Groesbeek is named after a small stream called the Groesbeek, (beek means stream or burn in Dutch) which in its original form doesn't exist anymore. Hills and forests surround the town, and, because of this, Groesbeek was isolated in the past, with a close community and a strong dialect.
During Operation Market Garden, the 82nd Airborne Division landed near Groesbeek. In the subsequent fighting the town was nearly completely destroyed and inhabitants were evacuated.
Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery
The Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial is located about three kilometers north of the village of Groesbeek. The cemetery contains 2,338 Canadian soldiers.
The cemetery is unique in that many of the dead were brought here from nearby Germany. It is one of the few cases where bodies were moved across international frontiers. It is believed that all fallen Canadian soldiers of the Rhineland battles, who were buried in German battlefields, were re-interred here. General H.D.G. Crerar, who commanded Canadian land forces in Europe, ordered that Canadian dead were not to be buried in German soil. Thousands of Dutch children tend the graves of the soldiers buried here as they do throughout the Netherlands.
The Memorial Park Canada (Groesbeek)
In remembrance of the Canadians that fought to liberate the Netherlands in the years 1940 - 1945.
This living monument serves for silent meditation, prayer and gratitude and should remind us all that the voice of freedom must never again be silenced. It was unveiled by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet, May 5 1998.
After the liberation of the Netherlands in 1956 the Canadians practically became the symbol of Netherlands’ “liberators”. Memorials in many Dutch towns and villages play silent witness to them. Over the years, a special bond has developed between the Canadian veterans, their families and many Dutch people. In the fiftieth anniversary year of the end of the Second World War (1995) some of those veterans, members of the Canadian Army Corps, came up with an idea to offer the Netherlands community something special in remembrance of the Canadians that helped to liberate the country in 1945, but above all as thanks for the always warm welcome in the years thereafter.
They wanted a living monument, preferably in the form of a large forest with Canadian Maples. The idea was picked up by the Ministry for Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Fisheries with the support of Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet, and was ultimately realized through the efforts of a number of young employees of that ministry and the Canadian veterans. In a country where in contrast to Canada, space is scarce, a small but quite special park was finally created at a most beautiful spot.
The National Liberation Museum
Set in one of the most beautiful locations in the Netherlands, a landscape of hills and forests, is the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945. This museum, close to Arnhem, Nijmegen and the German border, is a place where history comes to life. The smells of the 1940s, tableaux, original film footage, lectures and music let you experience the liberation of the Netherlands and Europe at first hand. The museum demonstrates the real meaning of freedom, democracy and human rights to young and old alike.
The National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 brings the past to life. Typical 1940s smells, dioramas, original film footage, speeches and music take you back to the liberation of the Netherlands and Europe. The museum demonstrates the real significance of freedom, democracy and human rights.
The permanent exhibition is presented in three parts:
Part 1, the red section, shows the events between the two world wars and the occupation (1918-1944). The crisis trap, the dilemma game and Titus Brandsma’s cell here portray aspects of the war years and what happened before them. Collaborate, adjust or resist, the question is thrown up here as to what you should do in such situations?
The liberation years are the focus of Part 2 (1944-1945). Operation Market Garden is visualized, among other things, in a scale model with a sound & light show and a life-size diorama shows the allied troops crossing the Waal. Experience the war in the Lower Rhine region, the winter of starvation and the love that can blossom in wartime in this blue section.
Part 3, the green section, illustrates the results of the war and the present day (after 1945). The tragic statistics of the numbers killed, the reconstruction and the first steps taken towards a united Europe. The Vrijheidsplein makes it clear that war, suppression and violation of human rights have still not become history in the world.
In the Dome of Honor is the Roll of Honor, which shows the some 150,000 names of all those soldiers of the western allies that fell between D-Day and VE-Day in the battle for the freedom of Europe.