You can hardly ignore it: in many places in Drenthe we celebrate for eighty years of freedom this week. There was also a memorial this morning at the Polish Monument in the Emmer district of Noordbarge. And it was even more impressive than other years.
In the morning there was a roaring noise and a little later a whole procession of army vehicles arrived. The passengers looked like they came out of a WWII film. They are part of the Liberty Tour, which these days travel through Drenthe in the wake of the liberators.
And the military offense does not miss its effect. The students of the master Vegterschool are impressed. “You can see how they were driving around when it was liberated,” says Sophie Feddema, 11 years old. “They are also just very cool vehicles.”
The students today have a special role during the commemoration. They carry poems that they have written themselves. And they have to do that for a large audience. Sophie: “I was super nervous, but then it went well.”
There is also a delegation from Poland and that is no coincidence. Emmen was liberated by the 1st Polish Armored Division on 10 April 1945. The Polish monument is a tribute for this.
Sophie also writes about that in her poem. “If the Polish soldiers had not come, we would not have been free,” she knows.
Her brother Philip (11) was also allowed to nominate. He is interested in history and knows quite a lot about the Second World War. “I knew that the Germans were coming and then Jews were almost allowed to do nothing anymore. They had to go to camps. That was all very bad.”
It is all discussed in the history lesson at school. The OBS Meester Vegterschool adopted the Polish Monument a few years ago.
Director Raymond van Klinken: “It is now very concrete for the students. They know the monument and cycle on their way to school.”
Yet the twins can hardly imagine what it should be like to live at war. “That is very difficult,” says Sophie. Philip: “I’m glad it’s gone!”