Smit is a well-known figure in Volendam. Not like the many singers of course, but as an articulate and accessible reporter for NH and bartender in her partner’s pub. There she also notices how the New Year’s fire fades into the background.
“Young people often ask my husband: what does your wife do with her hands?” She is missing a few phalanges and scars extend up to her shoulders. “When he tells them about the fire, they vaguely remember something, but they don’t know the whole story. While they almost always have family members who have been affected.”
Place in the museum
When Smit, together with Korzec, saw in Sweden two years ago that commemorating a disaster creates connection, she started asking around whether it was not time for the New Year’s fire to be given a place in a museum.
Her new documentary shows this impressive visit to the Swedish city of Gothenburg. “I was in shock about how things went there,” says Smit. “The commemoration was grand. The victims and relatives seek each other out, find support from each other. Organize dinners. I didn’t know that at all from my Volendam.”