The Victory Square, between 1922 and 1946 known as Daniel Willinkplein, is the heart of Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt (River District). It was built in the 1920s and 1930s as part of the Plan Zuid urban expansion project drafted by the architect-in-charge Berlage, also famous for such Amsterdam landmarks as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the Diamond Workers Union, among many other notable buildings.
The Victory square is the summit of three main boulevards (known as Amstel Avenues) that cut through the entire neighborhood in a Y-shape. Originally these were named Northern Amstellaan, Amstellaan and Southern Amstellaan. In 1922 the square was named after the Dutch Classic writer Daniel Willink, who lived between 1676 and 1722, and in whose works, such as for example Amstellandsche Arkadia, various Amsterdam sights, including its fortifications, the beauty of the city and its immediate surroundings were described.
In the 1930s the new neighborhood, the square and the adjoining streets were populated mostly by Jewish refugees escaping from Germany. Lunchroom Delphi, frequented by Anne Frank, was located on the square. On June 20 1943, the lawn of the square served as a gathering place for those to be transported to the concentration camps. Under the cover of the night they were taken to the Muiderpoort Station in trams, then subsequently transferred to the transit camp Westerbork and from there onto death camps in Eastern Europe.
After the war, in 1946, the three main avenues were renamed after the leaders of the Allied Forces into Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt Boulevards. The square was also renamed into Victory Square. However, after the invasion of Hungary by the USSR in 1956, Stalin Boulevard (formerly Amstellaan) was again renamed, this time into Vrijheidslaan (Freedom Boulevard) on November 4, 1956.
The Victory Square is dominated by the most prominent building in the neighborhood, namely the 12-storey edifice better known as the Skyscraper designed by the architect J. F. Staal. This was the first high-rise building in Amsterdam. In 1966, a statue to H. P. Berlage by sculptor and architect Hildo Krop was placed in front of the Skyscraper.