Artigenda
Liberation Day (The Netherlands)
When: annually, May 5.
Every year on May 5, the Netherlands celebrates the end of World War II on Dutch soil during Liberation Day. This bank holiday celebrates the end of the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940 – 1945).
Once every five years...
Liberation Day is a public holiday. In any other country, this would mean that it’s a day off from work. In The Netherlands, it’s not a day off. Well, every year. Only once every five years. Unless you work for a (semi-)government agency or go to school. This would be any Dutch educational institution.
Capitulation
The day marked the capitulation of German troops in the Netherlands under the command of Johannes Blaskowitz. This was a formality that took place on May 5 at Hotel De Wereld in Wageningen. A day earlier, Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg had already submitted his signature to the surrender on behalf of the German troops in north-west Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark and the Netherlands. A separate peace agreement was deemed necessary, to clarify that the situation in the Netherlands was separate and it was sufficiently clear to German troops in the Netherlands that the war was over.
History of Liberation Day in The Netherlands
That Liberation Day does constitute a public holiday and not a standard day off, except once every five years, is nothing new. The day was a special day from the beginning. While people were already celebrating freedom in the Netherlands itself, people were still fighting on the other side of the world. In the Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia, Japanese troops were fighting. Only on 15 August would Japan capitulate. The agreement to arrange Japan’s surrender was not signed until September 2, 1945. By then, incidentally, Indonesian independence had already been declared. That happened on August 17, 1945. It would take until 1949 for the country to gain independence. Incidentally, this would not affect the celebration of Liberation Day.
The first Liberation Day was celebrated on 31 August 1945. That was Queen’s Day during the reign of Queen Wilhelmina (August 31, 1880 – November 28, 1962). Her reign lasted from November 23, 1890, to September 4, 1948, with a period of regency between 1890 and 1898 by regent Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont (August 2, 1858 – March 20, 1934), Wilhelmina’s mother.
For once, it was no problem, it just shouldn’t become a tradition, was the thought. That was against Wilhelmina’s wishes. Therefore, an alternative date was chosen and that became 5 May. This created the need to organise another new event besides Queen’s Day. An additional problem, besides organising this event was the government regulation that the day could only be celebrated when it did not take place on a Sunday. Therefore, between 1946 and 1968, the celebration of Liberation Day could go ahead only when Sunday peace would not be disturbed. Furthermore, the government decided that a day off could be taken only when there was a fifth anniversary (1958 decision). In 1968, the tradition changed and it became easier to organise more, as from now on there was no consideration of the day of the week. Sunday or not, celebrating was allowed. Only the fifth anniversary got in the way and that would always be the case. As a result, it did not succeed in becoming a fully-fledged public holiday, as was the case for Queen’s Day and, later, King’s Day. Those were days that did belong to the compulsory holidays. The exceptions were precisely those who had to work on those days. Now it was precisely those who did not have to work. People in (semi-)government service or people for whom it was agreed in the collective labour agreement. In the latter case, by the way, it was a rarity. This is still the case today. Even after the declaration of Liberation Day as a bank holiday in 1990, this did not change. That call was meant to encourage employers to change labour agreements and contracts. Only that didn’t happen. That makes the day a public holiday only on paper.
Holiday in May
Nowadays, many educational institutions combine the May holidays with this holiday. They also try to combine the holiday with another Dutch holiday: King’s Day.
Vlaggenprotocol
On this day, the flag hangs out from sunrise to sunset, without an orange pennant. However, a Four Freedom Pennant has been created, consisting of a logo of the National Committee on 4 and 5 May. On its website, more information about the day can be found under the heading Freedom.
Music festivals
Music festivals have been organised for several years on Liberation Day. More information about these festivals can be found via this link.
