Frits Bolte *1934
Photo: Carel Blazer, City Archives Amsterdam. Barbed wire fences at Paleisstraat, before the Groote Club
I was 11 years old, almost 12, with my parents we walked in the Paleisstraat; in the pram lay my brother who was then 9 months old. My father wanted to go to the Dam, my mother didn’t want to go.
Arriving by the Kalverstraat, two guys from the Domestic Armed Forces walked in front of us, in blue uniforms and carrying a stengun, it made a deep impression on me.
When they arrived by the Groote Club they walked straight to a soldier who stood in front of his gatehouse, he carried a gun or a machine-gun, I don’t know the difference. They tried to take it away but he defends himself and ran into the porch, it had a glass door on the side. My dad said: ‘walk on, walk on’ and when we were about 50 meters further, the shooting began from the roof.
We walked back to the Kalverstraat, but a wave of people came towards us and we mingled, around the corner by Peek and Cloppenburg and heading for the Rokin.
A few houses or shops away from the corner was an art-shop, easels stood in the window. A man stood in front of the door and let us in. He led us downstairs and we had to sit there on the ground. It took several hours, while he looked now and then. One moment he indicated that we could leave, so we went home.
January 2017
A reaction on article in newspaper De Telegraaf
*We are not familiar with the fact from a gatehouse in front of the Grote Club
*As far as we know the Paleisstraat was closed for public