Delft apologizes for historical role in slavery

The municipality of Delft apologized for the city's slavery past. Mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt stated on Tuesday evening that the city council does not close its eyes to the past and the involvement of its predecessors. "We follow in the footsteps of our predecessors. For their actions, we offer our sincere apologies today,” she said.

In Delft, both the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company had offices. And the leaders of trading companies VOC and WIC also played a significant role in the Delft city government. "It has been more than two hundred years since those ships sailed the world. The traces are still visible in the city. Some houses were built with profits from slavery," Van Bijsterveldt said.

According to the mayor, everyone in Delft at that time knew that slavery existed. Research conducted earlier this year indicated that the city benefited from the trade in enslaved people and the work they were forced to do. In and around the city, expensive mansions and villas were built, and some residents became very wealthy. "The research sheds new light on a period that shaped our city," the mayor added.

Delft is globally renowned for Delft Blue, "world-class painting and a close relationship with the royal family," Van Bijsterveldt said. However, besides these beautiful aspects, the city's history also has an ugly side, she noted. "We have previously not fully recognized or wanted to recognize its impact."

Earlier, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and King Willem-Alexander apologized for the Dutch slavery past, as did the municipalities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Vlissingen, Middelburg, Haarlem, the provinces of Zuid-Holland and Zeeland, the Dutch Central Bank, and ABN AMRO. Exactly a year ago, Rutte made apologies for "the actions of the Dutch state in the past.”