A Bomb on the Morsweg

Lia Kerkvliet’s album takes us back to 1980, the period prior to the shops’ downfall. A bomb had been discovered right on the Morsweg very close to Lia’s shop.

Lia Kerkvliet’s album takes us back to 1980, the period prior to the shops’ downfall. A bomb had been discovered right on the Morsweg very close to Lia’s shop. In the last phase of World War II, the English bombarded strategic locations in and around Leiden. So close to the train tracks and with the German bunker right in the neighborhood, the Transvaal neighborhood proved to be a vulnerable area. A bomb hit the corner of the President Steinstraat and the Lopsenstraat, causing tremendous damage. The buildings on the corner were blown away. There is now a playground right where the bomb had hit. There were also bombs that fell, but never actually exploded. The residents always remembered where those had fallen. In Lia’s album, there is a story from an old resident with an eyewitness report on the bombing (fig. 1).

In 1980, the city of Leiden decided to clear one of the bombs that had not exploded. The situation was deemed so dangerous that residents living in a wide radius around the Morsweg had to be evacuated. All windows had to be left open. It was a huge undertaking.

The informative map that was provided by the city, featured on one of the first pages of Lia’s album, shows how far-reaching this operation was (fig. 2). This information was provided in many different languages to inform as many residents as possible. The map shows the situation in the neighborhood at that time: after the departure of the former residents to the Stevenshof, not only did many students arrive, but migrant workers as well. Hence the diversity of languages on the map.

Lia’s business was located in the epicenter of it all. The photos show how the police took people from their homes, and how others curiously watched (fig. 3). Newspaper cutouts tell us how it all went down (fig. 4). After the whole area had been evacuated, with some difficulty, the digging could begin. The whole street was opened in search of the bomb. The neighborhood, vocal as ever, disapproved of the undertaking. The process was taking way too long and nothing had been taken care of properly. The shop owners association was furious: the operation took place during Christmas and shops were missing out on crucial income. They were also afraid of theft. But they did not see the dark clouds that were hanging over their shops.

Reading the album, admittedly, is a bit anticlimactic. After all the hassle, the protests, the evacuations and the digging in the street, the bomb was dismantled in two hours. After the situation was deemed safe again, the people were allowed to return to their houses. Later, the newspapers featured some residents who were certain that there was another bomb just down the street, but no other bomb has been found…