“Where is the old town?” is a question German tourists sometimes ask at the Rotterdam tourist agency. Generally they then get a short lesson in history…

Today is the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Rotterdam by the Germans. Rotterdam was bombed by the Germans as a reaction to the resistance by Dutch troups, which slowed down the progress of the German invasion. In as little as ten minutes 3000 bombs were dropped. This, of course, did a lot of damage, but what really finished off the city were the fires.

Before the bombing Rotterdam was a city more or less like Amsterdam. Lots of old buildings and lots of canals. When you walk through Rotterdam these days it feels more like a young city with even a few high rises, which are quite uncommon in the Netherlands.

Tonight at 11pm local time 127 lights each 7000 watts, will mark the border of the area that was destroyed by the bombs. They will burn until 2am.