Last weekend also was the national recollection day in the Netherlands. Coming from a place that has reluctant school children and veterans descend on Parliament Hill, the sight at Dam Square was a moving sight. At 8 pm on Sunday night, the Queen lies down a wreath to recollect the victims of WWII. A normal moment with what we do in Canada you say? Not really. People actually shut up. I mean eerie quiet and then you hear the bells toll in the back. I've never seen so many people (the square was beyond packed - choco-block is a good term to use) be so quiet for so long (roughly 18 minutes there was minimal peeps from the crowd). The thing is: there's a very good chance your grandparents were affected here in WWII, maybe even your parents if you were born in the Netherlands. In Canada, there is a chance that while you may know someone who was affected by the war - it might not be a relative. And perhaps remembering isn't a somewhat forced school act - but something more tangible and real when it affects your family.Also, visiting Anne Frank House that morning made the ceremony even more fitting. Only one of the eight hideaways (Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father) survived after being discovered. Actually, only 1 in 4 people of Jewish descent survived WWII from the Netherlands. Perhaps, it is finally apparent for me why the poppies say 'Lest we forget'.
1 comment:
I can't imagine what it is like to see where Anne Frank lived and wrote. Somehow, even though we know it is real and all the horrible things that happened--it is somehow shocking to the spirit to be there and imagine all that they endured.
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