Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

A big part of this is that the Dutch capitulated to the Nazis in WWII before they got to Amsterdam. Pretty much every other major city in the area was reshaped by the war, but Amsterdam avoided the major conflict.

Compare with Rotterdam (which was destroyed by the Nazis).



Well only Rotterdam was bombed by the Germans. The next city to be bombed would be Utrecht, but then the Netherlands capitulated.

All other destroyed cities (e.g. Arnhem, Nijmegen) were bombed by allied forces in their attempts to drive out the occupying Germans.


> All other destroyed cities (e.g. Arnhem, Nijmegen) were bombed by allied forces in their attempts to drive out the occupying Germans

I initially learned this from Band of Brothers. It doesn't seem to be as common knowledge in the Netherlands compared to the bombing of Rotterdam.


In that case I got more interesting knowledge for you: Rotterdam was also bombed by the allies. It's often refered to as the forgotten bombardment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_bombing_of_Rotterdam


Your explanation doesn't explain anything about why the grachtenpanden look the way they do.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: