Today (5 May) is Liberation Day in The Netherlands. On 5 May, 1945, the Germans signed a letter of capitulation of their forces in The Netherlands at the Hotel Wereld in Wageningen. Wageningen is a large town just about two kilometers east of the famous Battle of Grebbeberg site. German forces arrived at Wageningen in the late afternoon hours of 10 May 1940 after attacking The Netherlands in the early morning hours of 10 May. The following day they began their assault on the fortified strong point called Grebbeberg.
Present at the capitulation was the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and Prince Bernard of the Netherlands. The German representative was General Johannes Blaskowitz. Prince Bernard, son-in-law of the Dutch Queen (Wilhemina), and father of the current Queen Beatrix , was German and had been a member of the Nazi party. After his marriage to the future Queen Juliana he became a Dutch patriot and was something of a war hero to the Dutch people. At the capitulation meeting, he refused to speak German and instead only spoke Dutch to the Germans (and presumably English to the Canadians).
Bevrijdingsdag is a national holiday in The Netherlands but is formally so only every fifth year (the next will be in 2015). In between it is up to employers to decide whether it will be a day off or not.
Last night, at about 8:00 PM (2000 hrs), there was a national moment of silence (two minutes) broadcast on the television, as a remembrance of soldiers killed in the line of duty.
Go to the links below to read about the principals involved in the capitulation. The story about Prince Bernard and the German General are quite interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Foulkes_(Canadian_Army_general)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Bernhard_of_Lippe-Biesterfeld
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Blaskowitz
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