On February 22 1994 the city of Nijmegen was severely injured by thousands of bombs. American pilots got disorientated and thought they bombed the German city of Kleve
City of towers
Until February 22, 1944, Nijmegen was known as the ‘City of the towers’. On that date, the city centre was almost totally destroyed by American bomber aircraft mistakenly dropping their bombs above Nijmegen. They thought they were over Germany. Old photographs show the former glory of the houses in this, the oldest Dutch city. On that day, Old Nijmegen was largely reduced to rubble.
Funeral
Hundreds of bodies were recovered from the ruins. In February 26 1944, thousands joined a funeral procession to the churchyard on the Graafseweg, paying their last respects to relatives, neighbours, friends and fellow-citizens. The dead were laid to rest there in mass graves, which remain to this day. Almost 800 people were killed during that mistaken bombing raid. In the Raadhuishof (town hall court) in Nijmegen, a monument has been erected in memory of the 763 nijmegen residents who died: ‘De Schommel’ (the swing). The dead included 24 children and eight nuns from an infant school which formerly stood on the site of the monument.
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