1. a m sterdam, t h e mag i c ce nter (1961-1965)
The Provo movement was born in a city that has taken part in many of the avant-garde movements of the past 1 00 years . Amsterdam is one of the magnetic European centers that, like Paris, Copenhagen, Munich, Berlin, Rome and Vienna, boasts rich cultural traditions and a witty, intel ligent population sympathetic to inventive forms of human expres sion. In certain ways it is similar to the San Francisco that nurtured the B eat, Digger, and Hippie movements half a century ago . Since the late 1 9th century, innovative art and literary move ments have developed throughout the Netherlands . The Haagse School (a circle of painters in The Hague) influenced the early work of Vincent Van Gogh. Nieuwe Kunst (the Dutch Art Nouveau move ment) , the Amsterdam School of architecture , and Dutch Dadaists like Theo Van Doesburg all impacted the wider European scenes of their day. De Stijl movement (pronounced like " style " in English) was the Dutch equivalent of the B auhaus and included such radi cal innovators as Piet Mondriaan, Van Doesburg, and the architect Gerrit Rietveld. And it was an active Dutch Surrealist, the novel ist and journalist Harry Mulisch, who penned the first book on the Provo movement Bericht Aan De Rattenkoning (Report to the King of the Rats); the title is an unflattering reference to authoritarian bureaucrats . I t i s not generally known that the Netherlands remained neutral during World War I, but that fact had important repercus sions. After 1 9 1 8 , the dominant Calvinist ideologues took self-satis fied credit for the country's good fortune in escaping the ravages that had fallen on its less fortunate neighbors like Catholic B elgium. In 1 939 and 1 940, as advancing German armies fanned across Eu rope, the Netherlands expected to remain neutral once again. So the shock of the German invasion in World War II dislocated the smug and stifling middle class that had ruled for much of the pre vious 300 years . The German invasion and the loss of the Dutch
•••••••- p rovo : amsterdam's anarchist revo lt• lS
