Residents banned from balconies during opening of Holocaust Monument in Amsterdam

An emergency order will be in force during the unveiling of the National Holocaust Monument of Names on Weesperstraat in Amsterdam this Sunday. Mayor Femke Halsema wrote this in a letter to residents of the Hoftuin van de Prostetante Diaconie, where the unveiling will take place. Residents are also not allowed to watch the unveiling from a distance, for example from their balcony.

The emergency order will be instituted in consultation with the Public Prosecution Service and the police and will apply to the Hoftuin and the surrounding area on Sunday between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The measure makes it possible to search people preventively. Only invited guests are welcome at the unveiling of the monument.

Furthermore, it is prohibited to follow the unveiling from a balcony, loggia, roof or roof terrace from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Halsema wrote. "Windows and doors on that side must also be closed, to allow an undisturbed unveiling." According to a spokesperson for the mayor, this is often asked of local residents in special cases, for example every year on 5 May during the National Remembrance Day on Dam Square.

King Willem-Alexander will unveil the monument, together with Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee. Among others, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Halsema will give a speech at the unveiling. NOS will broadcast the event live on Sunday from 1:30 p.m. on NPO 1.

The National Holocaust Memorial of Names was designed by the Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind and contains all the names of the 102,000 Dutch victims of the Holocaust. The artwork consists of walls in the shape of four Hebrew letters, which together represent the word meaning 'in remembrance'.