On May 14, it has been 85 years since the historic city center of Rotterdam was wiped out. A reason to make a special effort this year; from name projections to 100,000 poems from the sky.
As every year, there will be speeches and a wreath-laying ceremony at Plein 1940 on May 14. This year for the first time with Mayor Carola Schouten. The program starts at 12:55 PM at the statue The Destroyed City by Ossip Zadkine. At 1:27 PM, there will be 2 minutes of silence in Rotterdam.
Statenweg 147
Earlier in the day, at 10:00 AM, there will be a commemoration with the mayor at Statenweg in Blijdorp, near number 147. At this location, the German commander handed over the ultimatum to the Dutch military leadership: Surrender, or your city will be destroyed.
For the complete program of both commemorations, go to rotterdam.nl/herdenking-bombardement. Link opens an external page.
Read here. Link opens an external page more about the name projections. Through this link. Link opens an external page you can read more about Bombing of Poems, the scattering of thousands of poems over the Binnenrotte.
What exactly happened on May 14, 1940?
What do those red lights actually mean in the sidewalk? And what do they have to do with the bombing? Watch the video below to see why we commemorate every year on May 14.