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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

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2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

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31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

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27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

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20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

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Chinatown 1972

5 March 2008 - In 1972, photographer Ab Koers and journalist Nico Polak gained access to the closed Chinese community in the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood. A selection of Koers’ photos has now been published at the website of the International Institute of Social History (IISH).

The Chinese community originally consisted of cheap sailors working at the steam ships of shipping companies such as the KNSM. In between contracts, they stayed at boarding houses around the Binnen Bantammerstraat. When steam ships became obsolete, the sailors lost their jobs. Some one thousand are believed to have been forcibly repatriated.

Others survived by opening restaurants. In 1928, the first Chinese restaurant, Kong Hing, opened at the Binnen Bantammerstraat. It was frequented by American singer Josephine Baker. By 1980, the Ministry of Economic Affairs estimated that every Dutch town with more than 10,000 inhabitants had a Chinese restaurant.

Meanwhile, the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood had been hit by the loss of its Jewish population during the Second World War and the demolition work that had taken place for the construction of the metro. Besides restaurants, the Chinese operated opium dens and gambling houses that were only open to the Chinese.

In that period, Koers and Polak portrayed the neighbourhood for an article in Avenue magazine. Nine photos and an introductory text have now been published at the IISH website.

IISH website. Image: Gambling house (photo: Ab Koers / collection IISH)

 

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