During his speech on and because of the corona almost empty Dam, André Van Duin also spoke about tolerance. “I have lived in this city for over 30 years now. Yet I have never been to the Remembrance Day on this Dam on May 4. Instead, I always walk to the Westermarkt, not that far from here. Westerkerk, another war memorial. Not as big as this one, but just as impressive, the Homomonument. “
“The fact that we have had such a monument in the Netherlands since 1987, as the first in the world, marks our freedom … The Freedom that everyone, here, may be themselves. Without anyone else saying anything about it.”
Van Duin wants to celebrate that freedom. “You are free here. Free with the war as the negative, from the color picture of peace.” He is grateful that he can live in freedom. You can read the full text of his speech here.
During the National Remembrance Day, the Netherlands commemorates the victims of World War II and all subsequent wars and peace missions. Also this year, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima laid a wreath at the National Monument on Dam Square.
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