Rotterdam City Archives Many VOC ships sailed from Delfshaven in Rotterdam
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Broadcasting West
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 23:17
The municipality of Delft has apologized for the city’s history of slavery. Mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt said at a meeting tonight that the city council “does not close its eyes to the involvement of its distant predecessors in slavery”.
“We sincerely apologize for their actions,” the mayor said. The board thus responded to the results of the research that the municipality had conducted into Delft’s slavery history, writes Broadcasting West.
Deeply intertwined
That research showed last summer that Delft residents were deeply intertwined with the trade of enslaved people. Offices of the United East India Company (VOC) and the West India Company (WIC) were located in the city. Both trading companies transported an estimated one and a half million enslaved people.
Delft was closely linked to the two companies. For example, a significant number of the directors of the VOC chamber in Delft were also members of the city council: 89 percent. In the WIC room this was 76 percent. Hundreds of ships left from Delfshaven near Rotterdam. A number of those ships were named after Delft, such as the WIC ship ‘De Delft’.
In addition to the VOC and the WIC, Delft also had several colonial institutions. For example, training courses on the Dutch East Indies were given at the Royal Academy, the predecessor of TU Delft. The city council also transferred money earned from trade from Batavia to Delft.
‘History continues’
The traces are still visible in the city, says the mayor. “Some houses were built with the proceeds of slavery.” The council held discussions with residents of the city, including Delft residents with enslaved ancestors. The stories they heard then make it clear that the history of slavery continues to this day, according to Van Bijsterveldt. “Exclusion and racism are never far away.”
Together with the Quartermasters Committee on the Slavery History of Delft and other partners in the city, a follow-up to this apology is being considered. The council believes that apologies should not only be heard, but should also be evident. For example, a memorial site will be built in the city.
Previous apologies
Exactly a year ago, outgoing Prime Minister Rutte apologized for the role the Dutch state played in slavery.
King Willem-Alexander also apologized for the history of slavery last year. Several municipalities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Vlissingen and Haarlem, as well as De Nederlandsche Bank and ABN Amro, also apologized.
2023-12-19 22:17:05
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