The price of freedom

Those people who say they don’t want to remember the dead, nor celebrate the liberation of their country because “it’s not about them” do forget that it is about their own family , those who existed long before them and they who would come after them. It is because of those battle fought, the talks having taken place, the covenants being made, that we also thanks to the European Union do have a period of already 70 years with out a war in the Netherlands.

Also not wanting to remember all their struggles shows disrespect and proves the egoism which has taken its toll in this capitalist materialist world.

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To remember

paternal grandfather = adventurous + accomplished technical engineer, who traveled the world

WW2 => joined the resistance >> team betrayed => Nazi’s transported him to a concentration camp

By miracle, he lived to see the early days of May 1945 > survived bizarre allied bombing > passed away, only shortly upon his return to his family.

done his duty > fought for freedom

I agree we need to rewrite history + have a critical look at whose dead we commemorate + whose freedom we allow ourselves to celebrate – + at which cost.

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Preceding articles:

May, for many a month for mothers and many celebrations

Religious celebrations in May 2016

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Kirsten van den Hul

I never got to meet my paternal grandfather. From what I’ve been told, he seems to have been quite an amazing man. An adventurous and accomplished technical engineer, who traveled the world (wonder where I got that from ;-)) before settling down with his wife, my grandmother. Life looked good, he had a job, they bought a house, they were starting a family.

Then WW2 started.

Now he could have just done nothing when the Germans invaded his country. He simply could have kept on working as an engineer, trying to make ends meet in those difficult years and raise his two blue-eyed baby boys. But he didn’t. Instead, he joined the resistance.

I would have loved to be able to talk to him and ask him why he did that. If he ever was afraid. If his wife ever tried to dissuade him. If he ever worried about his…

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