Dam Square

This guide to Dam Square in Amsterdam centers on May 7, 1945, when thousands of Amsterdammers packed the square to celebrate the end of the German occupation, only for German sailors still stationed nearby to open fire on the crowd. You'll hear how the celebration turned in an instant, and why the square's white stone monument still draws the whole country into a solemn hush every May 4th. It also traces the square's older life as a literal dam across the Amstel, the origin of both its name and the city's.