Amsterdamse Bos is a vast, designed forest and recreation landscape south-west of Amsterdam, mostly in Amstelveen. Built from 1934 through 1970, it joins woods, water, meadows and sport grounds—and holds both the memory of crisis-era labor and the wartime persecution of Jewish forced laborers.
Quick facts
Amsterdam’s council approved a large Bosplan in 1928; construction began in 1934 and the planned planting was completed in 1970.
Roughly 20,000 men worked on the Bos between 1934 and 1940, moving earth largely by hand as part of unemployment-relief work.
Amsterdam City Archives identifies four Jewish forced-labor camps in the Amsterdamse Bos during the German occupation; the camps formed part of the persecution that led many prisoners to deportation.
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Amsterdamse Bos is not a remnant of ancient woodland. It is a city-scale landscape, planned so that ordinary Amsterdammers could reach open air, water, sport and the feeling of wandering in nature without making a day trip out of town. The park occupies a broad area mostly in Amstelveen, with the Nieuwe Meer along its northern edge. Its woods, waterways, meadows, reed beds and recreation grounds form one deliberately varied whole.
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