Civilians, not an army
Forged papers, hidden people, underground newspapers — and execution if exposed.
Joop van Bilsen / Anefo — CC0 · Joop van Bilsen / Anefo — CC0 · Qwertzu111111 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Qwertzu111111 — CC BY-SA 4.0
A monument to the resistance against Nazi occupation in Utrecht, standing near the Dom tower in the heart of the city. The Netherlands was occupied from May 1940 to May 1945, and its resistance was a set of scattered networks: forging papers, hiding wanted people and Jews, moving information, printing underground newspapers. It was not an army but a network of civilians, and the price of exposure was execution. The monument commemorates those from Utrecht killed in that work. Its design is plain and austere, and that is deliberate: Dutch post-war memorials tended towards silence rather than theatrical heroism. On the fifth of May each year — Liberation Day — and the fourth of May — Remembrance Day — ceremonies are held here and wreaths laid, and the whole country falls silent for two minutes at eight in the evening on the fourth. This is a few minutes on your route: you are at the Dom tower anyway, the tallest church tower in the Netherlands and the heart of Utrecht. Free and always open.
Forged papers, hidden people, underground newspapers — and execution if exposed.
Dutch post-war memorials tended to silence rather than theatrical heroism.
The whole country falls silent at eight in the evening on 4 May.
Domplein, by the Dom tower
On 4 May the Netherlands commemorates the victims of the Second World War and later conflicts, and the whole country stops for two minutes at eight in the evening — trains halt and the streets fall silent. On 5 May liberation is celebrated. These are serious days in the Netherlands, not a tourist occasion.
The tower itself is climbed by ticket on a guided tour — over four hundred steps, with a view reaching Amsterdam on clear days. Plus the Dom church and its quiet cloister, and exposed Roman remains in the square explaining Utrecht's origin as a Roman fort.
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