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 fearful… (READ MORE)
“The war has taken away my childhood” On one hand 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… (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)
Janny van Duijnen-Vink *1935 May 7 1945.What do you know as a 80 year old woman about what happened 70 years ago? I will never forget that afternoon and it also had a great influence in my life. But details?As… (READ MORE)
Impje Bes *1942 My mother, more than 6 months pregnant of my brother, and I, 2.5 years old, lived temporarily by strangers in Amsterdam-West on a cold room on the attic.The Red Cross evacuated us to that place and we spend… (READ MORE)
H.J. Mekkelholt (*1921) Two days after the liberation there is a liberation party at the Dam that results in a blood massacre.For Mr. Mekkelholt this day gets eventually a positive turn. As so many young men he receives an appeal… (READ MORE)
Johanna Alexandrine (Hanny) Boers 1923-1992 Peter Sijmons, the son of Hanny’s sister Tonny, told us: the Boers family, 6 children, lived at the Geldersekade, upper left the doors of Glass Company Thijssens, were her father, my grandfather, worked. When my mother… (READ MORE)
Hedda van Gennep *1929 Hedda van Gennep went together with friends to the Dam, to celebrate, just like many others. She tells us: I was 16 years old and we walked at the Dam when the windows of the Grote Club… (READ MORE)
Kees Stuyfersant *1934 and Reggie Stuyfersant *1937 Via their brother Andre we came in contact with Kees Stuyfersant. May 7 1945 is for the family a memorable day. The children Stuyfersant walked daily from the Nieuwmarkt to the Prinsenschool and they… (READ MORE)
I am from the generation after the war, the baby-boomers. Maybe my story doesn’t belong here. I wasn’t even born yet. But I’m shaped by it and touched. Every year the liberation will be commemorated, and by that the story… (READ MORE)
Operation Three Castles, May 7, 1945 The greatest forgotten action of the Interior Forces* Norbert-Jan Nuij As an attempt is made to disarm some German soldiers, a shot is fired. Moments later, all hell breaks loose. This event is often… (READ MORE)
I saw the bloody hands of the victims I remember as a little boy, that we were there on the hand of my aunt, on the day in question.We lived on the Kloveniersburgwal 45 and walked via the Nieuwe Hoogstraat… (READ MORE)
On May 7 1945, I (10 years old) went with my mother and sister(13 years old) to the Dam because the nursing staff would sing, according to the information of my aunt. In my opinion we were at the Dam… (READ MORE)
Reverent Rients Dijkstra was on May 7 1945 in the NIeuwe Kerk, he published his story in the book “O, dat stuwend Amsterdam”. On May 7 1945, after the liberation, when the Mininstery held his… (READ MORE)
The Foundation received from Mrs.Mathilda van Bentum-Hofker a detailed report of her memories as a 9 year old young girl over the period 1939-1946. She lived in the Zeeheldenbuurt neighborhood with her parents, three older brothers and sister, and a… (READ MORE)
During our research in the Archives for information about victims, the document below was found at the Amsterdam Archive, the Council Office for Funeral Services. Although it is not related the shooting at the Dam Square on May 7 1945,… (READ MORE)
As a former Amsterdam citizen of 84 years old, I have nasty memories of the shooting at the Dam on May 7 1945. It is my story, how I experienced it. On the day in question, as a boy of 14 years… (READ MORE)
I am born in 1931 and on May 7 1945, I was 13 years old and lived then in the Bloys van Treslongstraat in Amsterdam-West. On May 7 1945 I went to the Dam to see the arrivel of the Canadians…. (READ MORE)
On May 7 1945 I was 12 years old. I lived at the Hoogstraat, in line of the Dam, across the Zuiderkerk. We knew that there was a lot to do at the Dam because of the liberation, the mayor… (READ MORE)
Aleida Josefine Slieker was injured during the shooting. You can see her on this photo of Margreet van Konijnenburg. The lady in a dark coat, lower right, lying on the ground. Aleida emigrated to the United States of America in… (READ MORE)
Het Parool, May 15 2013. Memories of May 7 1945 The shooting from the Grote Club of May 7 1945. We, two nurses in uniform, ran from the Binnengasthuis to the Rokin, to help people who had bullet wounds and… (READ MORE)
Hans Capers sent us this report about the incident on May 7 1945. At home nobody spoke about it; the subject was taboo. He is now 75 years old and he wants to write down his life on paper for… (READ MORE)
As a result of your articles about the shooting at the Dam, the following. I was also at the Dam, as a little boy of 7 years old, when the shooting started. I was a thin skinny little boy and got… (READ MORE)
My mother was 24 years old and wrote a letter to her brother Willem. She lived with her parents at the end of the war at the corner of the Dam and Damstraat. Her brother Willem (just 13 years old) was… (READ MORE)
Jopie Kamstra-Schnater was the neighbour girl of Jurrianus Lambertus Stad. She read an article in the Noord Hollands Dagblad, June 13 2013, and by her son Kees she came in contact with the Foundation Memorial 2015 for victims of Dam May… (READ MORE)
By the daughter of Frans J.van Dam we came in the possession of some photos that he made round May 7 1945 in Amsterdam. Most likely taken before May 7, secretly, Germans on patrol at the street. Arrest of 2 Germans… (READ MORE)
Amsterdam July 29 1884 – Amsterdam December 15 1966 Leijns found himself during the shooting at his office on the fifth floor of the Office Industria at the corner of the Rokin and the Dam. He had placed his camera on a… (READ MORE)
As a boy of 16 years old I was an eyewitness of the shooting at the Dam. Before this tragedy started, there was an incident that is less known. I stood not far away from the Grote Club when in the… (READ MORE)
Mentioned below is a part of the speech that K.Schippers held on May 4 2010 in the Nieuwe Kerk The arrival of jazz “May 7 1945, 65 years ago, we are liberated. At the Dam, in front of the Nieuwe… (READ MORE)
During our research to victim Straatmijer we came in contact via an appeal in the Oud Amsterdammer [local newspaper] with Joop Straatmeijer (extra E). He was also at the Dam when the shooting started. “I lived as a 10 year old… (READ MORE)
Mrs. E.J.B.M. Sneeboer-Bense *1904 †1987 Mrs. B.Sneeboer-Bense was told that her husband would come home, he was set to work, and she was looking for him in Amsterdam. At the Dam she witnessed the shooting. It’s unknown who started the shooting. She stood… (READ MORE)
A wink of the eyes. On May 7 it’s my goal to cheer the allied forces at the Dam. I’m standing near the Grote Club nearby the man-sized barbed wire, were on one side a German soldier walks with a gun… (READ MORE)
Roswitha Greefkes approached us about a special story of Han Hutjes, also a victim of the Dam shooting: What I know is that this young man saved the life of a five year old boy who stood in the middle… (READ MORE)
Bep Vink, born in 1922, was during the war Commander of the Red Cross and joined the air brigade. Recently we received this message from her son Lou Bakker: My mother recently deceased (Bep Bakker-Vink). She was in World War II… (READ MORE)
My mother was born in Amsterdam and was a ten year old child when the war started. She has told me a lot about the period 1940-1945. She also told me about the incident on May 7, she was there with… (READ MORE)
Mrs.Toos Gerver-Dessing (*1931) was witness at the Dam and told us about the incident. Our family lived at the Leidsegracht and togheter with two of my brothers we went also to the Dam.They sat on an old bicycle with wooden tires,one… (READ MORE)
I’m also a survivor of The Shooting. A long time I wonder, from historical view, what has happened to me. It wasn’t obvious a loose case of senseless violence. In Berlin and Moscow is commemorated that the Wehrmacht, in the… (READ MORE)
Carel Blazer(1911-1980) started to photograph in the thirties and followed in the same time an education by Hans Finsler in Switzerland. He was co-organizer of the exhibition “Photo’73” in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. With colleagues Ad Windig and Annelies Romein… (READ MORE)
* Holten (Rijssen) May 31 1916 + Hilversum October 23 1997 His name is inseparable connected with the postwar Dutch film history. Photography was for him merely a stepping-stone to a career in making films. In the thirties he started as a… (READ MORE)
It is May 7 1945 I am sitting like a scared little bird on the stairs in the Paleisstraat against the side of the Royal Palace. Across the Dam are people running in panic. Through the air the bullets fly… (READ MORE)