Suddenly it happened. From the Grote Club at the corner of the Dam and the Kalverstraat there was a shooting by Germans who were left behind and who didn’t accept the capitulation. Behind the Palace German marines refused to disarm. When there also started a shooting from the roof of the postoffice, complete panic and despair broke out by the cheering crowd, who didn’t know which way to go. You could hear the bullets sizzle and the noise of breaking glass, it was horrifying. I dragged my child behind the Nieuwe Kerk and there I lost the use of my legs, just if they didn’t belong to my body.
‘I thought the Germans were gone’ said my son with a broken voice. I pulled myself together and think rational. Suddenly the Domestic Armed Forces answered the fire. I had to go home one way or another were my husband and younger child were waiting. From alley to alley, from doorway to doorway I walked the way home, it took longer than usual. My husband, who saw on my face that the situation was not good, asked: ‘Have you seen the Canadians?’ And before I could say something my son tells an incoherent story, my husband was frightened of it.
To make matters worse my son said on a reproachful tone: ‘Mother said the war was over. Why are they still shooting?’ After all those years of putting on a brave face for my husband and children I burst into tears. Crying I said: ‘ Nevertheless I am sure, we are free, I am sure…’
Hansy de Maijer, Heerhugowaard
Source: My Liberation(Ivo Niehe)
