Openingswoord door Jan van Zanen bij de conferentie ‘Remember The Past, Secure The Future – A Call To Action’, 18 maart 2026 

 

Distinguished guests, 

 

A very warm welcome to The Hague. 

Our city is honoured to host this conference, ‘Remember The Past, Secure The Future – A Call To Action’. 

And a special word of welcome to Geraldine Schwarz. 

Your argument that democracy does not function without memory can be considered the overarching theme of this conference. 

 

The history of the Third Reich shows us what can happen when democracy is undermined. 

The former Nazi concentration and extermination camps are not just ‘lieux de mémoire’, places of remembrance. 

They have an important educational role, especially now that the number of eyewitnesses and survivors of the Second World War is rapidly declining.  

And especially considering the worrisome development occurring all over the world: the rise of populist, anti-democratic, and extreme-right movements.  

Everywhere, and that includes the Netherlands, we are witnessing an increase in anti-Semitism. 

Your work is now more important than ever.  

I deeply admire the way you preserve the former Nazi camps for the future and open them up for future generations.  

I also extend my admiration to the international committees that work to keep the memory alive of the people who were detained there.  

 

Incidentally, I have a strong personal interest in the topic of this conference.   

You may know that I used to be the mayor of Amstelveen. 

The city of Amstelveen is where the Dutch National Dachau Monument is situated, and I attended a number of commemorations there. 

Four years ago, I had the privilege of delivering the Dachau Lecture here in the Hague, organized annually by the Dutch Dachau Committee.  

It was in also Amstelveen that I got to know Jules Schelvis. 

One of the handful of Dutch Sobibor survivors. 

Jules wrote a definitive book on that camp and founded the Sobibor Foundation, which is taking part in this conference, as is the Dutch Dachau Committee. 

 

There are several reasons why The Hague is a fitting location for this conference. 

The bitter experiences of the Second World War motivated the development of international criminal law.  

As the city of peace and justice, The Hague plays a prominent role in this process. 

This is where war criminals were and are held accountable. 

Examples are the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Tribunal. 

The latest addition in this context is the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. 

 

The Hague is also the heart of the Dutch democracy, which was effectively dismantled by the Nazis during the Second World War. 

This is where Reich Commissioner Seyss-Inquart resided. 

The way the Dutch apparatus of government, including the top governmental layers, accommodated with the occupying regime that was set up in our city, is shocking. 

More than 12,000 residents of The Hague were murdered in concentration camps and extermination camps. 

The majority of them were Jewish. 

In 1940, The Hague was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Netherlands, second only to Amsterdam. 

Many of the people who joined the resistance were rounded up and arrested, in part as a result of the collaboration between the police of The Hague and the German occupying forces. 

These people were detained in the Scheveningen prison, which was soon nicknamed the Oranjehotel, after the name of the Dutch royal family. 

For many of the prisoners, Scheveningen was just a stop on the way to German prisons and concentration camps.  

On Friday, you will visit this site, which is now a National Monument. 

The Oranjehotel is by no means the only place in The Hague that bears witness to the Second World War. 

The construction of the so-called Atlantikwall, a German line of defence, led to the demolition of whole streets and neighbourhoods. 

And close to the liberation of the Netherlands, an unprecedented disaster took place in March of 1945. 

In an attempt to take out the launching sites of German V2 rockets, the British Air Force accidentally destroyed the nearby residential quarter of Bezuidenhout, which is close to the Ministry where we are now. 

A sad detail: it was the prisoners of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp who were tasked with building the V2 rockets. 

 

The city of The Hague considers it her mission to ensure that the memory of this sad and inhumane time lives on. 

In doing so, we put special focus on education and ways to reach young people. 

All students of every school in the Hague can visit the Oranjehotel National Monument for free. 

And early last year, schoolchildren from The Hague visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Options for the continuation of such visits are being considered. 

 

It is about much more than knowledge of history. 

It is about making clear that democracy should be actively protected at all times. 

The atrocities of the Third Reich demonstrate where the undermining of the rule of law can lead. 

Even when this process takes place very slowly. 

And this is why it is good that you are here, in this city, at this time.  

 

On the 19th of April, 1945, upon the liberation of Buchenwald, the prisoners made an oath. 

It said: Our goal is to rebuild a new world of peace and freedom. 

The Hague, city of peace and justice, will continue to carry this spirit forward. 

I wish you a productive and meaningful conference. 

You have our support. 

Let us continue to remember the past with open eyes, so that we can protect the future with a steady and unwavering hand.