Shocked, bewildered and frustrated. My feelings on seeing the door bolted at The London Metropolitan Archives on Wednesday. All archived up and nowhere to go.What could I do? When would I see an archive again? My son Andrew reminded me that Amsterdam has an archive, too. An excellent one.
He has a vested interest. The Nazi occupation. Hunting for NSB members in the police archive. Stadsarchief Amsterdam has shedloads on Dutch Nazis. Their material on brewing is more limited.
We payed a brief visit there today. Followed by a rather longer sojourn in Wildeman. I looked at brewing details from Heineken Rotterdam and papers from the Dutch brewers' organisation. Price-fixing agreements and complaints of brewers labeling low-gravity Lagerbier as Pilsner. They wouldn't do anything like that now, would they?
Andrew took the photo. It really is very plush inside. Honestly, it makes the LMA look like a shed. My shed. Which is on the point of collapse. They have lamps over the reading desks, too. Little things. And a pub inside the building. It's worth a look inside even if you couldn't give a toss about old documents.
Do they still burn the hotel wherever the tiny Dutch Nazi party tries to have its meetings. When I was living in Aalsmeer in 1986, it was on the news and the family I boarded with went to great lengths to explain the fine points.
ReplyDeleteBut architecturally, that room appears to be a 1972 vision of the future. Are you living in the future?
Mmmm Dutch Nazi party. I try not to pay too much attention to what they get up to.
ReplyDeleteThe archive is in a beautiful building built around the time of WW I, if I remember correctly. The photo does make it look a bit Alphaville, but isn't really representative of the building as a whole. I hope to spend much more time in its wonderful ambiance.