In the Netherlands

Linda GrahamFollow

December 27, 2019

Did you know? 🤔 "At the Netherlands American Cemetery, the Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery Margraten and its long-standing grave adoption program received an important designation this year from the government of the Netherlands. The program is now recognized as part of the Dutch National Inventory of Immaterial Cultural Inheritance. This program began in the Netherlands when the government ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012. As the name implies, the program aims to protect elements of culture that are not physical and tangible.

“The adoption of American war graves in Margraten is a cultural inheritance raised from respect and gratitude for the American liberators during WWII,” stated the Dutch National Centre for Immaterial Inheritance in its recognition of the program. “It also achieves awareness of the vulnerability of our society.”

The grave adoption program began informally at the cemetery at the end of World War II. Beginning around Memorial Day 1945, local Dutch citizens near Margraten began bringing flowers to graves at the cemetery to honor the American sacrifice. In the decades since, the program has formalized with every headstone and name on the Wall of the Missing having been adopted. The grave adoption program has become woven into the fabric of life in the Limburg region of the southern Netherlands.

“The adoption of U.S. war graves and the U.S. cemetery itself makes people think of the enormous sacrifice that has been made for our freedom—the lives of tens of thousands of young Americans,” reflected Tom Hermes, president of the Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery Margraten, which officially runs the program. “Adoption also connects with American next of kin and families and often leads to long standing ties of friendship.” https://abmc.gov/…/grave-adoption-program-netherlands-ameri…