National Holocaust Names Memorial (Amsterdam)

The National Holocaust Names Memorial (Amsterdam) (Dutch: Holocaust Namenmonument) is since 2021 the Dutch national memorial for the Holocaust and the Porajmos at Amsterdam. It commemorates the approximately 102,000 Jewish victims from the Netherlands who were arrested by the Nazi regime during the German occupation of the country (1940-1945), deported and mostly murdered in the Auschwitz and Sobibor death camps, as well as 220 Roma and Sinti victims.

National Holocaust Names Memorial (Amsterdam)
Holocaust Namenmonument
Northern Weesperstraat entrance of the memorial with huge mirrors, 2021.
52°21′56.64″N 4°54′17.61″E
LocationWeesperstraat, Amsterdam
DesignerDaniel Libeskind
Typewalls with four steel Hebrew characters on top
Materialbrick, stainless steel, mirror glass
Lengthabout 80 m, area about 1,550 square meters
Widthabout 20 m
Heightbrick walls: 2.43 m, steel parts: up to 660 cm high
Beginning date19 June 2020
Dedicated date19 September 2021
Dedicated toHolocaust and Porajmos victims from the Netherlands
Websitehttps://www.holocaustnamenmonument.nl/en/home/
Oorlogsmonument ID 4417 (Dutch war monument ID)
The Hebrew characters לזכר (lizkor, pronunciation "lizachàr") meaning "In Memoriam" at an entrance stair, May 2022.
Building activities seen from the south east with the Hoftuin and Protestant Diaconia buildings in the background, January 2021.
Southern entrance on the Weesperstraat, Amsterdam, 2022.
1000 Names Wall for names retrieved and added later, 2022.
Memorial brick for mathematician Julius Wolff, Nijmegen, 18 April 1882 - Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 8 February 8, 1945.

The monument founded by the Nederlands Auschwitz Comité (Dutch Auschwitz Committee) is located in the former Jewish quarter (Dutch: Jodenbuurt) on a roughly north–south strip along the west side of the Weesperstraat, clockwise from the north between Nieuwe Herengracht, Weesperstraat, Nieuwe Keizersgracht, and Amstel river, east of the Hermitage Amsterdam Museum and the Hoftuin garden.[1][2][3][4]

Design

The memorial was designed by Studio Libeskind of the American architect Daniel Libeskind and built by Rijnboutt architects Amsterdam with bricks donated by Rodruza brick company, Rossum, Gelderland.[1] The 1,550 square meter monument consists of four sections representing the letters in the Hebrew word לזכר (from right to left Lamedh, Zayin, Kaph and Resh, lizkor, pronunciation "lizachàr") meaning "In Memoriam".[4]

Visitors entering the excavated area via stairs from the south or north can wander through a labyrinth of corridors between red brick walls. Inscribed on each of these 102,000 alphabetically ordered bricks is a name, date of birth and age at death of a victim. A separate wall called 1000 Names Wall of 1,000 bricks at the southern entrance was left blank to accommodate additional names of victims found later.

On top of the brick walls four huge horizontal stainless steel profiles are mounted in the shape of the four Hebrew characters. Attached elongated mirrors reflect the environment. [1][2]

  • A brick column dedicated to the Kroonenberg family, 2021.
    A brick column dedicated to the Kroonenberg family, 2021.
  • A corridor between brick walls with names, 2022.
    A corridor between brick walls with names, 2022.
  • Visitors walking around the memorial viewed from the north, 2022.
    Visitors walking around the memorial viewed from the north, 2022.
  • Franco Mendes Pimentel to Carolina Frank, including Anne Frank, 2023.
    Franco Mendes Pimentel to Carolina Frank, including Anne Frank, 2023.

Further monuments and a museum commemorating the Holocaust are the nearby Auschwitz Monument by Jan Wolkers in the Wertheim Park to the east of the Holocaust Names Memorial, and the upcoming National Holocaust Museum at Plantage Middenlaan 27, Amsterdam, opening in September 2023.[5] At the former Westerbork transit camp (Dutch: Kamp Westerbork) in Hooghalen, Drenthe, there is the 102.000 Stones Monument (Dutch: De 102.000 stenen), with a stone without a name for each victim.[6] On the internet a searchable database of all Dutch Jewish victims is available as Joods Monument (Jewish Monument).[7]

Book
  • Wim de Wagt, Vijfhonderd meter namen De Holocaust en de pijn van de herinnering, Boom, Amsterdam, 2021. ISBN 9789024443383. In Dutch.

See also

References
  1. "Holocaust Namenmonument Nederland". holocaustnamenmonument.nl. Dutch Auschwitz Committee / Nederlands Auschwitz Comité. 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2023. King unveiled National Holocaust Names Memorial On Sunday 19 September 2021, His Majesty the King, together with Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee, unveiled the new Holocaust Names Memorial in Amsterdam.
  2. "Studio Libeskind. Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names, Amsterdam, the Netherlands". libeskind.com. 2023. 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023. Situated along the Weesperstraat, an important axis within the Jewish Cultural Quarter, the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names is adjacent to the Hermitage Museum, East of the Diaconie's verdant Hoftuin garden and café, just a stone's throw from the Amstel River and in close proximity to important Jewish cultural institutions such as the Jewish Historical Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue.
  3. Siegal, Nina (16 December 2016). "Holocaust Memorial Is Closer to Reality in Amsterdam". www.nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2023. The architect Daniel Libeskind unveiled his design on Friday for a Dutch national Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam, to be laser-etched with the names of some 103,000 Jewish, Roma and Sinti residents of the Netherlands who were killed by the Nazis during World War II. The names monument will consist of four walls made of red brick — a common material in Amsterdam houses — shaped into the form of the Hebrew word "Lizkor," which translates to "in memory of."
  4. "De nieuwe wand (Translation: The new wall)". niw.nl (in Dutch). NIW Nieuw Israelitisch Weekblad. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2023. Ruim 100.000 namen, verwerkt in het Hebreeuwse woord lizkor, 'herinneren'. ( More than 100,000 names, incorporated in the Hebrew word lizkor, 'remember'.) with a design overview photograph demonstrating the Hebrew characters used in the memorial.
  5. "National Holocaust Museum Opens early 2024". jck.nl. Jewish Cultural Quarter. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  6. "Hooghalen, 'De 102.000 stenen'". 4en5mei.nl (in Dutch). Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei (National Committee for 4 and 5 May. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  7. "Dossier Tue 28 Mar 2017 About the Jewish Monument". joodsmonument.nl. Jewish Cultural Quarter, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 28 Mar 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2023. The Jewish Monument (www.joodsmonument.nl) commemorates the more than 104,000 persons who were persecuted as Jews in the Netherlands and who did not survive the Holocaust.
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