More Complications in Rotterdam

Part 1 of Kommer en kwel in Rotterdam focused on police photographs of murder, manslaughter and other crimes between 1904 and 1940. During the same period, the photographer also had to capture other suffering in Rotterdam and its surroundings, such as (traffic) accidents, fires and explosions. The first mobility-related photographs in the collection were of railroad accidents. That there were at first hardly any photographs of means of transport involved in accidents is understandable, because around 1900 there were only a few hundred cars circulating in the Netherlands. Transport took place mainly with real horse-drawn carts and hand or dog carts. Around 1920, motorized traffic on the streets increased considerably. Horse and cart were slowly supplanted by the automobile. As a result, police photographers took more and more pictures of serious and complicated traffic accidents. After all, many people were not yet used to the modern traffic participants or to driving the motorized vehicles. Once again, the events behind the photographs could be reconstructed with the help of newspaper articles. This text together with the unique photographs reveal the vanished cityscape even more than in Volume 1. This is because the incidents often took place on the public road and therefore buildings and streets can be seen, which no longer exist because of the bombing on May 14, 1940. About the author: Frank van Riet is a historian. He obtained his doctorate in 2008 in Amsterdam on the role of the Rotterdam police force during the German occupation. He previously published ‘Kommer en Kwel in Rotterdam, moord, doodslag en andere misdrijven 1904-1940’. Photos: Photographs are from the holdings of the Historical Collection of the Rotterdam Police Unit.