PSV is marking 75 years of freedom in Eindhoven between Sept. 12 and 18. Every day online we tell stories about the club in wartime. In part 3: a spontaneous people's party during the occupation.
'Both in the history of Philips in the Netherlands and in my own life, May 23, 1941, has been one of the most wonderful and surprising dates.' These are the words of Frits Philips, chronicled in his 1976 autobiography. After a year of oppression by the German occupiers, the concern celebrated its 50th anniversary on that day. This golden jubilee will culminate in a veritable folk festival, of which Frits will be the admired central figure.
Sherry
The management of Philips had thought of having a modest glass of sherry on the morning of that particular Monday around 11:30 a.m. to a better future. For Frits, it was a foregone conclusion that his uncle Gerard, founder of the company, should be involved. A few days earlier, he traveled to The Hague with Ir. Lokker to present a silver cup with appropriate inscription. The rest of the family still resides abroad.
The people of Eindhoven have a very different idea about the anniversary of Philips. At nine o'clock in the morning, Frits receives a call from the head office saying that the hall is now filled with dozens of flower arrangements. Frits is stunned by all the tributes from business associates, banks and individuals. 'Just the sight of it moved us.'
At the office, Frits is overwhelmed by a spontaneous ovation from his co-workers: 'Hundreds and hundreds clapped and cheered in the blaring room to give expression to what, yes to what? To feelings that must have been bottled up for more than a year! In that moment, one of the most beautiful and moving in both our lives, my wife and I tasted what lived and churned behind it. Here one thought prevailed: We are all under the occupation, but now, on our anniversary day, we can let ourselves go for a moment! Because we are all Dutch and we are all Philips people too!
Frits Philips (here waving from the window), who remained in the Netherlands, is the centerpiece of an impromptu Philips folk festival during the war | © Philips Company Archives
Spontaneous celebration
According to Frits, the enthusiasm is so completely real and overwhelmingly spontaneous that he feels in every fiber of his body how Philips is "much more than a series of factories, where all kinds of things are made. The big party has yet to begin then. Outside in the streets there is plenty of noise and a spontaneous parade of 'festively decorated people, something the Brabanders definitely have a talent for,' as Frits calls it. 'It became a parade without end!'
In front of the headquarters on the Emmasingel, people carry around a large portrait of his father Anton. Suddenly Frits is taken on the shoulders by the celebrating crowd. He makes a radical decision and gives all Philips employees the afternoon off. 'Then the Germans could never say, there was a strike.' The whole city now floods with celebrating people. The anniversary of Philips turns into a quasi-national holiday for Eindhoven and its residents. 'Everywhere I saw people wearing all the national colors our people could muster. Legions of party hats in red-white-blue and in orange, people honked crazy trumpets and some danced around in orange corsets.'
German reprisals
A police commissioner of the NSB, apparently fearful of German reprisals, tries to disperse the crowd, but without success. 'Someone hears him sigh: They had to put the machine gun on it,' Frits says. His instinct tells him that this cannot continue to go well. The German guards at the factory gates are still willing to turn a blind eye. In the meantime, however, word has come through that the Grüne Polizei are on their way from Tilburg to restore order.
Some minor incidents occur that cause bad blood. People dancing around a German car full of officers chanting "Orange above! Another car being hung with orange flags. And cheering in a train full of German soldiers, who observe the revelry and think the war is over. The Grüne Polizei decided to sweep the streets of Eindhoven, but when around 3:30 p.m. a great downpour erupted over the city, the population lost all enthusiasm for further extensive partying. As a result of all the activity, the Germans issue a curfew after eight in the evening. No one is allowed on the streets anymore.
A German soldier keeps watch at the Philips Light Tower | Photo from For Red White Sung
Philips: "Why do you react so stupidly?
That evening, in the house of his brother-in-law, jonkheer Henk van Riemsdijk, Frits is visited by two German soldiers. They want to talk to him about what has happened. He writes: "Immediately I went on the offensive against them. "Gentlemen, how ridiculous you are acting! Now today there is an anniversary at Philips and surely it is quite normal, that the people of this city react to it. Nobody thinks of any uprising or anything else in this regard and now you are going to take people off the streets at eight o'clock... Why do you always react so stupidly?
The German gentlemen want an explanation as to why Frits hung out the Dutch flag in villa De Laak. 'You always do that on such an anniversary, don't you? I can't hang out the German flag then, can I? There is only one flag in the Netherlands and that is the Dutch flag. So when we celebrate, we hang it out," Frits replied.
German: 'But it is against regulations.'
Frits: 'When people really celebrate spontaneously, one should not think about regulations.'
Thus, in his own words, "the memory of a 50th anniversary remains with him as a powerful demonstration of unity, closeness to one another and enthusiasm, in full occupation time. It gave us a tremendous push in the right direction.'
Tomorrow in part 4: PSV'ers are called up for the 'Arbeitseinsatz'. Want to read back previous parts? Go to PSV.nl/freedom.
Frits is hoisted on shoulders at Philips 's anniversary during the war: 'a mighty demonstration of unity in the midst of occupation time' | © Philips Company Archives