KEY POINTS:
Alida Bosshardt, a Christian acclaimed for her decades of work among the prostitutes and drug addicts of Amsterdam, has died at 94.
Bosshardt joined the Salvation Army in 1934 and was instructed to work with women in Amsterdam's red-light district shortly after the end of World War II. A "Goodwill" centre she established in the area eventually became a hub where volunteers not only cared for prostitutes and their children, but offered shelter to the homeless and a wide range of social services to drug addicts and other troubled people attracted to the area. She retired in 1978 at 65, but continued volunteering and attending public gatherings until shortly before her death.
The Netherlands' Royal House said Queen Beatrix was "moved" by the death. While Beatrix was the country's crown princess in 1965, she spent an evening in disguise following Bosshardt on her rounds.
