Prince Bernhard street signs now include info on dodgy past

Prince Bernhard at the Soestdijk Palace in 1976. Photo: Nationaal Archief

Utrecht city council has added a QR code to the street signs for Prince Bernhardplein and Prins Bernhardlaan containing information about queen Juliana’s husband’s disreputable past.

Scanning the code leads to a Wikipedia page about the life of the prince, his involvement in the Lockheed scandal and the recent revelation that he was a member of Hitler’s NSDAP despite earlier denials.

“The tone is neutral and that is how it should be,” Utrecht councillor Dirk-Jan van Vliet, who initiated the move, told local broadcaster RTV Utrecht. “The point of this is that we shouldn’t wipe out history. It is not up to us to judge people. Everyone can decide how they feel about him for themselves,” he said.

But according to fellow councillor Ilse Raaijmakers (PvdA), the codes do not go far enough. “Street names are a badge of honour for the person named. But there are quite a few people that do not deserve the honour from today’s perspective,” she said.

Raaijmakers pointed to Dutch colonial administrators as examples of people whose whose names should be removed altogether.

The discussion about Utrecht street names is ongoing, Van Vliet said, and there are plans to put QR codes on every street sign in the city, not just the ones of people with a questionable past. “So that means the Hyacinth street will get one as well” he said.

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