February strike of 1941 commemorated in Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, the February strike of 1941 will be commemorated again on Sunday afternoon on the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein. Mayor Femke Halsema and writer Johan Fretz, among others, will give a speech. Wreaths and flowers are also laid at the statue of De Dokwerker on the square.

Jaïr Stranders, chairman of the Committee for the Remembrance of the February Strike 1941, will also give a speech, while music and spoken word artist Benjamin Fro will perform. Anyone who wishes can take part in the parade and lay flowers. The committee asks visitors to bring a small arrangement or a single flower "for the sake of sustainability".

There will also be ceremonies in other places on Sunday, in Amsterdam for example in the Kinkerbuurt and at the town hall, and there will also be a gathering in Weesp. In Hilversum and Zaandam, a commemoration will take place on Monday.

This year marks 83 years since tens of thousands of Amsterdam residents stopped working to stand up for their Jewish fellow citizens who were deported by the German occupiers. The strike on February 25 and 26, 1941 was triggered by the raid in the city a few days earlier. In the process, 389 Jewish men were arrested and deported.

The resistance action spread to Zaanstreek, Haarlem, Velsen, Utrecht, Hilversum and Weesp. It was the first large-scale resistance action against the German occupiers in the Netherlands. The Germans ended the strike violently. Nine people were killed and more than 20 seriously injured.

The commemoration can be followed live via AT5 from 4.45 p.m.