The sportsman cast in bronze who gives the Olympic salute, which resembles a Hitler salute, may remain standing in the stairwell of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam for the time being. The court in Amsterdam decided this on Tuesday, according to a statement statement published Friday. The national monument organization Het Cuypersgenootschap wanted the Van Tuyll monument to be returned to the entrance of the stadium. The society believes that relocation erases history.
In March, the three meter high statue was pulled from its plinth. Research had just shown that the salute can be traced back to fascism from the last century. The stadium management no longer considered a prominent place for the monument appropriate. The statue has stood in front of the stadium for more than ninety years, since the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. For a long time it was said that the athlete gave the Roman salute, after the eighteenth-century painting The oath of the Horatii by Jacques Louis David.
The Cuyper Society thought that the Olympic Stadium had not sufficiently motivated the decision, but was not proved right. The court in Amsterdam considers moving the statue lawful, to prevent visitors from being offended “because of the association with the Hitler salute”. In addition, it will remain accessible to the public in the stairwell, for example during guided tours and events. The Olympic Stadium is still looking for a permanent place for the statue.