Bernhard Hanskamp also thought it was good to be there this afternoon. “It is very nice that attention is being paid to it and that we are coming together after 45 years. I only see some people for the first time today. I hope we can do this every five years. Even if it is only with a small group.”
He himself was able to give it a place, but he knows that this does not apply to everyone. “There are still people in a lot of trouble. You can hardly imagine that, but there are people who suffer in silence. For me, it has taught me to put things into perspective,” says Hanskamp.
Wim Postma just had his first aid certificate and was allowed to take care of the injured. He was also present today. “I’ve met people I haven’t seen for years. For example, a colleague of mine, who I’ve only just met again. I find that very special. Then you hear from each other how you experienced it. So it’s good to be here with standing still.”
Postma still thinks about the hostage-taking now and then, especially on a day like today. “Like others probably, I had a kind of farewell note in the pocket of my shirt. Because you don’t know what’s going to happen. That note is still in an impressive place. Then you start thinking about your life. It’s a very special moment, actually. It’s coming up all over again now.”
Ko de Groot was Postma’s immediate superior. “The shooting of Ko de Groot was an exciting and sad case. From the beginning I experienced that he was taken to the room where we all had to sit on the floor. And how he was shot and thrown out the window.”
He is no longer working on it every day, although the impact on his life was great. “The action of those boys was of course wrong. That is as clear as day. But I think it is valuable that the dialogue has started afterwards. It is good to live together, also with the Moluccans. That happens in Fortunately, Assen too. Shortly after the hostage-taking it was different, it was exciting. Then I walked around them with a wide berth. That did not feel good. That has now ebbed away, “says Postma.