It has been eighty years since the liberation of the Netherlands following years of occupation during the Second World War. The stories are still told in many families: of Americans and Canadians driving through the streets and being greeted with loud cheers. Some (great-)grandfathers or grandmothers recall the soldiers who distributed chocolate or remember chatting or dancing with them during village festivals. There were Dutchmen who became friends with soldiers from the other side of the ocean, and love even developed.
But rarely do you hear stories about where those soldiers came from or how different they looked. There were black soldiers, white soldiers and Americans and Canadians with European ancestry, but also a group with indigenous ancestry. The ‘Indigenous Liberators’ exhibition at the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek is about the latter group, the indigenous soldiers.
Warrior tradition
“Their story is a blind spot in our knowledge of that history of war and liberation,” says researcher Mathilde Roza, guest curator of the exhibition. “The fact that we don’t know that story is because of settler colonialism in the United States and Canada, in which the original population was systematically rendered invisible.” Many original inhabitants lost their land, were displaced to certain areas or even murdered by the settlers. Those who remained had to 'assimilate' in boarding schools, where the settlers forced them to give up their own culture and language and submit to the dominant culture of white North-Americans. The group received little or no mention in American or Canadian origin histories, at least until the end of the 20th century, and the general image of 'Indians' still relies mostly on stereotypes.
So why would you fight for a country that suppresses your own people to such an extent? Roza: “That history of suppression was a factor in the decision of indigenous young men to join the army. Not only did they have few opportunities to gain employment and suffer from poverty, defending their land was part of the so-called ‘warrior tradition’ in many of the indigenous cultures: a tradition in which protecting the community and defending the land was highly regarded. Finally, there was the fact that North America, even though other people now lived there, was still their land.” The Canadian and US governments sometimes also capitalised on the warrior culture of indigenous tribes in their recruitment drives. They recruited young men with texts like 'Follow in the footsteps of Tecumseh’, or referred in other ways to indigenous leaders who resisted against colonial oppression in the first half of the 19th century.
American and Canadian colonists and their descendants tended to have a stereotypical view of indigenous culture as primitive and savage for instance. “Also in the army, indigenous soldiers were often seen as excellent snipers or hoodlums,” says Roza. This image was also being distributed by the press. “So they were often assigned dangerous tasks, such as scouting new terrain or establishing lines of communication in hostile territory.”
War graves
For her research, Roza studied many materials from war archives, like files containing enlistment records of soldiers who were sent to Europe to fight alongside the Allies against Nazi Germany. She also collaborated with Dutch initiatives such as (which records life stories behind the graves at the Groesbeek war cemetery) and . That way, lists of names of indigenous soldiers grew bigger. The most direct and personal information, she received through conversations with relatives of deceased soldiers. For example, in conversation she heard about the Odjick brothers, from Kitigan Zibi, who had attended an indigenous boarding school together, and both signed up for the same regiment. 'But unfortunately they were not assigned to the same units. They would never see each other again: one died in France, and the other brother died a few weeks later in Holland.
It is not clear exactly how many indigenous soldiers fought in the Netherlands. The so-called “non-status Indians,” indigenous people who no longer had official Indian status, or the “Métis,” with mixed European and indigenous backgrounds, were not counted to begin with. Roza: “At least 120 of them are buried in the Netherlands. Sometimes you can see from the names on the graves that indigenous soldiers are buried there, but many indigenous used their English names. I also found out many names by talking to relatives of other indigenous soldiers, who knew anecdotes about the Second World War or who had kept letters.”
Totem pole
Contacts obviously also developed between Dutch and indigenous soldiers. There was the friendship between Nijmegen boy Theo Smolders and indigenous American paratrooper Albert Tarbell, about whom Roza had earlier created an exhibition with the Freedom Museum. That friendship will also have a place in the new exhibition.
A totem pole is also on display in Groesbeek, made by the son of a Dutch mother and an the indigenous soldier Walter Mejaki. Roza: “For years, this liberation child didn’t know who his father was and was looked down on in conservative Zeeland. When he discovered whose son he was, he sought out his now-deceased father's indigenous tribe. They welcomed him with open arms, and he returned there on several occasions. He was admitted to the Sagamok Nation, immersed himself in the culture of his indigenous family and made this totem pole himself.”
There is an increasing focus on personal war stories, according to the researcher. “For a long time, there were few commemorations about individual soldiers, but mostly about the army as a whole. Personal stories like these give us more insight into the motivations and backgrounds of the soldiers and demonstrate how complex history can be. It also shows that the Netherlandse has a connection to native North America as well. Their stories provide greater recognition of indigenous history, which has always remained relatively unknown even in the Netherlands.”
The ‘Indigenous Liberators - Native American, First Nation and Métis soldiers and the Liberation of the Netherlands, 1944-1945' exhibition is on display at the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek from 2 May to 30 November 2025. For more information, visit .