Cinema Rex was a cinema located at De Keyserlei 15 in Antwerp, Belgium. It opened in 1935 and was designed by Leon Stynen, a Belgian architect, modeled after large American movie theatres.[1]
| Cinema Rex bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Western Front of WW2 and Strategic bombing during World War II | |
| Location | Cinema Rex, Belgium |
| Date | 16 December 1944 |
Attack type |
|
| Weapon | 1 V-2 Rocket |
| Deaths | 567 killed
|
| Injured | 194 Allied military personnel Unknown number of civilians |
| Perpetrators |  Wehrmacht |
On 16 December 1944 (the first day of the Ardennes Offensive), at 15:20, a V-2 rocket fired from The Netherlands (Hellendoorn) by the SS Werfer Battery 500 directly landed on the roof of the cinema during a showing of The Plainsman. There were approximately 1,100 people inside the cinema and the explosion killed 567 people including 296 Allied servicemen (194 further servicemen were injured) and 11 buildings in total destroyed.[2] Up to 74 Belgian children were killed too.[3]
It took nearly a week to dig all the bodies out of the rubble. It was the single highest death total from a single rocket attack during the war.[4] Following the attack all public performance venues were closed and the town council ordered that a maximum of 50 people were allowed to congregate in any one location.
The theatre was re-built in 1947 but closed in 1993 and was demolished in 1995.[5]
References
edit- ^ "The Rex Cinema". v2rocket.com/. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ "16 december 1944: V2 Cinema Rex". 13 December 2016.
- ^ "Exact 75 jaar geleden viel V2-bom op Cinema Rex, burgemeester De Wever legt krans neer bij herdenkingsteen" (in Dutch). Het Laatste Nieuws. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2024..
- ^ "16 December 1944". Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
- ^ "Cine Rex in Antwerp, BE - Cinema Treasures". cinematreasures.org.
Further reading
edit- Serrien, Pieter (2016). Elke dag angst: de terreur van de V-bommen op België (1944-1945). Amsterdam: Horizon. ISBN 978-94-921-5958-8.
51°13′05″N 4°25′03″E / 51.2181°N 4.4174°E
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