markinbelfast Posted 26 November , 2003 Share Posted 26 November , 2003 I've a couple of cards from a chap in the Royal Irish Rifles talking of how great it was in Amsterdam even though he was a POW. I was in Amsterdam this week and checked out the photo on the postcard which is now a brothel...wonder was it one way back then when he sent the card!! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted 29 November , 2003 Share Posted 29 November , 2003 I have a distant relative who was also a POW but before the end of the war he was moved to The Hague. I think it was a sort of prisoner exchange organised byt the YMCA - they weren't allowed to return home but at least they were not prisoners any more. He seems to have been free to come and go within the Hague. He also wrote several enthusiastic letters home about various other places in the Netherlands. It seems there were even occasional touristy day trips organised including to Amsterdam, so perhaps your chap was on one of these. His daughter has given his letters to the Imperial War Museum but she typed them all out first so I could check up details next time I'm in the UK. I live in The Hague now (no connection). I doubt the building in your Amsterdam pcs was a brothel back then. The red light district of Amsterdam has expanded into what used to be "respectable" parts of the city. Is there anything on the cards saying what the picture was of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markinbelfast Posted 30 November , 2003 Author Share Posted 30 November , 2003 The two premises are O.Z. Achterburgwal 74 and 76! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted 30 November , 2003 Share Posted 30 November , 2003 Yes - definitely in the heart of the red light district now! I'll see if I can find out what they might have been in 1918. It seems an odd thing to send a postcard of when there are so many more famous sights in Amsterdam. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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