What happens at 20:00 on 4 May, and why the country goes silent
On 4 May the Netherlands holds two minutes of national silence at 20:00 to remember everyone who died in the Second World War and in conflicts since, and interrupting it, talking, laughing, playing music, is genuinely upsetting to Dutch people. What is expected of you, what the half-mast flag means, and how 5 May is different.
Last checked Aug 21, 2026
What happens at 20:00 on 4 May, and why the country goes silent
20:00 to 20:02 on 4 May (checked 2026-08-18). The whole country stops for it: trains, traffic and television go quiet, wherever you are and whether or not you are near a ceremony. What is asked of you is simple. Stop, stand still, and stay silent for those two minutes, the same as everyone else.
What to actually do at 20:00
The National Remembrance Day (Nationale Dodenherdenking) on 4 May remembers everyone, civilian and military, who died in the Second World War, in the war in Indonesia, and in wars and peace missions since. The two minutes of silence happen everywhere in the country at the same moment, not only at organised ceremonies: if you are on a train, it stops. If you are in traffic, cars pull over or simply stop. If the television is on, it goes silent too. Whatever you are doing at that moment, in the kitchen, on the street, at home with the children, the expectation is the same: stop, stand still, and be quiet for those two minutes. Nothing more is asked of you, and nothing less is acceptable, talking, laughing or playing music during those two minutes is genuinely upsetting to the people around you.
The flag, and why it does not hang half-mast only in the evening
On 4 May the Dutch flag flies at half-mast the whole day, from sunrise to sunset, not from a particular evening hour. It is the Dutch tricolour without the orange pennant that normally accompanies it on ordinary flag days. If you notice flags hanging low outside houses and public buildings from the morning of 4 May, that is correct and deliberate, not a flag flown incorrectly.
5 May: Liberation Day, and whether you get it off
5 May, Bevrijdingsdag, is a separate day that celebrates the end of the German occupation, with free public Bevrijdingsfestivals in cities around the country. It is an officially recognised holiday, but it is not automatically a paid day off, not for Dutch employees generally and not for you. A lustrum year, once every five years (2025 was one, the next is 2030), is sometimes described as making the difference, but even then only some employers give staff the day off, depending on their own cao or contract, not most of them. Outside the meivakantie period, 5 May is also an ordinary school day for most schools. See public-holidays-and-what-is-closed for how a Dutch public holiday and your own written schedule relate to each other.
Explaining it to the children
If you are with the children around 20:00 on 4 May, the simplest thing is to do exactly what the rest of the country does: stop what you are doing together, and explain briefly and calmly that this is a moment when the whole country remembers people who died in the war, and everyone stays quiet for two minutes. You do not need to know more history than that to get this moment right.