“Finally a big step towards recognition, even though this should have happened 47 years ago.” Cor Udding (58) from Smilde responds to the now announced broad investigation into problems among victims of the primary school hostage crisis in Bovensmilde in 1977.
“Let me put it this way: this is an important and good step and proof that we have not been forgotten. But I am also cautious; the cork has not yet come off the champagne bottle,” he says.
Udding says he has been fighting for that attention for years and has therefore sought out national politics several times. He also spoke with Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “It now appears that that struggle is paying off. It is incredibly important that victims of this drama from the 1970s and the people around them still receive the attention and aftercare that was not available at the time.”
Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) now announces the investigation in a letter to Parliament. The study will start soon and will be conducted by ARQ National Psychotrauma Center. “Care in this process and in communication with former hostages and their loved ones is of the utmost importance and is my priority,” Weerwind reports.
This is an initial study to map out how the children of then – now in their fifties – can best be helped.
105 children and 5 teachers from the primary school in Bovensmilde were held captive by four Moluccan youths from May 23, 1977. Udding, then 11, was one of the hostages. On May 27, all children and a teacher were released. The other teachers were released on June 11 after Marines attacked the school.
“It was not only the days of hostage-taking that had a huge impact on the young children, but also the long aftermath.” According to Udding, it was unsafe in the village due to riots and arson. There was also military security at the school and for a year there were army tanks on every corner. “That all had such a huge impact. I think the period afterwards was just as dramatic as the hostage situation itself.”
According to Udding, for decades there was actually no attention for the schoolchildren of that time. He also says that in the collective memory there was more attention for the train hijacking at De Punt, which took place at the same time. “Very unfairly, some victims were told by care providers that they were too young at the time to really benefit from it. And it was not talked about within families.”
Udding knows that the lack of attention is still palpable to this day among the victims at the time and the people around them. “I myself was not bothered by the trauma for quite a long time, until during the corona period with the introduction of the curfew (early 2021, ed.) my freedom was suddenly restricted. I then started to suffer from memories of that time and I started to think about it. also to dream about.”
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Tags: Investigation children hostage Bovensmilde Finally years
