Nieuwe Kerkstraat
Explore the street and the people taken from its addresses.
The straight-cornice house has been traced more closely from the photograph. Its placement at 69 remains provisional, and this map excerpt has no roster point at that address. Turn off “Photo on façade” to inspect the modeled openings and cornice.
Drag to look around. Hold W, A, S, D or the arrow keys to move while the model has focus. On a touch screen, use the step buttons. Movement stays at street level. Hold Shift to move faster. The position slider moves you along the full street.
Drag to turn the model. The 74 Nieuwe Kerkstraat points and two original Weesperstraat points retain their positions from the Sobibor map and link to 320 people. Dots are raised for visibility; they don't identify a floor. Light outlines show approximate buildings at an assumed 9.6 m height without covering the map. Walking view shows those placeholders as solid blocks. Their individual fronts haven’t been reconstructed.
The original pilot outlines come from the map. Most new frontage widths use the spacing between historical address points and remain estimates. A 100% height setting means the starting estimate, not verified dimensions. Turn the height down to inspect the map beneath the buildings.
What the model can establish
The 1:1000 Publieke Werken sheets show the street, plots and open grounds. J5 was printed in October 1943. The eastern edge uses a neighboring J6 sheet printed in August 1945, so that small section isn’t a wartime observation. The photograph shows different building heights, window arrangements, cornices, and roof profiles. A single view doesn't give measured heights, hidden walls, or a complete roof plan.
The detailed fronts use separate photographs with their dates kept alongside them. Their windows, cornices, gables and entrances follow visible features. Heights, projection depths and hidden roofs remain estimates. Light outlines fill the remaining street at one assumed height. They don't claim a documented window pattern or roof. Large open grounds remain open.
The original 1936 row still includes provisional house-number assignments. The closer front studies don't establish that every photographed feature survived unchanged until 1943. Select a photographed front to see its source and limits.
Sources and limits
- Street map
- Blad J5, DUIZ00804000001, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, 10039/804. The sheet reads “GEDRUKT OCT. 1943.”
- Eastern supplement
- Blad J6, DUIZ00825000001, printed August 1945. An earlier sheet catalogued 1909–1935 is retained in the research files but hasn’t been fitted to the map.
- Map placement
- Gemeente Amsterdam's historical-map control points. Fitting the four points leaves about 0.52 m residual at those controls. That isn't a survey-accuracy claim.
- Detailed front
- A four-corner fit places the 1936 photograph on a flat front. Its window positions were traced manually. The 9.2 m cornice height, window recesses, and cornice projection are assumptions. The hidden roof hasn’t been reconstructed; the top closure doesn’t establish that it was flat. Street-level obstructions and an overlapping gable are left as plain estimated surfaces.
- Building heights
- Photo studies use estimated proportions. Plain context buildings use 9.6 m throughout. The slider varies those assumptions. No independent height measurement has been established.
- People
- The current Sobibor reader address records, joined by the recorded matched address to the existing street points. Names, dates, source distinctions, and point coordinates are preserved. A roster entry isn't proof that a person departed or shared a particular fate.
- Photograph notice
- The current archive metadata says “Auteursrechtelijke status niet geëvalueerd.” Older metadata says “Auteursrechtvrij.” This local study retains that conflict; it hasn't been published.
The next useful evidence would be building plans or another dated view of the same façades. These could settle individual facade assignments and replace the height estimates.
Inspect the map beneath the model
