Remembrance Day

May 4th is the Dutch Remembrance Day for the victims of WWII. This year it will be a different ceremony because of the Corona virus. Only the King and Queen will lay a wreath at the remembrance monument  at Dam Square in  Amsterdam this evening without any public. Everything is different this year...

Remembrance Day

The 4th of May we had the national remembrance day for all the victims of WWII.

At the monument at Dam Square in Amsterdam many wreaths were laid.

The one with the golden fringe was of the King and Queen.

We passed there yesterday and the wreaths were still there to admire.

Remembrance Day

As many countries in the world we remember these days the victims of World War II. At Dam square in Amsterdam you can find this text between the cobblestones. It refers to a tragedy that took place here on May 7, 1945. Two days after the Capitulation discussion in Wageningen the liberation was already celebrated at Dam square when suddenly a shooting came from a balcony of a building where German soldiers had been hid. People had no way to hide at the square and 32 of them were killed and 100 wounded.

In 2016 32 name stones are placed between the cobblestones with the names of the victims.

The next day the Canadian liberation troops entered Amsterdam when the Germans finally had capitulated.

Remembrance Day

May 4th is in the Netherlands the national remembrance day for the victims of Wold War II. 

This sculpture of three men at the Apollo Avenue in Amsterdam was the place where we went with the students of our highschool to lay flowers.

This sign explaines the background of the monument.

"In reprisal for an action of the resistance, 29 prisoners from the prison at the Weteringschans were transferred by the German occupiers to this place and shot in the early morning of October 24, 1944 without trial".

My highschool in this neighbourhood was during WWII occupied by the headquarters of the notorious German Security Service (SS).

Commemoration Day

May 4 is the national commemoration day in the Netherlands. The victims of World War II are remembered in the whole country. The Queen places in the evening a memorial wreath at the national monument on Dam square in Amsterdam together with the Crown Prince.
When I lived in Amsterdam I went there with my father to attend the ceremony. A huge crowd of people come together at Dam square and after the wreath-laying ceremony at 20.00 p.m. two minutes silence follow in the whole country. It is always very impressive to hear the sudden silence, even the traffic stops and you can only hear birds singing in the busy city. Every place in the country has its own ceremony to commemorate, but nowadays we stay at home to remember and can we see the ceremony on television.