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Plantage in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands — Northwestern Europe
 

Auschwitzmonument (Spiegelmonument) / Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument)

De moord op de joden uit Nederland / The Murder of the Dutch Jews

 
 
Auschwitzmonument (Spiegelmonument) / Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument) Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, June 18, 2017
1. Auschwitzmonument (Spiegelmonument) / Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument) Marker
Inscription. Een gedenkteken maken op de plaats waar de urn met as van de slachtoffers uit het concentratiekamp Auschwitz in de Nederlandse aarde rust, lijkt een onmogelijke taak. Hoe kan je een vorm vinden om een misdaad te gedenken waarvan je het gevoel hebi dat die nog niet uitgewist zal zijn als onze planeet over twee of tweeduizend eeuwen in het heelal zal zijn opgelost.

Tot barstens toe kan je je hersens afpijnigen of er een beeld wil opdoemen dat die schande en dat leed bij benadering zou kunnen weergeven. Je kijkt naar de hemel en je begrijpt niet dat dat blauwe uitspansel boven die ontzetting heeft gestaan, even onaangedaan en vredig als boven een wei met bloemen. En in een visioen van rechtvaardigheid zie je de blauwe lucht boven je vol barsten trekken, alsof de verschrikking die daar op aarde onder haar heeft plaatsgehad voorgoed de eeuwigheid geschonden heeft. Zo ben ik het idee gekonmen om gebroken spiegels op dat kleine stukje aarde boven die op urn met as neer te leggen.

Voorgoed kan op deze plaats de hemel niet meer ongeschonden weerspiegeld worden.
Jan Wolkers, 1977

Designing a memorial for the spot where the urn containing the ashes of victims of Auschwitz rests in Dutch soil, seems an impossible task. How do you find a form to mark a crime you know will never be erased - not in two,
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or even two thousand centuries from now, when our planet has ceased to exist? You rack your brains to conceive of an image that might convey the ignominy and suffering. You look up at the sky and can't understand how that blue firmament could have stretched up serenely and indifferently above such horror, as though it were nothing but a field of flowers. And in a vision of justice, you see cracks appearing in that impassive blueness, as if the atrocities committed on the earth below her have violated eternity forever. That is what gave me the idea of placing broken mirrors on that small patch of earth above the urn of ashes. Never again, on this spot, will the sky be whole.
Jan Wolkers, 1977

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De moord op de joden uit Nederland
Op 10 mei 1940, de dag van de invasie door Nazi-Duitsland, woonden in Nederland 140.000 joodse mannen, vrouwen en kinderen.

Tussen februari 1941 en septem ber 1944 werden meer dan 107.000 joden gedeporteerd uit Nederland. Slechts 5.200 overleefden de Nazi-concentratiekampen en keerden terug. Auschwitz-Birkenau en Sobibor waren kampen in Polen. Auschwitz-Birkenau was een werk- en vernietigingskamp. Sobibor uitsluitend een vernietigingskamp. Ongeveer 60.000 joden werden uit Nederland naar Auschwitz-Birkenau gedeporteerd en 34.000 naar Sobibor.

In deze kampen werden de meeste joden uit Nederland
Auschwitzmonument (Spiegelmonument) / Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument) Marker - wide view image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, June 18, 2017
2. Auschwitzmonument (Spiegelmonument) / Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument) Marker - wide view
vermoord. Slechts 19 van hen overleefden Sobibor en ongeveer 1150 Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Ook de in Nederland woonachtige Sinti en Roma werden door de Nazi's vervolgd. Op 16 mei 1944 werden 245 van hen opgepakt en drie dagen later gedeporteerd naar Auschwitz-Birkenau. Slechts 30 van hen overleefden het.

'Auschwitz' is internationaal het symbool geworden van de poging tot vernietiging van het joodse volk. Het spiegelmonument herdenkt de miljoenen slachtoffers van rassenwaan. Dit is een plaats van herinnering, rouw en bezinning, een waarschuwing voor alie generaties in de hele wereld.

Vergeten zijn de slachtoffers niet en nooit zullen zij vergeten worden.

The Murder of the Dutch Jews
On May 10, 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, there were 140,000 Jewish men, women and children living here.

Between February 1941 and September 1944, more than 107,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands. Only 5,200 survived the Nazi concentration camps, and returned. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sobibor were camps in Poland. Auschwitz-Birkenau was both a work and death camp, Sobibor was exclusively a death camp. Approximately 60,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands to Auschwitz-Birkenau and 34,000 to Sobibor. It was in these camps that most of the Dutch Jews were murdered. Only 19 survived Sobibor, and about 1,150
Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument) - broken mirror closeup image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, June 18, 2017
3. Auschwitz Monument (Mirror Monument) - broken mirror closeup
Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The Sinti and Roma (Gypsies) living in the Netherlands were also persecuted by the Nazis. On May 16, 1944, 245 Sinti and Roma were arrested, and three days later, transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 30 survived.

'Auschwitz' has become an international symbol of the attempt to destroy the Jewish people. This monument of mirrors commemorates the millions of victims of racial hatred. It is a place for remembering, mourning, and reflecting, and a warning to all generations throughout the world.

The victims have never been, and will never be, forgotten.

 
Topics and series. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, MusicChurches & ReligionWar, World II. In addition, it is included in the The Holocaust series list. A significant historical month for this entry is February 1941.
 
Location. 52° 22.074′ N, 4° 54.553′ E. Marker is in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland (North Holland). It is in Plantage. Memorial can be reached from Plantage Parklaan. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland 1018 DA, Netherlands. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Wertheimpark (within shouting distance of this marker); Portugees Israëlietisch Ziekenhuis / Portugese Israelite Hospital (about 90 meters away, measured in a direct line); De Burcht / The Castle (about 90 meters away);
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Hugo de Vries (about 120 meters away); De Hortus (about 150 meters away); Defenders of Jewish Children World War II Memorial (about 150 meters away); Adriaan Morriën (about 180 meters away); Vernieling Bevolkingsregister / The Attack on the Population Register (approx. 0.2 kilometers away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Amsterdam.
 
More about this marker. The marker is located directly next to the Auschwitz Monument in Wertheim Park.
 
Also see . . .
1. Wertheim Park (IAmsterdam). "The Auschwitz-monument, based on a design by Jan Wolkers (1925-2007), acquired a permanent place in the park in 1993. The monument was formerly located at the Oosterbegraafplaats (cemetery) as from 1977. The broken mirrors represent the heavens that are irrevocably cracked since the murder of six million Jews in extermination camps. More than 104,000 Jews were taken away from the Netherlands and killed. An urn with ashes from the crematoria of Auschwitz is placed under the monument." (Submitted on January 14, 2020.) 

2. Spiegelmonument 'Nooit Meer Auschwitz' (Nederlands Auschwitz Comité, in Dutch). (Submitted on January 14, 2020.)
3. History of the Jews in the Netherlands - The Holocaust (Wikipedia). (Submitted on January 14, 2020.)
 
Additional keywords. Holocaust
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on February 3, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 14, 2020, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 367 times since then and 80 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on January 14, 2020, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.

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Apr. 25, 2024