Joe Popolo, the United States ambassador to the Netherlands, has responded to the removal of two panels in the visitors center of the American cemetery of honor in Margraten. The removal is controversial because the panels highlighted the role of black soldiers in the liberation of Europe from the German occupier and would fit within the Trump administration’s policy against diversity and inclusion.
“The signs at Margraten are not intended to promote an agenda that criticizes America,” Popolo writes on X. Earlier on Monday, Popolo had visited the honorary cemetery together with mayor Alain Krijnen (non-party) of the municipality of Eijsden-Margraten.
Brought a week and a half ago NRC it emerged that the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), which manages the cemetery, had removed the two panels of ‘black liberators’. One of the two memorial plaques not only emphasized the fight against the Nazis, but also stated that black soldiers had to fight against racism within the American military.
Lots of criticism
NIOD researcher Kees Ribbens said against NRC that removing the memorial plaques is in line with the Trump administration’s approach, which is aimed at diversity and inclusion policies. According to Ribbens, The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published a critical piece about the ABMC this spring. That organization would withdraw from Trumps executive order to stop policies that promote diversity and inclusion.
There was a lot of criticism about the removal of the panels. The province of Limburg and the municipality of Eijsden-Margraten, among others, announced that as far as they were concerned the panels should be returned. Municipal councilors found the removal did not do justice to history and was therefore “indecent” and “unacceptable”.
Although black Americans played an important role in the liberation of South Limburg and the construction of the honorary cemetery in Margraten, no attention was initially paid to this when the visitor center opened. In 2024, after pressure on the then ambassador, the exhibition was adjusted.
‘Criticism of Trump inappropriate’
A spokesperson for the ABMC claimed that the removal is part of the “regular rotation” of the exhibition so that “as many individual stories as possible are covered.” Popolo repeated that statement on Monday on X. Any criticism of the ABMC or Trump is “inappropriate and ill-informed,” he says.
Popopo writes that the cemetery is also intended to honor “the ultimate sacrifice of many brave African American soldiers.” He refers to a panel that now hangs there; which is about a black American soldier, Willmore Mack. This panel is new in the visitor center: one of the removed panels previously hung here.
Theo Bovens, chairman of Black Liberators in the Netherlands and faction leader of the CDA in the Senate, calls the ‘rotation reasoning’ of AMBC and Popolo to the NOS “very unlikely”. He is committed to more recognition for black American soldiers in Limburg. One of the removed panels was about the important role they played in digging the graves in Margraten. According to Bovens, it is illogical that this would be removed: “That really belongs to Margraten.”
Mayor Krijnen previously said that, in his opinion, “the history of the black liberators” deserves “permanent attention in the visitors center.” He said he would repeat this message to Popolo during the visit. But, he told the Limburg broadcaster L1 prior to the visit: “I do not expect a solution from the ambassador, but I do want to discuss it in the right way.”
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Willie James is the only black American WWII soldier who still gets a mention in the cemetery in Margraten – who was he?
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