Thirteen years after the German bombardment of Rotterdam, J.M. van Walsum-Quispel, the wife of mayor Van Walsum, unveiled the sculpture 'The Destroyed City' by the French artist Ossip Zadkine.
The mayor said that 'this statue is intended to preserve throughout the ages the memory of one of the lowest points in the history of our city and our people.'
According to Zadkine, the figure symbolises 'a city without a heart', because the centre of Rotterdam was destroyed during the bombardment.
