Amsterdamse Cavaleriekazerne

Built in 1864 as a neoclassical cavalry barracks, designed by the Ministry of War, the complex originally housed cavalry, horses, and equipment and was part of the defensive system around Amsterdam. The barracks were used by the Wehrmacht during the German occupation period. The Dutch army took over the barracks after the war and left permanently in 1988. The complex became a national monument in 2001.

There is also a commemorative plaque here marking the Amsterdam Revolution. Four people were killed and several injured on 13 November 1918 when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators who were trying to gain access to the Cavalry Barracks on Sarphatistraat in Amsterdam. After a turbulent meeting in the Diamond Exchange on Weesperplein, a crowd of an estimated three thousand people had made their way to the barracks in the hope that the soldiers stationed there and in the neighbouring Oranje Nassau Barracks would join the proletarian revolution, as soldiers in Russia and Germany had done earlier.

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: Rick Hoogervorst