Mayor Jan de Boer delivered this speech at the Den Vaderlant Ghetrouwe monument on May 4, the day of the national commemoration of war victims.

On May 10, 1940, I woke up at four o'clock already. What was that? I heard a tremendous rumbling and gunfire. Frightened, I jumped out of bed and looked out the window. What I saw there, I will never forget in my life. I saw smoke and fire everywhere; a plane was falling down in flames. While I stood looking for a moment, my father rushed into my little room. “Come downstairs quickly,” he said. “It looks like there is a war!”

This quote comes from a book I received on March 19th. The book – titled 'In Fear and Exile' – is about the many people who had to flee from Den Helder and tells their stories. It seems that war is on… What touched me was how suddenly disaster struck for some. Nowadays, that is difficult to imagine, because we now know that May 1940 had a long lead-up and that there were many warning signs. The time that followed changed our city and our country forever.

Today, May 4, 2026, we commemorate all – civilians and military personnel – who died or were murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or elsewhere during the Second World War, the colonial war in Indonesia, or in war situations and peacekeeping operations thereafter.

Heavy sacrifices were made. Yet the suffering affected not only those who lost their lives. Thousands of inhabitants lived in fear and exile. They feared the bombs falling from the sky. Sooner or later, many fellow townspeople chose a safe place elsewhere. Others remained until they were forced to leave.

The population dropped unprecedentedly sharply: from 37,000 to 7,000. Den Helder became a ghost town. Where do you go when, at first, all you know is where you cannot be? Some could find refuge with family or friends, but not everyone.

A special committee was established for the Helderse refugees, with the primary task of providing housing. Or rather, housing... initially, they were often glorified chicken coops, as reported in an article in the Noordhollands Dagblad. But eventually, serious plans emerged. For instance, a 'Heldersche neighborhood' was created in Egmond-Binnen. After eighty years, the houses are still standing. Although it remains unclear whether anyone from Den Helder ever lived there.

The chestnut trees of yesteryear took deep roots and grew large. Yet the world of today cannot be compared to the world of the past. Or can it? What kind of world do we live in now? Are we sufficiently aware of this, or will we view the world we live in now from a completely different perspective in eighty years? Are we responding decisively to the signals that are present?

As mayor of this municipality, my answer to that is: yes. Hard work is being done both publicly and behind the scenes to prepare ourselves for emergencies that have seemed so far away for so long. But is it enough? With current international tensions, there are increased risks and security is under pressure; the spread of disinformation, election interference, and sabotage of offshore cables are commonplace.

The threat has not been this great in 80 years. In the Netherlands, the goal is for people to be able to fend for themselves for 72 hours. That means having food and drink at home that can be stored for a long time, an emergency radio, medication if necessary, and anything else you might need. If the past has taught us anything, it is that disaster sometimes befalls and catches people off guard, even if the threat has been present for some time.