English Blog

My mother, Nel Lazeron was in the Dam Square during the shooting. She was 14 years old and had followed the crowds.

I do recall German soldiers knocking on doors and in some cases dragging people out of their homes and putting them on trucks, and were not seen again.

Willem Frederik Klaasen *1930 I lived on the Willem de Zwijgerlaan, Amsterdam-West and was 15 years old. We had the permission from our mother to go to the Dam, the Canadians were coming.I thought about it that it was possible… (READ MORE)

Femmigje Appelo 1915-2001 Second-cousin Marjolein:My great-aunt, Fem Appelo, started her training for nurse in 1934 by the Valerius Clinic in Amsterdam. She had to interrupt her study because of tuberculosis, but in 1941 she continued her training. Once she told… (READ MORE)

Couple Oudhof-Wismeijer After reading the book Drama at the Dam I have the need for writing you. With tears in my eyes I read some parts, especially those of the 32 victims. It was a familiar situation because of the… (READ MORE)

Isa Timmers-Vliegenthart *1934 I was almost 11 years old and stood for hours at the Berlage bridge, waiting for the Canadians, together with my two girl friends, nearby my house. It buzzed from the rumors: ‘ they are already in… (READ MORE)

Henk Ras *1940 The end of the War It was May 7. We knew that the War was over and that the Canadians would reach Amsterdam in the afternoon. My father, mother and I went with hundred, thousands of people… (READ MORE)

Jaap Beekhuis *1931 As a boy of 14 years old I experienced a shooting. Monday May 7 1945, I stood at the Dam, with thousands of Amsterdammers, waiting for the arrival of the Canadians. The German Army surrendered official, so… (READ MORE)

Irene van Lente *1939 I lived in the Raadhuisstraat, my father was the owner of a dairy under the gallery. Our two cousins from Arnhem stayed at our house when the shooting at the Dam took place. My cousins and… (READ MORE)

Kathleen Sillem *1922 Kathleen Sillem *1922, married secretly in 1944 with Max Kohnstamm *1914-2010 (a.o. private secretary of Queen Wilhelmina from 1945-1948). On May 7 1945 they walked together from the Amstel 298hs to the Dam. For the radio program… (READ MORE)

Wilhelmina Gerardina Net (1921-2013) and Cornelis Jan Simpelaar(1918-1990) witnessed the shooting at the Dam. Their daughter Ilse wrote: I was touched by the article in the Telegraaf,  this morning. My parents were both present at the shooting. My mother (at that time23… (READ MORE)

Hendrik Klaassen (1931-2016) On May 7 1945 my father was visiting his aunt, she lived at the Nieuwendijk, and wanted to go to the Dam. He stood in the neighbourhood of the SS-building when somebody shot from the building, also… (READ MORE)

Julienne Elisabeth Kretzschmar *1925 Astrid Biesheuvel, daugther in law: ‘January 13, I was visiting my mother in law. Meanwhile 91 years old, slightly demented, and trying to train her memory. The past is closer then the present. We talk a… (READ MORE)

Jan van Harlingen *1927   It’s a little what I can still remember. I was 18 years old and quite curious by nature. Our family used to live in the Wilhelminastraat in Amsterdam-West( in the Second World War, Westergasthuisstraat)) because… (READ MORE)

Leo Onclin *1938 I used to live in the Herenstraat 3 and I wasn’t allowed to go to the Dam. However, two words were of course interesting: ‘chocolate’ and ‘cigarettes’. I didn’t smoke but I do want the chocolate. So… (READ MORE)

Frits Bolte *1934 I was 11 years old, almost 12,  with my parents we walked in the Paleisstraat; in the pram lay my brother who was then  9 months old. My father wanted to go to the Dam, my mother didn’t… (READ MORE)

Wiel van der Manden registered this reports a day after the shooting.This articel was published at May 8 1947, in the “Katholieke Illustratie” as part of his report of May 7 1945   May 8 1945   Liberation day Monday had… (READ MORE)

I’m almost 82 years old and I like to tell my story about my experience at the Dam on May 7 1945, I was then a boy of 12 years old.   My eldest sister, who lived across us in… (READ MORE)

I was 11 years old when I went with my parents to the Dam. We stood in the middle when the shooting started. We came in an alley where I lost my mother. My father smashed a window from the… (READ MORE)

Witness from “Ons Amsterdam” by Tjerk de Boer, director of the Algemeen Handelsblad. “Monday morning arrived four Canadian tanks; they left later. The arrival of these tanks, was for the Domestic Armed Forces the sign for a more or less… (READ MORE)

Arie Johannes Veldhoen was born on November 1 1934 at the 1e Kostverlorenkade 9, son of Johanna Margaretha Bläser and  Arie Veldhoen, also an artist. On May 7 1945, Aat, a ten year old boy, was also present at the… (READ MORE)

Gerard Wiegel *1926 Via Rob Kist we came in touch with his uncle, Gerard Wiegel, who, together with his sister, Rob’s mother Hendrika Maria Wiegel(1930-2011) were at the Dam on May 7 1945. Gerard Wiegel: We lived then in the… (READ MORE)

Dirk van Ginkel send us this story: My mother, Maaike Altink and her eldest sister Petronella Ruys-Altink (they are 17 years apart), went together with Pieter, the youngest son of her sister, to the Dam; people were celebrating, or that… (READ MORE)

My name is Joop van Beek. Born in 1929. Those days I was 15 years old. Why did I go the the Dam? The rumor was that the Canadians would come to the Dam. I went there on my own…. (READ MORE)

Especially eyewitness reports can clarify by the reconstruction of specific events. My uncle Gerrit Keet (1922) lived during the war in Amsterdam. He was present by the shooting at the Dam. In 1991 he made the following report: On May… (READ MORE)

Cornelis Adrianus (Kees) Burger 1932-2016 Very interesting to read this all. My father was also wounded during the shooting and this has influenced his further life. He lived in the Indische Buurt at the Ambonplein. He died March 4 of… (READ MORE)

We received from Maria Muijderman-Slingerland the witness of her mother Jenneke: My mother often told me about the incident at the Dam, once I took an interview about her life in October 1994. A conversation as a result of the… (READ MORE)

“The war has taken away my childhood” On one site Leo Vleesschhouwer (Amsterdam, 1923) had a lot of luck in the war. He rescued his Jewish father from the Germans and he escaped to death in May 1945. On the other… (READ MORE)

Ludy Hoogvorst *1941 I was together with my mother  at the Dam. I had to run on the hand of my mother when the shots fell. I saw a boy, crying, bending over his sister, she was hit and lay… (READ MORE)