'The monument 'The Flag' in Westerbork (municipality of Midden-Drenthe) is a bronze flag, placed on a brick plinth. On the socle is a plaque. The monument is 2 meters high, 84 centimeters wide and 52 centimeters deep.
The monument is flanked by two sloping brick walls with four different stone plaques on top. The leftmost plaque 'Du ciel la liberté' is a stone plaque with a male figure on a parachute holding a gun in relief. The second plate to the left of the flag commemorates 'Struggle'. The plate to the right of the flag commemorates 'Resistance' and the rightmost plate 'Innocence'. The plaques are 50 centimeters high and 50 centimeters wide.
The text on the leftmost plaque reads:
'DRENTS GENOOTSCHAP
DU CIEL LA LIBERTE
1945 APRIL 1955
SAS'.
The text on the plaque to the left of the flag reads:
'STRIKE
THANKS TO THEIR COURAGE AND THEIR SACRIFICES
ANOTHER TIME HAS DAWNED
THROUGH WHICH WE CAN BREATHE
IN FREEDOM
IN MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS FROM MANY COUNTRIES WHO DIED IN
COUNTRIES WHO DIED IN WESTERBORK
IN MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS FROM
WESTERBORK WHO DIED ELSEWHERE'.
The text on the plaque on the base of the flag reads:
'FLAG
SYMBOL OF VICTORY OVER EVIL,
OF REGAINED FREEDOM AND
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
ARMANDO'
The text on the plaque to the right of the flag reads:
'ARMANDO
THEY STOOD UP, LISTENING TO
THE VOICE OF THEIR CONSCIENCE,
MORE THAN TO THE WHISPERING
OF THEIR FEAR
IN MEMORY OF THE INHABITANTS OF
WESTERBORK WHO DARED TO OFFER RESISTANCE AND
RESISTANCE FIGHTERS FROM ELSEWHERE WHO GAVE THEIR
FOR THEIR DEEDS IN THIS MUNICIPALITY'.
The text on the rightmost plaque reads:
'INJURY
UNSUSPECTING AND INNOCENT
DONE NOTHING, NOT PREPARED
NOT DEFENDED, NOT CONDEMNED
FATE OF WARTIME
IN MEMORY OF THE CIVILIAN VICTIMS
FROM WESTERBORK AND TO THE MANY WHO WERE KILLED HERE OR
OR ELSEWHERE BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE, RELIGION, ORIENTATION OR
DESCENT'.
The monument 'The Flag' reminds the inhabitants of Westerbork (municipality Midden-Drenthe) of the regained freedom in 1945 and the hope for a peaceful future. The leftmost plaque 'Du ciel la liberté' also reminds the inhabitants of Westerbork of the liberation of the village in 1945 by French paratroopers. The other plaques recall the efforts of the allied forces, the resistance and the civilian victims.
The plaque "Du ciel la liberté" (from the sky came freedom) keeps alive the memory of the French paramilitaries. Three paramilitaries were killed in the fighting in the village on April 8, 1945. The purpose of the fighting was to disable the German command post, which was located in café-restaurant Slomp. It was assumed that the German commander was shot by the paramilitaries. After the war, the memoirs written by this commander, General Böttger in 1958 in Bremen, made it clear that he had survived his injuries. A large number, however, of the German soldiers did die and those who remained were evacuated the day after the attack.'
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