Seven new Netherlanders welcomed at the Municipal Hall
AlgemeenA group of new citizens was welcomed at the Municipal Hall of Oegstgeest on 15 June to swear or affirm that they would faithfully obey the constitution and laws of the country in a ceremony presided over by Mayor Emile Jaensch as ‘Duty Civil Servant’.
Two of the new citizens were formerly British, the remainder were originally from China, Denmark, Italy, South Africa and Thailand. All but one had been in the Netherlands for more than 20 years. The one exception was an 18-year old man who, having reached the age of choice for those born in the Netherlands to non-citizen parents, chose Dutch citizenship over British.
The ceremony was held in the Wedding Room at the Municipal Hall. Mayor Jaensch, who noted that he himself is a 3rd-generation immigrant, his grandfather having come from Germany, also observed that several of the new citizens have been Oegstgeest residents longer than he has. In fact, he noted, the Netherlands has always been a country of immigrants, from the days of the Batavians and Romans, up to the present day. So the new-comers were certainly in good company.
Major Jaensch noted that the simple act of taking the oath or making the affirmation gave them a new nationality, but not yet a new identity. That would require some effort on their part. Such as, the mayor suggested, by joining a volunteer organisation in Oegstgeest and contributing to the community that way. To assist in the development of the Oegstgeester identity, all of the new citizens received a year subscription to the magazine of the Oegstgeest Historical Association.
