Bevrijdingsdag

Soldiers of the First Canadian Army move in on 7 May 1945 Utrecht a

On May 5th the end of the German occupation in the Second World War is celebrated in the Netherlands with the Bevrijdingsdag (German: Liberation Day ) . It is a public holiday in the Netherlands. The celebrations are connected with commemorations initiated by the Nationale Dodenherdenking (German: Nationales Totengedenken ), the national day of popular mourning the day before, May 4th.

Historical background

On May 4, 1945, a German negotiating delegation headed by Hans-Georg von Friedeburg signed the partial surrender of the Wehrmacht for Northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands on behalf of the last Reich President Karl Dönitz , who had previously left for Flensburg - Mürwik with the last Reich government . The declaration of surrender was made to the British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in the tactical headquarters of the British troops on the Timeloberg near Wendisch Evern near Lüneburg . However, it should only come into force on May 5th at 8:00 a.m. On May 5th, the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and the German Commander-in-Chief Johannes Blaskowitz negotiated in the presence of Prince Bernhard as commander of the domestic armed forces in the ruins of the largely bombed Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen regarding the surrender of the German troops in the Netherlands. Blaskowitz asked for 24 hours to think about it. On the following day, May 6, 1945, the prepared surrender conditions for the territory of the “ Reichskommissariat Netherlands ” were signed in the assembly hall of the agricultural college near the hotel. - Both the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and the Museum de Casteelse Poort in Wageningen claim to have the fountain pen that Foulkes used to sign the documents.

history

In 1958 it was decided to celebrate the Liberation Day every five years. In 1990 the date of May 5 was set and declared an annual holiday to commemorate the German and Japanese occupations. Since then, the day has been set as a public holiday in the Dutch General Time Limits Act ("Algemene Termijnenwet").

In 2012, then Federal President Joachim Gauck was the first German to speak on the occasion of Liberation Day in the Netherlands.

“I was born in 1940, the year in which the Netherlands fell victim to German great power politics and German racial madness. For a German - and certainly for me - it is not a matter of course that I am here with you today and even speak to you. With this invitation, the National Committee has shown me and my country great confidence - a gift that we will not forget. "

- Joachim Gauck

In his speech he emphasized the awareness of German guilt and recalled the more than 100,000 murdered Dutch Jews, the 500,000 Dutch forced laborers , the area bombing of Rotterdam and the Dutch resistance fighters .

In 2020 the day was celebrated with the motto 75 years of freedom .

Course of the celebrations

Numerous activities are organized across the country. The official celebrations are organized in collaboration with the National Committee May 4th and 5th. Fourteen “liberation festivals” take place in the Netherlands on this day, for example the Gelderse Bevrijdingsfestival in Wageningen and, since 1980, the largest Bevrijdingspop festival in the Haarlemmerhout urban forest of Haarlem . The national celebration of Liberation Day will end on the evening of May 5th with a concert on the Amstel in Amsterdam.