Rivierenbuurt

The Rivierenbuurt is a neighbourhood located in the east of Amsterdam's Zuid district, bounded by the Amstel River to the east, the Boerenwetering to the west, the Amstel Canal to the north, and the Zuidelijke Wandelweg to the south. It is part of Plan Zuid, an urban development plan for Amsterdam South designed by architect H.P Berlage in the early 20th century.^[1]

Plan Zuid consisted of three parts: the Apollobuurt and Stadionbuurt, aimed at the well-to-do, middle and working classes, and the Rivierenbuurt, aimed at the middle classes. A large part of the Nieuwe Pijp neighbourhood was also part of Plan Zuid. The urban plan envisaged that three main streets (the Amstellanen) would cut through the neighbourhood in a Y-shape, converging on Daniël Willinkplein, named after the Dutch writer Daniël Willink (1676-1722).^[2] These were Amstellaan (after the war this became Stalinlaan and in 1956, after the Russian invasion of Hungary, changed to Vrijheidslaan), Noorder Amstellaan (now Churchilllaan) and Zuider Amstellaan (now Rooseveltlaan).^[3] The other street names in the neighbourhood were named after Dutch rivers.^[4]

The houses in the Rivierenbuurt exerted great attraction on middle-class Jewish Amsterdammers from the early 1930s. In terms of size and amenities, they contrasted particularly favourably with the small, poor houses in the overcrowded Jewish quarter around Waterlooplein. Nevertheless, there was a lot of vacancy in the 1930s, and as a result, many German Jews who fled to the Netherlands from Nazi Germany also settled here, including the Frank and Van Pels families and some of their friends and acquaintances. The immigrants felt at home in this neighbourhood with its many fellow Jews. Eventually, by 1940, around 40 per cent of the Jews living in Amsterdam lived in this part of the city.^[4]