Throughout the Netherlands, people have been silent for two minutes to commemorate civilians and soldiers who have died in war situations since the outbreak of the Second World War. The National Commemoration was held on Dam Square in Amsterdam in the presence of thousands of people.
After two corona years, the National Commemoration on Dam Square was again open to the public. Images showed that many people had come.
Historian and presenter Hans Goedkoop delivered the May 4 lecture in the Nieuwe Kerk. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima then laid a wreath at the National Monument on behalf of the Dutch population. A military trumpeter blew the Tattoo, followed by two minutes of silence at 8 p.m.
The Domplein in Utrecht was also full of people. In her speech, Mayor Sharon Dijksma drew a parallel with Ukraine and indicated that freedom is not self-evident and war is by definition meaningless. Dijksma laid the first wreath together with relatives of resistance heroine Truus van Lier.
Bombing
The mayor of Arnhem Ahmed Marcouch also paid attention to the refugee Ukrainians in the Netherlands in his speech during the commemoration of death this evening. He said that the war images from the Second World War are coming in more intense this year due to the bombings and casualties in the Eastern European country.
At the commemoration on Audrey Hepburnplein, about thirty Ukrainian refugees were also present at the invitation of the mayor. They stay on a cruise ship on the Rijnkade that serves as an emergency reception location. In his speech, Marcouch called the Ukrainians present “friends from Ukraine”. He also said he was honored that Ukraine “entrusts its mothers and children to the Netherlands”.
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