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'Weile meer Sinti & Roma ham' (Because we are Sinti and Roma) 'So that they will never be forgotten'

May 16, 1944: a black day for the Roma and Sinti living in the court city. In the roundups that day, 81 of them were rounded up, four more a day later. All 85 were transported to Westerbork. Three days later they were transported to Auschwitz, where most of them died in the gas chambers.
Already in 1990, on the initiative of a Roma association, a bronze plaque had been made in memory of the Roma victims of the Nazi regime. That plaque had been unveiled on May 4 of that year and was located in the entrance gate to the courtyard on Bilderdijk Street. There lived the Berger family, one of eighteen deported families. A few years later, that courtyard was largely demolished, making the plaque invisible and inaccessible. After that, the plaque hung on the facade of the former public library near the courtyard for several years. Neighbors and others involved, however, did not find this a permanent solution and formed a committee for a better Roma monument.
That monument is now on the little square on Vondelstraat across from the former hofje. It was finally unveiled on March 27, 2006 by then-Mayor Deetman together with two relatives. The monument consists of a cube with the earlier plaque on the front. Its maker was an Amsterdam artist whose name is not known. The design of the rest of the monument is by Jan Verburg. New texts have been added to the text of the earlier plaque as well as the names of all 85 deportees.
At the height of the former courtyard, a text sign has been added referring to the monument across the street.