Liberation Day

Liberation day marks the end of the German occupation in the Netherlands during WW2. To commemorate this special day, Paul took me to see the concentration camp called Kamp Westerbork. The Nazi occupying forces deported 102,000 Jews via this camp to their death in Auschwitz and other such camps. One of those Jews that came through Westerbork was Anne Frank, who left on one of the last trains on September 3, 1944.



There is a special monument in the camp that is located at the former role-call site where 102,000 stones have been placed - One stone for every murdered man, woman and child.




The train tracks you see are the very ones that led into what is called "hell's gate". With the liberation of the 5,000 survivors of the deportation, the end of the tracks were turned up to symbolize that no train would ever enter here again.



Liberation day is actually a very important day for Canadian-Dutch relations. Canadian troops played a leading role in liberating the Netherlands and the Dutch have not forgotten. At the camp museum, I spotted a Canadian soldier uniform bearing the badge of the South Saskatchewan Regiment.


Back in Groningen, the public does not forget the what the Canadians have done either. It is tradition to hang the Dutch flag on your balconies and windows only on Liberation day. But in my own neighbourhood, we spotted one balcony bearing two flags : Canada and the Netherlands.


The younger public, however, views Liberation day as just another long weekend and many choose to celebrate their freedom by going to a huge outdoor music festival. At the end of the night, there was only a 'graveyard' of a gazillion plastic beer cups.

After leaving the music festival, me and a bunch of friends hit the centrum where we stayed out until sunrise. Many, many youngsters were doing the same. They all, of course, rode their bikes out. Here is the main parking area in the centrum at 1am.