We asked survivors of WWII and their relatives to share their heaviest, most beautiful, and saddest two minutes of the war. Two minutes they have never forgotten. These stories became 'The Unforgettable 2 Minutes'.

17 Audio stories telling the personal experiences of those who’ve experienced the war. Each story lasts 2 minutes (excluding intro/outro), the exact same time the whole nation is being silent. All 17 stories were recorded during interviews with the first generation or their family members and turned into The Unforgettable 2 Minutes.

To ensure every story was told in the best possible manner, each story was created in a unique way by using survivors' (and relatives) VO, authentic audio of WWII, written logs, or personal documents (like photographs and goodbye-letters).

The Unforgettable2 Minutes Of Johan

In September 1944, Breskens was filled with German soldiers. German soldiers who had fled from the allied forces. But the Allies wanted to prevent this.

On September 11, Johan, my father, was playing outside with his brother and sister and some friends. When, as often happens, planes came flying over. But this time they didn't fly over, they came straight at the village. And my father's mother, my grandmother, sensed something was going to happen. So, she called the children inside. And they had just entered

the house, when the first bombs fell near the harbour.

The whole village was shaking. Johan's house shook and trembled. Johan's mother put pots on the children's heads. And with pots on their heads they sheltered under the table and stairs. The bombs kept falling. Closer and closer. Eventually one bomb fell so close to Johan's house that it collapsed.

And there Johan was. Lying under the rubble. His mouth and eyes full of dust, stench…It was pitch black. And in the background the sound of falling bombs.

And then, at some point, the bombings stopped and it became silent. Well, quieter. He heard people crying and screaming. And Johan’s mother called out to the children: “Jaap, Johan, Marietje!”

My father Johan was the only one who answered.

He was the only one alive and he screamed: “Mama, here I am!”But Jaap didn’t answer and neither did Marietje. There was also a German soldier under the rubble. Who called out for help. So the German soldiers came to help pull people out from under the rubble. And finally, Johan was pulled out from under the rubble.

What he saw was another world. Everything was on fire. Finally, they found Marietje deep under the rubble. She was dead.

And the only one who could reach her was my father Johan.

As a 12-year-old boy, he had to pull his own dead sister out from under the rubble.

That was the most horrible moment of my father which gave him nightmares for the rest of his life.

The Unforgettable2 Minutes Of Salo

I went into hiding in Friesland at three locations. And the second location was a large farm that had so much land that the Germans took a piece of it.

They set up a camp there, camp Driemond.

The Germans came to the farm with a jeep every Saturday. And the farmer had to make sure there was enough food and drinks for the soldiers. But those soldiers should not see me.

And then one day, the commander came and said, “Listen, we are bored out of our wits, and we want you to send girls from the village to entertain us on the weekends.” So I had to hide underground.

And every Friday’s afternoon at about four o’clock, when it was getting a bit dark, the carpet was rolled up in the living room, the floorboards were taken out. And I was lowered by my arms into the crawl space. Just 30 centimetres in height.

If I was lucky, I fell on my back; if I was unlucky, I fell on my stomach. And I couldn’t say a word, otherwise I would have been discovered by the Nazi’s. I was laying there from about 5pm or 6pm in the afternoon until 4am at night.

When I was hidden under the floor I was in my own world. I was afraid. I could hear rats and mice running around me, squeaking. And of course, I could hear the enormous noise of those soldiers and girls upstairs. I counted down the hours, until it became quiet. Because I knew when it was quiet, I would be taken out.

I think that at a certain moment I was so tired, I cried myself to sleep. At some point I saw the light of a lantern in my eyes. And someone was saying: ‘little Japje?’

When I was lying on my back, they grabbed me by my arms. When I was lying on my stomach, they grabbed me by my legs. I was in pain, so cold and I was a little weepy.

But yeah I had to be tough.

On the 4th of May, at exactly 8pm, everyone in the Netherlands is being silent for two minutes to remember the victims of the Second World War (WWII). But with the generation that experienced the war itself rapidly disappearing and our society becoming more diverse. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep the memory of the WWII and the importance of 4th May alive.

The goal of this public campaign was therefore to increase involvement and awareness around the 4th of May and keep the WOII memories a live.

Within a few days, the stories had been listened to more than 450,000 times. Moreover, the stories were picked up by various media including Koffietijd, NOS, and popular radio stations such as Radio 5 and Sublime FM. This resulted in 10 million impressions via earned media.

Looking at the behavioural objectives specifically for youth participation (the focus target group), the campaign has been very effective. After the campaign, 1 in 4 young people say they have listened to the stories, 1 in 3 young people say they have talked to others about the stories and 1 in 5 young people say they have shared the stories online.

Campaign effect measurement shows that the campaign had a positive result on engagement with the 4th of May. We saw a significant increase among the target audience from 81% before the campaign to 91% after the campaign regarding the importance of 4 May.

In cooperation with the National Committee 4 and 5 May and various historical war institutions, we searched for different WWII stories. A complex process because the stories had to properly reflect the different victim groups (Holocaust, military, Dutch Indians, resistance fighters, etc.).

All stories were recorded during emotional interviews with survivors or their immediate family members. To bring each memory to life in the most impactful way, real sound fragments (from radio & TV broadcasts), written logs and personal documents (such as photos and farewell letters) were used to tell the story. This way, as a listener, it almost feels as if you were there yourself.

Since the end of the Second World War (WOII), the Netherlands has been commemorating the victims of the WOII. On the 4th of May a national ceremony is held in the presence of the king and the head of state. This national remembrance is held simultaneously with local commemoration ceremonies in nearly every town and city in the Netherlands. At 8pm, the entire country is silent for two minutes.