Sunflower day

As in the Netherlands, a decade of the MH17 tragedy has passed. Report of Ekaterina Glikman

Bolsward: Three and Dog

I do not have to knock or call the door of Van Hayningenov: the old Pater begins to bark in advance. He is 14 years old, he is seriously ill and will die soon, and another thread will be interrupted, connecting the family of Robbert with the family of his deceased brother Eric: after all, the dog was born before the MN17 disaster, and he is in family photographs, where he is still alive.

On the eve of the ten -year anniversary of the tragedy is a regular working day, and Lus and Robbert just returned from work. We are going to have dinner together, Lus calls the son of Yasper. Now he is 21, and then, in 2014, there were only 11, and this disaster hit him the most in their family. This is probably why he will not go with us tomorrow. But now we are sitting together at the table, and Van Hyiningen recall Eric and his family.

How they went to the theater with them, and then drank beer or wine. How they got to the concert of Leonard Cohen in Rotterdam, and were crazy about this. And that the sense of humor at Eric and Robbert was the same. “Just hear“ Ho-ho-ho ”when they were sitting together,” says Lus. “Zeicher's nephew had the same humor, so rude, Amsterdam.”

And when they moved to a new house next to the small aircraft airfield, Eric Tina’s wife was terribly afraid that one of these aircraft would fall on their roof once. And for a long time she achieved that they had insurance from such an incident that Eric only waved: nonsense.

They also remembered how five years after the tragedy for the first time flew by plane - to Spain. Lus cried the whole flight, Robbert pretended that everything was fine, and Yasper read as if nothing had happened. And when we arrived at the hotel, Robbert ran around the room, according to Lus, “like a chicken without a head”, still could not calm down. “I was in shock,” Robbert justifies smiling. And Yasper the day after the flight was angry, tired and did not want to communicate with anyone. So in different ways they experienced this experience.

When Eric, Tina and Zeicher were killed and journalists began to ask for their photos for publication, Van Hainingen found that they had almost no pictures of all three in the same frame. The lesson was removed this: since then on vacation they will certainly take pictures with their son - as a keepsake.

And although the Yasper is not enthusiastic and always turns out in these photos with a stretched smile, the family tradition has developed.

In the end, they remembered this day-July 17, 2014. The brother’s neighbors later said that on that day they saw Tina and Zeicher left together with suitcases by train, and Eric himself left the house only half an hour later, madly rushing, grabbed the bicycle and rushed towards the station. "Typical Eric - he was always late!" - Smiles, recalling the younger brother, Robbert. The neighbors then thought: "Well, we hope that they will have time." But soon Eric returned: it turned out to have forgotten the passport! “Now I definitely will not have time,” the neighbors thought. But Robbert's brother took a taxi and still managed.

After the tragedy, the Schiphol airport, from which the MN17 flight flew out, provided the relatives of the personnel from video surveillance cameras, capturing their loved ones a few hours before his death. And on these black and white fuzzy videos of Lus and Robbert looked at Eric for the last time: how he was in a hurry, fled at the airport, handed over baggage on the fly. And the last frames: his figure is removed and disappears, dissolves against some black background. “So symbolic,” Robbert sighs.

Hilversum: 15 sunflower

July 17. X day. Early in the morning we leave the Bolsvard, a city in Frisland, where Robbert and Lus live, towards North Holland, where the Eric's family lived. Both of them went to bed late at night and did not get enough sleep. Lus admitted that in general she feels "like a stone in the stomach." Robbert says: “Today is a very big event. There will be great feelings. We must survive all this, and then back to a normal life. ”

We are going to the city of Hilversum, or to the mediatown, as they call it, because here is the first television of the country - Nederland 1.

This is a special city: 15 of its inhabitants were killed in the MH17 disaster. Every year in the summer, sunflowers are planted there throughout the municipality-along the roads, at shopping centers.

And there is also its own monument to MN17 - 15 bronze sunflowers: large flowers are adults, small, even in buds - these are children.

In Frisland, rare drops of rain fall from the sky. Suddenly, Last Year's Man Cohen, Robbert and Lus is silent on the radio, and then we go in silence for a long time.

And suddenly Robbert asks an unexpected question, putting me at a dead end: "What can the West do to help the Russians?" It turns out that this question is very worried about him.

“Relatives of the dead see many terrible photographs from Ukraine, and they project it on their grief and angry with all Russians. This is understandable, but we want to concentrate on peace and forgiveness, ” -

He explains.

Robbert tells how this spring they spent several days in the Hague with Lus. There they hired a guide and went on a bicycle walk. When they drove past the Russian embassy, ​​the guide said: “Look, this is an enemy. The source of all evil. " Robbert was surprised at such a perception. “It was immediately after the death of Navalny, the embassy had a lot of flowers there. I did not argue with the guide. But I believe that the regime and people are not the same thing. We are not against people in Russia. But the regime should change, ”says Robbert.

We come to Hilversum in time: the orchestra immediately begins to play, hiding under a large tree with low heavy branches, and the procession moves from the city hall to the monument. Around the bronze sunflowers are people, many hold the same flowers in their hands, but alive. A flower also appears in Robbert’s hand: someone gave him, recognizing the brother of the deceased in him. With his other hand, Robbert holds a sheet of paper - the speech that he will now make in front of the inhabitants of Hilversum.

The bright sun shines. A very young woman in a mourning black dress felt bad. She is taken to the arms and planted on a chair in the shade of the same tree under which the orchestra hides.

When Robbert read his speech and returned to Lus, she notices that he was shaking. They stand, hugging in front of the bronze sunflowers and both cry.

Viifheisen: 298 names

We go from Hilversum towards the airport, and after a short time we are already approaching the Viythheisen Park.

From the sky, the National Memorial MN17 looks like a ribbon folded in a loop. It is created by the rows of trees: one for each deceased, there are 298 of them. Inside the loop there is a monument with the names of the victims of the disaster and a temporary scene specially built for the orchestra. And around - sunflower fields.

Nearby - the Amsterdam airport "Schiphol". The last place on Earth, where these 298 people were seen alive. Hence, on July 17, 2014, MN17 flew to Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Airlines.

For the entire time of the memorial ceremony, the Schiphol runway closest to the memorial will be closed: in order not to interfere with relatives to listen to the music of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Dutch radio.

But it will not be possible to get away from the topic of aircraft: they will go on landing above their heads, their hum will break into pauses between speeches and music. And this will add additional dramatic notes to the memorial ceremony.

The relatives and friends of the dead - about one and a half thousand people - gradually occupy places on wooden benches in the amphitheater created by the "loop". Several rows are occupied by foreign ambassadors. Representatives of the country, which stood behind the terrorist attack, the countries of which did everything to interfere with the international investigation, the countries whose embassy in the Hague of the deceased expose 298 white chairs every year to remind you that they expect answers to questions from it, there are no representatives.

Finally, all benches are filled. The memorial ceremony dedicated to the decade of the tragedy begins. The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Dutch radio plays Allegretto by the seventh symphony of Beethoven: first quietly, then louder and louder. In the sky behind the scene of the blue and white plane of the Royal Aviation Company (KLM) is gaining height. He is not heard because of Beethoven.

In the middle of the Allegretto, those who are sitting on the upper right side of the amphitheater turn their heads to the right: there are along the edge of the Sunflowers field, along a number of masts with the flags of the countries whose citizens were on board the Malaysian Boeing, there is a small group in black costumes. Ahead of the King of the Netherlands Willem-Aleksandr and the chairman of the dead fund of the MN17 disaster created by the relatives of the dead fund PIT PLUKH, followed by two prime minister (new and former): Dick Sokhof and Mark Rutte. They go very slowly, as if specially in the rhythm of the Beethoven mourning procession, his marching act.

In fact, they go this way because of Pete: he is sick, just from the hospital. At some point, while they were walking, he swayed and began to fall, but the king caught him in time. Tomorrow, as Pete himself says, he will come to the doctor on his legs that are banging with excitement and hear the verdict: there will be an operation or not, and if it will be, what are the chances. He specifically postponed this tomorrow so that these personal news did not distract him from today's ceremony, from the memory of his dead brother Alex, the daughter -in -law Edith and the nephew Roberte.

Music subsides. Everyone gets up. In silence, painted with a rumble of a flying aircraft, the king, Pete and ministers go to their places in the center of the amphitheater. Many relatives escort the plane with a look (some will raise their heads up when taking up each airliner. Others are so focusing on the stage, that the aircraft for them will “stop flying”).

The orchestra plays a beautiful composition River Flows in You . It is at this place that Lus will cry. Robbert will take her hand in his own, and their woven fingers with a large frame will fall into a direct broadcast.

Pete Pluh, tall, elegant, with a snow -white scarf peeping out of the pocket of a black costume, acts today on behalf of all relatives. During his speech, another one is added to the sound palette of the ceremony: from the strong wind, the cords, on which the flags launched to the middle hang, begin to fight on the mast, producing a thin sound as if bells. Pit says to this accompaniment:

“We look back at 10 years of longing, sad anniversary, lonely Christmas holidays, when we felt that there was emptiness in our lives when we constantly encountered the future, very different from the one that we hoped for; For 10 years of the search for truth and justice, on endless procedures in which the responsible state only interfered with the fight against the denial and complete indifference of Russia to the suffering caused; for 10 years, during which many of us tried to establish our lives again, knowing that it will never be the same as before; For 10 years of empty space in which we found ourselves ... "

The Philharmonic Orchestra plays the “last spring” of Grieg, and behind the stage, from left to right, a woman slowly goes in an orange dress, pushing a baby stroller in front of her, like Holland, longing for piercing violins about her children. More likely,

One of the relatives of the dead cried the child, and she had to lull him, but it was impossible to come up with the best director's course of life itself.

In the same way, during the speech of the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the next aircraft began to outline the circle over the airport, as if emphasizing the powerful roar of engines, with which Dick Sokhof pronounced his words: “Today we have gathered in Viyifheisen, but even on those days when we are at a great distance, we remain related to each other. United not only by our grief, but also by the struggle for justice ... Justice takes time. But we have time. And patience. And perseverance. This is my message to the guilty and my promise to you. ”

During the execution of “meditation”, Jules Massenu becomes bad for the elderly woman. Doctors appear, a woman is put on the ground to the left of the stage. Everyone watches the movements of doctors intensely. The violinist, who plays Solo, stands his back to them, and does not see what is happening, but for everyone else his sad and calm music sounds anxious. After a while, the woman comes to her senses, and she, supporting her by the arms, is led away.

The prosecutor general of Australia Mark Dreyfus is performed (27 citizens of this country were on board MN17). He talks about "despair, which causes relatives, the absence of at least some recognition of responsibility from the Russian Federation." But he finds words, including for legal comfort:

“Although before the decision can pass for some time, we already see important steps on the path to establishing truth, justice and responsibility: a year ago, during the proceedings on the issue of applicability, the court ( meaning the ECHR. - Approx. Ed. ) Established that the Russian Federation carried out jurisdiction in eastern Ukraine when the MH17 flight was shot down. This was the first time that the International Court confirmed the involvement of the Russian Federation to knock down the aircraft. ”

After the puppy-group “pavana” Gabriel Fore, the most important thing begins-reading names. Relatives take turns going on stage, everyone pronounces aloud several names, adding the age of the deceased. It becomes especially quiet, the planes are almost no longer interested in anyone. People suddenly somehow stabbed. Many, as in the church, are sitting with open books and watching their eyes: each at the entrance was handed out a program of the ceremony with a list of the dead. Someone just dropped his face in his arms. You can hear people around.

“My father ...”, “My daughter ...”, “My brother ...” rushes from the stage. Some of the readers tremble, someone pronounces the names very quietly, someone, on the contrary, is almost screaming. One man stumbles at the age of the child - he cannot pronounce the "three years".

One girl cannot cope with feelings and begins to sob in a voice. She is given as much time as she needs. Finally, she hardly says:

- My dad ...

When it comes to the names of Eric, Tina and Zeicher, Robbert with satisfaction notes to himself that at least this year they were read without mistakes.

Two grandmothers come out - they lost a large family and read the names in turn in one microphone:

- Our grandson ...

- Our granddaughter ...

- Our…

- Our ...

Peter van der meer is suitable for the microphone. He pronounces the names of his daughters:

- Sophie Charlotte van der Mer, 12 years old. Fleur Isabelle Van der Mer, 10 years old. Bente Villemin van der Meer, my youngest ... - Then his voice breaks.

Peter is crying. And after a pause finishes:

- My youngest daughter, 7 years old.

A minute of silence. And here all the sounds seem to intensify: the rumble of airplanes, the bells of the flags, and the sobbing of a woman from the next bench, the quiet steps of the television operator along the gravel of the path.

... When the sun no longer shines so brightly, and from the nearest strip of the “Schiphol” the planes begin to take off again, everyone diverge. The heads of sunflowers look east - towards the airport. And towards Russia. Where are the answers to questions that still torment the relatives of innocent people killed by the Russian rocket.