Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Dutch Auschwitz Committee and initiator of the Holocaust Memorial of Names, thinks the sentence imposed by the judge on two Feyenoord supporters is appropriate. The duo made an anti-Semitic mural of Ajax footballer Steven Berghuis, after which the judge decided to send the supporters to the Amsterdam monument. Grishaver hopes to receive the men in person.
To Grishaver’s knowledge, it is the first time a judge has imposed such a sentence. “I think it’s a fantastic judge. He understood what this monument stands for,” he says on NH Radio†
According to the initiator of the monument, the men need to see what anti-Semitism can mean: “These gentlemen have really brought out anti-Semitism. They have to be pressed on the facts. They come across 102,000 stones and each stone has a name, date of birth and age. of the one who was murdered. And among all those stones is also a very large group of Rotterdammers.”
Grishaver hopes to be present at the men’s visit and ask them to pay close attention. “Anti-Semitism always starts small. I also hope that they learn something from it and that they spread the word. There is still a large group of Dutch people who know nothing about the Holocaust.”