Pieter Dorsman
  • Blog
  • Education
  • About
  • Photos
  • Linkage
  • Blog
  • Education
  • About
  • Photos
  • Linkage

Liberation Day - Bevrijdingsdag

3/5/2020

2 Comments

 
How May 5th is celebrated in The Netherlands and how Lions Bay resident Norman Kirby played a major role during the country’s liberation in 1945 

​Early May is springtime in The Netherlands, just like it is in Canada. The weather warms up, the trees start to blossom, the flowers come out and the month sets off with a few important public holidays. On May 4 at eight in the evening, the Dutch remember their 240,000 war dead which were almost all civilian and of which 104,000 Jewish, with solemn and sober ceremonies including a minute of silence. The next day however it is ‘Bevrijdingsdag’ or ‘Liberation Day’ where the Dutch celebrate how on May 5, 1945 the German forces accepted the terms of their surrender to the Canadian generals Foulkes and Kitching at a small hotel in the city of Wageningen.

What does May 5 these days look like? It is a day full of festivities all over the country where each municipality hosts music events, celebrations, markets and public parades. It is also the only other day – other than King’s Day on April 27th – where most Dutch homes will fly the national red-white and blue from their homes, many adding the orange banner on top which represents the colour and name of the royal family. But most importantly it is also the day to honour the veterans and war heroes who traditionally participate in parades across the country, and many Canadian, American, British, Polish and Dutch veterans have attended these events in recent years. And even though the war’s end is now 75 years behind us, these men are still cheered, honoured and celebrated as if the liberation took place only yesterday. As Lions Bay residents we can be proud that one of them is Norman Kirby who landed on the beaches of Normandy in June 1944 and fought all the way up to the liberation of The Netherlands and finally Germany. Had it not been for the Coronavirus crisis impacting us this year, Norm would have been in The Netherlands attending the liberation festivities, celebrating and commemorating 75 years of freedom.

There is a reason that the gratitude for these war heroes runs so deep. The last year of the war inflicted a terrible toll on the still occupied western and northern parts of the country. Cut off from all supply lines a famine spread across the entire country, in particular the cities, which killed thousands and left many to survive on things like flower bulbs and tree bark. It was compounded by endless efforts to arrest and haul off young men to Germany for forced labour. If this were not enough, retribution for even the smallest infractions against the Nazi occupiers was often summary execution. Collective punishment was handed out to civilian populations where the German occupier often shot groups of random people and left their corpses on display for everyone to see. And in the final weeks, when the war was effectively over the retreating Germans pointlessly blew up historical buildings, bridges and even inundated some areas creating a fresh flow of refugees. It was a horror winter, so one can imagine that the sight of Canadian soldiers marching into a Dutch village or neighbourhood resulted in total elation. A five-year nightmare had come to an end. Dutch flags were brought out, the alcohol freely flowed and Dutch streets exploded in spontaneous dancing and wild celebrations. 
It is this spirit of gratitude and happiness that the Dutch managed to preserve over the decades so that now even younger generations participate in all the fun and excitement on May 5. All of course not without a key purpose: the essence of Liberation Day is to realize how easily democracy and freedom can be lost and what an incredible price there is to pay to regain these. For Canada the war in Europe was on the other side of the ocean and as Norm Kirby himself often said, after he returned from the war everybody carried on and forgot about it. The Dutch too forgot, on purpose or not, the memories of the horrors were too fresh and too gruesome and were largely supressed while everyone engaged in rebuilding a nation that was reduced to rubble. But in the later years with the elapse of time, the opening up of archives and certainly the advent of the internet made it possible to remember again and bring the war back to life for both the young and old.     

​And so it is in 2020, seventy-five years after the conclusion of World War II that we remember the fallen, the wounded, the heroes, and all that contributed to rid the world of the terrors of Nazism. We should all be proud that we get to share a village with one of those veterans who at a very young age risked his life and contributed to the liberation that is celebrated on May 5. Let’s all use this day to remember and reflect and thank our great neighbour, Norman Kirby.
Here is a great interview with Norman, a few weeks ago:
2 Comments
Lex Schruijer link
15/5/2020 06:44:32 am

Beste Pieter,
Wat een prachtige hommage aan je dorpsgenoot Norman Kirby. Jammer, dat dat ellendige coronavirus verhinderde, dat 75 jaar bevrijding grootscheeps gevierd kon worden. Zoals je misschien van je mam gehoord hebt, wonen wij op een steenworp afstand van Oosterbeek, waar elk jaar de slag om Arnhem herdacht wordt. Altijd zijn daar veteranen bij aanwezig. Indrukwekkend. Afgelopen september werd herdacht dat operatie Market Garden 75 jaar geleden plaatsvond. Onder meer met massale luchtlandingen op de Ginkelse Hei (er sprong zelfs een 94 jarige veteraan!), de terugtocht via het 'white ribbon' over de Rijn en herdenkingsplechtigheden. Mocht je nog eens in de buurt zijn, ga dan beslist een kijkje nemen in het Airborne museum in Oosterbeek. Nogmaals complimenten voor je respectvolle verhaal en een hartelijke groet uit Heveadorp.

Reply
Pieter Dorsman
19/5/2020 08:40:31 am

Hallo Lex - bedankt voor het lezen en comment ... Norm heeft mij ooit eens verteld dat ze destijds in de buurt van Arnhem zijn geweest en de vele slachtoffers hebben gezien na Market Garden en dat had ook een zeer diepe indruk op hem gemaakt, schijnt verschrikkelijk te zijn geweest.

Reply



Leave a Reply.













    ​

    Archives

    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Angel Investing
    Blog
    Caribbean
    China
    Dutch
    Education
    Entertainment
    Europe
    Finance
    Football
    Israel
    Life Stories
    Mountains
    Politics

    Tweets by @PieterDorsman

    RSS Feed

    Profile on Clarity