Never before has the Liberation Festival around the Baggelhuizerplas in Assen attracted so many visitors as last Thursday. It was even so busy that the organization eventually had to close the gates. This and more in this week of Drenthe.
It’s a week of looking back at history. On May 4th it is commemoration of the dead, on May 5th freedom is celebrated and on May 6th it is twenty years ago that Pim Fortuyn was murdered.
The politician is commemorated in various places in the Netherlands. The then chairman of the Drenthe branch of the LPF, John van Pijkeren from Zuidlaren, would normally be in Provesano in Italy to commemorate Pim Fortuyn. Due to health reasons, 88-year-old Van Pijkeren is no longer able to do so. During the parliamentary elections of 2002 in Drenthe, the LPF received almost 36,000 votes (12.3 percent), making it the fourth party in Drenthe.
After two years of commemoration without an audience, a traditional commemoration of the dead will be held for the first time in Camp Westerbork. It started with a silent tour, after which two Holocaust survivors spoke about their experiences during the Second World War. And of course there is the two minutes of silence.
A day later, the Netherlands, and therefore also Drenthe, celebrates freedom. The liberation festival in Assen attracted more than 40,000 visitors.
But there was also other news this week. For example, farmers are fed up with thefts and burglaries at their sales stalls and it was announced that the number of shops in eight municipalities in Drenthe increased last year.