When Jannie Hadderingh’s phone rang on Sunday morning and she was asked whether she had already looked at the war memorial on Moraineweg in Spier, she responded negatively. She was still planning to do that, because that is a regular occurrence. Jannie is the point of contact for the war memorials in the village.
The reason for the call was not very pleasant, because a trail of destruction had been caused at the monument the night before. As soon as she hung up the phone, she headed for the monument. And once there she saw how the information board had been kicked to pieces, the tray with information leaflets about the monument had been destroyed and a tray with plants on the monument had been smashed. “That makes you angry. Very angry.”
“I don’t know who did this,” says Jannie, who immediately adds that she suspects the culprit(s). “There was a tent party in Beilen on Saturday evening and partygoers also come here afterwards,” she says. A number of beer cans around the destroyed monument are silent witnesses to this. “There have been a number of people here who have taken a break. That is allowed. But if you destroy a war memorial, you are completely disrespectful,” she grumbles.