Camp Westerbork Memorial Center Increases Security Measures for Memorial Day Event

The Camp Westerbork Memorial Center has made additional arrangements to ensure that memorials to the dead can be safely preserved. Bertien Minco, director of the memorial center, said this afternoon in the RTV Drenthe radio program Cassata.

Minco is ready for Memorial Day tonight. She is not concerned about safety. “I am very calm, because we are well prepared. We have very good communication with the city, the police and the security department. There are also no signs of unrest, so let it happen,” said i.

This preparation includes the measure that there will be more police officers in Westerbork than in previous years. Minco also notices that there is a tense atmosphere around the memorial. “There is always confusion about how and who we remember, but it has never been like now. People need to be researched on De Dam.”

“Terrible,” Minco calls the dangerous situation. She hopes no further action will be taken for Camp Westerbork. In the conversation in front of the Dam last Wednesday, Minco said that this year’s preparations were different from previous years. “We are not isolated from the world. We have prepared ourselves very differently than a few years ago. And we are told what to do, based on analyses. Because let’s be honest, we really don’t know. We are storytellers, not police.”

“Remembrance is something you do together and it’s something you want to do in an accessible and open way. Freedom means that everyone can have their own opinion, but on Memorial Day Remember you come together to be together,” she concludes.