Bevrijdingsdag 2018
By Natalia Giner Laguarda
As each year, The Netherlands celebrated the Liberation Day (Bevrijdingsdag in Dutch). This celebration takes place each year the 5th of May. This day commemorates the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during the World War II.
What happened the 5th of May (Bevrijdingsdag )
On the 5th of May (Bevrijdingsdag), the nation was liberated mainly by the 1st Canadian army together with Canadian forces, some British infantry divisions, the 1st Polish Armoured Division, the the Brithish I Corps, Belgian, American, Czechoslovak and dutch troops.
On the 5th of May, the German Commander in Chief Johannes Blaskowitz and the Canadian General Charles Foulkes reached an agreement of submission of German forces in the Netherlands. This took place in Hotel de Wereld that we have here in Wageningen. One day later, the capitulation document was signed in the Wageningen University auditorium which is by the side of the Hotel de Wereld.
Hotel de Wereld
Wageningen, 5th May 2018
This was my third year celebrating the Bevrijdingsdag in Wageningen. It was again amazing. We started having breakfast together in a friend’s house. This time we decided to skip the Technobreakfast (always in Haarweg). However, if you have the chance to spend the 5th of May in Wageningen, I would strongly recommend you to go there and enjoy a beer or a coffee.
The city center was crowded. Not only local people celebrated this day in Wageningen, also many people all around the Netherlands took the chance to visit Wageningen for this day.
This year we have an amazing day as the sun was shinning and we could enjoy 27 degrees! It was nice to see everyone enjoying the sun and finally using their sunglasses.
What happened in Wageningen
We enjoyed extensive musical programmes during the whole day. Not only in Wageningen, but in all around the Netherlands, many bands play themes related to freedom during the whole entire Bevrijdingsdag. At various spots in country, international musicians and Dutch bands performed live music.
The city center played music during the whole day and this time we almost didn’t move from there. We had lunch in a friend’s house also in the city center and afterwards we moved again at 15:00 to continue dancing.
For those that wanted to continue the party for longer, many after parties were hosted in Wageningen. Some fraternities and some house residences played music all night long. Wageningen was full of music spots. But there were also many places to eat food such as churros, frikandell, bitterballen or other typical dutch food. In our case, we decided to go back home to cook lasaña to end up the day.