Editing Rotterdam (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Rotterdam, Laurenskerk, na bombardement van mei 1940.jpg|thumb|left|Rotterdam centre after the [[Rotterdam Blitz|1940 bombing of Rotterdam]]. The ruined [[Grote or Sint-Laurenskerk (Rotterdam)|St. Lawrence Church]] has been restored.]]
[[File:Rotterdam-Kop van Zuid, World Portcenter, Montevideo en hotel New York foto12 2011-01-09 14.12.JPG|thumb|[[Tower block]]s in the [[Kop van Zuid]] neighbourhood]]

During [[World War I]], the city was the world's largest spy centre because of Dutch neutrality and its strategic location between Britain, Germany and German-occupied Belgium. Many spies who were arrested and executed in Britain were led by German secret agents operating from Rotterdam. [[MI6]] had its main European office on de Boompjes. From there the British coordinated espionage in Germany and occupied Belgium. During World War I, an average of 25,000 Belgian refugees lived in the city, as well as hundreds of German deserters and escaped Allied prisoners of war.<ref>Ruis, Edwin. ''Spynest. British and German Espionage from Neutral Holland 1914–1918''. Brimscombe: The History Press, 2016.</ref>

During [[World War II]], the German army [[German invasion of the Netherlands|invaded the Netherlands]] on 10 May 1940.<ref>{{harvnb|Evans|2008|pp=122–3}}.</ref> [[Adolf Hitler]] had hoped to conquer the country in just one day, but his forces met unexpectedly fierce resistance. The Dutch army was forced to capitulate on 15 May 1940, following the [[Rotterdam Blitz|bombing of Rotterdam]] on 14 May and the threat of bombing other Dutch cities.<ref>{{harvnb|Brongers|2004|loc=(ONR Part III), p. 235}}</ref>{{sfn|Amersfoort|2005|p=369}}{{sfn|Götzel|1980|pp=149, 150}}<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Helen Hill Miller |title=Rotterdam - Reborn from Ruins |journal=[[National Geographic]] |date=October 1960 |volume=118 |issue=4 |pages=526–553}}</ref> The heart of Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed by the [[Luftwaffe]]. Some 80,000 civilians were made homeless and 900 were killed; a relatively low number since many had fled the city because of the warfare and bombing going on in Rotterdam since the start of the invasion three days earlier. The City Hall survived the bombing. [[Ossip Zadkine]] later attempted to capture the event with his statue ''[[De Verwoeste Stad]]'' ('The Destroyed City'). The statue stands near the Leuvehaven, not far from the [[Erasmusbrug]] in the centre of the city, on the north shore of the river Nieuwe Maas. In 1941, 11,000 Jews still lived in Rotterdam. Before the war there were 13,000. Between 30 July 1942, and 22 April 1943, 6,790 people were deported in 8 transports via Loods 24. The vast majority of the Jews who were deported via Loods 24 were murdered in [[Sobibor extermination camp|Sobibór]] and [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz-Birkenau]]. Research in 2000 showed that 144 people survived the deportations. In 2013 the {{Ill|Jewish Children's Monument|nl|Joods Kindermonument (Rotterdam)}} was unveiled.

In January 1948, [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands|Queen Wilhelmina]] presented the motto 'Sterker door strijd' (Stronger through effort) as part of the [[coat of arms of Rotterdam]] to the city government:

''...as a reminder also for posterity of the courage and strength with which the people of Rotterdam bore all the trials of the war and the important part they took in the liberation of the fatherland....''
—Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Rotterdam was gradually rebuilt from the 1950s through to the 1970s. Because the city centre was largely destroyed, new spatial infrastructure could be built, making it an open and modern city. In 1953 the [[Lijnbaan]] was opened, the first car-free shopping street in Europe. The progressive design attracted a lot of international attention, in which film and television played an important role.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paalman |first=Floris |title=Cinematic Rotterdam: The Times and Tides of a Modern City |publisher=010 Publishers |year=2011 |isbn=9789064507663 |location=Rotterdam |language=en}}</ref> The new [[Rotterdam Centraal station|Central Station]] was completed in 1957, with the [[Groothandelsgebouw]] from 1953 next to it. The [[Euromast]] was erected in 1960 on the occasion of the [[Floriade (Netherlands)|Floriade]].
From the 1980s onwards the city councils began developing an active architectural policy. The harbours were moving westwards and the old environment had to be reshaped. Daring and new styles of [[apartment]]s, office buildings and recreation facilities resulted in a more '[[Quality of life|livable]]' city centre with a new skyline. In the 1990s, the [[Kop van Zuid]] was built on the south bank of the river as a new business centre. Rotterdam was voted 2015 European City of the Year by the Academy of Urbanism.<ref name="Academy of Urbanism" /> A profile of Rem Koolhaas in ''[[The Guardian]]'' begins "If you put the last 50 years of architecture in a blender, and spat it out in building-sized chunks across the skyline, you would probably end up with something that looked a bit like Rotterdam".<ref name="Wainwright 2013">{{cite news |last=Wainwright |first=Oliver |title=Rem Koolhaas's De Rotterdam: cut and paste architecture |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/18/rem-koolhaas-de-rotterdam-building |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=2013 |access-date=3 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103210450/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/nov/18/rem-koolhaas-de-rotterdam-building |archive-date=3 January 2019}}</ref>