Page 6 - aruba-today-20220627

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 27 June 2022
Danish queen opens new museum telling the story of refugees

By JAN M. OLSEN with Germany.
Associated Press Denmark was a haven for
COPENHAGEN, Denmark refugees in the past. Of
(AP) — Denmark’s Queen Denmark’s 5.8 million peo-
Margrethe opened a new ple, more than 650,000 are
museum Saturday that tells immigrants, while 208,000
the story of the genera- are listed in the state statis-
tions of refugees who have tics as descendants of im-
shaped Danish society, migrants.
starting with Germans who However, the country in re-
fled the Soviet advance cent years, with large-scale
during World War II. migration a source of angst
Flugt — Refugee Museum in the Western world, has
of Denmark was created sought to place limits on
on the site of a camp in the number of newcom-
Oksboel, a town in south- ers that it accepts. It has at
western Denmark, that times attracted internation-
housed up to 100,000 refu- al criticism for the way it has
gees from Germany in the tried to discourage them
postwar years. from trying to settle there.
Flugt — which means es- Wedged between Germa-
cape in Danish — also tells ny and Sweden, Denmark
the story of immigrants from only took in a small part
Iran, Lebanon, Hungary, The Danish Queen Margrethe and museum director Claus Kjeld Jensen walk during the inaugu- of the more than 1 million
ration of the new museum Flugt, in Oksboel, Denmark, Saturday, June 25, 2022. Flugt — Refugee
Vietnam and elsewhere Museum of Denmark was created on the site of a camp in Oksboel, a town in southwestern Den- people who arrived from
who fled their homelands mark, that housed up to 100,000 refugees from Germany in the postwar years. (Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Africa and the Middle East
and found shelter in the Scanpix via AP) in the migration crisis year
Scandinavian country. of 2015.
They tell their stories in their of the museum is “to turn Ingels has said that the become the final resting More than 11,500 people
own words on large video numbers into people and new museum has become place for those who died applied for asylum in Den-
screens. convey the completely uni- more relevant as Denmark there. mark, while 1.1 million did
“Being a refugee is not versal issues, emotions and has recently accepted ref- The museum, which opens so in Germany and 163,000
something one decides. many nuances associated ugees fleeing Russia’s war to the public June 29, was in Sweden. Many saw Den-
It is not one’s personal with being a person on the in Ukraine. financed by private dona- mark only as a transit point
choice, it is something that run.” Outside the museum, a tions and the German gov- because of the tough Dan-
happens,” Sawsan Gharib The museum was designed path guides visitors past ernment, and German vice ish stance.
Dall, a stateless Palestinian by prominent Danish archi- plaques describing the chancellor, Robert Habeck, In 2016, a law was passed
who was born in a refugee tect Bjarke Ingels and con- fates of the Germans who represented his country at allowing authorities to seize
camp in Lebanon and lived sists of a curved modern sought shelter in the camp, Saturday’s opening cer- jewelry and other assets
there until she fled and ar- building of wood and glass called Oksboellejren, be- emony. from refugees to help fi-
rived in Denmark in 1985, that links two older brick tween 1945 and 1949. Most It is located 275 kilometers nance their housing and
says in one video. annexes that were hospi- of them eventually settled (170 miles) west of Copen- other services. In practice,
Curator Claus Kjeld Jen- tal buildings in the postwar in West Germany but a hagen but just 95 kilometers it has been implemented
sen explained that the aim years. cemetery on the site has (60 miles) from the border only a handful of times.q

Israeli PM convenes Cabinet before parliament is dissolved

logically disparate parties a complicated coalition. muster a majority to form
that chose to put aside their And here in this room there a coalition government,
differences to oust former is a group of people that with some of his traditional
leader Benjamin Netanya- knew how to put aside ide- allies refusing to join him.
hu, the current opposition ological disagreements, to That could further extend
leader, who now has an rise above, and to work for the crisis after the upcom-
opening to return to lead the state of Israel,” he said. ing vote.
the country. The elections, As part of the power-sharing While Bennett’s govern-
the fifth the country has agreement that brought ment helped steady the
held in three years, deepen Bennett to power, he is set economy and navigated
an unprecedented politi- to hand over the premier- the last year of the corona-
cal crisis in Israel. ship to Foreign Minister Yair virus pandemic, it was be-
At the meeting, Bennett list- Lapid, a centrist former set by disagreements over
ed a series of accomplish- broadcaster, once parlia- the very issues it sought to
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett chairs a cabinet meeting at ments under his year-old ment is dissolved. Elections avoid, particularly Israel’s
the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, Sunday, June 26, 2022. government and thanked are expected around the 55-year occupation of the
(Ronen Zvulun/Pool via AP) his coalition partners, which end of October and polls West Bank. Bennett said
included dovish parties that show Netanyahu’s Likud he decided to put an end
Associated Press to dissolve itself this week, support Palestinian state- party is expected to garner to his political experiment
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Is- triggering new elections in hood, nationalist ones who the most seats. because the government
raeli Prime Minister Naftali the fall. don’t, and for the first time But as in most rounds of vot- was unable to renew regu-
Bennett convened what is Bennett’s decision to head in Israeli history, an Arab ing during the current po- lations that enshrine sepa-
likely his last Cabinet meet- to elections puts an end to political faction. litical turmoil, Netanyahu, rate legal systems for Jew-
ing as premier on Sunday, an ambitious political proj- “It was an excellent gov- who is on trial for corrup- ish settlers in the territory
with parliament expected ect that united eight ideo- ernment that relied, yes, on tion, has been unable to and Palestinians.q