The German Federal Archive has found a film of the destruction of Rotterdam and Middelburg which was filmed by a German film crew in August 1940, a few months after the bombing.
Rotterdam was the first city to be redesigned after the total destruction the bombing caused and German planners were very interested in the process. Shortly after the bombing the German government architect Otto traveled to Rotterdam to discuss the plans with mayor Oud and city architect Witteveen. They also visited the destroyed are.
The film ended up in the federal archive and Dig it Up, an organization that cares for urban cultural heritage items, sent the film material to the Netherlands. The images will be shown in the Netherlands for the first time in history on February 12th at a meeting of the Historical Society of Rotterdam. The film is about 16 minutes long and is shot on 35mm film in black and white and without sound. An excerpt of the film can be seen here.
