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Of course, you could erect a beautiful statue to commemorate the victims of World War II and lay flowers there every year. However, that wasn’t what a group of residents on Maastrichtsestraat in Scheveningen had in mind. They didn’t want a static stone monument, but a living monument that would be part of everyday life.

In 2006, while researching the history of their street, a small group of residents discovered that during World War II, 16 of the 100 families living on their street had been deported to Nazi Germany’s concentration camps. These were Jewish families—men, women, and children—52 people in total. Thirty adults and twelve children did not return from the extermination camps.

To commemorate the residents who had passed away, the current residents wanted to erect a monument. But how do you go about doing that? That is why, in 2008, the residents turned to Stroom Den Haag. This art institution provided guidance on drafting a commission and selecting an artist. Jonas Staal was commissioned for the project.

On the eve of the annual street festival in 2009, Staal presented his preliminary design. He proposed commemorating the deported and perished families by replacing the street name with a new one: Street of the Deportation of Sixteen Jewish Families. By using this name on their mail, business cards, and street signs, the victims from their street remained in people’s minds—in their own minds, in the minds of those receiving their mail, and in the minds of passersby on the street.

In his art projects, Jonas Staal consistently focuses on the complex relationship between art, democracy, and propaganda. He considers engaging in debate on this topic to be an integral part of his work. Naturally, his proposal for the new street name sparked a great deal of discussion. The new name was never officially adopted. However, some residents do use it in correspondence, on forms, and on business cards.