Het August Reitsmahuis

Around 1943 this house was built by the Germans as a kitchen and canteen for the Wehrmacht. After the occupation, the government gave the building on loan to the municipality of Rotterdam. The Institute for Workers Development saw an opportunity to rent the building from the municipality in collaboration with the Nature Friends Houses Foundation. After a thorough overhaul, it was officially opened on June 20, 1953. In 1959 the IvAO was renamed Nivon, the Netherlands Institute for Social Development and Friends of Nature. The house bears the name of August Reitsma, born in Workum in 1882. In 1924 he became director of the Rotterdam Kweekschool. Reitsma advocated working class evening schools and was active in the IvAO, the predecessor of the Nivon.