Trump dishonours Black anti-Hitler soldiers, Dutch TV honours them

Posted on November 23, 2025 by petrel41

This 10 Noveber 2025 video says about itself:

Trump Just Erased a Black Hero Memorial

In 1944, the all-Black 960th Quartermaster Service Company was given a horrific task: build the Netherlands American Cemetery at Margraten. They dug graves by hand in frozen ground, burying over 20,000 bodies. The trauma was so severe, their leader, Jefferson Wiggins, didn’t speak of it for 65 years.

In 2024, memorial panels were finally installed to tell their story. In November 2025, Donald Trump ordered them to be removed.

This is the story of the 960th, the 65-year-long secret, and the present-day political fight—allegedly following a complaint from the Heritage Foundation—to erase their memory from the very cemetery they built.

The removed panels named Black soldiers who died while freeing the Dutch province of Limburg from German nazi occupiers. One of the panels reminded us that these Black soldiers had to fight not only against German nazis (who killed Black prisoners of war) but also against being discriminated against in the racially segregated 1940s US military.

This 12 November Dutch AVROTROS TV video is called (translated) Sadness about disappeared panels about Black liberators at US cemetery Margraten.

This 10 November 2025 video says about itself:

The American Battle Monuments Commission has quietly removed commemorative panels honoring Black U.S. soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

This 22 November 2025 Dutch TV video is about how Dutch TV show Even Tot Hier, together with surviving relatives of these US Black soldiers, put back the panels honouring the Black soldiers, removed by the Trump admnistration. Not on the (United States-administered) cemetery, but right next to it. A farmer right next to the cemetery gave permission to put the name of one of the soldiers in big letters, consisting of big hay bales, on his land.

United States Congress members protest: here.

Black Lives Matter rallies, Berlin and Heerlen

Posted on June 27, 2020 by petrel41

This video from Germany says about itself:

Ruptly is live from a Black Lives Matter protest in Berlin on Saturday, June 27, following weeks of demonstrations around the world against police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Floyd’s death sparked a wave of worldwide protests. On Saturday, June 6, an estimated 15,000 protesters attended an anti-racism demonstration in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz.

There was a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Heerlen, Limburg province, the Netherlands, 27 June 2020. A report says many people came, spatially distanced as a COVID-19 precaution.

On 20 June 2020, there had been a smaller Black Lives Matter rally in Heerlen. These two videos show it.

Anti-racist demonstrations in Berlin, Heerlen today

Posted on June 27, 2020 by petrel41

Black Lives Matter mural in Heerlen, the Netherlands, photo BLM Parkstad

This photo shows a Black Lives Matter mural in Heerlen, Limburg province, the Netherlands, made by local artists.

On 20 June 2020, there was an anti-racist demonstration in Heerlen, photos here.

Today, Black Lives Matter in Heerlen organises another protest. 17.00 – 19.00. Burgemeester van Grunsvenplein square.

This 20 June 2020 video from Germany says about itself:

How does Black Lives Matter resonate in Berlin? | On The Ground

America’s Black Lives Matter protests have sparked sister demonstrations all over the world. On the ground in Berlin, we spoke to protestors about their experiences of racism in German society, and the work that needs to be done there and across the globe.

Translated from the Berliner Zeitung in Germany today:

Thousands of people want to demonstrate again against racism in Berlin on Saturday (12.30 p.m.). More than 8,000 people registered for the rally at the Großer Stern with the motto “Black Lives Matter” by Friday afternoon, another 20,000 were “interested”, reports the dpa news agency. At the beginning of June, 15,000 people gathered on the Alexanderplatz square because of the killing in the United States of African American George Floyd by a police officer. …

Participants are invited to comply with the coronavirus distance rules.

Bluethroat sings, video

Posted on April 14, 2020 by petrel41

This 14 April 2020 video shows a bluethroat singing in Meerlebroek nature reserve in Limburg province in the Netherlands.

Dipper parent feeds youngster, video

Posted on October 7, 2019 by petrel41

This 4 October 2019 video shows a dipper parent feeding its youngster on the bank of the Worm river in Limburg province in the Netherlands.

Wiel Pelzer made this video.

Rare Dutch Dark Ages coin discovered

Posted on August 15, 2019 by petrel41

The newly discovered sceatta coin, photo by William Posthouwer

Does this newly discovered Dutch early medieval silver coin depict a curlew on one side? This sceatta coin type often depicted curlews.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

In the neighbourhood of Born town in Limburg province, a coin that was more than a thousand years old was taken out of the ground. It is a so-called sceatta coin from the early Middle Ages. Sceatta is an old Germanic word for ‘treasure’.

William Posthouwer from Born discovered the coin with his metal detector. Where exactly he does not want to say, because he first wants to thoroughly search the area himself. Posthouwer is more often looking for treasures. “But this is my most extraordinary find so far”, Posthouwer tells 1Limburg regional broadcasting organisation.

Rare

The coin is very special for Limburg, says Paul Beliën. Belïen works at De Nederlandsche Bank and is a specialist in the field of historical coins. “This sceatta is of the continental runic type and was struck around 700 AD.”

The time of Frisian King Redbad.

“3000 sceattas have been found in the Netherlands”, says Beliën. “A few hundred of them are of this runic type.” Of those thousands of sceattas, 24 were found in Limburg, according to the specialist. “Only four of them are of the rarely found continental runic type.”

Frisian coin

According to Beliën, the fact that the sceatta is hardly found in Limburg is because the coin was mainly used by the Frisians. They used to live along the North Sea coast, from Zeeland to Denmark. “That is why the coin is seldom found in Limburg.”

Limburg then was not Frisian, but part of the Frankish kingdom.

According to Beliën, little can be said about the current value of the currency. Historical sources show that in the Middle Ages [about 800 AD] you needed 36 sceattas to buy a cow.

And 84 for a sword; and 144 for a horse.

Badgers at play, videos

Posted on June 2, 2019 by petrel41

This 29 May 2019 video shows young badgers at play in Limburg province in the Netherlands.

Sjaak Jansen made this video.

This 29 May 2019 video shows a badger family in the Maasheggen nature reserve in Limburg province in the Netherlands. These animals are unusual because of their brownish colour, while badgers are usually black, white and grey.