In making my recent video about urban cycling in Germany, the conversation steered toward a historical oddity that says something about the historical importance of the bike, not just in the bicycle-loving Netherlands, but in neighbouring Germany as well.
Historical footage is from US National Archives.
So I learned something recently in making my video about Urban cycling in Germany that has to do with both football and Nazis so there’s this chant you will sometimes hear during uh football matches between teams from the Netherlands and teams from Germany that has its roots in the second world war
When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands as the war wore on the Germans were confiscating basically everything they could from the Dutch currency art and bicycles and that’s why to this day you’ll sometimes hear Dutch sort of half jokingly say to Germans give me back my bike and you might even hear them chant
That at a soccer game why is the bicycle the thing that seem to endure well according to this German scholar not only do we have emotional connections to our bikes but bicycles matter it shows there was a demand for bicycles in Germany part of the war Machinery was
Also looking at you know where can we get these because people people felt the need to have a bicycle that just kind of as an example of how how rooted and and how normal it was to use the bicycle to get around if you like stories like this
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10 Comments
My Dutch relatives buried their bikes in the garden during the invasion. The poor bikes.
Being German and cyclist (but not a football fan, though) I never heard of this before. Thanks for briefing me in history!
I hadn't thought about it, but bikes do seem incredibly useful during a war. Hard to drive with roads destroyed and gas stations empty.
According to what I read somewhere. I can’t seem to find the source now. The bicycles as well as anything made from steel where seized by the Germans so they can melt them to use for the manufacture of new war machineries. Steel was scarce because of the ongoing war so the Nazis had to make do of anything that had steel in them
The dutch army had 2 regiments of soldiers on bikes (and some motorbikes). 😅
Umm there's one problem with this the Germans took the bikes for the steel for tanks….the Germans had a bad steel shortage during ww2
So it goes by Hollerado features ww2, bikes and Netherlands
Bangin' tune and fantastic video to boot!
Isn't it also true that the transportation and road layout during the Occupation there was improved by the administrative state during the German's time there? Off the top of my head I don't know what the name for that was for the authority. Clearly it was in their interests, but at the same time was a fringe benefit.
The Nazi-Party in general was very pro bicycle. It was seen as a healthy and environmentally friendly way of getting around. You can find a lot of images of the SS and SA on google where they showed off their bicycles during parades.
Shifter that is such a true story! As a Dutch expat we say this all the time to some of the annoying German tourist in the summer time “waar is mijn fiets” or we’re is my bike is a insult to the Germans as they all stole the Dutch bikes as they retreated to Germany when the allied forces pushed them back. 😅 I laughed so hard when I seen you make this video as it’s so true. I can hear them say this when they play the German teams near my home at the PSV stadium. Oh and we always can spot the Germans riding bikes as they are the only ones wearing helmets. 😅