Filmmaker wanted to publicize bombing

Ans Bosgoed-Schellekens experienced the bombing as a child. Her parental home went up in flames, but the family survived the disaster. [Still from the documentary "The Afternoon of 1944."]

Jos de Jager made documentary for the EO, 'The afternoon of 1944'

He had never heard of the bombing of Nijmegen, documentary filmmaker Jos de Jager must honestly admit. He had heard of the bombing of Rotterdam and the Battle of Arnhem, but not of the drama that took place in Nijmegen on February 22, 1944. Now that he has been dealing with it for some time, he is surprised.

De Jager (41) grew up under the smoke of Rotterdam, but has been living and working in Hilversum for quite some time. In recent months he was often in Nijmegen for research and conversations about the bombing. Acquaintances and colleagues he told about it were not familiar with this history either. 'Bombardment of Nijmegen? Never heard of it.'

De Jager now hopes to change that with his documentary. He previously had success with his documentary "The Night of '53," about the flood disaster in Zeeland, also produced on behalf of the EO.

Jos de Jager does the research, interviews, script and direction of "The Afternoon of '44" all by himself. In Nijmegen, he received help from, among others, the municipality - together with the EO commissioner -, the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek and historian Joost Rosendaal, affiliated with Radboud University. An appeal in the local media yielded 25 eyewitnesses, more than he had expected. With seven of them he set to work.

The documentary filmmaker filmed at various places in Nijmegen to capture the story of that afternoon. In the Stevenstoren, on the roof of the Hema, on the Stationsplein, at De Schommel, the monument at the site of the kindergarten, where at the time 24 children were killed. Supplemented with historical footage. In the documentary, the story is told by Kefah Allush.

That story is colored by the interviews with eyewitnesses. One survived the tragedy at that school, another was on the streetcar in Station Square, where many died. Yet another was in the hospital visiting his father when the many wounded were brought in and laid out in the hallways there. De Jager used smoke and light effects at the ruīne on Kelfkensbos, to evoke the atmosphere of that afternoon in 1944. He interviewed survivors in the recreated bomb shelter at the Freedom Museum in Groesbeek, to take them with him, back to 1944. In those days, after all, people often had to go to the bomb shelter as well.- Shortly before the February 22 bombing, until the signal "safe" was given. Fifteen minutes later the disaster occurred. They were impressive interviews, sometimes emotional as well, says De Jager: "What struck me is that at the time, people mainly wanted to look forward. There was no time for processing. With a disaster nowadays, all kinds of relief workers are immediately ready to take care of the people. Not then. It was: 'Shut up, we have to move on.' That during the interviews emotions were sometimes released is not bad at all, just understandable."

Broadcast

De tv-special ‘De middag van ‘44’ van de Evangelische Omroep (EO) werd donderdagavond 22 februari 2024 uitgezonden op NPO2.

De documentaire is te bekijken via NPO Start: https://npo.nl/start/video/de-middag-van-44