Adapted Commemoration on May 4, 2021

Unfortunately, due to the corona measures imposed by the government, no commemoration ceremony could take place in the Bos van Wijckerslooth on 4 May 2021. On that day we also wanted to commemorate the allied soldiers.

Prior to the commemoration, Isabel Schreve and Thijs Noort pronounced a self-written poem at the monument in the Bos van Wijckerslooth. This happened in the presence of Mayor Jaensch, who himself spoke briefly.

Furthermore, as members of the Commemoration and Celebrating Committee, we have laid flowers at the graves of allied soldiers and resistance fighters at the “Groene Kerkje” and the RC cemetery at the St. Wilibrord Church.

This also happened at the Halifax monument in Haaswijk and at the memorial in the Bos van Wijckerslooth.

At the commemoration in the Bos van Wijckerslooth Linda van der Zon-Bronsgeest,
Chairman of the Comité Herdenken en Vieren (Commemoration and Celebrating Committee),
delivered the following speech.

During the National Remembrance we commemorate the Dutch war victims. All – civilians and military personnel – who have been killed or murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere in the world since the outbreak of the Second World War and afterwards in war situations and during peacekeeping operations ” All memories of these victims come together during the National Remembrance. We stand still that since 1945 the world has not been free from war for a day. On August 15, 1945, the war in the Dutch East Indies came to an end, but almost immediately the battle for decolonization of a country in search of freedom began. The many peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Korea and the former Yugoslavia have also taken their toll.

Because of these histories, we reflect on the past and try to learn lessons for the present and the future. Freedom is self-evident to many. Those who have known war know better than anyone that this is not the case. In the 76 years after the liberation of the Netherlands to this day today need peacekeeping operations and unfortunately this costs human lives every time. It will be silent everywhere in the Netherlands at 8 am. Two minutes in which we realize that we can be quiet here in freedom for 2 minutes! We do so in lasting gratitude to all who, around the world, have given their lives for our freedom

The photos on this page were taken by Joop Verdonk and Rita Deckers