Last Monday and Tuesday, the Netherlands celebrated two very important days. The first was on May 4th and is called Dodenherdenking. It is a day in which all those who died in World War II are remembered. The flags around the Netherlands were at half stance and at 20:00 a minute of silence was observed. Over 200,000 Dutch died because of the war making the Netherlands one of the countries with the highest death toll (per capita) from those Western European countries invaded by Germany.
On May 5th, the Dutch celebrated Liberation day or Bevrijdingsdag. While the south of the Netherlands was liberated before May, the western area wasn’t liberated until May 5th, shortly before the German surrender. Before liberation, the Netherlands experienced what has been known as the Hunger Winter. Knowing the dangers of World War II, the Dutch government had prepared for this war by collecting enough food to feed the Netherlands. However, when the German forces invaded, all the provisions were sent to Germany leaving the Dutch with little food to survive. Thanks to the excellent record-keeping of the Dutch, many stories of how people survived are available as well as studies related to starvation.
On May 5th, 1945, the Dutch took to the streets waiting with anticipation for the Canadian troops that would finish the liberation in the country while the rest of the troops made their way to Germany. People listened to music and danced on the streets for days to come happy that their country was free at last. With the excitement of the liberation and those who brought liberation to the Netherlands, many women ended up moving to Canada together with their Canadian sweethearts. Because of this, songs like Trees heeft een Canadees became very popular. You can read more about this song in an old post I found from our blog!
This past Tuesday, the country was filled with festivals and celebration. Bevrijdingsdag is a national holiday every five years making this year’s celebration even more special. Despite the strong winds that swept through the country in the afternoon, people still celebrated and enjoyed the day.
The following video is of the celebration this year in which Trees heeft een Canadees is sung!
https://youtu.be/bQASHAG6m5w
Comments:
Marie-Jacqueline:
With interest, sometimes amused I follow your view on the Netherlands. I live in the south-east in Province Limburg. As your representation of the events in the West of the country are correct there is a statement in it that isn’t. That the south was liberated in the end of 1944. Even among the Dutch themselves this is a popular believe.
This assumption is not correct. The facts are that the south of Province Limburg was liberated by Americans in the autumn of 1944, the rest of the province had to face a winter of hardship. The river Meuse became the front line between the Allies on one side an the Germans on the other side leaving people in the middle. A very cold winter shooting, spellings death and destruction were an every day presence.
My parents were young adults during that time. The hardships they and many other suffered as the war seem to come to the end is totally ignored. Making their suffering, their hardships non-existent.
That is painful still and is something that denies them the acknowledgement of their horrific experiences.
Karoly G Molina:
@Marie-Jacqueline Marie, thank you for reading the post and for commenting. As a matter of fact, I did not give a date of when Limburg was liberated (because I really don’t know the exact date). I can see, however, how you could have understood that I said that Limburg was liberated before the hunger winter (I say it right before talking about the hunger winter). I live in Limburg, and I understand how the suffering of the region gets overlooked by the experiences and stories of the northern and western parts of the country. While there were more people in the Ranstad area then as there are now, the suffering of anyone is atrocious. I can imagine that when Limburg was liberated, as well as for the rest of the Netherlands, food didn’t automatically reach people. People must have still experienced hunger while the country got itself back on its feet. I admire your parents, together with the rest of the people who were alive then, for having survived such a difficult time. -Karoly