Canada And The Liberation Of The Netherlands May 1945

Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 marked the beginning of five years of terror for the Dutch people. They faced oppression and death with remarkable stoicism, but nothing could save them from the Hunger Winter of 1944-5, when more than 30,000 people died of starvation. In this time of unimaginable despair, Canada came to the rescue, playing the largest role in liberating the Netherlands and ending the Nazi reign of terror. The Canadians gave the Dutch freedom - and food - and out of such dark times an eternal friendship was forged. Told through interviews with Dutch survivors and Canadian veterans, Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands, May 1945 delves into this little known chapter of history.

The eighth Canadian Battle Series volume is the little-told story of the tense final days of World War II, remembered in the Netherlands as “the sweetest of springs,” which saw the country’s liberation from German occupation. The Liberation Campaign, a series of fierce, desperate battles during the last three months of the war, was bittersweet. A nation’s freedom was won and the war concluded, but these final hostilities cost Canada 6,298 casualties, including 1,482 dead. With his trademark “you are there” style that draws upon official records, veteran memories, and a keen understanding of the combat experience, Mark Zuehlke brings to life this concluding chapter in the story of Canada in World War II. May 4, 2010, will mark the 65th anniversary of the Netherlands’ liberation.

At the end of the Second World War, Canadians gave the Dutch freedom and food, and an eternal friendship was forged.

Mark Zuehlke is an expert at narrating the history of life on the battlefield for the Canadian army during World War II. In Terrible Victory, he provides a soldiers-eye-view account of Canada's bloody liberation of western Holland. Readers are there as soldiers fight in the muddy quagmire, enduring a battle that lasted three weeks and in which 6,000 soldiers perished. Terrible Victory is a powerful story of courage, survival, and skill.

Since Henry Hudson landed on Manhattan in 1609, the peoples of the Netherlands and North America have been inextricably linked. Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations, written by a team of nearly one hundred Dutch and American scholars, is the first book to offer a comprehensive history of this bilateral relationship. This volume covers the main paths of contacts, conflicts, and common plans, from the first exploratory contacts in the early seventeenth century to the intense and multifaceted exchanges in the early twenty-first. Based on the most up-to-date research, Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations will be for years to come a valuable and much-used reference work for anyone interested in the history and culture of the United States and the Netherlands and the larger transatlantic interdependent framework in which they are embedded.

It's May 1945, liberated Holland. The War is over, but because of a shortage of troop ships the Canadian Army remains in the Netherlands. Emma, an independent Dutch woman, meets Alex, a young Canadian private from rural Alberta. Emma has lived through five harrowing years of German occupation that ended in the 'hunger winter' of 1944-45, and wonders how she can put her life back together after everything she's experienced and everything she's lost. Emma sees in Alex the chance for a new life, to leave the expectations of her mother, the village and the church, to leave the horrors of the war. But she has to make a choice-to make peace with what's happened in the past, or to flee to a future in Canada. Liberation Days is a sweeping, romantic, heartbreaking play about both the benefits and the costs of liberation.

"He died so Jewry should suffer no more." These words on a Canadian Jewish soldier's tombstone in Normandy inspired the author to explore the role of Canadian Jews in the war effort. As PM Mackenzie King wrote in 1947, Jewish servicemen faced a "double threat" - they were not only fighting against Fascism but for Jewish survival. At the same time, they encountered widespread antisemitism and the danger of being identified as Jews if captured. Bessner conducted hundreds of interviews and extensive archival research to paint a complex picture of the 17,000 Canadian Jews - about 10 per cent of the Jewish population in wartime Canada - who chose to enlist, including future Cabinet minister Barney Danson, future game-show host Monty Hall, and comedians Wayne and Shuster. Added to this fascinating account are Jews who were among the so-called "Zombies" - Canadians who were drafted, but chose to serve at home - the various perspectives of the Jewish community, and the participation of Canadian Jewish women.