May 4th (vier mei) is Dodenherdenking — Dutch Remembrance Day for the victims of World War II. At 8pm, the entire country observes two minutes of silence (twee minuten stilte). Television and radio broadcasts pause; trams and buses stop; people stand where they are. The central ceremony takes place at the Nationaal Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam, attended by the King and Queen. Commemorations occur in every city, town, and village across the country.
The Dutch experience of WWII was deeply traumatic. The Netherlands was occupied from May 1940 until May 1945. The Jewish community suffered catastrophically — 75% of Dutch Jews were killed in the Holocaust, one of the highest proportions in Western Europe. Anne Frank and her family hid in Amsterdam for two years before being betrayed and deported. The Dutch resistance (het verzet) included heroic acts of sabotage and hiding (onderduiken) of Jews and others. This history is not distant for Dutch people — many families have direct generational connections to the war.
Vocabulary for this context: de herdenking (commemoration), het monument (monument), de oorlog (the war), de bezetting (the occupation), de bevrijding (the liberation), het verzet (the resistance), de Holocaust (the Holocaust), de krans leggen (to lay a wreath), de stille tocht (silent march). Treating Dodenherdenking with appropriate solemnity — and knowing what it commemorates — is an important mark of cultural respect for anyone living in or visiting the Netherlands.