Gedachtenkassie

“When a generation disappears,

words from a dialect disappear with them.‘

In my youth, I grew up in a Rotterdam family with my, grandfather as a beacon of warmth and conviviality. When we gathered, we spoke in the Rotterdam dialect, reminisced about the past, laughed until we dropped, and used many unique Rotterdam words. Reflecting on this brings back the warmth and safety I felt. This was home.

After he passed away, I noticed that I heard fewer words in the Rotterdam dialect, just as stories about the past, as well as stories about places or things that no longer exist, became scarcer. This gave me the insight that the vocal identity of a city is also generation related. When a generation disappears, words from a dialect disappear with them.

To pass on Rotterdam’s vocal identity to the next generation, we store it in our ‘Gedachtenkassie’. This is linguistic monument is created by Rotterdammers, for the next generation of Rotterdammers, where remarkable and educational stories are told in the Rotterdam dialect. This way, we ensure that the city’s mentality and vocal identity are not forgotten. We preserve it in our gedachtenkassie.