Liberation Day (Netherlands)
Liberation Day is a national holiday in the Netherlands celebrated annually on May 5 to mark the end of the German occupation of the country during the Second World War. It follows one day after the Remembrance of the Dead on 4 May. The end of the war is instead marked by National Remembrance on 15 August.
After liberation in 1945, Liberation Day was celebrated every five years. In 1990 the day was declared a national holiday when liberation would be remembered and celebrated every year. Liberation Day replaced Waterloo Day. Festivals are held in most places in the Netherlands with parades of veterans and musical festivals throughout the whole country on Liberation Day.
Background
The Netherlands was occupied by Germany and ruled under a civilian regime beginning in 1940 during World War II. On 4 May 1945, German Admiral von Friedeburg surrendered in Lüneburg on behalf of the German troops in northwest Germany, the Netherlands, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark to British Field Marshal Montgomery. The Netherlands was liberated by Canadian forces, British infantry divisions, the British I Corps, the 1st Polish Armoured Division, American, Belgian, Dutch and Czechoslovak troops. Parts of the country, in particular the south-east, were liberated by the British Second Army which included American and Polish airborne forces and French airbornes. On 5 May 1945, at Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen, I Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes and Oberbefehlshaber Niederlande commander-in-chief Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz reached an agreement on the capitulation of all German forces in the Netherlands in the presence of Prince Bernhard, commander of the Dutch Interior Forces. The capitulation document was signed the next day in the auditorium of Wageningen University, located next door.National Day
The liberation from the German and Japanese occupiers in 1945 was first celebrated on 31 August 1945, when it was still Queen's Day. Queen Wilhelmina did not want this celebration on her birthday, so May 5, the day of the surrender negotiations, came into play. In 1946, the government decided that Liberation Day should take place on May 5, unless it fell on a Sunday, because otherwise the tradition of Christian Sunday rest would be disrupted. In 1968, it was decided that Liberation Day would take place on May 5, regardless of the day of the week.From 1958 onward, Liberation Day was celebrated only every five years. The various successive committees failed to establish a national tradition, unlike the National Remembrance Day. In 1990, May 5 was declared a national holiday, on which the liberation of the Netherlands from German occupation in 1945 is commemorated and celebrated annually. This does not automatically mean that May 5 is a day off. The Dutch government has determined that employees and employers in the private sector should make their own arrangements.