonaire Feb 1984 12
757 - Bonaire Feb 1984 13
Bonaire Feb 1984 13
758 - Bonaire Feb 1984 14
Bonaire Feb 1984 14
759 - Bonaire Feb 1984 15
Bonaire Feb 1984 15
760 - Bonaire Feb 1984 16
Bonaire Feb 1984 16
761 - Bonaire Feb 1984 17
Bonaire Feb 1984 17
762 - Bonaire Feb 1984 18
Bonaire Feb 1984 18
763 - Bonaire Feb 1984 19
Bonaire Feb 1984 19
745 - Bonaire 1984, #20
Bonaire 1984, #20
764 - Bonaire 1984, #21
Bonaire 1984, #21
765 - Bonaire Feb 1984 #22
Bonaire Feb 1984 #22
766 - Bonaire Feb 1984 23
Bonaire Feb 1984 23
768 - Bonaire 1983-1984 – 24
Bonaire 1983-1984 – 24
769 - Bonaire Feb 1984 #25
Bonaire Feb 1984 #25
770 - Bonaire Feb 1984 26
Bonaire Feb 1984 26
771 - Bonaire Feb 1984 27
Bonaire Feb 1984 27
772 - Bonaire Feb 1984 28
Bonaire Feb 1984 28
773 - Bonaire Feb 1984 29
Bonaire Feb 1984 29
774 - Bonaire Feb 1984 30
Bonaire Feb 1984 30
775 - Bonaire Feb 1984 31
Bonaire Feb 1984 31
776 - Bonaire Feb 1984 32
Bonaire Feb 1984 32
777 - Bonaire Feb 1984 33
Bonaire Feb 1984 33
791 - Bonaire Feb 1984 34
Bonaire Feb 1984 34
792 - Bonaire Feb 1984 35
Bonaire Feb 1984 35
793 - Bonaire Feb 1984 36
Bonaire Feb 1984 36
794 - Bonaire Feb 1984 37
Bonaire Feb 1984 37
795 - Back home from Aruba 1
Back home from Aruba 1
796 - Back home from Aruba #2
Back home from Aruba #2
797 - Journey back home from Aruba #3
Journey back home from Aruba #3