How the Amstel vanished from the Rivierenbuurt

Renaming streets and squares has been in the news again lately. Changing street names in Amsterdam, though, is nothing new in itself. In the series 'Vanished street names' we visit streets of Amsterdam that were once delivered under a different name. Today we are in the Rivierenbuurt (the 'rivers neighbourhood'), where Vrijheidslaan is by now the third name of this street between the Berlagebrug and the Victorieplein, a street that forms a graceful entrance to the Rivierenbuurt.

Where is the Amstel?

Have you ever wondered why, in a district where the streets are named after rivers, you will not find a single one named after the Amstel? In the original Plan Zuid for the Rivierenbuurt there certainly were some, in fact no fewer than three streets were named after the river on which Amsterdam lies. The Amstellaan split at today's Victorieplein into the Noordelijke Amstellaan and the Zuidelijke Amstellaan (the northern and southern Amstellaan), and together they formed the main arteries of the neighbourhood.

Three Allied victors

In 1946 Winston Churchill paid a visit to Amsterdam. As a tribute and a fitting welcome, three streets were renamed after the victors of the war against Germany: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. And so, a year after the liberation, the Amstellaan became Stalinlaan. Stalin himself had already died by the time public opinion about him turned for good. At the end of 1956 the Soviet army invaded Hungary, and the very next day Amsterdammers were pulling the Stalinlaan signs off the walls. Keeping a street named after Stalin had become untenable.

Freedom is always a safe bet

Although it did meet with a fair amount of resistance, the street was renamed for the second time just two weeks after the invasion. This time after something that can never cause any controversy: Freedom (Vrijheid).