Mayor Femke Halsema was one of the speakers at the Spiegelmonument ‘Nooit Meer Auschwitz’ in the Wertheimpark in Amsterdam. After two years of corona measures, public attendance at the national commemoration was again possible this year.
‘Nestled in a dark place’
This year marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, the international symbol of the Holocaust. Halsema also referred to this in her speech. “78 years after the liberation, we find that ‘Never again Auschwitz’ is not experienced deeply enough,” said the mayor. “Ancient anti-Semitism has settled in a dark place and is increasingly rearing its ugly head.”
“Sometimes directly in violence, in threats, in chants. Sometimes hidden in ugly conspiracy theories, intended to fuel hatred.”
Halsema then said that she will visit Auschwitz this year, together with young Amsterdammers and partners from the Jewish community. “Because we can’t force people to think, but we can remove the doubt about who we are.”
‘Enormously shocked by slogans’
Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee, also spoke during the commemoration. He said, among other things, that he was ‘extremely shocked’ about the slogans that were projected on the Erasmus Bridge on New Year’s Eve. Texts such as ‘Happy white 2023’, ‘White lives matter’ and ‘Black Piet did nothing wrong’ were on display.
Grishaver: “I condemn that in the strongest terms. There is no room for exclusion and anti-Semitism here.”
Prime Minister Mark Rutte was also present at the commemoration. Together with State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen, he laid a wreath at the national monument.
