On Holocaust Memorial Day this year, a Stolperschwelle or stumbling stone was placed at a tram stop in Amsterdam to bring attention to the role GVB and the city played in the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews during the Second World War. 

Amsterdam trams played role in deportation of Jews

After the release of the book Verloren Stad by Willy Lindwer and Guus Luijters in March last year, it was revealed that trams in Amsterdam played a major role in the deportation of thousands of Jews during the Second World War. "More than a hundred thousand Dutch Jews were murdered. Half of them were taken to the stations in Amsterdam by tram," Lindwer told AT5.

To acknowledge the city’s role, as well as that of GVB, a stumbling block - a larger version of the stumbling stone or Stolperstein - was placed at the Artis / Nationaal Holocaust Museum tram stop. On the memorial stone, it reads: “In 1942 and 1943 tens of thousands of people were deported from here by municipal tram because they were Jewish. Most were murdered in death camps.” More Stolperschwelle will be placed at tram stops Victorieplein and Beethovenstraat. 

Mayor of the Dutch capital Femke Halsema gave a speech at the memorial event emphasising the suffering of the Jewish community and how the city took no responsibility for the deportations after the war. "And yet all those Jews helped build post-war Amsterdam, where Jewish life also flourished again,” said Halsema. “Amsterdam is eternally grateful to them, because without Jewish life there is no Amsterdam, no Mokum… And that fulfils the city with the duty to ensure that what happened is never forgotten."

More research into deportation of Jewish people from Amsterdam

Since 2020, at the behest of the mayor the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) has been conducting a broader investigation into the deportation of Jewish people from Amsterdam during the Second World War and how municipal services were involved. This should be completed by the end of 2025.

The municipality and GVB made more than 9.000 guilders to transport Jewish Amsterdammers out of the city - equivalent to 61.000 euros. Rounding it to 100.000 euros, the mayor and alderman of Amsterdam has asked the Centraal Joods Overleg, an organisation that represents the interests of the Jewish community, for suggestions on how to spend the money.   

Thumb image credit: Wolf-photography / Shutterstock.com