Today it is 78 years ago that the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands was bombed. The hole center of the city was destroyed.
Rotterdam today remembers the bombing of the city 78 years ago. Four days after the start of the Second World War, the Germans bombed the city of Rotterdam to force the Dutch to surrender. And we did!
historiek.net
Approximately 850 people died and 80 thousand people became homeless.
Today, between 13:29 and 13:39 the church bells rang within the fire line for ten minutes to remember the duration of the bombing.
I heard the church bells loud and clear. It was an emotional moment. I was not even born when the city was bombed, but my parents told the story and everyone who lived in Rotterdam in 1940 and is still alive, will never forget that terrible day.
Here you see the city burning just after the bombardment.
wikipedia
The center of the city of Rotterdam was destroyed. Only a few buildings were still erect. For example, the big church in the center. The Laurenskerk.
wikipedia
After the bombing, a large fire broke out and many people who survived the bombardment became victims of the fire. After the fire was extinguished, people went back to see what was left of their homes and belongings. There was not much, the fire had consumed everything.
historiek.net
Very soon the municipality started clearing the rubble. Here you can see what Rotterdam looked like shortly thereafter. The Laurens church is still standing but there is not much more to see.
historiek.net
The bombing of 14 May was not the last bombing of the city of Rotterdam. During the Second World War, the city underwent hundreds of Allied air strikes. The most serious bombardment after 14 May 1940 was the bombing of Rotterdam-West on 31 March 1943, killing 400 people and leaving 16,500 people homeless.
Today the center of Rotterdam has been completely rebuilt. But because of the bombing, Rotterdam does not have an old center like Amsterdam. But I am happy to say that the new Rotterdam has become a beautiful city.
But I would have liked to see the old city.
I wish you all a nice (calm) day!
Clio
How terribly sad and horrific for the people of Rotterdam. My heart bleeds at the memories that generation must have. There are no winners in war, only survivors. This morning has brought more awful news from Managua where my son lives. There was a children's festival in Managua last night. The forces that be, came with AK-47's and shot at the crowd. The only reports I have are that there are 5 or 6 children dead and many more wounded. Because of this everything countrywide has been shut down. My son and his family can not leave Managua. The roads have been blocked. This mother's stress levels have reached an all-time high.
Oh Ceci, what a terrible news. My heart goes out to you and your family and also to the families of the children who died during the festival in Managua. The stress you have to endure must be terrible. I can only hope and pray that there will be better times in the future. I do not say 'pray' without meaning. It means a lot to me, I make a package of my thoughts and worries every night and send it to God. You and your family are also in the package and I ask for strength for you and your family to endure these difficult times.
Thank you, Clio. This means a lot to me. The talks that were scheduled for today didn't happen because of the violence but have been reset for Wednesday at 10 am. I think they are playing games. I meant to write posts earlier today but everytime I sat down to begin, I just couldn't do it. It was just too painful...
@cecicastor.... I didn't know.....I'm so sorry you are going through this turmoil. You must be beside yourself with worry. I can't even imagine how difficult. Now I know where you've been....I wondered bc I hadn't seen you post.
Please keep hope.
Been trying to keep my sanity, keep the family safe, take care of the homestead and post to steemit. A tall order some days. I need to post but gathering my thoughts right now is difficult.
All I can say is how much I despise war. It's important to remember how damaging war is and that's it's not a political game as some think of it
I've heard many stories over the years from my uncles who served in the Canadian army - many were POW's and some of course didn't make it home. They are all gone now of old age and have taken secrets to the grave - things too terrible to tell I am sure.
Thanks for sharing this important day @clio.
You are right. War is not a political game, but I am afraid some still think of it as a game.
I know that many Canadians were involved in the liberation of the Netherlands. I didn't know there were a lot of POW's here in Europe. The soldiers must have seen things too terrible to tell, especially when they liberated the camps in Germany.
I know that even a lot of Dutch girls fell in love with a Canadian in those days. There were marriages and girls left for Canada or sometimes the boys left without the girls. What's new?
"Trees (a Dutch first name for a girl) has a Canadian", was the name of a hit just after the Second World War.
That is interesting about the Dutch girls and the song. I never knew that. I did know about war brides but really never gave it much more of a thought than I understood the reason. Dumb boys leaving the girls, ya....some things never change :)
Rotterdam est entrée dans la guerre de manière très violente apparemment et les gens ont dû être très surpris! D'après les photos j'ai l'impression que les allemands se sont vraiment acharnés sur Rotterdam au point de ne rien vouloir laisser. C'est d'ailleurs surprenant de voir que l'église a résisté.
Ce sont des souvenirs terribles mais rien ne doit nous faire oublier les souffrances que des millions de gens ont subies. Je saurai dorénavant que le 14 mai est une terrible date pour Rotterdam.
Yes, it will stay a memorable date in the history of Rotterdam. It was so sudden, no one expected this to happen. The church is still standing and there are services every Sunday and also concerts etc. It is a beautiful church and I am so glad it survived the bombing.
Wow! Absolutely decimated from the looks of the photos.
I can also testify that your city has since then been rebuilt to look beautiful. I've only been there once but loved it.
I don't know how long it has been since you have been in Rotterdam, but the last years Rotterdam is really becoming a 'big city'. The city council does a lot to make Rotterdam a really beautiful city.
I'd say it was about 8 years ago. I'm sure a lot has changed since then.
We tend to forget how impressive all of this is/was. Those pictures are scary..
I was in Berlin in a museum today also war related (wannsee konferenz, post will show soon). It made me so sad to think about that my grandmother and grandfather went through all these hardships back then.
So crazy
The Wannsee Konferenz was unbelievable. To come together to talk about distinguishing the Jews.
How on earth can people be so crazy? I look forward to your post.
Oh yes, these events are very sad, my friend and World War II caused so much grief to humanity that it is now difficult to imagine. Rotterdam is very much destroyed in your photos and this proves all the inhumanity of the bombings that hit your city and it is a great pity that the old city can not be returned, but still Rotterdam was rebuilt and this is very pleasing to us now! Thank you Clio
Yes, Rotterdam has been rebuilt and it became a beautiful city. But the reason for the rebuilding is a sad one.
Very pathetic history about human's unhuman deeds.The word war itself a very cruel one.If we open the page of history,we see only naked past of human beings.some times i feel very sorry,why people kill people ?how can they?But it was our reality,it was our history.I feel very sorry for the destructions.God bless the people.
Yes, why people kill people? It still goes on and on and nobody learns from history. There is always a place on earth where people kill each other.
I never saw the picture of the emptyness around The Laurens churchill. Impressive ..
Yes, it is impressive. You cannot imagine now when you are in that area, that is was so devastated 78 years ago.
scale models and images of the city of Rotterdam before and after the war show the devastating implications of these five days in May 1940.
The history of the destruction of rotterdam, we all need to commemorate history, because history will open our eyes,
And hopefully events like this will not happen again ..
Oh a hard history post may god help us in future.