National Holocaust Names Memorial (Amsterdam)

The National Holocaust Names Memorial (Amsterdam) (Dutch language, Dutch: Holocaust Namenmonument) is since 2021 the Dutch people, 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 Netherlands in World War II, Nazi regime during the German occupation of the country (1940-1945), deported and mostly murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz and Sobibor extermination camp, Sobibor death camps, as well as 220 Romani people, Roma and Sinti victims.

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 H'ART Museum Museum and the Hoftuin garden. with a design overview photograph demonstrating the Hebrew characters used in the memorial.

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. 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 "en:wikt:in memoriam, In Memoriam".

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.

File:Holocaust Namenmonument - Namen (Amsterdam) - Kroonenberg.jpg, A brick column dedicated to the Kroonenberg family, 2021.
File:Holocaust Namenmonument (Amsterdam).jpg, A corridor between brick walls with names, 2022.
File:Amsterdam, people walking in the new Holocaust Namenmonument with its red walls of named bricks; free photo Amsterdam by Fons Heijnsbroek, 04-2022.jpg, Visitors walking around the memorial viewed from the north, 2022.
File:Franco Mendes Pimentel to Carolina Frank - National Holocaust Names Memorial, Amsterdam 2023.jpg, Franco Mendes Pimentel to Carolina Frank, including Anne Frank, 2023.

Related monuments and museum

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 Dutch National Holocaust Museum at Plantage Middenlaan 27, Amsterdam, opened on 11 March 2024. 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. On the internet a searchable database of all Dutch Jewish victims is available as ''Joods Monument'' (Jewish Monument).

Book

* Wim de Wagt, ''Vijfhonderd meter namen De Holocaust en de pijn van de herinnering'', Boom, Amsterdam, 2021. . In Dutch.

See also

* Dutch National Holocaust Museum
* List of Holocaust memorials and museums#Netherlands, List of Holocaust memorials and museums in the Netherlands

References

External links

*
* . Video duration 2 minutes 0 seconds. Founder of the monument Jacques Grishaver briefly details the motivation for the memorial project. Holocaust Namenmonument, 31 January 2014. In Dutch with English subtitles.
* . Video duration 1 minute 35 seconds. A walk through the memorial. Holocaust Namenmonument, 28 February 2018.
* . Live stream video affording a realtime overview. Holocaust Namenmonument, 9 September 2021.
* {{cite web , url=https://www.4en5mei.nl/archieven/inspiratie/nationaal-holocaust-namenmonument-onthuld , title=Nationaal Holocaust Namenmonument onthuld , last1=Huijsmans , first1=Linda , last2=Tolenaar , first2=Paul , date=Fall 2021 , website=4en5mei.nl , publisher=Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei (National Committee for 4 and 5 May) , access-date=25 April 2023 , quote=Na een jarenlange strijd is op 19 september 2021 het Nationaal Holocaust Namenmonument onthuld. Alle namen zijn er vereeuwigd van de meer dan 102.000 Nederlandse Joden en 220 Sinti en Roma die weggevoerd zijn en vermoord en nooit een graf hebben gekregen. Drie generaties nabestaanden vertellen wat dit monument met hen doet. , language=Dutch. Three generations of surviving Jewish relatives tell what this monument means to them.

Holocaust memorials
Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam
Sculptures in Amsterdam
The Holocaust in the Netherlands
World War II memorials in the Netherlands
Amsterdam in World War II
Jews and Judaism in Amsterdam