Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands the Kingdom of the Netherlands' did not come into being until 1818. The city of Amsterdam was, and still is, the centre of Dutch Lutheranism. Most Lutherans in the Netherlands are descendants of German or Scandinavian merchants, and the Lutheran church has always been quite small. Because of the urban and internationally oriented membership of the Lutheran Church, liberal influences have always been relatively strong. The church was always counted among the most liberal denominations in the Netherlands. They were among the first churches to ordain women. On May 1, 2004, the Lutheran Church's membership was down to a mere
History of the Netherlands the German army could make little or no headway, so the Luftwaffe bombed Rotterdam, the second-largest city of the Netherlands, killing about 900 people, destroying most of the inner city and leaving 78,000 people homeless. Following the bombing and German threats of the same treatment for Utrecht, the Netherlands capitulated on 15 May, except for the province of Zeeland where French and French-Moroccan troops stood side-by-side with the Dutch army. Still, the Dutch Royal Family along with some armed forces fled to the United Kingdom. Some members of the Dutch Royal Family eventually moved to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada until the