The Netherlands remembered its war dead with two minutes’ silence at 8pm on Monday evening.
Thousands of people packed into Dam square in Amsterdam city centre for the ceremony at the national war memorial, where king Willem-Alexander and queen Maxima, prime minister Rob Jetten and other dignitaries and military chiefs laid wreaths in memory of those who died.
According to the organising committee, some 16,000 people were at the main ceremony in the Dutch capital, but there were smaller ceremonies at memorials all over the country.
A group of some 20 activists arrived at the Dam before the main ceremony but were asked by police to put away their banners stating “never again means now”.
“I don’t understand why. This is so subtle,” said pro-Palestine activist Frank van der Linde. “We do not need to disturb the peace.” Van der Linde was later escorted away by police.
The monument itself had been cleaned from the red paint which had been sprayed across its base in the early hours of Monday morning. Police are looking for three people responsible for daubing the memorial, who were caught on film cycling away from the site.
At 8pm the crowd fell silent for two minutes. As is traditional in the Netherlands, public transport came to a standstill, there were no take-offs and landings at Schiphol airport and cafes and restaurants all over the country paused serving and talking.
Earlier in the evening, Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema had called for more focus on the role of women during war. “Women are never on the sidelines, they are at the front,” she said in a speech ahead of a silent march from the Museumplein to the Dam.
“They are there as soldiers, as doctors, as journalists, as mothers, as defenders of freedom in the widest sense of the word,” she said. “And in the Netherlands, women were often the focal point of the resistance.”
Women’s bodies and sexuality still have a central role in war, she said. “Systematic rape and belittling, forced sterilisation and abortion – they all took place during the Holocaust and in countless conflicts since then.”
On Tuesday, the Netherlands celebrates Liberation Day, with parties, festivals and neighbourhood communal meals all over the country.
