Carlton Crash

On Reguliersdwarsstraat, where you are now standing, once stood the Carlton Hotel before and during the war. On the night of 26 to 27 April 1943, a British Halifax bomber crashed just behind the hotel. The aircraft had been hit by a German night fighter, caught fire, and crashed into the hotel and neighboring buildings at about 2:32 a.m. The hotel—then used by the German Luftwaffe—was almost completely destroyed, as was an entire block bounded by Vijzelstraat, the Singel, and Reguliersdwarsstraat.

Seventeen people on the ground died (six civilians and three German officers), and all seven crew members of the aircraft perished. The blaze and heat caused shattering glass, melting walls, and even caused the canal to appear ablaze as fuel leaked into it. It became one of the largest urban fires in Amsterdam in centuries. Many buildings had to be demolished or rebuilt afterward.