German Chancellor Angela Merkel in an online speech to dignitaries in Hague on Wednesday said the memory of the crimes committed by the Nazis in Europe must be kept alive.
Merkel made the speech as Dutch marked 76 years since the Netherlands was liberated.
The chancellor said “this is Germany’s eternal responsibility”, recalling the sufferings of the Dutch population during the occupation between 1940 and 1945.
She said that there was no statute of limitations on the crimes that resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 civilians in the country.
The deaths included 102,000 Jews murdered in concentration camps operated by the Nazis.
Markel had planned to give the speech in 2020, on the 75th anniversary but the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The neutral Netherlands was liberated on May 5, 1945, a day that continues to be marked annually in the country.