National WWII monument in Amsterdam defaced just before Remembrance Day commemoration
Update 8:54: Article updated to add a comment by mayor Femke Halsema
The National Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam was defaced with red paint early on Monday morning. Today is Remembrance Day, the day on which the Netherlands remembers the atrocities and commemorates the victims of the Second World War. The national commemoration is happening at the National Monument this evening. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called the "vandalism and intentional damage to our national monument" an "incredibly cowardly act."
Informants provided photos of the vandalism to Amsterdam broadcaster AT5. They show red paint smeared over the monument in multiple places. According to the broadcaster, cleaners are currently working to restore the monument to its original state.
As yet, nobody has claimed the act. The police are investigating.
On her social media channels, Mayor Halsema said the defacement was not only offensive to surviving loved ones of WWII victims, but to "all Dutch people for whom our national commemoration is important."
"Defacing the National Monument on Dam Square is an idiotic and completely unacceptable act. Especially today, on May 4," Prime Minister Rob Jetten responded on X. "Let us be united today and pause together with respect."
Other Cabinet members also reacted with anger and dismay. State Secretary Eric van der Burg called the vandalism "disgusting," and Defense Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz finds it "totally disrespectful and unacceptable." Both VVD Cabinet members posted their responses on X.
The national Remembrance Day commemoration is happening on Dam Square this evening, attended by the Dutch King and Queen, among others. At 8:00 p.m., two minutes of silence will be observed in memory of the victims of the Second World War and all subsequent war situations and peacekeeping missions.
This is not the first time the National Monument on Dam Square has been the target of vandalism. A protester spray-painted the words “never again” on the monument during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian people in August last year.
In October, the Royal Palace on Dam Square was also smeared with red paint, and the text “fuck Israel” was written on it. The activist group Palestine Action NL claimed responsibility for that defacement, saying the red paint was meant to illustrate “the blood” that the “Dutch state has on its hands” for failing to intervene in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
