Bad timing: Movie crew films Nazi flags on Liberation Day
Bad timing from the crew behind the movie Burgemeestersmoord. They chose Sunday, Liberation Day, to film scenes involving Nazi flags hanging from a museum and soldiers with guns in the Limburg village of Stevensweert, 1Limburg reported.
Locals were less than pleased to see Nazi flags and soldiers on the day that the Netherlands celebrates its liberation from Nazi occupation in the Second World War. “Many people in the village find the timing of May 5 very sensitive,” a local told 1Limburg. “It is outrageous.”
Daniëlle van Helmond from the project agreed that the timing wasn’t great, but added that their permits to film and use the involved props were for May 5. They discussed what they would film with the municipality and museum on Jan van Steffeswertplein. “We certainly thought it was more appropriate than May 4,” she said, referring to Remembrance Day, on which the Netherlands commemorates war victims. “Perhaps this was indeed a badly chosen moment. But is there ever a good time to hang a Nazi flag outside?”
Locals received a letter about the filming two weeks ago. Van Helmond added that the crew explained what was going on to anyone who approached them. They also spread a QR code to show what the film crew was doing.
The movie is about the mayors of Someren and Asten during the Second World War. They were sentenced to death for refusing to let their residents do forced labor, Van Helmond said. The Stevensweert museum serves as a backdrop for the town hall of Someren in the movie.
