Mayor and partner association lay flower arrangements at the memorial in the partner municipality Borne
Borne/Rheine. Germans used to be unwelcome at the national commemoration of the dead on May 4th in the Netherlands. On this day, all Dutch men and women who had died in war situations since the Second World War, but also in peacekeeping operations, were commemorated. People wanted to be among themselves.
This has changed in recent years: The mayor of the town of Rheine and the board of the town twinning association are also invited to this celebration and to “Liberation Day” on May 5. This was also the case last Saturday in Borne.
This probably also has to do with the expansion of the commemoration of the dead in the Netherlands. Originally, “de nationale dodenherdenking ” only commemorated Dutch soldiers and resistance fighters who died in the Second World War. Over the years, other groups were added. These include, for example, the victims of the military operations in the Dutch Indies and those of the United Nations peacekeeping operations in which the Netherlands took part, such as in Bosnia and Afghanistan.
On Saturday, the joint commemoration was taken a step further: while the guests from Rheine had been “silent observers” in recent years, they were actively involved in the commemoration ceremony for the first time. At the invitation of Borner Mayor Jan Pierik and the “Stichting Comité 4 en 5 mei Borne”, which is responsible for organizing the commemoration days, Rheines Mayor Dr. Peter Lüttmann laid a flower arrangement at the memorial in the middle of the community. The chairman of the association for the promotion of town twinning Rheine Reiner Wellmann, together with the chairman of the partner committee Borne-Rheine, Gertjan Rozendom, also laid a flower arrangement at the memorial.
At the small memorial service in the old church in AltBorne, Rheines mayor and the members of the Rheiner partnership board were personally welcomed by the Borner mayor. In his speech, Mayor Jan Pierik also addressed the current situation in the Middle East: “The recent resurgence of anti-Semitism in our country is linked to the explosion of violence in the Middle East. We watched the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 with horror. And we are appalled by the large number of civilian casualties in Gaza.”
From the church, the march continued through the streets of Borne, whose houses were decorated with Dutch flags at half-mast, to the rally at “Rheineplein”. Hundreds of people, including many young people, were already waiting for the “funeral procession”, which was led by drummers.
At 8 pm, you could literally hear a pin drop. Because then there was silence for two minutes to commemorate and this was uniform throughout the country.
After the wreath-laying ceremony, the Bornenser invited the guests from Rheine to the town hall. Here they enjoyed coffee and tasty Korinthenstuten while chatting with friends.
One of the many encounters between the two partner municipalities will take place again on Thursday: A large bus will be taken to the Europawiese in the city park in Borne, so that after the joint commemoration, they will also celebrate together again.