Over 10% of Netherlands population were alive for WWII liberation

By Janene Pieters on May 5, 2017 - 15:25
Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes (left center) accepts the surrender of German forces in The Netherlands from General Johannes Blaskowitz (right center), Wageningen, 5 May 1945
Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes (left center) accepts the surrender of German forces in The Netherlands from General Johannes Blaskowitz (right center), Wageningen, 5 May 1945. Photo: Stirton, Alexander Mackenzie / Wikimedia Commons

Some 1.7 million people currently living in the Netherlands, were alive to witness the liberation of the country at the end of World War II in 1945, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. That amounts to 10.4 percent of the Netherlands population.

Laren has relatively the most residents who were alive to see the WWII liberation, with 19.5 percent of its population. Bergen in Noord-Holland follows with 17.7 percent, and Roosendaal with 17 percent. 

Not all 1.7 million people who were alive for the WWII Liberation, were in the Netherlands to see it happen. About 120 thousand of the people currently aged 72 years or older were born abroad. 

Today the Netherlands is celebrating the 72nd anniversary of its liberation from German occupiers. 

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