Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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Municipal Counci1. 54 A plaque was attached to the side of the memorial in 1932 in
recognition of Snijders' role as Commander-in-Chief during the war. 55 After Snijders' death
in May 1939 and in his honour, hundreds of people attended a wreath-laying ceremony
there. 56
Another monument of thanks, but one that was erected amidst some controversy is
the BelgenmonU711ent (Belgian monument) in Amersfoort, built during the 1920s. The
memorial pays homage to the Dutch for aiding Belgian internees and refugees during the
war. 57 Significantly, a small museum was to have been built close by, which would have
housed a collection of items dealing specifically with the refugees. 58 The museum never
eventuated, a result perhaps of anti-Belgian sentiment after Belgian demands at the
Versailles peace negotiations for the annexation of the Dutch provinces of Limburg and
Zeeland. There is, however, a wall raised behind the main building of the monument,
depicting sculptured allegories of "Sadness" (Droefheid), which were to have formed part
of the museum. 59
There are a number of other memorials littered around the countryside. For
example, in the heaths of the Veluwe in the province of Overij ssel a single rock with plaque
attached recalls the Belgian refugee camp that stood on that spot, many kilometres from any
town or village. Not so very far away, amidst the forests near Nieuw Milligen, a lone white
pillar still stands among the trees in recognition of the barracks that were built there during
the mobilisation, first occupied in October of 1915 by the 12th Regiment of Infantry. The
war monument in Winterswijk is also important. It recalls, with thanks, Dutch neutrality
between 1914 and 1918. 60
54 Snijders, "De Nederlandsche landmacht 1898 - 1923" pp. 229 - 230.
55 "Gedenkteeken voor Leger en Vloot, aan de Boulevard te Scheveningen. Mobilisatie 1 Augustus 1914", Haags
Gemeentearchief. During World War II, German occupiers removed the plaque from the monument. In 1948, the
monument and Snijder's plaque were restored to their former interbellum glory (D. van den Berg, Camelis Jacobus
Snijders (J 852 - 1939). Een levell in dienst vall zijn Land en zijn Volle [Comelis Jacobus Snijders (1852 - 1939). A
life in service of his country and his people] The Hague: Bevedeem, 1944, p. 123, fu 1).
56 Het Vaderland. Sunday 28 May 1939, front page, in SMG/DC, "Snijders, Cornelis Jacobus 29.9.52" 397/S.
57 Martin Bossenbroek, J. B. C. Kruishoop (eds.), Vluchten voor de Groote Oorlog. Belgen in Nederland 1914-
1918. [Fleeing from the Great War. Belgians in the Netherlands 1914 - 1918] Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw,
1988, pp. 66 - 68.
58 Ibid. p. 68.
59 Ibid.
60 Western Front Association (Nederland), 1914 -1918 In Nederland p. 9.