Around 350 programs take place in Amsterdam on May 4th and 5th. Some 100,000 people take part in them, not including visitors to the National Commemoration on Dam Square and the May 5th Concert. On this page you can read more about the different types of programs.

Scattered throughout Amsterdam, dozens of committees and organizations are active in keeping the stories of World War II alive. From volunteer committees in the Baarsjes or Noord, to large organizations such as the Anne Frank Foundation, the Resistance Museum, National Committee 4 and 5 May, or the Amsterdam Museum. However diverse the activities and organizations are: the common desire is to keep remembering, for the sake of our future.

Amsterdam has been shaped by a rich history of unruly citizens, of standing up against oppression and injustice, and for freedom and equality. We have had the privilege of living in freedom for more than 75 years after World War II from 1940 to 1945. The pool of eyewitnesses to that war is shrinking, but their stories are still important and alive.

Immediately after the war, in 1946, a committee was formed in Amsterdam by former resistance fighters with the motto “That never again…”. Each can give effect to that moral command in their own way. The lighthearted can alternate with the heavy. The story of the city at war can be told in many ways and in many ways.

Therefore, the Amsterdam 4 and 5 May Committee coordinates a very varied program for and by Amsterdam residents, together with the City of Amsterdam and hundreds of partners. For everyone who wants to know more about the war history of their own neighborhood, and who wants to reflect on the past. Young or old, religious or not, born and raised in Amsterdam or ‘imported’: together we commemorate the dead, listen to stories in the Open Jewish Houses, Houses of Resistance, walk in silence past emotionally charged places, experience the performances of Theater Na de Dam, meet each other at the Meals of Freedom, concerts, lectures or guided tours, and dance for freedom at the Liberation Festivals. Each year, we add new stories to the tradition of May 4 and 5 and join together to discuss the issues that matter.

The committee consists of the following members:
Job Cohen (chairman), Marian Duff, Heleen Terwijn, Zafer Yurdakul, Benno Leeser (treasurer), and Andrée van Es.

The Amsterdam 4 and 5 May program is commissioned by the City of Amsterdam, and made possible by National Committee 4 and 5 May, vfonds, Sena Performers Fund, and Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. 

From October and through May, the team of The Amsterdam 4 and 5 May Committee works with many partners on the 4 and 5 May program.