Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Dutch king acknowledges Jews felt ‘abandoned’ by his great-grandmother Wilhelmina

By Cnaan Liphshiz

AMSTERDAM (JTA)—King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in a memorial day speech acknowledged his great-grandmother’s perceived indifference to the fate of Dutch Jews during the Holocaust.

The unprecedented public acknowledgment came Monday during the annual speech at the national memorial ceremony in Amsterdam for Dutch victims of armed conflicts during and after World War II. The king spoke there for the first time.

It concerned Queen Wilhelmina, whose reign ended in 1948. She refe...