May 4, 2009 Memorial Day

So 4mei every year is the Dutch Memorial day called Nationale Dodenherdenking. There are small events all around the country, but the biggest event is in Dam Square here in Amsterdam. Queen Beatrix, her son Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Maxima, Amsterdam mayer Job Cohen all attend a large public event near the Monument in Dam Square.
This event takes place around 8pm, so we had the day to relax. We got ready and took of in the afternoon.
Here is Saviya in our living rooom

We walked passed the Heineken Experience which isnt too far from our flat, and across to a small park across the square. There was a smaller memorial service going on. Children were reading short stories or speaches, and something was done with a statue, though im not sure if it was being newly dedicated or if this was a yearly tribute.

We continued up one of the main streets a little over a mile to Dam square. There were maybe 20-30 thousand people gathered in the square. The Royal family, dignitaries, war heroes and others were gathered inside the church that sits in the square for a service. There were several large flat screens in the square to display the events of the night. At the conclusion of the service, a procession of people began to flow out of the church.

Church is the building on the left side of the picture.

Nearly 25 minutes passed while people walked out to the monument. Finally the queen came out with the rest of the family. I caught her on video maybe 30 feet away, shes in the first 1/2 second of the video


Here is a better view of her and her son behind her coming out from the church to the square

At 7:58pm there was 2 minutes of silence across the Netherlands. Next, the Royal family, mayor, selected war heroes, and a group of 64 children placed large wreaths and small flowers around the base of the Dam Square Monument. It, no surpise, is the white phallic item stretching up in the middle of the square.





The entire event was in Dutch, no subtitles....I was able to gather a fair amount, but nonetheless it was interesting and worth attending. By about 8:25pm the entire thing was done (yes these pictures are at night, it doesnt get dark till 10, and in june, there are only 4-5 hours of darkness)


This last picture, you can see on the large tv the video we were watching, in this case the view from the top of one of the building rooftops down on us, you can somewhat see how many of us were gathered there. All in all a nice mellow day, somber and regal, but an interesting experience.


-Colin