Did you know?
Olympic champion
Did you know an Olympic champion worked for one of our predecessors? Carry Geijssen won two Olympic medals at the winter games in Grenoble in 1968. She was the first Dutch speed skater to winOlympic gold, and also the youngest Dutch Olympic champion ever! When she came returned to the office she received a royal welcome from her colleagues at the Hollandsche Societeit.
Fire hoses
In 1873, De Nederlanden van 1845 donates two fire hoses to the city of Zutphen, partly at the request of a shareholder. Director Henny purchases these syringes and leather fire hoses, which were very special at the time, in London. In addition, the company initiates the creation and training of a volunteer fire brigade. Many employees of De Nederlanden van 1845 join the brigade as firefighters.
Car insurance
Around 1900, the first automobiles arrive in the Netherlands. The number of cars grows rapidly from 150 in the first years to close to 7,000 in 1920. Partly as a result of this growth, the number of car accidents on the busy roads constantly increases and insurance companies began to focus on accident insurance. The Eerste Rotterdamsche Ongevallen Verzekering is one of the first, startingtheir car insurance activities as early as 1911, including a ‘special Ford premium rate’. Car insurancebecomes one of their most important products. Insurers also want to encourage motorists to drive more safely, for example, by promoting the use of seat belts.
RVS flat
In 1956 the first pile is bored for a building of flats in Rotterdam for single women, which is designedby a female architect and financed by our predecessor the RVS. Due to a housing shortage, it can bevery difficult for single women to rent an apartment for themselves. The ‘Society for the advancement of housing for the working woman’ lead the initiative for this building project. The flat, at the Suze Groeneweglaan in Rotterdam, is an architectural masterpiece with lots of light and space. With ten floors, it is a beacon in a Rotterdam that is still recovering from the bombing of thesecond world war. On the façade the logo of RVS has a prominent place, which gives the flat itsname, RVS Flat. But there was is nickname, ‘Hunkerbunker’ (Yearning bunker), given by men whothink the single women living there yearn for them all day. The flat is still there, for men and women,with the logo, as a beacon in the city.