Baby Boomer

How my life began

The children born between 1946 and 1955 were called Baby Boomers. I was born in 1952 so I am one of them. A total of 2.4 million children were born then and today this generation makes up about 14% of the population.

Peace

Why were so many children born? People were happy that the end of World War II (between 1940 and 1945) came, after 5 years of war, but also that the colonial war waged by the Netherlands in Indonesia (between 1945 and 1949) ended. Indonesia that was fighting for independence.

My Parents

My parents were born in 1925 and 1929. So they both experienced World War II. Then, as a conscript soldier, my father was sent to Indonesia where he spent 3.5 years. When all this was over, my parents dared to believe in the future again, although they were both quite scarred by the wars mentioned.

Freedom

The Baby Boomers eventually became an iconic generation. Many young people in the Netherlands were inspired by the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam protests in the USA. There were all kinds of hippie protests. Youth became empowered and they brought imagination to power.

Love, peace and understanding were keywords. The youth wore long hair with flowers in it. De-pillarization, secularization, emancipation, unmarried cohabitation, breaking taboos around sex and drugs were the result. In short, it became a generation of do-gooders. So in that respect I am a child of my generation. Johanna