Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 22, 2021

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands unveiled on Sunday the countrys first National Holocaust Monument which lists the names of the 102,163 Dutch victims of the Shoah.

The unveiling ceremony was broadcast live on Dutch public television.

The monument, designed by Daniel Libeskind lies in the centre of Amsterdam and is a labyrinth of brick walls that, when seen from above, form Hebrew letters reading in remembrance. It was built near a former concert hall where Jews were held before being sent to concentration camps while Amsterdam was under German occupation.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander during the unveiling ceremony.

Each wall carries the name of a Jew, Roma or Sinti who was deported from the Netherlands, every victims name, date of birth and age when they died.

Before the Holocaust there were around 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands. By the wars end, more than two thirds of the countrys Jewish population had been murdered by the Nazis.

Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the monument should also make people confront the question of whether the Netherlands did enough to protect Jews during the war.

He called the era a black page in the history of our country, adding that the monument also had an important contemporary message in our time, when antisemitism is never far away. The monument says no, it screams be vigilant.

Rutte said the monument carries a vital message. This monument says 102,163 times: No, we will not forget you. No, we wont accept that your name is erased. No, evil does not have the last word. Every one of them was somebody and today they get back their names.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema stated that during and after the Nazi occupation Amsterdam had seriously failed in the protection and treatment of our Jewish inhabitants.

Read the original post:

King of The Netherlands unveils first national Holocaust Monument - European Jewish Press

Category: Shoah
Tags: