Toespraak minister Yeşilgöz-Zegerius bij uitreiking Legion of Honor Gold Medallion aan prof. dr. Ernst Hirsch Ballin
Deze toespraak is alleen beschikbaar in het Engels.
Your Royal Highness,
Professor Hirsch Ballin,
Honoured recipients,
Distinguished guests from the United States,
Brigadier General Hoefsloot,
Representatives of the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Four Chaplains.
Four men who chose to save the human being beside them instead of themselves, regardless of faith.
They saw only a fellow human being of flesh and blood, and they acted.
Professor Hirsch Ballin, earlier today you spoke about ‘unity without uniformity’.
I think that says it all.
Selflessness.
Recognising what connects us.
Holding onto your humanity when it matters most.
Ernst Hirsch Ballin has made that his life's work.
We are living in a time when that principle is being tested.
Peace in the Middle East is fragile.
Russia remains the greatest threat to European security.
Right now, the Ukrainian people are fighting and dying.
They are fighting not just for their own country.
They are fighting for our freedom too.
They are fighting for the values we share.
And those values don’t defend themselves.
This is why the transatlantic bond matters.
The United States and Europe share these values.
When it counts, we defend them together, despite our differences.
At times like these, we need people who have always known what is at stake.
People who stood firm long before the storm had taken shape.
Ernst Hirsch Ballin is one of those people.
We have both served as Minister of Justice.
And I can tell you from personal experience: in that office, upholding the rule of law is not an abstraction.
It is a daily responsibility.
It is therefore a great privilege to present you with the Legion of Honor Gold Medallion today.
Dear Ernst, three principles made you the man you are.
1. You never let the human being disappear from view.
Three-time Minister of Justice.
Member of both chambers of Parliament.
Member of the Council of State.
Member of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy.
Distinguished law professor.
You have spent decades at the highest levels of the Dutch state and academia.
But titles are not what define your career.
You have spent your entire career asking and answering one central question:
Who is the law actually for?
When the state treats people merely as numbers instead of as human beings, the law has lost its way.
That was your warning.
Again and again.
You always knew it in your bones: a democracy doesn't run itself.
Democracy needs people who notice when the system stops seeing and treating individuals as people.
When someone becomes part of a category instead of a human being in their own right.
That is where erosion begins.
And you refused to look away.
You saw the warning signs early on.
For almost fifty years, you refused to let the human being disappear behind the processes of State.
Because you knew the cost.
Because you had seen it, up close, at home.
This brings me to the second principle.
2. You knew what is at stake.
Your father fled Nazi Germany.
You grew up knowing what happens when a state turns against its own people.
When your name, your faith, or your family mark you out as a threat.
You didn't learn that from a history book.
You learned it at your kitchen table.
This experience gave you something that no training can provide: a deep understanding of how fragile our civilization actually is.
You understood that the rule of law is like a life jacket.
It can save us when the storm hits, but only if we keep it close to us before the storm arrives.
But you did more than hold that conviction.
You took action.
You chaired the supervisory board of the Anne Frank House.
You helped found the National Holocaust Museum.
You worked tirelessly to keep the memory alive.
Because you understood that looking away is where erosion begins.
At a time when anti-Semitism and racial hatred are rising again, your refusal to look away serves as a warning.
And a guide.
Ernst, there is one more thing I would like to say about you, something that is especially close to my heart as Minister of Defence.
It is the third and final principle.
3. You saw it coming.
In 1986, you wrote about the state's duty to care for soldiers in extreme circumstances.
Because behind every uniform is a human being.
Regardless of their background, faith or identity, that person deserves to be recognized for who they are.
To be cared for.
You wrote this before the war in Europe began.
You asked questions that no one was asking yet.
Last year, Colonel Erwin Kamp, chief chaplain of the Humanistic chaplaincy service, received a Medal of Honor for sparking that conversation.
But the foundation was laid long before that.
By you.
And you were right.
Our women and men form the heart of our organisation.
The soldier training Ukrainian recruits.
The sailor in the Mediterranean defending allied territory.
The drone pilot guarding NATO's eastern flank.
They all help to keep us free, every day.
I am proud of each and every one of them.
Regardless of their gender, faith, background, or who they love, we need every woman and man to fight for our freedom.
That is exactly what the Four Chaplains understood.
You do not choose who stands beside you.
You choose whether you recognize them for who they are.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me close with what brought us here today,
Four men.
One night.
A choice that defined them forever.
Ernst Hirsch Ballin, luckily you had more than just one night to make a choice.
Instead, you had a lifetime of making choices, sometimes difficult choices.
In every courtroom, council chamber, and lecture hall.
Always the same question, always the same answer: the human being comes first.
Consistently.
Quietly.
Even when no one was watching.
That is what we are ultimately fighting for.
For the freedom that allows us to stand here today, together, and to celebrate those who never stopped believing in it.
This medal honours that endeavour.
It is my honour to present it to you.