STORIES BOMBARDMENT NIJMEGEN 1944
STORIES TO BE TOLD
81 jaar geleden, op 22 februari 1944, werd de binnenstad van Nijmegen compleet verwoest. Het bombardement kwam onverwacht en uit onverwachte hoek. Midden op de dag, net nadat het luchtalarm was afgelopen en veel mensen weer uit de schuilkelders kwamen.
Still stories are surfacing that we didn't already know. Stories of the terrible events of that day, but also of how people still found the strength to go on.
Stories that need to be told before they disappear into the fog of the past. Because they tell about survival under difficult circumstances and because they are - unfortunately - very topical. In Nijmegen, too, we receive many people who have fled war in their homeland and are trying to build a new life here.
Their stories give us insight into what it must have been like for our fellow townspeople all those years ago, when the city had to be rebuilt and lives had to be picked up. Their stories also illustrate the value of living in peace and freedom and the importance of protecting this way of life. Freedom cannot be taken for granted.
Daarom is het belangrijk dat wij aandacht blijven hebben voor de slachtoffers van oorlog en geweld, van toen én van nu. En om dat samen te doen, met alle Nijmegenaren. Alleen door met aandacht, compassie en tolerantie naar de ander te luisteren – of het verhaal zich nu 81 jaar geleden afspeelde of recenter – creëren wij een samenleving waarin iedereen van waarde is. Ik roep u van harte op om mee te doen.
Hubert Bruls,
Mayor of Nijmegen
Newsreel film about the consequences of the Allied bombing of Enschede and Nijmegen. With footage of the burning and devastated city center, debris clearance and the burial of the unknown victim. [Source: Stichting Nijmegen Blijft in Beeld]
