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School in Aronskelkweg
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School in Aronskelkweg. Photo: Roel Wijnants / CC

You are in the former restricted zone

The houses along Aronskelkweg were still partly under construction when World War II broke out. The school across the water, which was built between 1929 and 1933, was one of the first buildings to be completed.

Built according to a design by architects Co Brandes and D.C. van der Zwart, the building is a good example of the New Hague School style of architecture and the advanced school architecture of the period between the World Wars.

Demolition

When the Atlantic Wall was constructed, the zone in which buildings were demolished to make way for a zigzag anti-tank trench and the accompanying field of fire started directly behind the school building. The school fell vacant, as did the houses in this area. They lay within the Sperrgebiet, to which citizens were denied access. Most buildings deteriorated completely due to vacancy and illegal stripping of woodwork from the buildings during the Hongerwinter (Dutch Famine of 1944-1945).

Pictured

Dalton H.B.S.,1941
Pinksterbloemplein, 1935
Pinksterbloemplein, 1938
The school in 1939
Aronskelkweg, just after the war
Aronskelkweg, just after the war
Aronskelkweg, just after the war

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