Postcard Liberation Netherlands 5 May 1945 Dutch Lion Scheepstra

Postcard issued to mark the liberation of the Netherlands, dated 5 May 1945. The front shows the Dutch lion, printed in metallic gold ink and crowned, its claw resting on a shield in which the outline of the Netherlands is set in the national colours. Beside it runs the text Na 5 jaar strijd Nederland bevrijd, after five years of struggle the Netherlands liberated, in gothic lettering, and below a banderole reading Nederland Herrezen, 5 Mei 1945. The card was published by Fa. L. Scheepstra in Leeuwarden. The card is in good condition.

Liberation cards of this kind appeared in the weeks and months following May 1945, when printers and publishers across the Netherlands recorded the surrender of the German occupier in occasional print. The imagery draws on older national symbolism: the crowned lion of the state arms, the map of the country standing in as the body of the nation, the gothic script evoking historical solemnity. The gold ink lifts the lion above the other pictorial elements and gives the card the character of a commemorative piece rather than an ordinary picture postcard. The printer's number K 674 P appears on the reverse.