Karel Nort and Radio Herrijzend Nederland

R.L. Schuursma interviewed Karel Nort (1913-1981), who as chief broadcaster reported the news of the German Capitulation via Radio Herrijzend Nederland on May 4, 1945. The interview covered Nort’s role in the resistance, his work at the AVRO and his role as chief announcer at Radio Herrijzend Nederland.

Nort joined the AVRO in 1938 as a sports reporter. After the disappearance of many radio stations, he worked for the nazified (Gleichschaltung) Nederlandsche Omroep until early 1943. When this work became too much for him, he left for Maastricht, where he went to work in the station restaurant. There he became involved in the resistance and was involved in arms smuggling. Then, after the liberation of Eindhoven in 1944, he crossed over at Biesbosch and became a contributor to Radio Herrijzend Nederland. With a makeshift reporter’s truck, he toured the liberated part of the Netherlands. Nort gives an account of this occupation here.

When on Saturday, May 5, 1945, the surrender of the Germans became known throughout the Netherlands, the employees of Radio Herrijzend Nederland were still wondering what would happen to the station after liberation. In the first place, the head of the Military Authority decided that Radio Herrijzend Nederland would be taken off the air immediately after liberation. This would eventually happen only in 1946.

For more information about the interview and the interviewee, see: SFW work issue no. 8 (1995), p.34