#Story
Mr Prop addressed his pupils
The German invasion of the Netherlands began on 10 May 1940. For several days, daily life was severely disrupted. However, on Wednesday 15 May, the day of the capitulation, schools in Lochem reopened.
Mr Prop addressed his pupils at School II: ‘Children, we are starting again, but first I must tell you this: never forget that you were born Dutch...’ That same morning, the Germans introduced German time, and the clocks were set forward by one hour and forty minutes. This meant that the schoolchildren in Lochem started their free Wednesday afternoon earlier than usual.
Time difference
Before 1909, time in the Netherlands varied from place to place. In the east, it was generally later than in the west, as time was based on the position of the sun. In 1909, the Netherlands adopted a standard national time based on the local mean time in Amsterdam. However, this time differed by 20 minutes from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and by 40 minutes from German time. When the occupiers introduced German time in 1940, daylight saving time also came into effect that day. As a result, all clocks were set forward by one hour and forty minutes.