Two memorial panels dedicated to African American soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany were quietly removed from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten village. The reasons for the dismantling are currently unknown. This was reported by UNN with reference to Newsweek.
Two information panels about African American servicemen were removed from the cemetery's visitor center. According to local officials, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), which oversees the cemetery, did not inform the authorities of the province of Limburg about this.
The "Black Liberators" project, which researches the participation of black Americans in the liberation of Europe, confirmed that the panels were indeed dismantled in early summer. "We have to guess the reasons," said the movement's president, Theo Bovens.
ABMC spokeswoman Helene Scholen stated that "the panels are designed to be regularly rotated throughout the exhibition" to show the stories of different soldiers. At the same time, representatives of "Black Liberators" noted that such an explanation does not clarify why the panel on racial segregation in the US army was removed.
Additionally:
One of the panels told the story of Technician Fourth Grade George H. Pruitt, who died in 1945 while saving a comrade. The other described the policy of segregation in the military and its impact on subsequent civil rights movements.
Theo Bovens emphasized that the main thing is to return the memorial panels to their place. "We hope that the panels will return, given the importance of the contribution of African American soldiers to the liberation of the Netherlands," he told Newsweek. According to local media, the authorities are discussing the creation of an alternative memorial.
Recall:
In Kyiv, the first memorial to military intelligence officers in Ukraine appeared. It honors the memory of GUR employees and foreigners who died for the independence of Ukraine.