#loods24

[historyfoundhere]

Today is May 4th. Although many people all over the world nowadays celebrate this as Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you), in The Netherlands this date has a far more grim feature. Today is the day we remember the victims of World War 2. As a teacher I always felt the war started to be more and more from the past and each year it became more abstract for my pupils. At one point I took my pupils (age 10-12) to this monument in Rotterdam. This is the Child Memorial. From this site in Rotterdam thousands of Jewish inhabitants of Rotterdam were deported. Their first stop primarily was Dutch camp Westerbork, from there most of them were taken to the death camps of Sobibor and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Among those victims were 686 young children. Their names have been gathered at this monument. It was purposely chosen that their names were placed in random. Not alphabetically or by age. This to ensure that visitors would read all names. To make sure my pupils would also, and to give some of this names a face, my personal project started. I began a search to find photo’s of some of the children. At first I wanted one photo for each of my pupils, being 28. After I found 28 photo’s I felt that I could not fail the other children. I kept on going and when it was 5 in the morning I ended with 60 names and faces. Sixty children that were murdered, only for being who they were. Let us not forget these children. Let us not forget the 626 other young children that left Rotterdam, never to return again. Let us not forget their brothers, their sisters, their mothers, their fathers, their grandmothers, their grandfathers. Let us not forget the citizens of Rotterdam that died in the bombardments the city endured. The lives that were taken by hunger during the last cold, deadly winter. The heroes that died to ensure the freedom we now enjoy. Let us not forget. Sterker door strijd. Opdat wij nooit vergeten. #4mei #dodenherdenking #rotterdam #sterkerdoorstrijd #loods24 #opdatwijnooitvergeten #lestweforget #sobibor #auschwitz #holocaust #worldwar2 #010 #shoah #historyinpictures #westerbork #maythe4thbewithyou #historyfound (bij Kindermonument) https://www.instagram.com/p/CObZ2QPBuJw/?igshid=93kwo6xqqqu5