On May 5th, 1945 the Netherlands was officially liberated from Nazi occupation by Allied Forces, mostly Canadian. My parents were among the generation that survived occupation and lived through the 'Hunger Winter', often eating tulip bulbs to survive. Now, 80 years since the war ended, the stories of those who survived are here to remind us of the perils of war. As the world faces new totalitarian threats, these stories are more relevant than they ever have been in my lifetime. Inspired by a photo of my Aunt Femie, wearing her only dress, standing on the street waving at Allied tanks on Liberation Day May 1945, I have been seeking out and interviewing the remaining survivors of that period. Over the last 2 years, I have met with 80 people, the length and breadth of the Netherlands, one for each year of freedom. These are their stories.
On May 5th, 1945 the Netherlands was officially liberated from Nazi occupation by Allied Forces, mostly Canadian. My parents were among the generation that survived occupation and lived through the 'Hunger Winter', often eating tulip bulbs to survive. Now, 80 years since the war ended, the stories of those who survived are here to remind us of the perils of war. As the world faces new totalitarian threats, these stories are more relevant than they ever have been in my lifetime. Inspired by a photo of my Aunt Femie, wearing her only dress, standing on the street waving at Allied tanks on Liberation Day May 1945, I have been seeking out and interviewing the remaining survivors of that period. Over the last 2 years, I have met with 80 people, the length and breadth of the Netherlands, one for each year of freedom. These are their stories.
2025-05-18
0
wwII
The order comes in the summer of 1941 from propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels himself: The best animators are summoned to Berlin. Their task: Producing feature-length cartoons in ‘Disney-Quality’ with the newly founded ‘Deutsche Zeichenfilm GmbH’. To get trained, the Disney movie “Snow White” is re-traced frame by frame. After the final victory, one new feature-length production of quality shall be released every year from 1947 onwards. – that is the plan. Only in 1943, the first production is completed: “Armer Hansi” a 17-minute-long colour movie, realized with the effortful Multiplane-technology. The second film by the ‘Deutsche Zeichenfilm’ is only completed in 1946 – by DEFA. In the territories occupied by Germany, cartoons are produced as well, sometimes harmless ones, sometimes propagandistic ones. With excerpts from animated movies, life-action film documents, and witness reports by contemporaries, this documentary draws a picture of the cartoon production in the third Reich.
6.9In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
7.4Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
6.9The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
6.5Set against the backdrop of World War 2, the film spans over three different phases of the life of the protagonist Kammaran who gets inspired by freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose and joins INA to secure Indian independence from British rule.
7.9In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.
7.0The lives of Erik Lanshof and five of his closest friends take different paths when the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940: fight and resistance, fear and resignation, collaboration and high treason.
8.4A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
0.0Two generals prepare for battle at the Plains of Abraham.
7.8During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
9.0This communist history film recalls the heroism of Soviet soldiers fighting the Nazis in World War II. Forty of the 236 cameramen used for the feature were killed during their mission filming the Red Army.
0.0The impact of new documents from the international conflict that shook the world is enormous. Never-before-seen footage has emerged for the first time from previously secret archives. The murderous encirclement battles in Russia, the Battle of Britain, and the heroic deeds of countless lone fighters in Potsdam complete the circle of horror, from the Polish campaign to the harrowing images of refugee treks in the winter of 1944/45.
6.6Tuur and Lambert are best friends. But the war is closing in and is about to change their lives forever. Tuurs dad joined the resistance and even his big brother seems so be part of it. Lamberts family on the other hand choose to obey the Germans. Then a new girls from the city shows up, befriending the boys but telling her secret to only one of them. A choice that separates the boys and ultimately gets her in trouble.
6.71943. They have never stepped foot on French soil but because France was at war, Said, Abdelkader, Messaoud and Yassir enlist in the French Army, along with 130,000 other “indigenous” soldiers, to liberate the “fatherland” from the Nazi enemy. Heroes that history has forgotten…
4.9A group of American pilots from Alaska ferry Airacobra fighter planes across the ocean on Lend-lease. The orderly course of life is disrupted when it becomes clear that the American pilots are attractive and charming young women. The feelings of the Russian young men collide into barriers of culture and language resulting in a host of awkward, funny, and sometimes tragic situations.It is the story of Russians, Americans, and natives of the Far North. It is the story of man and woman in war. Love and death are squeezed between the hills as human fates are destroyed and born.
6.2Story of the early life of genius and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman.
0.0Shpresa goes to the house of fascist collaborators to commit an assassination. After that, dressed as a bride, she becomes an illegal.
7.0A Jewish woman named Jettel Redlich flees Nazi Germany with her daughter Regina, to join her husband, Walter, on a farm in Kenya. At first, Jettel refuses to adjust to her new circumstances, bringing with her a set of china dishes and an evening gown. While Regina adapts readily to this new world, forming a strong bond with her father's cook, an African named Owuor.
7.612 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.