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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Dutch PM's apology for country's role in Holocaust

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Dutch PM's apology for country's role in Holocaust
Dutch PM's apology for country's role in Holocaust

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Sunday (January 26) he was sorry for his country's role during the Holocaust and the lack of action against the persecution of Jews, becoming the first Dutch premier to make such an official apology.

"With the last remaining survivors among us, I apologise on behalf of the government for the actions of the government at the time", Rutte said at an event ahead of the 75th anniversary on Monday (January 27) of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

Earlier Dutch governments have made apologies for the way Jews who survived World War Two atrocities were treated when they returned home from concentration camps, but have shied away from condemning the country's part in the persecution of Jews and other minorities during the German occupation.

Around 102,000 of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust came from the Netherlands.

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