80 years after Market Garden: PM honors Polish paratroopers, warns war is close again

Violence, terrorism, and yes - since the Russian invasion of Ukraine also war - suddenly it is all very close again," said Dick Schoof on Saturday, 80 years after Operation Market Garden. At the commemoration in Driel, the prime minister honored the Polish paratroopers who were deployed at the Gelderland village.

"Today, let us regard their example as a mission. The mission to stand up in the here and now for the freedom and values ​​that were fought for with such dedication and determination eighty years ago."

Due to the developments in Ukraine, war is no longer experienced in the Netherlands as something from a "complete past," according to the Prime Minister. "In Poland, the country of one of our liberators, that is felt even more directly than here." That is why countries like Poland and the Netherlands must hold on to each other and support each other in NATO and Europe, Schoof urged his audience. According to the Prime Minister, they must "pull together against aggression, injustice and for freedom and democracy."

In his speech, Schoof expressed "special thanks" for the "brave soldiers" from Poland who were involved in the Battle of Arnhem, which failed and in which the Allies suffered great losses. They risked their lives "for people they did not know in a country that was not theirs."

At the ceremony, wreaths were laid in honor of the approximately 1,500 Polish soldiers of the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade who were deployed to support British units, particularly in Oosterbeek. The Polish Minister for Veterans Affairs, Lech Parell, and the Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, were present.

According to the Defense Minister, the commemoration of the Allied airborne landings on the Ginkelse Heide near Ede was "extra special and extra impressive" this year. According to him, this is not only because the airborne landings, which heralded the start of Operation Market Garden, took place exactly 80 years ago this year. "The enormous number of people who came here today also shows that we are very aware that we must actively defend our security and that this entails sacrifices."

According to Brekelmans, who also gave a speech during the commemoration ceremony, freedom is under pressure worldwide. "We see that there are aggressive regimes that want to go back in time and where freedom, sovereignty, and human rights are not central, but where the law of the strongest applies and the right of aggression applies."

Polish ambassador touched by Airborne commemoration

The Polish ambassador to the Netherlands, Margareta Kassangana, was touched by the Airborne commemoration on the Ginkelse Heide near Ede, she told the ANP after the commemoration ceremony. "We are very proud of the Polish paratroopers who were part of the British army eighty years ago," she said. "Many of them died here for the freedom of the Netherlands. They fought for the Netherlands, but also for Poland."

On the Ginkelse Heide, the more than 2,000 allied paratroopers who were dropped there in September 1944 during Operation Market Garden were commemorated on Saturday. About 82,000 visitors came to the Airborne Landings and Commemorations on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the municipality of Ede said.