Abstract
We’ve all seen them: the pictures of Dutch girls on Canadian tanks, the waving crowds, and the people dancing in the street. The images of the liberation are burned into our collective memory. But how did that liberation sound? Much less is known about that. What sort of music was played? What were those songs about, and what was their cultural significance?
He argues that music during and after the liberation was a common language that broke down the borders between different ethnicities, nationalities and cultures. Sometimes literally: a song such as Hello GI, how are you? was an icebreaker between the liberated Dutch women and the foreign soldiers.
In addition, Mehring makes a connection with the music from Germany and the United States during the same period.
