A majority of Utrecht City Council members are advocating for the inclusion of "factual information" about Prince Bernhard's past on streets named after him in the city's northwest side.

This move comes after it was confirmed in October that Prince Bernhard had been a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) led by Adolf Hitler.

The proposal was presented to the Utrecht City Council in a joint motion by the political parties D66, PvdA, GroenLinks, PvdD, and EenUtrecht, who collectively hold 25 out of the 45 seats in the council.

Some of these parties previously raised this matter in the Council last month. Utrecht Mayor Sharon Dijksma expressed the need for time to reflect on how to handle the new information about Prince Bernhard's past. She acknowledged that this newfound knowledge might impact the naming of streets.

Furthermore, she expressed her curiosity about how other municipalities are addressing similar issues. She mentioned the importance of being able to thoroughly assess the situation, especially considering the forthcoming opening of the private archives of the Dutch Royal House. These archives will be accessible to the public from January 1, with documentation extending up to September 6, 1948, the date of Queen Juliana's coronation.

Mayor Dijksma has been contemplating the practical implementation of information boards about Prince Bernhard's past. She mentioned the possibility of using a QR code linked to a Wiki page.

It's worth noting that the Utrecht City Council expressed dissatisfaction with the motion proposed by the five political parties. Some council members considered it "narrow" in scope. A council member from the CDA party raised the question of whether D66, just like the CDA, intends to provide information about the past of Che Guevara, whose name is associated with a street in Utrecht.

In response, D66 emphasized the importance of considering a broader approach to this issue, suggesting that it could apply to other cases as well. Photo by Pepijntje, Wikimedia commons.