Welcome to the Netherlands!

You are finally here, and we hope the ground beneath your feet stops shaking. We realize that you did not come with suitcases full of memories, but with empty hands and a heart heavy with the unspeakable. You carry with you the silence of the loved ones you lost along the way, of friends left behind in the rubble, and family members who did not survive the crossing to freedom. For you, safety is not an abstract concept, but the raw contrast to the smell of fire and the echo of violence that still reverberates in your bones. You came here with nothing but your life, and that life is worth everything to us.

We are sorry that the first sounds you heard here were sometimes the loud cries of those who are afraid to share their own abundance. While you carry the deep grief for your lost world with you, they worry about peace in their neighborhood or the preservation of their privileges. It is a shameful contrast: the grief of someone who has lost everything and everyone, pitted against the chilling discontent of those who have never lived a day in true fear. Where they see a threat to their horizon, we see the courage of a person who has kept walking despite everything. You do not recognize a civilized country by the height of its walls, but by the gentleness with which it fills the empty hands of a stranger.

To us, you are not a number in a system, but our new neighbor whom we want to show the way in this strange, cold land. We want someone standing beside you who does not ask for your papers, but for your name, and who understands that behind your eyes lies an entire universe of loss. Your right to breathe here, to mourn, and ultimately to rebuild, stands miles above the selfish concerns of those who confuse their own comfort with a fundamental right. Do not let the chill of the ignorant reach you; For every closed door, there is a hand reaching out to support you, in the hope that you will find the peace here that you have paid such a high price for.

Welcome home.