Black soldiers' panels removed from cemetery in Dutch town to avoid Trump gov't "ire"
The panels highlighting Black soldiers’ contributions to the fight against the Nazis in the American WWII cemetery in Margraten were not just removed as part of a routine rotation, as the agency involved always claimed. They were specifically taken down “to avoid raising any ire” of the Trump administration, emails from the former head of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) show.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency obtained the emails showing the deliberations preceding the removal of the panels through the Freedom of Information Act. They show that the then-head of the ABMC, Charles Djou, was trying to keep his small agency out of president Donald Trump’s crosshairs.
After Trump signed an executive order banning foreign-facing agencies from promoting “discriminatory equity ideology,” Djou instructed his staff to ensure that the monuments under the ABMC were in full compliance. The panels in Margraten quickly came up as something that might “get us in trouble.”
The panels involved explained that the American army was segregated during the Second World War and described the racism that Black soldiers faced. It also honored the Black soldiers for their contribution in fighting the Nazis and in burying the almost 8,000 fallen soldiers in the Margraten cemetery.
Djou ordered the panels removed “to avoid raising any ire from the administration.” In a later email, he added that the panels could be put into storage at least until “a new admin in 2029.”
The panels’ removal sparked an uproar in the Netherlands, with many feeling outrage in what they considered an American whitewashing of Dutch and Limburg history. Relatives of the American soldiers honored on the panels were also furious, and U.S. lawmakers have called for their return. But as yet, they remain conspicuously absent.
