Vera Tummers-van Hasselt - Der koehp of the hehle

The Heerlen dialect writer Mathieu (Mathijs Jozef Hubertus) Kessels (1858-1932) tells the Heerlen boy Jacobus about his adventures in the Napoleon's army during the war in Spain (1808), in the bowels of a giant whale and during the campaign to Russia (1812), in which he pretends that he was on an equal footing with Napoleon. Kessels probably modeled the figure Koehp van Hehle after the inhabitants of Heerlen, who are known as braggarts and talkers. In 2003, the Garderezjiment d'r Kueb va Hehle was founded, with the aim of participating in cultural activities in a fun way and promoting Heerlen both within and outside the region. An edited reissue in dialect with a Dutch translation appeared in 2005. Replicas are not only souvenirs, but are also given as a symbol of Heerlen.