The GVB trams played a major role in the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews from Amsterdam during the Second World War. Today the foundation stone was laid to commemorate this history at the Artis/National Holocaust Museum tram stop. There will be two more; at tram stops Victorieplein and Beethovenstraat.
In March last year, the book ‘Lost City’ was published, by Willy Lindwer and Guus Luijters – who recently passed away. The two men spent four years researching the logistics behind the deportation of Jews. The book reveals that the Amsterdam tram played a major role in this. “More than a hundred thousand Dutch Jews were murdered. Half of them were taken to the stations in Amsterdam by tram,” says Lindwer. The municipal transport company received money for this, money that the municipality now wants giving back to the community.
Responsibility of the city
Mayor Halsema is also present when the stone is driven into the ground. In her speech she mentions the suffering that the Jewish community has gone through, how little attention society paid to this after the war and how no responsibility was taken by the city for their role in the deportations. “And yet all those Jews helped build post-war Amsterdam, where Jewish life flourished again. Amsterdam is eternally grateful to them, because without Jewish life there is no Amsterdam, no Mokum.”
“And that fulfills the city’s obligation to ensure that what happened is never forgotten,” Halsema continues. According to Ruben Vis of the Central Jewish Consultation, the memorial stone is therefore important. “People take the tram unsuspectingly, it is an everyday thing. But tens of thousands of Jewish Amsterdammers were taken away by tram. These memorial stones tell that story.”
Broader research
At the request of the mayor, the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) has been working on a broader investigation into the deportation of Jewish Amsterdammers in the Second World War since 2020. In addition to the GVB, other municipal services are also examined. That investigation should be completed early this year.