Dignitas opens its doors every first day of the month. Anyone who wants can be shown around by a volunteer. “That can be potential guests, but also family members of employees or just interested parties,” says director Ingrid Heidema, who recently told one want to set up a second location in Medemblik.
Death as taboo
And that is still necessary. “Death is and remains a kind of taboo, while it is part of life. The more we tell and show it, the better it is.”
Gery Beemster has been a volunteer of Dignitas for more than 20 years. “I had a girlfriend, who did not want to drive past the hospice. He always drove around, because there everyone died, was her thought. Come and have a look here, I said. We laugh a lot here and don’t talk about death, but about life. But that is very difficult for many people to understand.”