Maybe the time just before the war was the happiest time of Rotterdam. The war ended this in 15 minutes. The centre was destroyed by German bombers to make the Dutch resistance surrender. But even worse for the people of Rotterdam was the last year of the war with Rotterdam near the front and the dissolving of supply lines. The winter was particularly severe. There was little food and fual was scarce. Far more people starved by lack of food and because of the really cold winter of 1945 then were killed in the bombing in 1940.
Other strange facts are that a lot of the remaining buildings in the centre of Rotterdam, which could have been saved, were destroyed and demolished too to make room for ‘a new centre’ of Rotterdam. Even in and around the time of war art (after shopping malls, sport and cinemas) became a part of the city. After the war the famous statue of Zadkine symbolized the city without a heart.
The dream of an architect is realized by the chance to redesign a centre practically from scratch, without any buildings hindering the great ideas about the future. The spirit of Zimmerman, foreseeing a bright future and a modern city is still around and shapes the imagination. Witteveen and van Traa have been working during the 5 years of war to get their ideas about a future city on the map. Their ideas centre around a welfare city, modern, spacious, divided in zones for work and recreation.
Really interesting here is the change of the emotional atmosphere of the exhibition. The amusement and the dancing Pschorr scene is followed by a real dramatic event of the bombing and pictures of starved people. The emotional turn around is complete.
http://www.hmr.rotterdam.nl/
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