Artwork Data
Title
Gedenkteken Joodse patiënten en onderduikers
Artist
Material
Beton (gekleurd), monitor met touchscreen, plaquette met monitor met touchscreen
Artwork Location
Address
Nectarinenstraat 10, links naast ingang op openbaar terrein Parnassia en gevel kerk Monsterseweg, Den Haag
Artwork Description
Text
If only you could turn back the events of the past. That thought underlies the double-folded timeline with twist that Merijn Bolink placed as a memorial on Nectarinenstraat. Bolink was commissioned in 2015 for two memorials by the Parnassia Groep (Geestelijke GezondheidsZorg Den Haag). This is in memory of the 251 Jewish psychiatric patients and people in hiding who were deported from the Ramaer and Rozenburg clinics during World War II. 227 of them were murdered in the death camps. On New Year's Eve 1942, the first raid of (97) Jewish psychiatric patients in the Netherlands took place. On the night of February 18, 1943, a second group was deported. It is a black page in the GGZ history of The Hague.merij
These events came to light during former spiritual caregiver Corry van Straten's research for her book "A World Gone..." (2015). In it, she describes the history of the Rozenburg and Bloemendaal psychiatric institutions during World War II.
Bolink gained notoriety in the 1990s as a talented young sculptor. His apple with the flesh of an orange (Appelsinsappel, 1996) and tiger in French fries cutter (Untitled (tiger), 1995) indicate how imaginative and free this artist thinks. He sees himself more as an inventor and associative researcher. In 2009 he created an inimitable, monumental balance tower for the department of juvenile psychiatry at the Amsterdam Medical Center.
In the memorial to Parnassia, the artist inserted a print of a menorah. On a monitor above the seven arms of such a traditional Jewish framework candles burn day and night. New ones are placed each time. Six low benches stand all around. Each provided with its own motto. The plaque at the church on Monsterseweg also incorporates such a monitor with burning candles. Thus, the two memorials provide space to reflect on our contemporary freedom and the inhumane conditions of the time.
>> For the list of names of deportees: touch the monitor or click the link at the bottom of this page.
>> Click here for the TV West report leading up to unveiling.