WW2 Dutch Liberation Day badge, 5 May 1945 (“Nederland Vrij”)

Small but full of symbolism, this brass lapel badge obviously made in a hurry using a soldiered safety pin to secure it .  Made to celebrate the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War.

The design shows the red-white-blue Dutch flag rising over a stylised map of the country, with the proud inscription “NEDERLANDVRIJ” (“Netherlands free”) and the date 5 MEI 1945 – the day German forces in the Netherlands surrendered and occupation officially ended.

Badges like this were worn during local liberation festivities in May 1945 and in the months that followed. They were souvenirs of that moment in time.