Canadian veterans were in Leeuwarden for the festival.
LEEUWARDEN--The Netherlands celebrated Liberation Day on Saturday in blazing sunshine, marking 73 years since Germany surrendered at the end of World War II.
The freedom flame was lit at midnight in Wageningen by 92-year-old British veteran Ray Lord and then carried by runners to freedom fires all over the country.
Germany signed the capitulation documents in Wageningen on May 5, 1945. The south of the country had been liberated months earlier.
In total 14 formal Liberation Day festivals are being staged all over the country: in Zwolle, Leeuwarden, Assen, Almere, Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Wageningen, The Hague, Roermond and Vlissingen.
This year, DJ Fedde Le Grand, rapper Ronnie Flex and the band My Baby are being flown from festival to festival by helicopter. The celebrations end with the traditional May 5 concert on Amstel River in Amsterdam, which is broadcast live on television and will be attended by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima.
Saturday’s sunshine will continue into next week, with sun and temperatures of up to 25 degrees expected on Tuesday, KNMI weather bureau said.
