Jul 25, 2023 at 8:29 PMUpdate: 32 minutes ago
The municipality of Eindhoven is adjusting the war monument in the city after research showed that not all names on the monument belong there. There were also names of NSB members and SS members on it. They are now removed.
“Although no personal history is black and white, these names do not fit on a monument that does justice to Eindhoven victims of the Second World War,” says a letter to the city council.
The council says it will make one exception, for a German boy who was forced to work in Eindhoven because of his German nationality. “The archives show that the family was later fully exonerated by the Dutch government.”
In addition to the names of NSB and SS members, the monument also contained names of people who had not died as a direct result of the war, but died as a result of a traffic accident, for example. Their names will remain on the monument “out of empathy”, according to the municipal council.
Foundation stumbled over mistakes
In total there are 1,096 names on the memorial on the Stadhuisplein in Eindhoven, which is called Remember U de Namen. The 18 September Foundation, which is committed to commemorating the liberation of Eindhoven on September 18, 1944, wanted to make these names accessible in a digital archive. During an investigation into the names, the foundation discovered errors on the monument.
The foundation also found out that 155 names of war victims are missing from the memorial. These are victims who died in Eindhoven as a direct result of the war and Eindhoven residents who died outside the city, including Sinti and Roma. The municipality considers it appropriate to add these 155 names to the monument.
The board writes that a lot of thought has gone into adjusting the memorial. Talks were held with, among others, the Veterans Foundation, representatives of the Jewish community and a family member of a convicted Eindhoven NSB member. The municipality hopes to get in touch with immediate family members of people whose names will be removed from the monument.
2023-07-25 18:29:13
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