#Filming #Nazi #flags #Liberation #Day #Scandalous
While thousands of people celebrated Liberation Day on the festival site in Roermond on Sunday, very sensitive film recordings took place a little further away. In the town of Stevensweert, recordings were made for the film ‘Mayor’s Murder’, which is set during the Second World War. Limburgers express their dissatisfaction and call the timing “scandalous”.
Local residents were shocked that the Nazi flags were hanging at the museum on Jan van Steffeswertplein on Liberation Day. Actors and extras were dressed as armed soldiers and there were army green trucks, which frequently saw action in the Second World War. They were also deployed on the fictional battle scene.
‘Discussed this’
Roermond had the official kick-off of Liberation Day this year, but this honor was tarnished by the recordings. Makers of the new film are trying to gain understanding in conversations with local residents about the choice to film on May 5. “We have discussed this with the municipality and the museum,” says Daniëlle van Helmond of the film production L1. “Maybe this is indeed a wrong moment.”
Despite the fuss, local residents received a letter two weeks in advance announcing the filming.
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‘Not on May 4 or 5’
The film is about the former mayors of Someren, PJC Smulders, and that of Asten, WJM Wijnen, who were shot by NSB members on August 15, 1944, on behalf of the German occupier. They were sentenced to death because they refused to cooperate in having residents of the municipalities perform forced labor.
“You can do these recordings 363 days a year, but not on May 4 and 5,” Royal House expert Jeroen Schmale responds in Good Morning Netherlands on NPO 1. Political journalist from EW Magazine Victor Pak also does not understand that these recordings took place on Liberation Day. “You could have just taken it into account, right?”
Also read:
Reflecting on the importance of Liberation Festivals: ‘More than just drinking beer and partying’
By: Rick Hartkamp
