Mad Tuesday: German soldiers and collaborators on the run

In the garden of a house in Amsterdam, between Keizersgracht and Kerkstraat, German soldiers had left their weapons. Like many other German soldiers, they were in a hurry to leave on Tuesday, 5 September 1944. They had heard that the Allies had crossed the Dutch border in the south and were advancing rapidly to the north of the Netherlands. Within a few days, the troops that had stayed back had destroyed the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam with explosives. 

For fear of retaliation, many collaborators were afraid to stay in the Netherlands as well. They left on the same day, heading for the east of the Netherlands or Germany.

The German occupying forces decided to evacuate the Vught concentration camp and deported 2,800 men to Sachsenhausen and 650 women to Ravensbrück, two concentration camps in Germany. About half of them eventually died there.

Many Dutch people raised the Dutch flag and took to the streets. However, the news of the arrival of the Allied Forces was premature. They had only been in Belgium for a few days and it would take another week before the first towns in the Netherlands were liberated.

This day would soon be known as ‘Dolle Dinsdag’ or ‘Mad Tuesday’.