Town Hall at Dam Square
Public executions of criminals took place in front of the town hall - the same building today,
but now a royal palace. Here hangman Jan van Aanhout broke Donker on the wheel on August
22, 1767 (Dora escaped capital punishment by withstanding torture without confessing to the
murder). Van Gogh managed to postpone his death with endless new trials. Finally, Jan van
Aanhout decapitated him at Dam Square on April 4, 1778. On both occasions Dam Square was
much more crowded than on the photo.
