Once the first bodies, including that of Hannie Schaft, had been reburied at the Honorary Cemetery, Gerrit ten Hoope was given the honorary job of managing the site. He did this with great dedication and respect, something that his son George, once he was given the honorary task, took over down to the last detail.
Accurate pace
Dressed in a heavy, black suit with headgear, he received all guests during various commemorations for 33 years. During the services for Hannie Schaft at the end of November, the Parool commemoration on February 5 when the thirteen members of the resistance newspaper are commemorated and of course the commemoration of the dead on May 4. George would ring the bell at a precise pace, just like his father, from 7:30 PM to 8:10 PM.
Over the past five years, George has had to watch with sorrow as, for a few years, the corona pandemic barely allowed any attention to be paid to the struggle that the resistance heroes had to wage to free the Netherlands. But those years of silence also helped him distance himself from the task.
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