Hundreds of Thousands of Bricks Construct the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names

After successfully designing memorials and several museums related to the Holocaust, Studio Libeskind was again trusted to design the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names in Amsterdam. In this project, Rijnboutt also collaborated closely as a local firm to ensure design, practice, and implementation compliance with Dutch laws and regulations.

Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names by Studio Libeskind (cr: Kees Hummel)

A memorial to commemorate the victims of Nazi (cr: Kees Hummel)

Located in the city center, the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names is adjacent to Jewish cultural buildings and is connected to the history of Amsterdam's Jewish community. This monument was designed to commemorate the victims, most of whom were Jews, who were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. To honor each individual, a monument wall was constructed of 102,000 new bricks bearing the victims' names. In addition, the designer added another 1,000 bricks that were left empty to commemorate people whose identities are not yet known.

Hundreds of thousands of brick (cr: Kees Hummel)

Reflective stainless steel element (cr: Kees Hummel)

This monument is a semi-public space with a park-like appearance. The bricks are arranged straight and parallel to form a two-meter-high labyrinth. Four stainless steel reflective surfaces are designed to overlap the walls by hovering above them. The volume, which appears to rotate haphazardly from the eye's perspective, actually imitates the four Hebrew letters that form a word meaning “in memory of” when viewed from above.

The memorial viewed from above

The combination of gravel, pavement, bricks, and stainless steel (cr: Kees Hummel)

The landscape surface is covered with a small amount of pavement and the rest with gravel. Natural stone elements allow water and air to enter, so gutters or joints are not required. Apart from that, due to the small particles, it can also be arranged continuously, even touching trees. The space also has dark monolithic seating with geometric shapes that match the brick, stone, and stainless steel elements.