An Albany contingent of students, staff and faculty from the University at Albany, Hudson Valley Community College and city officials depart Albany en route to its sister city, Nijmegen, in the Netherlands on Monday, Sept. 17, 2024 as part of a six-day cultural exchange on the 80th anniversary of Nijmegen's liberation in World War II.

Four generations after 48 paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division died on Sept. 20, 1944 in an assault against German troops that liberated the Dutch city of Nijmegen from Nazi occupation in World War II, a group of local college students arrived in Albany’s sister city Tuesday as part of a cultural exchange.

“We are pleased to welcome the Albany delegation, and to explore the theme of this trip, which is that freedom is not free and freedom is a verb that requires effort and sacrifice,” said Anja Adriaans, founder of Friendship Albany-Nijmegen, or FAN. She has made 10 visits to Albany to deepen the sister-city connection and is hosting the 20-member Albany contingent in Nijmegen with her husband, Walter Hamers, retired after leading Nijmegen’s largest public housing program.

The trip’s theme comes from President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous 1941 State of the Union address. As WWII raged in Europe, Roosevelt articulated “four essential freedoms” at the heart of human dignity: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of want and freedom of fear.

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The Nijmegen trip will include commemorations and visits to cemeteries and memorials to the war dead from the U.S., England, Canada and other countries who participated in the Operation Market Garden Allied invasion to drive out the German troops from the Netherlands.

The Albany delegation includes Stephen Onley, an administrator at Hudson Valley Community College and veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division. “I am so........

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