Rotterdam

Port city and European transport hub on the Nieuwe Maas, a main arm of the Rhine delta, in the southwest of the Netherlands. During the attack on the Netherlands in World War II, the Wehrmacht bombed Rotterdam on May 14, 1940. The old town was almost completely destroyed, over 800 people lost their lives and 25,000 homes were destroyed. The extent of the destruction was a shock to the population and a major reason why the Netherlands surrendered on May 15. From the summer of 1944, the German-occupied city, whose port had great strategic importance, became the target of Allied bombardments. By the fall of 1944, 750 people had died, and one-sixth of the population was left homeless. For its part, the German Wehrmacht destroyed the port facilities to prevent their possible use by the Allies. After a short period of hope for an early liberation by the Allies, the war ended for the city only in May 1945. In the last months of the war, tens of thousands of people were deported to Germany as forced laborers, especially during the great Rotterdam raid in November 1944.