World War II

The court in Amsterdam banned a planned noise protest during the National Commemoration of World War II victims on Amsterdam's Dam Square on Friday, Remembrance Day.

Interim Amsterdam mayor Jozias van Aartsen also banned the noise protest by action group Geen 4 mei voor mij. Initiator Rogier Meijerink hoped that the court would overturn this ban. But the court ruled against him, RTL Nieuws reports.

A massive amount of ammunition from the Second World War was found during construction work at a former primary school in Zwolle. The find included six boxes with around 10 thousand bullets and igniters for mines and hand grenades, NOS reports.

Construction workers discovered the ammunition while working on the sewer last week and called in Defense's explosive experts. The explosive experts called it a rare find. "It concerns French bullets of 8 millimeters that are still in their original packaging. The string of the packaging is even still around it."

Retired FBI agent Vince Pankoke is launching an investigation into who exactly informed the Nazis that Anne Frank and her family were hiding in the annex in Amsterdam in 1944. Using new software that can organize and analyze large amounts of data, Pankoke believes he can get to the bottom of what he calls "the ultimate cold case".

A couple from Vught found a plastic bag full of letters dating from World War II at Utrecht Central Station on Monday. Rens and Maartje Zonnenberg would like to find the owner of the letters and posted a call for information on Facebook.

According to Rens, the letters are dated between 1942 and 1944. They are written in Dutch, but the old handwriting make them difficult to read, he said to newspaper AD. The bag was found on a bench on platform 18. "There are more than 100, 150 maybe", he said. 

From Wednesday divers will be searching the Hollandse IJssel near Oudewater for World War II bombs. The river needs maintenance between Gouda and Nieuwegein, and the water board wants to make sure that everything is safe before the work can begin, NOS reports.

Historical research shows that the river contains many WWII bombs that never exploded. As long as they are left alone, they are not dangerous. But part of the work that needs to be done to the river is dredging to keep it deep enough for barges. Therefore the bombs will have to be removed first.

NS is halting all trains at exactly 8:00 p.m. for the national two minutes of silence to commemorate the victims of World War II on Remembrance Day today. In a video posted online, the Dutch railway company explains how it will manage to stop 330 trains at exactly 8:00 p.m.

Dutch people increasingly believe that an official day off from work should be granted on May 5th, the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Netherlands in World War II. Roughly 70 percent of those surveyed by the National Committee 4 and 5 May want Liberation Day to be a day off for all Netherlands employees.

This is an increase from 2016 figures, when 60 percent of respondents wanted the day off. If this were to be realized but in exchange for another holiday, about 30 percent of Dutch people would choose to substitute it for Good Friday.

The municipality of The Hague put 2.6 million euros aside to compensate the relatives of Jewish residents of the city who were "immorally treated" by the city between 1940 and 1955, ANP reports.

What the police describe as a "lightweight bomb" from World War II was found in a thrift store in Assen on Wednesday. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team will take the bomb away and make sure its safe on Wedneday afternoon, Andries Jan Mulder, director of thrift store De Wissel, told NU.nl

The police station in Venlo was closed to the public for several hours overnight after three boys brought in a World War II hand grenade they found, AD reports.

The boys found the explosive earlier on Sunday and decided to take it to the police office on Rijnbeekstraat, according to the newspaper. 

Police officers carefully placed it in the parking lot and called in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team to come deal with it. The police station and Rijnbeekstraat was closed down while they waited for the team to arrive. 

Kirstallnacht was quietly commemorated in Amsterdam on Wednesday night. Despite disagreements between various organizations who wanted to organize the memorial, there were no incidents, NOS reports.

During the night of November 9th to 10th, 1983 Nazis in Germany burned down 1,400 synagogues and 7,500 Jewish stores. Hundreds of Jews were murdered. Kristallnacht was the first major assault against Jews in Germany since the Nazis took power in 1933. It marks the change from discrimination against Jews to systematic persecution that eventually ended in the Holocaust.