As I am a proud Rotterdam citizen, I try to keep up with all the city events. One of the most iconic historical events in Rotterdam happened on 14 May 1940. After 3 days of fighting, Hitler wasn’t pleased he hadn’t been able to conquer the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (yet). To force the Dutch army to surrender he gave them an ultimatum and threaten to bomb the city of Rotterdam.
On 14 May 1940, surrendering negotiations already started between the Dutch and German forces, due to miscommunication the message to call off the attack came too late, German Air forces had already left Germany.
Around 1:20 PM, the first fleet of German aircraft were sighted. The Dutch tried to communicate that the attack was called off with special bullets. Unfortunately, the second fleet, existing of 54 aircraft, hadn’t seen the signals and dropped over 1,300 bombs on the city centre.
In only 13 minutes, Rotterdam was in flames. Between 800 and 900 people lost their lives, 24,000 houses got destroyed, and 80,000 people were left homeless. The capitulation of Rotterdam was signed within 20 minutes after the bombing.
The reconstruction plans of the city started 4 days after the attack. Not to give the Germans a chance to interfere with the rebuild of the city, architect Witteveen was asked to redesign the city centre. In the meanwhile, emergency homes were built.
During the war, the reconstruction plans got revised by businessmen. Witteveen intended to rebuild Rotterdam as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Entrepreneurs and economics were more focused on the functionality of the city. When in the city centre you can see how the city keeps developing and modernising. You can always find a place under construction as the city keeps growing. With the awareness of building a sustainable future, I am curious how the city will look like in 20 years.
A commemorative ceromony was broadcasted locally. As the Corona restrictions are still up, I watched it online.
Beartalk 