Amsterdam: Angry Locals don't Want Holocaust Monument

Amsterdam leaders will reconsider location as residents plead 'not in my garden.'

Plans for a Holocaust monument in Amsterdam have been put on hold after angry neighbors told the city it is too large for the park where it was to have been built. Edwin Oppedijk, a spokesman for the city's central district, said that after hearing the complaints, politicians will reconsider whether to place the monument in the Wertheim Park or find an alternative location.

At a public information evening on Tuesday, neighbors shouted that the plan was "ridiculous" and on Wednesday opposition banners were hung at the proposed site. One sign read "trees, not buses" — implying the memorial would reduce green space and bring unwanted tourists to the Wertheim Park in the central Amsterdam area where many Jews once lived.

Libeskind's design, somewhat reminiscent of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., includes walls displaying the names of 102,000 victims.

During World War II, the occupied Netherlands deported most of its Jewish population to die in Nazi concentration camps. Although the country has a monument to all war dead, and the Wertheim Park itself has a small monument to victims of Auschwitz, there is no grave or other public monument bearing the names of Holocaust victims, including Roma or Jews such as Anne Frank, who died in Bergen-Belsen.

"Nobody is against having a Holocaust monument, but they all say 'not in my garden,'" said Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the country's Auschwitz Committee, which originally launched the project in 2007.

"I hope the city says: 'we're standing by the plan.'"

Reuben Vis, a Jewish leader, said he opposes the monument because he thinks it is too big, too expensive and poorly designed.

"The last thing you want to do is put a Holocaust monument in a place where people are opposed to having it," he said.

(Haaretz)

Share with:

Popular products:

Recent news:

• Holland's Chief Rabbi: Being Called a Dirty Jew is Normal these Days
• Israel's Top Rabbis Move to Forbid Renting Homes to non-Jews, say "Racism Originated in the Torah"
• Zimbabwe President tells South Africa Media: "I don't want to See a White Man"
• 84% of All Wanted Criminals in Copenhagen are Non-White
• 71-Year-Old Austrian Doctor Sentenced for "Holocaust Denial"
• UK: Racist Black Man Punches Pregnant White Girl in Stomach as Onlookers Watch in Horror
• Armed New Black Panthers are Openly Preparing for Race War (VIDEO)
• Hermann Goering’s Uniform on Sale for £85,000 in UK Antique Shop
• Dutch Soccer Fans Boast Nazi Heritage at Game, Chant About Gassing the Jews
• White People in Britain Resisting Propaganda to Racially Miscegenate, Official Figures Show
• Daily Mail Blames “Nazis” For Germanwings Pilot Intentionally Crashing Plane Full Of Passengers
• Anti-Israel Protesters Call ‘Kill the Jews’ in Vienna
• The Ghosts of Hitler's European Fortress: World War Two Bunkers in Holland, France and Belgium
• White Genocide Posters Appear in Newspaper
• Danish SS Volunteer Dies Free Instead of Being Locked Up and Tortured by Nazi Hunters
• Ads Featuring Adolf Hitler with Arab Leader Appearing on Philadelphia Buses
• Israel to Deport Black African Migrants to the Desert
• Jews Don’t See a Future for Themselves in Europe
• Meanwhile in Scandinavia: A Swedish Elementary School Class Photo
• Spain to Offer Citizenship to More Than Two Million Jews Whose Ancestors were Expelled in 1492
• Boston: Swastikas Found in Northeastern University Dorm
• First Edition ‘Mein Kampf’ Signed by Adolf Hitler Sells for $43,750 in Los Angeles
• Jews Outraged as Man is Caught Urinating and Making a Nazi Salute at Czech Concentration Camp
• Nikos Michaloliakos: Golden Dawn Continues the Struggle for a Free Greece! (VIDEO)
• Newsweek: Neo-Nazi Activity on the Rise in Europe