Successive cabinets have struggled with the question of whether they should apologize for administrators and officials who participated in the murder of the Jews, Roma and Sinti during the Second World War or who did not object to it.
Queen Beatrix acknowledged in a visit to Israel in 1995 that the Netherlands had fallen short during the occupation years.
Four years later, Prime Minister Kok apologized for the cold and distant reception for Holocaust victims who returned from concentration and extermination camps after the war.
Pragmatic reasons
To apologize today for the actions of the state during the war, it would have been Rutte’s own idea.
“Rutte thought the time was right now,” says Fresen. “Also because of his concerns about emerging anti-Semitism. If you want to counter that, you can use that to apologize. Because you say: we, too, have recognized the mistakes of the past and then you can continue to use anti-Semitism with more power in the future. condemn the statements of others and start a conversation about it. “
In addition, there were pragmatic reasons for doing it right now. “For example, the fact that today the liberation of Auschwitz, 75 years ago, was commemorated and that there are fewer and fewer survivors to hear the excuses.”
Rutte’s apologies were well received by Holocaust survivors:
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