maandag 7 januari 2013

A historic street

The  Raadhuis Street in Amsterdam has a nice arcade following the bend of the street. In the background the Wester Church near the Anne Frank House. The street became worldwide famous at March 10th 1966 when our crownprinces Beatrix married a German diplomat Claus von Amsberg. The sixties were very roaring times for Amsterdam. There were anarchistic movements with protests against authorities as in many cities in the world at that time.
The marriage of a future Queen with a German  rather short after WWII, caused a lot of turmoil in the whole country and especially in Amsterdam where the Jewish population had suffered so much loss of life.

When the married couple left theWester Church in their Golden Carriage, a smoke-bomb was thrown in the street. Nobody was hurt but it caused a lot of commotion and in stead of a picture of a happy couple, this photo went over the world.

11 opmerkingen:

  1. ik ben oud genoeg om mij de commotie te herinneren!

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  2. An interesting pice of history that I didn't know. (the word for wooden clappers you were searching for was 'castanets')

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  3. Bonjour from a cold and damp Seattle! I was busy admiring this pretty Amsterdam street in the first photo, and I had no idea it had known so much turmoil in the 1960s. Thank you for enlightening us. Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)

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  4. In comparing the two photos, nothing has changed much in the past 50 years.

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  5. Hele mooie eerste foto. Ik hou van de toren van de Westerkerk.

    Groetjes,
    Filip

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  6. i love seeing historical photos against present day ones. I have done this many times on my blog with great success. Excellent work here.
    Have a great day

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  7. De Raadhuisstraat, daar wandelde ik vroeger met de kinderwagen toen we nog in de Jordaan woonden. Vorig jaar waren we er nog eens , hebben er lekker gegeten en dezelfde foto's als jij gemaakt. De Westerkerk, mijn man is er gedoopt en wij gingen met Kerst naar Aafje Heijnis luisteren. Memories, och ja....

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  8. Makes me wonder how Queen Juilianna felt about this union ....ans has he proven himself to the nay sayers ?

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  9. huh. It must have been love.
    A very pretty street, Bieb. I love the canopies!

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  10. I can see how it wouldn't have been a popular move Marianne, so interesting to see the same curved street.

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