Toespraak minister Timmermans bij de Anne Frank Memorial Tree Dedication Ceremony
Toespraak van minister Timmermans (Buitenlandse Zaken) bij de Anne Frank Memorial Tree Dedication Ceremony in Washington D.C. (VS) op 30 april 2014.
Washington D.C. 30 april - Good afternoon. I am very grateful that I can represent the people of the Netherlands here today, because the Frank family came to the Netherlands after fleeing their native Germany when Hitler took over.
Anne Frank wrote her marvellous diary in Dutch. In a very short period of time she became a Dutch girl, with Dutch friends, Dutch interests. The Frank family was helped by Dutch people, but the Frank family was probably also betrayed by Dutch people, transported on a Dutch train to a camp in the Netherlands.
So I don’t stand here with complacency, but in the full understanding of our collective responsibility as Europeans for the greatest atrocity to befall our continent.
And I have to say that whenever we think about atrocities such as the Holocaust, whenever we are in our darkest moods, in the darkest nights, it is always the brightest stars that announce a better day. And Anne Frank and her diary are indeed a bright star in a dark night.
We dedicate this sapling to her memory. Though the tree she saw has ended its lifecycle, it will live on in saplings worldwide.
Anne Frank’s diary has become a sapling of humanity. It has been translated into so many languages. It is read all over the world. In that sense Anne’s life may have ended, but her saplings will remain for eternity.