WILLEMSTAD – Princess Beatrix will open on Saturday, May 2 the exhibition ‘Guera na Kòrsou’ War in Curacao 1940-1945 at the Curaçao Museum. One part of the exhibition, sponsored by the Foundation for Rehabilitation of War Victims Curaçao (SEOC) has been rejected from the museum on April 24. According to chairman of SEOC, Nizaar Makdoembaks, censorship must cover a painful event in the Dutch history. “The SEOC wanted to include a list of names of fifteen victims of war on a board and place this on the route for Princess Beatrix to see. The organization ‘working group Guera na Kòrsou’ indicated to the SEOC many times that this has met internal resistance. They did not want to run the risk of the princess seeing these fifteen names. This matter is still politically very sensitive in the Netherlands.” “The Netherlands was guilty of war crimes in Curaçao during World War II. That offense disappeared under the carpet. On April 20, 1942, Dutch authorities in Curaçao stationed in Suffisant shot 15 employees of Chinese origin, who worked for Shell, dead and seriously injured 44 more. The dead were buried anonymously in the cemetery Kolebra Berde, among criminals and prostitutes. The news about it was concealed by censorship. The family / relatives of these war victims have not yet been informed to date about this tragedy,” said Nizaar Makdoembaks. Since 2003, the SEOC is actively working to make the said 15 murdered workers of Chinese descent recognized as war victims. The government of Curaçao did this already in 2012 as a proclamation. Nizaar Makdoembaks “Minister Plasterk (Kingdom Relations) refuses to follow the example of Curaçao. The Dutch government refuses to help the SEOC to inform the families of these victims of war over the fate of their loved ones. The visit of Princess Beatrix to the exhibition could bring possible change to that.”