belongs to ASF´s International Program for volunteers from Germany.
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The Netherlands is for the Germans a friendly, well-known neighbor, or at least it may seem so. With its North Sea coast, canals, and bicycles Holland is somewhat more colorful and liberal than Germany but otherwise the same. Some volunteers say at the beginning, "The Netherlands, It´s just like living at home!"
For many Dutch the German occupation is still a vivid memory. They have experienced the total destruction of Rotterdam with the air attack on May 14, 1940, the five year terror against all resistance, the forcing into Ghettos and deportation of the Jews, the forced deportation of a half million Dutch, who were forced to work in the Deutsches Reich, and the winter of 1944-45 where many thousands of persons, especially children, could not survive because of hunger.
Every year on May 4th the victims of fascism and war are remembered. The Dutch celebrate on May 5th the liberation from the German occupation. The Dutch-German relations are still today not without conflict. The first public discussions over a commemoration involving both sides were in 1995. In the years since the war the Netherlands has seen a lively discussion over the theme collaboration. This self-critical debate involves the personal and social involvement of Dutch institutions during the German occupation.
The work of Action Reconciliation in the Netherlands began in 1959. Volunteers helped with the building of a vacation resort in Friesland as well as the building of an international religious social academy, the Visser´t Hooft Center in Rotterdam. Today eighteen volunteers, who are counseled by the country representative in Amsterdam,
work in the Netherlands. The volunteers work with remembrance and educational work in memorial centers and museums, in social projects with those who are threatened to become outcasts, with the handicapped and mentally sick, as well as with peace movements and anti-racism.
