Remembrance of the Dead

Today it’s kind of a special day over here. Today we remember all those who have died for our freedom. Officially (and in Dutch) it’s called Dodenherdenking (Remembrance of the Dead) and it is a commemoration annually held on May 4 to remember all members of the armed forces and civilians of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who died in war situations or peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of the Second World War.

As usual we have a main ceremony in Amsterdam at the national monument (which they are cleaning as I write this, to make it the cleanest spot in the Netherlands) on the Dam Square. This ceremony is going to be on TV tonight and is usually attended by members of the royal family and the cabinet as well as military leaders and representatives of the resistance movement and other social groups. At 8.00 p.m., two minutes of silence are observed. Since May 4 1994, the flags are hissed to the sounds of the Wilhelmus, the Dutch national anthem.

There are ceremonies also in other cities and places, such as the Waalsdorpervlakte near The Hague where many Dutch resistance fighters were executed during the war. Although most of the media focus on the main celebrations, there are two minutes of silence throughout the entire Netherlands. In many towns people still gather around a monument, make speeches and lay down flowers to remember the dead right before or right after the two minutes of silence.

And after all that, life goes on as normal. Well normal? Tomorrow we have liberation day, the day we celebrate the liberation from the German occupation between 1940 and 1945.

It has been suggested to abolish both days because the war ended so long ago, but today there was some surprising news. A research bureau did a poll and it showed that 91 % of the Dutch folks still observe the two minutes of silence and 70% thinks that these days are (very) important. I think they are here to stay.