11 June 2013

Remembrance Day 2013: Speech by a Father


May 4th is Remembrance Day in the Netherlands. At 8 p.m. the country observes two minutes of silence in honour of the Dutch victims of the Second World War and later conflicts. On 4 May 2013, the main speaker during the remembrance ceremony at the national monument in Dam Square, Amsterdam, was Peter van Uhm, a retired soldier. Shortly after General Van Uhm assumed his post as commander of the Netherlands armed forces, his son Dennis died in Afghanistan. Here is a translation of his speech.

Togetherness

In the Second World War, my father fought on the banks of the Rhine. In that war, when people were killing people, my father saw the dark. People were rounded up. Persecuted. For being one of ‘them,’ not one of ‘us.’

People were murdered. Exterminated. Just for being who they were.

People resisted, fought the inhumanity.
They paid for their bravery with their lives.

We remember them all with the greatest respect.

Even as a boy, I knew their history.
From my father’s stories.
From the stories of the allies, who fought for us, another people in another country.

It made a deep impression.
At 16, I looked around me.
The Second World War was over.
But for many survivors, the war went on.
Even now, many still feel the dark every day.
I realised: the struggle for justice is never over.
The struggle for freedom starts every day afresh.
In each of us.
And in society.

I asked myself: “Peter, millions of people have been denied a choice.
You do have a choice.
What are you going to do with your life?
What are you going to do to make the world a better place?”

I decided to serve.
Because I believe the key lies in serving.
Those who serve don’t think only in terms of ‘me.’
Those who serve don’t think only in terms of ‘them.’
Those who serve also think in terms of ‘us.’
That is where the victory over injustice begins. Because freedom, equality and justice, a better world, are made by working together.
My son too decided to serve.
I was so proud.
He died.
For another people.
In another country.
Five years and sixteen days ago.

Those were dark days.
What good are ideals, what good is a better world tomorrow, if they cost you your son today?
These are the questions that I, like others, asked myself.
Two weeks after his death I was here, at The Dam. It was May 4th, 2008. A difficult moment. A moment of confrontation.
But a deliberate decision.
This monument, dedicated to the memory of all Dutch war victims, helped me. So did the togetherness, here at The Dam and in the country. It helped me.
May 4th helped me to hold course in those dark days, when serving was so painful.
I hope May 4th will help us all to hold course. Not only today. But also in the three hundred and sixty-four days afterwards.
I hope that the remembrance and togetherness of May 4th will help us, in times of “me,” to find our way back to “us.” For the good things are not born of “me” and “them,” but of “us.”
That is what history teaches us.
That is what we must continue to commemorate.
That is what we must continue to pledge.
To ourselves. And to each other.

(Peter van Uhm, 4 May 2013. Translation: Sami Faltas)


Defensie weblog: Dodenherdenking: toespraak Peter van Uhm: Op 4 mei 2013 hield generaal b.d. Peter van Uhm een toespraak tijdens de herdenkingsplechtigheid bij het Nationaal Monument op de Dam.

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