MAY 14 marks the 80th anniversary of the nazi aerial blitz on the Dutch city of Rotterdam, which razed it to the ground.

The callous midday attack lasted only a quarter of an hour but it left up to 1,000 dead and 30,000 buildings destroyed in the ensuing fire storm. It was carried out on the express orders of Hermann Goering, later sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials.

In the tranquil early 17th-century dock basin of Leuvehaven on the river Nieuwe Maas, one of the most evocative sculptures of the latter part of the 20th century marks that horrific event.