Vandals smash glass panel monument to those killed by cancer

Vandals destroyed the monument to people who died of cancer in the Koningin Wilhelminabos in Dronten. The memorial consisted of 67 glass panels with the names of people who succumbed to the disease. According to the police, the perpetrators smashed almost all of the glass panels, likely with a hammer, sometime in the night from Sunday to Monday.

The entire forest is a monument to honor people who died of cancer, consisting of thousands of memorial trees and the glass monument. “Pure destructiveness,” the police officers who went to investigate the vandalism said. “We suspect that the glass panels were smashed with a hammer.”

The KWF cancer fund filed charges of vandalism and destruction of property. “The names of loved ones have been brutally erased. That is really awful. Who would do such a thing?” spokesperson Annebel Schipper said. “It is simply inconceivable that a memorial that is so supportive of surviving relatives and fellow sufferers is destroyed in such a way.”

The KWF is shocked by the incident. It opened a support line for surviving relatives who had questions and asked anyone with information to pass it on to the police.