History Walks

This is a long walking tour of central «downtown» Amsterdam, and its experience in the German Nazi invasion, and how the city was disrupted and about a tenth of its population subsequently perished in death camps. It’s also, however, about the city, its people, and how its culture somewhat congealed around the WW2 events.
The tour guide is a passionate historian. Peter has plentiful anecdotes, and loves questions. He carries old photos and painting reproductions so that you can see what the Dutch Masters saw, and how it looks today as the city grew and changed to what it is today.
It’s a bit of a hike but not tough for most. Amsterdam isn’t a good city for the wheelchair bound or those with mobility difficulties but others will do well.

I was trolling around on Trip Advisor, looking for the most-​recommended things to do in Amsterdam, and this walking tour turned up at the very top of the list.
«Well, OK, maybe that might be interesting,» I thought, so we signed up.
Well. Goodness, gracious, does this activity merit 5 stars, indeed. Our guide, Peter, took just the two of us on a tour that lasted, I think, probably a good 4 hours. This is obviously a venture that’s run not to make a fortune but rather from deep love and respect for the city of Amsterdam, the history of its people’s suffering, the Dutch people’s heroism through the war, and the heart-​wrenching monuments to murdered Jews, homosexuals, war resisters – the list goes on. Fresh flowers are still left. This is, as Amsterdam’s saying goes, a city that remembers.
Peter is himself a historian and long-​time resident of Amsterdam. From this perspective, he not only gave us a rich, informative, interesting tour, but he was also generous enough, and thorough enough, to send us a wealth of materials to read both before and after the tour, as well as two film clips to give us some background before we embarked.
We are so grateful to have decided to go on the tour. It was a very good decision, and we highly recommend it to other visitors to Amsterdam. The cheese is great, the chocolate is fine, the coffee shops with their herbs are interesting, the red light district offers valuable insight into the Dutch people’s tolerance (and of course, it also offers prostitution, if you don’t mind taking advantage of what’s probably a high percentage of women selling themselves without choice, forced to do so by the Russian mafia or by other things, such as economic hardship).
But the history is not to be missed. I don’t think you can, really, understand a place without knowing its history. For those who want to truly understand the city, and the Dutch, I would suggest that this tour is a wonderful way to begin.