National Doden Herd King

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The National Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam , where the main annual celebration of the day of mourning takes place
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima laying the wreath

Nationale Dodenherdenking ( German  national day of remembrance for the dead ) is a Dutch day of remembrance that is celebrated annually on May 4th and includes two minutes of silence at 8 p.m. In addition to the national memorial service at the National Monument on the Dam in Amsterdam commemorations are organized by local committees.

Originally, this day was intended as a day of remembrance for the Dutch victims in World War II ; however, since 1961 a broader definition has officially applied, which includes all Dutch war victims or deaths since the beginning of the Second World War.

One day later, on May 5th, the liberation from the German occupation (1940–1945) is celebrated. This feast day is intended to raise awareness of freedom.

The concern

The official formulation of the issue of the national commemoration on May 4th is:

“During the national memorial service, we will remember all Dutch war victims. Everyone - citizens and soldiers - who have died or been killed in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world since the outbreak of the Second World War in war or during peace missions. "

history

On May 4, 1945 signed General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg on behalf of the last Reich President Karl Doenitz on the Timeloberg in Wendisch Evern the partial surrender ( Instrument of Surrender ) of the armed forces in northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. For the German troops in the Netherlands, Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz signed the corresponding implementing regulations ( Orders on Surrender ) the next day, on May 5, 1945, in the Landbouwhogeschool in Wageningen .

The first doden herdenking was held on May 9, 1945, at the end of World War II. At that time there was a minute's silence to commemorate the dead. Until 1961, the Dutch victim of World War II was commemorated. Since then, all citizens and soldiers of the kingdom who perished in military conflicts have been included.

The national commemoration on Dam Square in Amsterdam

Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus after laying their wreath in 1986
Amsterdam Mayor Gijs van Hall laying the wreath in 1967

The Amsterdam National Monument on Dam Square , opposite the Royal Palace , is the focus of the central memorial ceremony on May 4th every year.

The commemoration begins at 6:50 p.m. with a half-hour ceremony in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The address on May 4th, which is written and read by a different writer each year, will also be given. The King and Queen then return to the Paleis op de Dam until they go to Dam at 7:50 p.m. Accompanied by political and military dignitaries they walk through a guard of honor of veterans and soldiers and set out a national monument, before they stop standing.

After the master of ceremonies has spoken the memorial text, the king and queen lay a wreath at the national monument on behalf of all citizens of the Netherlands. After that, the sound curfew , the last note fades away at exactly 20 o'clock. After the bell of the Royal Palace has struck 8 p.m., there are two minutes of silence for the whole country in memory of the fallen. Since 1994, the first verse of the national anthem, Het Wilhelmus , has been played at 8:02 p.m. , with the flags raised at half-mast (until 9:10 p.m.). This is followed by a poem written by a teenager. After that, survivors lay five wreaths for different groups of war victims:

  1. for the resistance fighters
  2. for the murdered Jews, Roma and Sinti
  3. for the other victims of the Second World War in Europe
  4. for the victims of the Second World War in the Dutch East Indies and in the Pacific War as a whole
  5. for the Dutch soldiers who died in World War II, as well as in later wars and during operations by the United Nations peacekeeping forces

This is followed by representatives of public bodies with further wreaths, including the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Amsterdam. After a short speech, Amsterdam schoolchildren each place a flower on the base of the monument. The number of children always corresponds to the number of years the Dutch population has lived in freedom since the war. The commemoration ends with a parade along the monument.

Insofar as it is a national commemoration, no foreign guests take part. It will be broadcast live on all channels of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep .

Incident 2010

Incident at the 2010 commemoration

An incident occurred at the commemoration ceremony on May 4, 2010 in Amsterdam. A mentally unstable man triggered a mass panic with 63 injured when he broke the silence by screaming loudly (later he was called de Damschreeuwer , "the screamer on the Dam" in the media ). When unrest broke out, the crowd began to move and barriers fell like dominoes, it sounded like shooting. Another man accidentally dropped a suitcase and people shouted that there was a bomb in the suitcase. The royal family was briefly brought to safety until the matter was resolved.

The memory of the Waalsdorpervlakte

Commemoration of the Waalsdorpervlakte 2009

The Waalsdorpervlakte (Waalsdorper Senke) is a valley near The Hague. During the German occupation, more than 250 Dutch resistance fighters - the exact number is not known - were executed there.

Every year around 3,000 people come for a silent march. At the top are the relatives of those executed there. Everyone else joins. At around 7.40 p.m. the silent march reached the Waalsdorpervlakte monument. In the first years after the liberation, the memorial took place in the Waalsdorpervlakte in complete silence. In 1959, donations made it possible to purchase a Bourdon bell , a low-pitched bell that rings from 7.45pm to 7.59pm. Then the signal sounds "taptoe"; From 8 p.m. there is complete silence for two minutes until Het Wilhelmus is played at 8:02 p.m. Then the people parade past the monument. So everyone has the opportunity to put flowers or a wreath. Because everyone is present as a private person, no speeches are given. The ceremony ends when the last visitor has laid down their flowers or the wreath, usually around 10 p.m. The silent march in Waalsdorpervlakte is also broadcast live by a television station.

The discussion for and against the memory of German soldiers

In the Netherlands it has long been discussed whether the German victims and the Dutch collaborators should also be considered. The Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei ( National Committee May 4th and 5th), responsible for the central commemoration in Amsterdam on May 4th and 5th, declared that commemoration and reconciliation are two different things. On May 4th, the Dutch victims are commemorated; May 5th is the day for reconciliation with Germany. That is why the committee did not want to commemorate the German victims on May 4th, the national day of remembrance of the dead. However, with this decision one cannot and does not want to anticipate the many small associations that shape the local Dodenherdenkingen .

In the Gelderland Vorden (municipality of Bronckhorst ), Mayor Henk Aalderink and the local committee also honored fallen German soldiers in the memorial. The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized this step , which saw it as a blurring of the line between victims and occupiers. The lawyer Herman Loonstein, founder of a small group called Federatief Joods Nederland , tried unsuccessfully in 2012 to have the commemoration in Vorden forbidden with an injunction.

Every year the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei announces a poetry competition for schoolchildren. In 2012, the poem by 15-year-old Auke Siebe won Dirk de Leeuw about his great-uncle, who had joined the Waffen-SS during the Second World War . The poem was due to be recited on May 4, 2012 at the commemoration in Amsterdam. This sparked heated controversy. Some said that the day of remembrance applies only to the victims, not to the (co-) perpetrators. The others, on the other hand, argued that the poem was a good illustration of the difficulty of having to take sides, especially in times of war. That also belongs to the memory. The committee finally decided to remove the poem from the program.

literature

  • Bram Peters: Thinking ahead. Debates in the Tweede Kamer over de betekenis van 4 en 5 mei . In: Cornelia Carolina van Baalen u. a. (Red.): De moeizame worsteling met de national identiteit (= Jaarboek Parlementaire Geschiedenis , born 2007). Centrum voor Parlementaire Geschiedenis, Nijmegen / Boom, Amsterdam. ISBN 978-90-8506-506-7 , pp. 97-106.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ How do we think? - Memorandum of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei in the current version (from 2011).
  2. ↑ Nationale Feestdag 5 mei nog steeds gebaseerd op geschiedvervalsing (Dutch), an exact reconstruction of the events on the last day of the war in the Netherlands, accessed on June 22, 2016.
  3. ^ Commemoration on Dam Square - National Committee May 4th and 5th. In: The Dutch royal family. January 6, 2016, accessed June 4, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Klepel valt van klok Waalsdorpervlakte , Nederlandse Publieke Omroep, May 4, 2015 (Dutch), accessed on June 22, 2016.
  5. ^ " Nog te vroeg voor Duitse herdenking op 4 mei " (" Too early to remember the Germans on May 4th"), April 23, 2016, accessed on June 22, 2016.
  6. ↑ Commemoration of Duitse soldiers in Vorden valt slecht bij Wiesenthal Centrum , Trouw , May 4, 2012 (Dutch), accessed on June 22, 2016.
  7. ↑ 15-year-old maker omstreden poem: ik heb nobody willen kwetsen , NRC Handelsblad , April 26, 2012 (Dutch), accessed on June 22, 2016.
  8. ↑ Ophef over voordracht gedicht tijdens dodenherdenking op de Dam , NRC Handelsblad, April 25, 2012 (Dutch), accessed on June 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ Comité 4 en 5 mei trekt omstreden poem dodenherdenking terug , NRC Handelsblad, April 26, 2012 (Dutch), accessed on June 22, 2016.

Web links

Commons : National Dodenherdenking  - collection of images, videos and audio files