Live Remembrance Day | The first attendees look for a spot on Dam Square

Hallo en welkom in dit liveblog. Hier houd ik, Ellen Vos, je op de hoogte van de ontwikkelingen rond Dodenherdenking.

• Nederlandse oorlogsslachtoffers herdacht
• Nationale Herdenking op de Dam
• Extra maatregelen uit vrees voor verstoring
• Om 20.00 uur is Nederland twee minuten stil

Hoe beleef jij Dodenherdenking? Stuur je video of foto naar [email protected] en laat het ons weten.

Two minutes of silence is also observed in other places around the world
There will soon be a two-minute silence at Dutch embassies all over the world. This also applies to deployment areas where Dutch soldiers work and to the war cemeteries with graves of war victims.

It is also quiet in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands, but because that falls under a different time zone, the commemoration there is from 6:00 PM to 6:02 PM.

Police arrested a man earlier today because of inflammatory messages
The Amsterdam police arrested a 41-year-old man earlier today. He posted inflammatory messages on social media about Remembrance Day. This suspect was still being interrogated around 6 p.m. and a police spokesperson could not say whether he would be released on Saturday evening.

It is the only arrest that the Amsterdam police have made in the run-up to Remembrance Day. The spokesperson cannot say anything about the identity of the person. According to The Telegraph it concerns Rachid El Ghazaoui, better known as rapper Appa. He often expressed solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza on Instagram. “There is no more perfect moment to raise the cry of genocide in Gaza than May 4 during Remembrance Day,” he said. The Telegraph said on Instagram.

NU.nl readers will also be silent for two minutes tonight
During Remembrance Day, many readers think of family members who fought during the Second World War or had to survive with little food. NOWyou’er Calm down writes:

“I think of my grandfathers, who fought with little equipment and were put to work in Germany after the surrender. I also think of my grandmothers. They had to travel across the country to Drenthe to get food. Fortunately, they all survived, but they never fully recovered from it.”

Read here who other readers commemorate.

It is immediately noticeable how many police there are compared to previous years, says NU.nl reporter Emma van Bergeijk. The entire area around Dam Square is teeming with police and military police, but there are now also shoppers walking through it. The atmosphere is relaxed.

The first people who registered are now entering.

May 4 lecture by writer Dido Michielsen
Writer Dido Michielsen will give the May 4 lecture this year, prior to Remembrance Day. She takes over from writer Marcel Möring who gave the lecture last year.

Recently it was published by 67-year-old Michielsen My father’s legacy, about her own father who was in a prisoner of war camp and fought for the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL). The writer will not directly mention Gaza in her lecture. But it was one of the situations she had to think about while writing.

“I have personally noticed that people who were traumatized by the situation in Indonesia have passed on their hatred and anger to their children,” she previously explained. “That will continue for generations. And I think it is a very sad thought that this will also apply to the wars that are currently raging in the world.”

High chance of showers during National Remembrance Day on Dam Square
There is a good chance that it will rain tonight during the National Commemoration on Dam Square. Heavy showers are forecast in North Holland, Flevoland, Utrecht and Gelderland around 8 p.m.

During Remembrance Day, the temperature on Dam Square will be around 11 degrees and there will be little wind.

The weather around Remembrance Day is more positive for Overijssel, Drenthe, Friesland, Groningen and the Wadden Islands. In those provinces it will remain dry in most places and temperatures between 13 and 15 degrees are expected.

Public transport and air traffic are at a standstill during Remembrance Day
NS stops all trains for two minutes at 8 p.m. City transport companies stop trams, buses and metros and air traffic also takes the National Remembrance Day into account.

Road users are advised to look for a parking space and especially not to park on the hard shoulder next to the highway.

The additional measures for the National Commemoration on Dam Square:

• This year there is room for ten thousand people. In other years it was often double.
• Visitors had to register via an online reservation system.
• Visitors had to select an entrance and time slot. Within one day, all ten thousand places for the National Remembrance were taken.
• The police will search at the three entrance points of Dam Square.

Read more about the measures here

Measures due to fear of disruption
Out of fear of protests or disruptions due to the war in Gaza, Amsterdam is taking extra measures during National Remembrance. For example, fewer people are allowed on Dam Square, flags are not allowed and all attendees are searched. Amplifiers and boards are also not allowed.

The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) and the police emphasize that they believe there is a chance of spontaneous protests or disruptions, but that the chance of an attack is no greater than in previous years.

This year’s commemoration cannot be seen separately from Gaza
On May 4, the emphasis is on commemorating the Second World War and the wars in which the Netherlands has since become involved. But Remembrance Day cannot be separated from the war in Gaza this year, writes our reporter Afran Groenewoud.

Read more here

Who and what do we commemorate?
On May 4, the Netherlands officially commemorates “all – civilians and military personnel – who were killed or murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world, both during the Second World War and the war of independence in Indonesia and in war situations and during subsequent peace operations.”

After the Second World War, Remembrance Day was the moment when people remembered those who had died in the war. Since 1961, the victims of war situations and peace operations in which the Netherlands was involved after the Second World War have also been commemorated.