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MAY 5TH , 2005 – The 60th ANNIVERSARY
by Tjette Wijsman-Everaarts (The Netherlands) |
' EEN LAND DAT VOOR DE VIJAND ZWICHT VERLIEST VEEL MEER DAN LIJF EN LEDEN DAN DOOFT HET LICHT.'
Translated: ‘A nation that yields to its enemy, loses much more than body and soul, the light goes out.’
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| (From a poem by H. van Randwijk that appears on the front of a house in Amsterdam) |
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Today, May 5th, 2005, was a celebration for Dutch together with Canadians. The pipes, the drums, the air show and the veterans’ parade at Wageningen, in the presence of our Crown Prince and the Canadian delegation, were just symbols of the tremendous joy the entire nation experienced the past couple of days. Wageningen, by the way, is the town where the German General Blaskowitz signed the capitulation document.
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It is truly a day to remember. To remember the great feeling of freedom that Canadians won for our nation sixty years ago. Yet, May 5th is a day to remember the sadness too. In his speech this morning, a minister reminded us of the execution place in one of the notorious camps nearby (Amersfoort) and described the statue of a prisoner that was erected on the site, as lean as a rake, with practically no clothing. In the prisoner’s hollow face his big eyes are staring in the distance, at something above his executioners. The minister then read Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4:8: concerning the wondrous gift of Christ, “….When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men”. The old Dutch Statenbijbel says it in this way: “He took the prison captive”. We like to think it was toward this vision the prisoner depicted by the statue was looking. And so, on this day as well, we must always celebrate the Ascension of Jesus Christ. |
Dutch children waving
to Canadian soldiers
in 1945 liberation. |
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On May 5th, 1945 the enemy surrendered and the prisoners in that place of horror felt the wonder of freedom, even though they were forced to remain in their prison, surrounded by the enemy, until their liberators arrived. That must have been a long moment, yet they knew their release was coming in the very near future.
Isn’t it somewhat the same today? We live in a different kind of prison. Perhaps it is a prison without bars but a prison nonetheless, caught in a world where wickedness has gained the upper hand. Yet, like those prisoners sixty years ago, we are anxiously awaiting our Liberator, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He shall take this newest prison captive as well. And like those prisoners, we must remain captives in a world gone astray for a little while yet; but we await His return with an even greater gladness and hope in our hearts than the prisoners of 1945.
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