Another Sobering Tour

Today, on a very wet and dreary day in Amsterdam, it seemed fitting to do a WWII walking tour.  The one I had found had been highly rated on Trip Advisor but, when I first inquired about it, I was the only person going.  However, when I arrived to meet the guide, there were 6 other people so the good news was that I would only have to pay for myself.  Peter had a minimum of two people policy so, when I was going to be alone, I was going to have to pay 60 Euros rather than 30.  Whew!

Peter, who is the same age as me, was very interesting.  He’d done a history degree after he’d retired and his thesis was on the war and the Jews.  He grew up in a town near the German border and his parents remembered the German occupation.  Two of his uncles were killed in the war.  So, no wonder he had an interest in it.  When he was young, he remembered the damage that had been done to his town, not by the Nazis but by the Allies when they were fighting against them.

We learned the Germans invaded the Netherlands despite its policy of neutrality on the morning of 10 May 1940, without a formal declaration of war.  The German forces moved simultaneously into Belgium and Luxembourg.  Our guide, Peter, talked about the plight of the Jews here who were living in the ghetto and how one of them, thinking to save himself, identified Jewish people to the Nazis.  In fact, there were a number of collaborators in Amsterdam and 50 of them, including 1 woman, were executed after the war.  We visited a number of places where the Jews were taken from their homes and sent to death camps, either Sobibor or Auschwitz, both in Poland.

The building which today houses HMV used to be the SS Headquarters

Peter showing us a painting of what was then (in the 1800s) and how it looks now

The Cenotaph remembering all who lost their lives in the war

Not related to WWII but interesting

Mostly  however, the tour involved Peter pointing out the buildings and areas that were most affected by the occupation.  Of course, that was mostly the Jewish Ghetto.  Amsterdam has a number of memorials to the Jews and the persons who fought against the Nazis during that dark time.   The one thing Peter, our guide, reiterated was that it was the Canadians who liberated Amsterdam on May 5^th, 1945.  

Above a list of the names of Jews who were taken from the houses
across the canal pictured below.  The railing along the bank here has a number of these plaques

Stolperstein remembering Jews taken from their house

A statue in the City Hall done by someone Peter knows

.  It depicts the sculptor's relative
who attributed his survival in Auschwitz from playing his violin

An Auschwitz Memorial

A quick comment on Amsterdam.  This is my third visit to this city; the first one was in 1979, the second sometime in the 80s with my mother, and now this one.  I know it is a beautiful city and the architecture is amazing and the canals lovely.  However, I have yet discover its magic.  This time I think the reasons were probably the weather, the large and noisy crowds, and the fact I was on my own.  I didn't get out and explore it as much as I should have under the circumstances.  I hope to return some other time and change my impression of a city that I know many love. 

Note:  Today (Monday), I am heading to Rotterdam to board a ship doing a cruise of the Baltics.  Given the difficulty (and expense) of WiFi on board cruise ships, I am not sure if I will have a chance to blog at all.  I return to Rotterdam on May 12th and hope to have lots ready to post by then.