R.D. Parker Collegiate staff, students and guests planted tulip bulbs in a flower bed in front of the school Oct. 22 in honour of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi rule in May 1945.
“On May 5, 2020, the Netherlands will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi oppression,” said R.D. Parker Collegiate teacher Teresa Jenkins. “The people of the Netherlands and Canada will never forget that 7,600 Canadians gave their lives to the effort to save the country of the Netherlands. During the Second World War, the Dutch royal family found safe haven in Canada. As an expression of gratitude for Canada’s hospitality, the Dutch royal family presented Canada with the gift of 100,000 tulips at the end of the Second World War.”
As part of a goal to plant 1.1 million tulips in Canada in honour of the 1.1 million Canadians who served in the Second World War, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is repeating this gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs.
“Our school has been proudly selected as one of the schools across Canada to be part of this special program,” said Jenkins, who will be travelling with 36 students and other chaperones to the Netherlands for liberation celebrations in the spring. “Today we honour those who have fallen in the line of duty, those who have perished under Nazi oppression and those who have survived to keep our history alive.”
Former School District of Mystery Lake school board trustee Sya Gregovski planted the first bulb and gave students a living history lesson based on her memories as a little girl in the Netherlands during the Second World War.
“I was five, six and of course the Germans had taken over Holland so we were under their rule,” she said. “We played outside. All of a sudden our mothers would yell because we would hear the planes come over. 'Kids, come on into the basement!' because that’s when the bombs would drop from the planes. A day came where no one yelled. We would hear the planes coming and our parents were outside and they were looking at these planes and they were happy. As these planes went over there were big red crosses on those planes. Afterwards we saw that they were dropping things but we didn’t have to go inside. It was great.”
Gregovski’s father retrieved one of the packages that the planes had been dropping and opened it up to reveal white bread, real butter and chocolate.
“I had never seen white bread,” said Gregovski. “I had never seen chocolate. My father divided it for all of us and we had some. When they looked at the parcel it said, ‘From your friends in Canada.’ All the travels that you will ever do, if you say you are from Canada, especially to the Dutch people, you will be loved and respected and honoured. It’s going to be a wonderful experience.”
Jenkins said a plaque identifying the flower bed as the Liberation 75 Tulip Memorial Garden will be erected in the spring after RDPC students have returned from their educational trip to the Netherlands for liberation celebrations.
