In 2025, it is 80 years since the liberation of the Netherlands and the end of World War II. Hundreds of people kept diaries during the war years, recording their everyday experiences: housewives, mayors, shopkeepers, doctors, Eastern Front fighters, prisoners, and students. Rijkswaterstaat employees also noted what they experienced during the occupation. Engineer Derk Dammers was one of them.
In his diary, the engineer takes us to the years of occupation in North Holland. He worked there as an engineer at the Het Noordzeekanaal district.
Leadership of the Marine Diving Company
After the capitulation and liquidation of the Dutch defense apparatus in May 1940, the Marine Diving Company was placed under the Directorate of Water Management. The Kriegsmarine, which took control from that moment, immediately ordered the wreck of the passenger and mail ship J.P. Coen to be cleared.
This ship was sunk by the Royal Navy on May 14 at the entrance to the port of IJmuiden with explosives, aiming to make the North Sea Canal unusable for the enemy. After Lieutenant Callenfels and almost all Dutch professional officers were taken prisoner on May 15, Dammers took over the leadership of the diving company.
Struggles with the Germans
Dammers soon encountered problems with the Kriegsmarine and the NSB mayor of Velsen. He refused to provide crew for laying German military cables and also declined to supply people for guarding against sabotage of the coal park. His stance had significant consequences: Since October 8, I reside in the shed of the canal widening in Haarlem-Noord on the Rijksweg. This is because I have not received an Ausweis for the restricted area in IJmuiden due to political unreliability.
Hunger Winter
During the hunger winter of 1944-1945, public life, especially in the western part of the country, came to a near standstill. During that period, there was hardly any work, but employees often came to the office. They suffered together in the cold, talked about the war, and occupied themselves with obtaining food and fuel. On December 24, Dammers wrote about the military situation in the Ardennes and Russia. But his empty stomach demanded all attention: All these matters are pushed aside in our thoughts by thoughts of food. They completely dominated us.
Inundations
On April 5, 1945, the hydrological situation regained his attention: It seems intended to set more inundations. Rumor had it that the Wieringermeer would be inundated this afternoon. Moreover, the locks in IJmuiden, Vreeswijk, and Wijk bij Duurstede will not be spared, threatening the West with a disaster of unimaginable proportions. The image hovers before our eyes like a nightmare.
Wieringermeer Under Water
Dammers was well-informed, as from April 13, river water was allowed in through all the locks in the Lekdijk between Wijk bij Duurstede and Vreeswijk. The retaining dams of the large lock at Wijk bij Duurstede were blown up. The Wieringermeer was not spared either. On April 17, the Germans blew up the Wieringermeer dike. The water quickly entered the polder and rose from half a meter to over 5 meters above the ground level.
The Water, Our Enemy
On April 22, Dammers expressed his disappointment over the halt of the Allied troops at the Grebbe Line: The race with the water has been lost by the Canadians... That the water, our enemy, is now going to help our enemies should not come as a surprise. It seems that they will make better use of it than we did and could do in 1940.
German Capitulation
Less than two weeks later, there seemed to be good news: Since 9:00 PM, we know (of course, subject to confirmation) that tomorrow, May 5, the German troops in the Netherlands will capitulate. We will be free. When we will see the first Canadians, we do not know yet. But this event will stir our emotions for the first time. We have been looking forward to liberation for a whole week with alternating moods. But now it will happen. And that at the last moment with our most vital companies and institutions intact. That miracle is almost unbelievable.