May 5th marks the anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands, Liberation Day is
known as Bevrijdingsdag and is celebrated each year on May 5th to
mark the day Germany surrendered and ended the Nazi occupation.
The term Holland has frequently been used
informally to refer to the whole of the modern country of the Netherlands in
various languages, including Dutch and English. In some languages, Holland is
used as the formal name for the Netherlands.
From September 1944 – April 1945, the first Canadian Army fought German forces on the Scheldt estuary. They opened the port of Antwerp for Allied use and then cleared the Northern and Western areas of the Netherlands of German troops. Operation Manna began allowing food and other relief to reach millions of desperate people.
After WW2 broke out in
September of 1939, the Netherlands declared neutrality, however the country was
invaded and occupied by the Germans. On
May 15, 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces
surrendered. The Dutch Government and the Royal Family sought shelter in
London, England. Princess Juliana and her children pursued refuge in Ottawa,
Canada until the wars end.
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands,(Princess of Orange-Nassau and Princess
of Lippe-Biesterfeld), was born at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Canada,
on January 19, 1943, the third daughter
of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard of
the Netherlands.
The delivery room where Princess Margriet was born, was
temporarily declared Dutch soil and actual soil from the Netherlands was placed
under her Mother’s bed to ensure that the Princess was born on Dutch soil. She was
baptised in St Andrew's Church, Ottawa, on June 29th 1943. Her godparents
included President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Dutch Merchant Navy, in honour
of the role they played during the Second World War.
It
was not until August 2nd 1945, when the Netherlands had been liberated, that
Princess Margriet, accompanied by her parents and sisters, first set foot on
Dutch soil. The family took up residence in Soestdijk Palace in Baarn.
Canada and Holland share a very special relationship, to this date, Holland still sends tulips to Ottawa every year to commemorate the assistance Canada gave to Holland in her time of need during the war. In late April and May, close to one million tulips bloom in Ottawa–Gatineau, creating a dazzling display of colour in the Capital Region. And that is how Ottawa became known as the tulip capital of Canada and every year the host an annual tulip festival. Where close to one million tulips bloom in Ottawa and Gatineau.
One of our most popular
shirts include the embroidered Liberation of Holland design.
Here is how we came up
with the concept of our Embroidered Liberation of Holland design. For Canada’s
150th birthday celebration, the Dutch Government presented Canada
with a hybrid white flower with a red pattern representing a maple leaf. So we
reversed the concept and made it an orange tulip to represent the house of
orange.
The orange colour that's present
throughout much of Dutch culture is a nod to the Royal Family, which is made up
of members of the House of Orange. The dynasty dates back to 1544 when William
of Orange inherited the estate and title at the age of 11.
Holland is a fairly young monarchy. Until 1795,
the Netherlands was a republic, a federation of states. The Kingdom of the
Netherlands was established in 1815, and King William I was its first ruler.
The first king of Holland was from the House of Orange-Nassau. The origin of
Holland’s motto, ‘Je maintiendrai (“I will maintain”)’, the colours of the flag
and the national colour orange may all be found in the House of Orange-Nassau.
Princess Beatrix was the reigning monarch for over 30 years. In 2013 her eldest
son, Willem-Alexander, succeeded her on the throne.
The red drops in our
design represent blood trickling down to form a red maple leaf and to represent
the blood lost by Canadian Soldiers that liberated the Netherlands from the
Nazis.
We saw the Australian
and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) logo in commemoration of ANZAC soldiers. The leaf is
from a silver fern which is native to New Zealand.
We transformed that concept into a Tulip
Leaf with Canadian Soldiers, the original image we used was actually Canadian
Soldiers marching on top of a dyke with their reflections in the water.
Anzac Day April 25th is a national day of
remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all
Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars,
conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and
suffering of all those who have served".
In our design, or the left shoulder, we
finished with the word Holland to represent the Dutch Flag. (Yes we know it is the Netherlands, but it was too big
of a word and it didn’t look right so we reverted to Holland to represent the
flag).
One of our customers
took two of the D-Day Wear shirts to the Dutch Royal Palace in Amsterdam and
gave them to King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima and
we were honoured to receive a letter from the Palace in recognition of our
design.
We are proud of this design and feel it is one of the best designs we at D-Day Wear have ever created.
More than 300,000 Canada 150 tulips were planted in National Capital Commission (NCC) flower beds across the region PHOTO BY ERROL MCGIHON /Postmedia
Canadian Soldiers Marching on Dyke Google Images.
The above Lest We Forget remembrance flag is courtesy of TheFlagShop.co.nz