Posted in Culture/History, News, Photo, Six Word Saturday

6WS: Liberation Day in the Netherlands

   Six Word Saturday:

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They Came To Reclaim Our Freedom

In the Netherlands, Liberation Day (Dutch: Bevrijdingsdag) is celebrated each year on May 5th, to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. 

The nation was liberated largely by Canadian troops, with the assistance of the British and American Armies (see Operation Market Garden) and French airborne (see Operation Amherst).

THANK YOU!!!!

On the 5th of May 1945, the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and the German Commander-in-Chief Johannes Blaskowitz reached an agreement on the capitulation of German forces in the Netherlands in Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen. One day later, the capitulation document was signed in the auditorium of Wageningen University, located next-door to the hotel.

After the liberation in 1945, Liberation Day was commemorated every 5 years. Finally, in 1990, the day was declared to be a national holiday, when the liberation would be commemorated and celebrated every year.

On May 4th, the Dutch hold the Remembrance of the Dead for the people who fought and died during World War II, and in wars in general. There is a remembrance gathering in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and at the National Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam. Throughout the country, two minutes of silence are observed at 8 p.m. On May 5th, the liberation is celebrated and festivals are held at most places in the Netherlands.

Photo © Legermuseum
Information: Wikipedia

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Posted in Animals, Border hopping, Nature, Photo

Bug Doe: help needed to identify unknown insect

Today I need your help. But first a warning: if looking at a bug gives you goosebumps, then

DO NOT WATCH!

Please don’t. If a creature like this slithered in my living room, I would call the police and buy another house!

But I still need to know what kind of insect this is. It was HUGE, and crossed my path in Portugal. It has the tail of an earwig, but it is easily ten, perhaps twenty times bigger than the Dutch version. Perhaps it was the Mother of all Earwigs. The Queen of Bugland.

I got real close. But if it would have spread its wings, I would have fainted.

Can you please help me in naming this beast?

UPDATE:

It is indeed a Mole Cricket, the Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa. They grow up to 4.5 centimeter… except ‘our’ specimen was MUCH bigger, it was as at least 7 centimeter! V-man says 7, but I say 10. 

Thank you all so much for helping me out on this. Tim on Facebook thought it was a locust, Mike here and Selma through mail helped me to find the Mole Cricket. In Dutch it is called Veenmol. More Google images can be found here.

Another mystery solved. Now I can sleep again. I hope. But I fear the beast has burrowed its appearance into my retina… sweet dreams.