Bezuidenhout (; ) is the neighborhood () southeast of the Haagse Bos neighborhood of

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Bezuidenhout includes the Beatrixkwartier financial area near the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

and streets such as Bezuidenhoutseweg, Juliana van Stolberglaan, Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië, Prins Clauslaan, and Theresiastraat. Part of

German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the governmen ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bezuidenhout was bombed by mistake by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in a bombing raid which killed hundreds of civilians. The targeted area was the adjacent woodland park Haagse Bos that was used by the Germans for launching V-1 and V-2 rockets, but all bombs missed the forest target by more than because of an error in reading the map, overcast conditions and incorrect allowance for the wind. The mistake caused the deaths of 511 civilians. Because nobody was certain about what to do after the explosion, there were no plans to reconstruct the neighbourhood until 1962, when David Jokinen saw an opportunity to put an end to the situation in which the Staatsspoor station and the Hollands Spoor each served only part of the rail traffic. His plan included demolishing the Staatsspoor Station. His plan sparked fierce discussions. The plan was not implemented, in part because it was only presented when decision-making had finally reached an advanced stage. Today, the Den Haag Centraal railway station stands in place of the Staatsspoor station.

References

External links

Neighbourhoods of The Hague {{SouthHolland-geo-stub