The Netherlands celebrated Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day, marking the country's liberation from Nazi occupation on 5 May 1945) with ceremonies and festivals across the country. The Liberation Flame was lit just after midnight in the city of Wageningen — where German forces signed their withdrawal order in 1945 — by the local mayor alongside two veterans: 105-year-old Dutch veteran Johan Geneuglijk and 103-year-old British veteran Robbie Hall, who urged that 'the sacrifices made for liberation must never be forgotten.' Around 2,500 relay runners then carried the flame to municipalities nationwide, with the main daytime celebrations centred in Utrecht, where Prime Minister Jetten and writer Splinter Chabot officially opened the country's fourteen liberation festivals.