The Power of Resilience

On January 1st, 2001, shortly after midnight, a fire broke out in café De Hemel (Heaven café) in Volendam, where several hundred young people were celebrating New Year's Eve. The highly inflammable Christmas decorations caught fire and in no time the café packed with revellers was transformed into a living hell. Some sixty young people suffered severe burns. In the ensuing panic, several of them lost their lives, either being trampled to death or suffocated, or as a result of fatal burns. This total would ultimately rise to forty. Hundreds of others were injured, many severely. Young people were disfigured for life and became disabled as a result of the terrible burns over the whole of their bodies. So many people needed urgent treatment that the Dutch burns units in Beverwijk, Groningen and Rotterdam couldn't cope. Which is why many of the injured were brought to the neighbouring countries of Belgium and Germany. In one fell swoop, Volendam, a traditional eel-fishing village with a population of 22,000 rooted in strong Christian traditions, was transformed permanently into a world-famous yet heavily scarred community. In 2003 photographer Suzan van de Roemer made portraits of the fire victims. Without a trace of sensationalism, just as they were. She also talked with them about their hopes for the future. The exhibition of this work in the Melkweg Galerie in Amsterdam in January 2004 left an indelible impression on both those portrayed and on the visitors. In 2010, seven years later and ten years after the fire, she photographed the group again. The youths have now become young adults and have demonstrated more resilience than had been expected. How is it possible to have such a positive attitude, while so much damage has been done? Are they still in pain? How have they managed to overcome their rage? How have they been able to cope with their frustrations? What lives are they leading now? How are their parents? How do they view the future now? The strength and will to live seem to be many times stronger than the problems encountered through physical and mental damage. There is life after the fire - however improbable that may have seemed ten years previously.