Then and Now pictures: IJMUIDEN Holland

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

I had a few days off work last week (after some very busy times) and decided to take some than and now pictures close to home.

Even though the area where we live hasn't seen any big ground battles, the area was the scene of a lot of activity in the air. Being close to Schiphol airport and IJmuiden docks and steel factory means these locations were targeted by bombers regularly.



Below is a picture taken in May 1945, with the locals awaiting the Canadian Liberators. Location is "Rijksweg", Santpoort, just outside Haarlem.

(the period picture was scanned from a book, but it's Original source is the Velsen city archives)

Hi Alex

Thank you for posting this new thread. I don't think history should ever be forgotten and as previously stated people over 40 don't appear to know much about WW2. The younger generation appear to know nothing of the Korean and Vietnam war either and those conflicts were not so long ago.

The Now and Then Photos are all part of our past and present and show how we have all progressed after bad times. The IJmuiden docks and are not that far from the village of Hillegom where I was born during the WW2 and not far from the dunes in Zandvoort where the German Forces had all their fortified coastal bunkers. Some VI rockets were also fired from the dunes. It is difficult for British, Canadian or Americans people to know what it was like to live under occupation by a foreign power and the hardships suffered by the civilian population.

After the war a book was written about our village under 5 years of occupation up to the time we were liberated by the Canadian Forces. Being a small child at the end of the war do not remember very much, but I remember much more post war damage caused right up to when my family immigrated to Australia. Returning back to Holland for the first time in 1975 I noted that nothing appeared familiar due to the growth and building in the area.

So Alex Thank you for the Thread. We should never forget our past and look at the future with hope. You will note in the attached Photo "2" in the centre of the photo a young woman in a nurse outfit carrying a child with a hat. Well that is me...

Cheers

Tony