You won't find
this monument in most of the tour guides...
Like gay people in society, the monument is easy to miss
but it is there, so make sure you stop by on your way to
the Anne Frank House.
The monument's design simultaneously looks back on gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender histories as it also
looks toward the future.
Designed by Karin Daan, the monument consists of three
triangles of pinkish granite that together compose one
giant triangle.
In the picture on the left you see the first triangle
close to a canal. This triangle points to the National
War Memorial on the Dam in the centre of Amsterdam.
The three triangles are linked by a stripe of pink bricks
that are connected across a road and into a church's
backyard. (See map below).
With
the triangle on the water as its central point, Karin
Daan expanded the design to make her work as monumental
as possible without disrupting the surroundings.
As well as the triangle on the water, there is a podium
triangle on land 60 cm high and a memorial triangle at
street level.
All the triangles measure 10 x 10 x 10 meters, creating
one large triangle with sides of 36 meters.
The second triangle is a polished triangle most people
walk over without even realizing that it is there. It
bears the Dutch inscription "Naar vriendschap zulk
een mateloos verlangen" (translation: "Such an
infinite longing for friendship") a line from the
Dutch gay poet Jacob Israël De Haan (1881-1924).
This 'memorial triangle' points to the nearby Anne Frank
House, the centre for the struggle against fascism,
anti-Semitism and racism.
The third triangle is raised as a sort of podium and is
used mainly as a gathering spot and can be used as a bank
to sit on and contemplate.
This triangle points to the nearby centre for the
struggle for lesbian and gay liberation, the COC.
Why
this monument was raised
At
many times in history gays, lesbians, bisexuals and
transgenders were persecuted. This happened in The
Netherlands from the 1730's. In 1933 the Nazis came to
power in Germany. In their ideal of a pan-Germanic Reich
populated by 'noble Germans', Jewish, Roma / Sinti and
homosexual women and men were seen to be a danger to the
'vigour of the German people'. About 50,000 people were
sentenced because of their homosexuality and several
thousands of them died in concentration camps. Outside of
the gay community, this persecution of homosexuals is
usually ignored. That is why this monument was raised on
September 5th 1987.
This Homomonument has become one of the world's foremost
public memorials of the lesbians and gay men who were
harassed, imprisoned, or executed. Every 4th of May
-during the annual national memorial service- gays,
lesbians, bisexuals and trangenders gather around this
monument in the evening to remember all the victims of
gay hate.
The
design of the Homomonument
An
important aspect of the monument was that it should
address both men and women. It was also not meant to be a
traditional monument tucked away in some dark corner, but
a living monument in the centre of the city. It was also
not intended to be a monument only to those who suffered
under the Nazi regime. Oppression of homosexuality
existed long before the Nazis and continues up to the
present day.
Therefore the Homomonument has three dimensions: a
warning from the past, a recognition and confrontation
with the present, and an inspiration for the future.
The basis of
Karin Daan's design is the situation at the site: a bend
in the quay-wall of the canal. Here she designed a
triangle out of pink granite. The pink triangle was the
sign homosexuals had to wear in the Nazi concentration
camps. During the 1970's it became fashionable for gays
and lesbians to wear a pink triangle to confront others
with their sexual orientation.
Between the triangles, daily life carries on undisturbed
(including a busy taxi stand). Together, the three
triangles effectively articulate the Homomonument's
mediation between past, present, and future. Its solemn
symbolic recognition of war and persecution is balanced
by its function as a lively venue for social and
political gatherings.
