Rotterdam unveils new monument to commemorate deportation of city's Jews

A new monument was opened at the Eva Cohen-Hartoghkade on the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam on Sunday afternoon. It consists of 10,000 stones that stand for the 10,000 Rotterdam Jews who were deported during World War II and never returned. The name of the monument is "Lives 10,000 stones," and each stone has a different shape.

The deportation of Jews from Rotterdam and the islands of Zuid-Holland started on July 30, 1942, from the assembly point Loods 24 on Stieltjesstraat. That shed was demolished in the 1950s and a memorial wall was erected with an old piece of fence.

The Jewish Children's Monument, designed by the recently deceased architect Wim Quist, was unveiled on the same site in 2013. According to the municipality, the newest installation started with an initiative to make the quay greener. The 10,000 stones were incorporated into a pathway through ornamental grasses that wave in the wind.

"It symbolizes our living memory of the perished Jewish Rotterdammers," said Frank van Gelderen, the secretary of the Loods 24 Foundation and the Jewish Children's Monument, in a municipality press release. An olive tree, standing for peace and connection, was also planted in a container along the quay, according to the NOS.

The new monument was unveiled during the annual commemoration of the start of the deportation. Because July 30 fell on Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath, the ceremony took place on Sunday.

"It is not a monument of names. The different size and shape of the stones symbolize the people, but you cannot see the names," Van Gelderen told the NOS.