’Major Bosshardt’, who spent more than 50 years working for the Salvation Army and who established a social center in Amsterdam's Red Light District, died this past Monday in her home in Amsterdam the Salvation Army said. She was 94 years old.

Alida Margaretha Bosshardt joined the Salvation Army in 1934 and was instructed to work with women in the city's Red Light District shortly after the end of World War II. During World War Two, when the Salvation Army was banned, she continued her work underground, saving the lives of 70 Jewish children. She was betrayed and arrested, but managed to escape when her interrogators forgot to close the doors, only to continue her underground work.

In 1948 she began the Goodwill-center in the Amsterdam red light district which she described as "a supermarket of services" for those living in the area.  The center provided social services, aid, and shelter to prostitutes, drug addicts, and eventually to any troubled people in the area. Bosshardt celebrated Christmas with them. In 1965 her work made headlines when a photographer discovered she was accompanied by Princes Beatrix who was dressed as a Salvation Army soldier.

Although Bosshardt retired in 1978, she remained active in the Salvation Army. She was a familiar site in pubs and other public places selling the magazine ’De Strijdkreet’ (The Battle Cry) till age 90.