A monument for the first generation of guest workers in Amsterdam. If it is up to the local factions of Denk, GroenLinks and the Labor Party, this should happen soon. The proposed monument should serve as a symbol of the ‘cultural and historical importance of the migrant workers’. In addition, the parties want research to be conducted into the possibility of a museum on the subject.
“There has been a desire for years within the various communities of Amsterdam to give the guest workers and their impact on the city a lasting, honorable place,” Denk councilor Süleyman Koyuncu explains about the development of the idea for the monument.
One of the examples Koyuncu cites is the wish of Zeki Güngör who wants to honor his father Ismail with a monument. The family submitted a request to the municipality for the monument. “We want to put the guest workers in the spotlight. But we also want to make Amsterdam residents aware of what many people have had to experience. There are many examples that families are really torn apart,” said Güngör at the end of last year. The parties now support that idea with the initiative proposal. “We hope to fulfill this wish,” Koyuncu said.
Special attention to women
If the monument is built, it will not only be the men that are central. According to GroenLinks member Yasmine Bentoumya, men are the central focus of the shared history, but women have ‘made a major and lasting impact in all kinds of roles’. The monument should therefore also pay attention to the women who came to the city as guest workers or for family reunification. In addition, the monument should also help educate about its history.
The parties have submitted the proposal to the council, which will respond to the initiative in due course. If the response is positive, the proposal will be further processed. The parties hope that the monument can be unveiled in 2025, during the city’s 750th anniversary.
Watch the story that AT5 made about Zeki Güngör and his father here: