Ingen, Netherlands

During WWII, the family Spies had to evacuate from the ferry house, in September 1944. The Germans manned the ferry, and the citizens weren't allowed to cross the Rhine any more. The Germans even used the old ferryboat a little further upwards the Rhine and placed it between Elst and Rhenen. They also placed 30 pieces of anti aircraft. The Germans called the ferry house 'the Haunted House' during the war, because the ferry and the house were attacked three times a day by British fighter bombers, but neither was ever hit. A few weeks before the liberation, the Allies also began bombarding from Ede, what resulted in a grenade that came into the facade and the roof of the ferry house. The old ferryboat was hit by a V1.

During World War II, Ingen did not see or feel the violence of the war even though it lies very close to the Grebbeberg. The Grebbeberg is a 50.2 metre high hill that was the central defensive point in 1940 for the centre and the west of the Netherlands. This hill was difficult to capture and a very good observation post for the troops. The Germans launched an assault on the Grebbeberg with heavy artillery but the Dutch soldiers remarkably defended the Grebbeberg with almost nothing to defend them with. No evacuation was possible for the inhabitants of Ingen because the area of Ingen, Lienden and Ommeren was right in the middle of the battle and the area could not be lost. But on 12 May 1940 the Dutch soldiers retreated to the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. And on 15 May, the Netherlands surrendered. This fast capitulation has spared Ingen of the German violence. The German soldiers went through Ingen but that was all. And also in 1944, in the airborne operation on Arnhem, Ingen was of no strategical use. But on the night of 3 December 1944 the Germans used an old Dutch defence: they destroyed the dikes of the Rhine south of Arnhem. The whole Neder Betuwe flooded. On 7 December, the water reached Ingen. Because of the water, the waterworks began to malfunction. The bad water caused scabies and typhus. The Germans fled to the northern shore of the Rhine. On 22 December the water began to flow back. But the Germans came back too. They took the last cattle and possessions the inhabitants had. In February, the water came back again. And again the Germans fled to the northern shore of the Rhine. This time the water stayed for four weeks. On 4 May, everything was over, the Germans capitulated in the Netherlands. In April 1946 Kinge van der Linden sang a song with the Metropole Orkest conducted by Dolf van der Linden. The song would gain national prominence. A part of the song translated into English goes like this:
Once the Betuwe will be in bloom again, and will grow as one big, yellow grain.

Ingen lies next to the river Nederrijn and is thereby a very fertile area, which is a home to many orchards. The horticulture is characteristic for Ingen. The first decade after World War II is known as the golden decade for Ingen. The government pushed the agriculture to a higher level because they wanted to compete on the world market with other countries. They mechanised the agriculture, resulting in a higher production. But where other farms in the Netherlands became bigger 'companies', in the Betuwe the number of farmers with between 1 hectare (approximately 2.5 acres) and 5 hectares (approximately 12.4 acres) has risen to around 96 percent. The inhabitants had a good time too: in 1950 0.9 litres of beer per capita was consumed and in 1960 23.9 litres.