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 a girlfriend, the Dam was crowded with people. The only reason that they were going to the Dam was because there would be an aubade and they heard the childrens choir sing. My mother is still amazed in the different stories about this day and according to her, they are not right.
According to her the machinegun was standing on the roof of the Grote Club, when all the people were gathered at the Dam, and she said to her girlfriend that it was strange that the gun was there.
When the children arrived singing from the Nieuwezijdsvoorburgwal, a German, the one on the roof, fired. Then the windows of the Grote Club opened and they started to shoot.
Her father got the message that there was a shooting and looked for my mother; he hide by the Carlton Hotel because the English arrived in jeeps from the Vijzelgracht and from the Munt they met Germans and there was also a shooting.
My mother and her girlfriend got out of there safely, they jumped on behind two boys on their bicycle. I understand that the Allied Forces were not present.
That’s why I wanted to tell the story of my mother how she experienced it, she’s now 83 years old. Every time when May 7 1945 passes by on television or newspaper she wants to tell her story.
Ingrid Hofstra,
May 26, 2014
