The sad remains of Rotterdam after the destructive German bombardement on 14 May 1940 [AI enhanced]

About this film

On the 10th of May 1940 the German army invaded The Netherlands. During four days the Dutch military heavy resisted the onslaught. A German ultimatum to surrender was ignored by the Dutch government after which Hitler decided to heavily bombard Rotterdam. Almost the entire old city was destroyed and more than 800 people lost their lives. Tens of thousands of residents became homeless. The attack only lasted just over 15 minutes. The German deliberately used incendiary bombs to create as much damage as possible. Tradition bomb blasts would only have caused far less damage and fires. The Rotterdam fire department simply could not cope. This film shows the sad aftermath of the attack. I was able to find three almost identical shots of Rotterdam from the 1930s as well as after the attack which are shown side-by-side for comparison at the end of this film. After the war, the city council of Rotterdam in its "wisdom" decided to construct an entire new city. What had not been destroyed by the bombardement was torn down by bulldozers. Even remarkable historic buildings, like the Stadsschouwburg, were demolished although some had only suffered relatively minor damage. As a result, Rotterdam…

Directors & creators

Ricks Film Restoration

Subjects

Rotterdam, Bombardement, 10 May, 1940, WWII, Germany, Colorized

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