Rotterdam (Netherlands)
The port and trading centre was destroyed by German bombers in 1940 and suffered under the Nazi occupation up until 1945. Forty-three years later Dresden and Rotterdam signed a twinning agreement. Environmental and health questions are central issues. Young people from both cities come together every year.
- Inhabitants:
598,000 - Geographical location:
Netherlands, on the main northern arm of the Nieuwe Maas, in the Rhine estuary to the North Sea - Profile:
Industrial heart of the Netherlands, world's no. 1 port, trading centre for oil, ores, grain and salt, eldorado for water sports - Tips:
Poetry International (June), Summer Carnival (August), Rotterdam Organ Festival, Heineken Jazz and Blues Festival (August), Euromast panorama tower (at 185 metres the highest point in the Netherlands), Erasmus Bridge (opened 1996)
