After the First Polish Armoured Division had heavily shelled the village with grenades, the action of the civilians allowed the tanks to cross the watercourse without any resistance. Zaamslag was thus liberated. A few days after the German surrender in May 1945, in gratitude for the Polish liberators, the bridge was renamed the 'Polish Bridge'. Later, a memorial monument was erected at the foot of the bridge and a work of art was placed on the bridge.

The annual commemoration not only commemorates the civilian victims of Zaamslag, but also the more than 50,000 Belgian and French prisoners of war who were transported through Zaamslag in May and June 1940. Thirsty and starving, they were taken in open carriages by tram from Flanders via Axel and Zaamslag to the port of Walsoorden. They were then transported across the major Dutch rivers to prisoner-of-war camps in Germany.