We are expecting King Willem-Alexander to speak in about 20 minutes. dutchnews.nl/news/2020/05/t…
There will be two minutes of silence at 20:00.
The king, queen, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema are now walking across the Dam Square to lay a wreath at the memorial. You can watch everything on the NOS. nos.nl/livestream/233…
16-year-old Eva Pronk is now reading her poem, Freedom. She is the winner of the poet competition 'Closer to 4 May.' 4en5mei.nl/herdenken-en-v…
And the king is about to speak.
This is the first time that a head of state has spoken at the national remembrance.
"It feels weird, out here on an empty Dam," the king begins.
"But I know that you experience this day as well. In these months, we have given up our freedom."
"Now we make the choice for our health. Then, it was told to us be an occupier."
"It was here, six years ago, that a man told us about his trip to Sobibor [extermination camp]. There he stood, vulnerable but unbroken. He told us about those cruel circumstances."
"He told us how they took watches when he arrived. How he lost his wife, Rachel, to the chaos, never to be seen again. How the world stood by."
"What I also remember is what happened before. Hundreds were sent by Station Muiderpoort. Hundreds of spectators look on as full trains went by."
"It started slowly. First Jews couldn't participate in concerts. Then there was a ban in the Vondelpark."
Yes there were many in the resistance: citizens and soldiers. Real heroes who were prepared to not return from their mission."
"But there is another reality: citizens who did nothing."
"War exists for generations. Now after 75 years, the war is still with us. The least that we can do is not look away, not to normalize what is not normal. And to protect and keep free the state of justice."
"Only that will protect against arbitrary cruelness."
"Jules Schelvis withstood hell and managed to make something out of his life. I regained my trust in humanity, he told us."
"We can do this together, in freedom."
Now there will be a few more wreaths placed before the ceremony ends.
We will have a story up in a moment.
