A Dictionary of Dutchness

Bevrijdingsvuur

Every year, as May 5 begins, a torch is lit from the everlasting Liberation Flame (bevrijdingsvuur) which burns in front of the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen where the German occupiers negotiated their surrender at the end of World War II. The torch is carried by a team of runners, cyclists and inline skaters to Liberation Day festivals all over the country. The ceremony began in 1948 and the original flame came from Bayeux in France.