New WWII memorial unveiled at Oudemanhuispoort
A new memorial bearing the names of victims in the courtyard of the Oudemanhuispoort commemorates UvA victims of the Second World War. The memorial was unveiled on Wednesday by Executive Board chair Vinod Subramaniam. The UvA is also reversing the dismissals of staff who were dismissed on the orders of the German occupying forces.
“This monument is about more than names. Behind every name is a life. A face. People who walked these halls at the UvA, taught or attended lectures here, made friends, fell in love and made plans for the future – a future that was taken from them.” This is how Executive Board chair Vinod Subramaniam introduced the new Second World War memorial on Wednesday. The memorial has been placed in the courtyard of the Oudemanhuispoort and was unveiled during a special gathering in the Surgical Theatre at the University Library (UB).
The monument bears a total of 282 names: 254 UvA students and 28 university employees who died during the Second World War. Most of them were murdered because they were Jewish or were actively involved in the resistance. Others died as a result of bombings, illness, exhaustion or suicide.
Student initiative
The creation of the memorial follows an initiative by UvA students and staff in 2022. According to initiator Navid Nail, the existing memorial plaque, mounted on one of the pillars in the central hall of the Oudemanhuispoort, was “too meagre to do justice to the hundreds of UvA victims of the Nazi regime”. The plaque also honoured only UvA staff and students who had “fallen in the struggle for the fatherland”. The university eventually said that it considered the proposal “a good idea” and would investigate what form a new memorial could take.
Ultimately, the university, in collaboration with design studio Thonik, opted for a circular design featuring the engraved names of all known UvA victims. According to the creative agency, it is an “extremely thin” sculpture. The names and text become visible when viewed from an angle, “giving each name the space and respect it deserves.”
Dismissals reversed
During the presentation of the new memorial, Subramaniam also announced that the dismissals of staff who were dismissed on the orders of the German occupying forces would formally be reversed. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, the Nazis required civil servants – including university staff – to sign a so-called “Aryan declaration” confirming that they were not Jewish. All Jewish staff were subsequently dismissed.
As the war progressed, several other UvA professors and lecturers were also forced to leave their positions on political grounds. At the time, the university administration chose not to resist, in order to keep the UvA open. Both the dismissals of Jewish staff and those who lost their jobs as punishment for resistance activities will now be formally reversed. For professors, lecturers and private lecturers, the UvA will also amend the dismissal records in the Album Academicum.
Apologies
Subramaniam also apologised for the fact that the university has only now decided to reverse the dismissals: “This decision should never have taken this long. On behalf of the University of Amsterdam, I apologise to everyone who suffered this injustice, and to their next of kin.”
The Executive Board chair wants to continue remembering the past and learn from the decisions made at the time: “Words cannot bring anyone back. A decision we make today cannot undo what was done to people then. But names can be returned to the place where they belong. Injustice can be acknowledged. And what has gone unspoken for too long can still be put right.”
