The rehabilitation of black American liberators through the satirical program Just see you here only lasted a short time. TV makers from BNNVARA placed two information panels, which had been removed from the visitor center of the American cemetery, back in a nearby meadow. There they also placed the name of Willy F. James Jr. with straw bales. down. That African-American soldier, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, died in Germany in 1945 and is buried in Margraten.
After a report of a demonstration last Friday, a local police officer went to the location in question, says a spokesperson for the Limburg police. When it turned out to be TV recordings, it was agreed that they could continue as long as everything was cleaned up afterwards. The military police supervised this.
BNNVARA says it is now consulting with the Black Liberators Foundation about permanent rehabilitation. That organization, previously founded to keep the memory of black American liberators alive, had been thinking about a monument for some time. This could be located in Margraten at a location outside the cemetery or elsewhere in the South of the Netherlands.
Acceleration
Plans for such a memorial gained momentum after the removal of the panels earlier this year. According to the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the manager of cemeteries like the one in Margraten, it should concern “the legacy of those who fell during the war, regardless of rank or race.” Attention to the simultaneous struggle for equality waged by African-American soldiers no longer fits in with “the memorial mission”. The organization informed NOS this week. To previous questions from NRC half a month ago the ABMC denied such a change of course. He then spoke of “rotating” parts of the permanent exhibition in the visitors center at the cemetery in Margraten.
The ABMC’s latest response is in line with the Trump administration’s policy of striking down just about everything that tends towards diversity and inclusion policies. “The signs at Margraten are not intended to promote an agenda that criticizes America,” the new American ambassador Joe Popolo wrote on X last Monday, after visiting the cemetery in Margraten.
The American military was still segregated during World War II. Black soldiers mainly had a serving, logistical role. They also helped dig the graves in Margraten. Sometimes they still fought in the front lines. 172 African-American soldiers are buried in Magraten.
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