Several dozen people protested outside a theater in the Netherlands on Saturday where a singer who once performed for Adolf Hitler took the stage in his native country for the first time in four decades.
Johannes Heesters, 104, has been a popular figure in German-language cabaret since the 1930s, earning him the billing "the Netherlands' most durable product."
He was never accused of being a propagandist or anything other than an actor who was willing to perform for the Nazis and the Allies allowed him to continue his career after the war. But in his native country he is viewed by some as irredeemable.
"He kept singing for the Nazi regime ... and he earned millions," said Piet Schouten, representative of a committee formed to protest Heesters' performance.
"Those are facts and we have a problem with that on behalf of all the victims" he told national broadcaster NOS.
In Heesters' previous attempt to perform in the Netherlands, in 1964, he was booed off the stage in Amsterdam when he tried to appear as Nazi-hating Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
Around 50 demonstrators gathered outside De Flint theater in Amersfoort, where Heesters was born in 1903. A handful of neo-Nazis also turned up -- uninvited -- to support Heesters, and several were detained by police after throwing eggs at the demonstrators.
No disturbances were reported during the concert. At times he asked his wife, on stage with him, to remind him of lines, but his voice was steady despite his age.
Concertgoers were forced to submit copies of their passports and to undergo airport-style security scans before being allowed to enter the theater, which seats 800.
Many of Heesters' critics focus on a visit his theater company made to Dachau in 1941. He had never disclosed the visit, but it became known when photos of him with Nazi soldiers were published in 1978.
Heesters says he didn't perform for the soldiers, and didn't know about conditions at the concentration camp.
After the war, "I was ashamed of myself and I still haven't stopped feeling this way," Heesters wrote in his autobiography. "I am angry with myself for being gullible, credulous and naive."
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
RSS