Worldly Chatter

Here in the Netherlands is Remembrance of the Dead today. It is a day where they remember those who died in World War 2. After 1961, it became a day to remember all who have died in peacekeeping missions as well as World War 2. On the Dam Square in Amsterdam Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem Alexander and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende will place wreaths on the war memorial and tonight at 8pm there will be a two-minute moment of silence all over the country. Waalsdorpervlakte, near Den Haag will have their own ceremony as well to remember the resistance fighters executed during the war. Tomorrow is bevrijdingsdag where they celebrate the liberation from Nazi occupation largely due to Canadian troops. A holiday celebrated every five years until 1990 where they made it an annual national holiday.

I have made some observations that are interesting to me on the topic of World War 2. For one thing, the feel is different here when such holidays are recognized. America has its Veterans Day and Memorial Day but I always remember it as a day to have a barbeque and have a day off from work. While as the years go on and the people who do remember the horrors of World War 2 pass on leaving us with little fresh memory the holiday here does have its barbeque feel but there is also a certain amount of respect for what the day is that isn’t just carried by veterans but also by the regular people. The laws are different here than in America and in talking with Dutchie and reading the news, I have learned a great deal about what is acceptable and what is not on the subject.
Here in Europe the war was in your face and affected everyone because it was their neighbors taken to camps, it was themselves struggling to deal with the Germans all around and had to deal with food shortages, looting and death on an everyday basis on their own streets. Talk of denouncing or downplaying the holocaust is illegal in most European nations and material Nazism will land you in jail for a minimum of two years. In Germany, five men convicted of burning the Anne Frank diary during Solstice and glorifying Nazi rule received fines and probation.
Americans saw another side of the war and the feelings of its average citizen is different. In America I could read whatever I pleased on the topic, materials were readily available on Nazi rule and Hitler. Here it is not the case. While my father has read Mein Kampf I cannot do the same. While many people hate the Holocaust denial enthusiasts or people who attempt to downplay it, it is legal to do in America. America states they have a right to their speech no matter how wrong or distasteful it might be.
There are many people just as Dutchie whose family drastically affected by the war and take it to heart when holidays like Dodenherdenking or Bevrijdingsdag come around. Family members who never returned home, while other members denied their citizenship and imprisoned because the Germans forced them to work or shot upon refusal. Dutchie and many like her were not in the war but their family carries the memories in their minds and passes them down in a hope that people will remember.
My first time here for May 4^th Dutchie explained to me what was going on in Amsterdam and informed me of the two-minute silence during the ceremony. We were living with a Dutchman, his American wife and children at the time. Our American friend was already accustomed to it and had her children quiet and all activity stopped in the home for those two minutes. Longest two minutes I had experienced, or at least it felt that way. It was important to Dutchman and Dutchie that we respect that moment, I could ask questions after and believe me I did. I wanted to know everything Dutchie had to tell me on it.
While Dutchie and her generation have fresh in their minds the stories of their parents and grandparents one can wonder if the later generations will take today and tomorrow as seriously. Will the stories go on? I remember learning about WW2 and I hear and see around me in Europe the different tone that is taken on the subject. To me, being an American and have lived there long enough to know that most Americans do not take those days as serious as those who serve and have served before them. I can recall the barbeques and sales at the mall on such holidays. You will find parties, sales and barbeques here too, do not get me wrong, but the atmosphere as a feel that changes from the generation of Dutchman and Dutchie to their offspring. It feels as though there is a barrier between the two, those who still hold it sacred and remember and those that find it a day to take to the streets with bands and food. The laws will not change as we can see in the papers people still held accountable for the speech and riots they incite. Queen Beatrix with pass on her stories of her grandmother and the family hiding in Canada to her son Willem and just as Dutchie will pass on her stories. Will the atmosphere take on an air like that of America where only the veterans and the troop’s families take their Veterans Day and Memorial Day serious?

bevrijdingsdag, dodenherdenking, Liberation Day, May 5th 1945, Rememberance of the Dead, Netherlands, World War 2, Holocaust, Nazi occupation of Holland