Name/Title
"Souvenir Book given to Canadian Army Liberators of Alverna, Holland, 23 December 1944."Entry/Object ID
1986.2.1Description
1945 Dutch Children's Christmas Card, given to Canadian Army Liberators of Alverna, Holland, December 1945.
Front cover features hand-drawn sprigs of holly and berries/mistletoe. On the centre-right of the cover is a styalistically-drawn box, featuring the words "Merry Christmas".
Message inside the card is hand-written over three pages, with the first reading:
"To our Liberators./ I should like to express / our thanks to you, our benefactors, in / the name of all children of alverna for / this pleasant afternoon. / We were glad to prepare this party / by practising of our songs and dances. / We were so happy, because we could / show our gratefulness to our Liberators. / For so long time we were longing / for the invasion. At night, when we heard / the Canadians' aeroplanes, we thought: / 'When will they drive across our roads?' / September 17 was a day of rejoicing / and since we have also made acquaintance / with you."
Page two continues: "We feel that you are our friends and we / hope that it will always remain so. / When we shall have grown up, we shall always remember, with a thankful heart, your / stay here at Alverna. / The day after to-morrow it is / Christmas. Once the angels sang: / 'On earth peace / to men of good will!' / At Christmas we will pray for peace for / the whole world, for an early liberation"
Page three concludes: "of our country and for you, that you may / soon score the triumph and can soon go / back in good health to your family - your / mother, wife and children. / God save the Canadians! / The children of Alverna."Made/Created
Date made
1944 - 1945Notes
Date: 1944Inscription/Signature/Marks
Transcription
accession number
