Merwede Square

" Whoever steps off the tram in Rooseveltlaan and walks into Waalstraat feels it immediately. There is something indescribable hanging in the trees, over the climbing frame. It clings to the bushes in the dappled shade under the Skyscraper.
At number 37 lived the Frank family. Handy boys seem to occasionally come here with whole busloads of Japanese tourists... they are allowed upstairs to see the stairwell and the front door."

" The Rivierenbuurt has been in the news a lot lately. On the occasion of the fiftieth May anniversary, a short film featuring Anne Frank was shown for the first time worldwide. Black and white. You can see it’s a sunny morning, sometime in the 1930s. A wedding. In the background, the Skyscraper. In front of an open window, a smiling girl’s face, framed by dark curls gently swaying to the forever silenced wedding music."

" Which of them has seen Anne Frank playing here, with her wooden scooter? Black curls, white socks. Or her sister Margot, roller skating in Waalstraat. No, it is unfathomable how the neighborhood could suddenly be so open to danger shortly thereafter."

" It is a guilty neighborhood."

Jos WRSM