Tonight, the Netherlands will again commemorate all civilians and soldiers who have died in wars since the start of the Second World War. Commemorations are held all over the country, after two years of corona again without restrictions and with the public. The war in Ukraine also makes this commemoration different from other years.
The theme of this year’s commemoration is solidarity. “The essence of commemoration is that you do it together,” says Gerben van den Berg, spokesperson for the National Committee for 4 and 5 May, about the chosen theme. “It shows the importance of bringing the commemoration together again after two years of corona. But at the same time, there is of course the shadow that the war in Ukraine casts over the commemoration this year.”
‘More urgent than ever’
With the theme, the National Committee for 4 and 5 May also wants to emphasize how our freedom is linked to the freedom of others. And the war in Ukraine shows how vulnerable that freedom is, the committee said.
“Who would have thought that we would commemorate and celebrate this year with a war in Europe”, says Wim van de Donk, chairman of the committee. “It seems almost impossible this year to think, ‘Never again’, when we see it happening again right before our eyes,” he said in the statement. NOS Radio 1 News† “That means being open to stories about the damage to democracy and human dignity. That remains urgent, perhaps more than ever.”
Looking ahead to Liberation Day tomorrow, Van de Donk says the party will have a different flavor. “A war is going on a few hundred kilometers away. But right now we must reflect on the fact that freedom is fragile and precious, and that we should never just take it for granted.”
More anxious
For those affected by the Second World War, the war in Ukraine is coming in extra hard, Patricia Dashorst tells in the NOS Radio 1 News† She is a psychiatrist at ARQ Centrum ’45 and specializes in treating this group of people. “They are much more troubled by memories and all the emotions that that entails,” she says. “They are more often anxious, sad, sleep worse. And the images reappear on their retinas.”
With the commemoration of the dead, she notices that her patients suffer more from these symptoms anyway, “but the war in Ukraine certainly adds to that”.
The best way to deal with their trauma, she says, is to talk about it. Not by telling the whole war story again “but at least by talking about how difficult and sad it is. And how angry and disappointed you are that it is happening again. That we have not learned from the war.”
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