Homomonument
The Homomonument is a monument in the center of Amsterdam at the Westerkerk on Westermarkt. It was built in 1987 based on a design by the Dutch artist Karin Daan (* 1944) and is dedicated to all homosexual people who have been and are being oppressed or murdered because of their sexual orientation , as well as to those who actively stand up against hatred and oppression and for freedom and equality. It is the first monument of its kind in the world.
Overall symbolism
The monument consists of three equilateral triangles with a side length of 10 meters, which are made of polished pink granite and are placed some distance from each other. Lines made of paving stones connect the angles to form a large equilateral triangle with a side length of 36 meters. Everyday life takes place between these angles, the street along the Keizersgracht also leads through the monument and it can happen that one does not perceive it as a complete work. This open arrangement also underlines the importance for the present and the future.
The design of the monument as a pink equilateral triangle refers to the pink triangle , the bi- and homosexual inmates as marking in the concentration camps had to wear. During the time of National Socialism in the Altreich alone, more than 50,000 young people and men were sentenced under Section 175 , 10,000 to 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, often following their imprisonment, and around 53% of them perished. After the occupation of the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, Arthur Seyß-Inquart issued as Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands on August 3, 1940 an ordinance on "the punishment of unnatural fornication", which for the first time since 1811 made simple homosexuality a criminal offense and a penalty of provided for a maximum of four years in prison. In the 1970s, in the second wave of the European gay movement, the once negative Rosa Winkel became a symbol of emancipation and self-confidence. Since the colorful rainbow flag spread in Europe from the 1990s , knowledge about the pink triangle has been dwindling and its meaning has to be explained more often today.
The monument is intended to express that the past must not repeat itself and calls for vigilance. But it is also dedicated to all those homosexual men and women who have ever or still are oppressed and murdered by governments that do not fit the concept. At the same time it also honors all gays and lesbians who have fought for the freedom and equality of all those people whose sexual orientations and preferences deviate from the social norm .
The individual angles
One of the angles forms steps to and a platform over the Keizersgracht , the second is a podium and the third is set into the ground. The corners of the resulting large angle are deliberately aimed at specific points in the city.
Stages - present
The steps on the Keizersgracht symbolize the present and point to the National Monument on Dam , a central square in Amsterdam. It is a memorial for the victims of the German occupation in World War II and a monument to liberation and peace. That is why it is the focus of the celebrations every year on May 4th, Dutch national day of mourning.
Podium - future
The approximately 60 centimeter high pedestal symbolizes the future and, with the corner of the large triangle, points towards the headquarters of the LGBT organization COC Nederland in Rozenstraat, which was founded in 1946.
Level - past
The angle placed between the paving stones symbolizes the past and one corner points to the Anne Frank House , in which the Jewish girl Anne Frank was hiding. She was discovered and murdered by the National Socialists shortly before the end of the war. Today it houses a museum and a documentation center that actively campaign against fascism, intolerance and racial discrimination. In this corner is a line of verse from the poem Aan eenen jongen visscher published in 1917 : Naar vriendschap zuk een mateloos require . The text comes from Jacob Israël de Haan (1881-1924) and expresses the main driving force of human relationships. The font for this was specially created by typographer Frank Blokland.
De Haan was already openly gay at the time. He published his first novella Pijpelijntjes in 1904 and in it, only slightly veiled, told his own promiscuous gay life with Arnold Aletrino in Amsterdam's working-class district De Pijp . The book was dedicated to Aletrino and the nicknames of the two main characters were the same as in real life. Aletrino and de Haan's fiancée bought almost all of the copies to avoid a scandal in which both would have been involved. De Haan rewrote the novella, used new nicknames and published it without dedication. He lost his jobs as a primary school teacher and journalist for the socialist daily Het Volk . In 1908 he wrote his second novella Pathologieën and then mainly Jewish and gay poetry . De Haan was assassinated in 1924 on behalf of the Zionist Hagana in Palestine because he was against aggressive Zionism and preferred a peaceful solution. There was also a story among the Jewish public in Palestine that Arabs, with whose children de Haan had a relationship, were responsible for the murder, which his murderer refuted decades later . De Haan is now a symbolic figure, both for homosexuals in the Netherlands and for Orthodox Jews in Israel.
Aan eenen jongen visscher / To a young fisherman
Rozen zijn niet zoo schoon as uwe cheeks,
tulips niet as uw bloote voeten tar,
en in geen oogen las ik always meer
Naar vriendschap zuk een mateloos demand.
Achter ons was de eeuwigheid van de zee,
Boven ons bleekte grijs de eeuwige lucht,
Aan 't eenzaam strand dwaalden alleen wij twee,
He was geen different dan het zeegerucht.
Laatste dag seeds, ik went naar mijn Stad.
Gij vaart en vischt tevreden, ik dwaal rond
En vind in stad even quieter landstreek wijk.
Ik ben zóo moede, ik heb veel Rangehad.
Vergeef mij veel, vraag niet wat ik weerstond
En bid dat ik nooit voor uw schoon bezwijk.
Roses are not as beautiful as your cheeks,
tulips are not as tender as your bare feet,
And in no
other eyes have I ever read such an immoderate longing for friendship.
Behind us was eternity of the sea,
Above us the eternal air bleached gray
, Only the two of us wandered on the lonely beach,
There was nothing but the sound of the sea.
Last day together, I went to my town.
You drive and fish contentedly, I wander around
and find refuge neither in town nor in quieter regions.
I am so tired, I loved a lot.
Forgive me a lot, don't ask who I resisted
And beg that I never succumb to your beauty.
Uses and celebrations
Most of all, flowers are placed on the steps to commemorate and the podium is used by people as a meeting point or as a stage at events.
Every year on May 4th, the national day of remembrance of the dead, the homosexual victims of National Socialism are commemorated. Representatives of political parties, social organizations, the military, the police, dignitaries and citizens gather and lay wreaths. In contrast, where it is at this place on May 5, Bevrijdingsdag ( "Liberation"), and on April 30, the koningsdag , celebrated wildly.
It is the world's best known and most admired monument of its kind. It is also used individually. Throughout the year, gays and lesbians from around the world lay flowers in memory of deceased partners and friends; they dance on it, take photos or hug each other in this place.
An information board in Dutch, English and French has existed since 1988. Due to the international fame of the monument, it was later expanded to include German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Hebrew.
History of origin
The idea for a public memorial to commemorate all bisexual and homosexual victims of the war and the persecution came up soon after the war, but it only became more concrete when visibility became a political goal for many gays and lesbians. The first dreams about a “monument to the unknown homosexual” were written down in 1961 by Jef Last under the pseudonym Ohira . On May 4, 1970, LGBT activists laid a wreath of lavender in front of the National Monument on Dam Square (→ symbolism of violet ). However, this was removed by the police, labeled as desecration and the activists arrested. During the 1970s, such actions were repeated with varying degrees of success. This and the following events also coincide with isolated initiatives around the world to research the persecution of homosexuals during National Socialism in the 1970s and a broader historical analysis that began in the 1980s.
In May 1979, with an open letter from the gay activist and member of the Pacifist Socialist Partij Bob van Schijndel (* 1945) to the mayor, a concrete initiative started for a memorial of his own. Some members of the city parliament spoke out against it, but a coalition of different organizations of the Dutch lesbian and gay movement succeeded in changing its minds in the city parliament. There was also international support. The Homomonument Foundation was established in the autumn of the same year . The community determined a place where the memorial could stand. In 1980 a committee approved by the city parliament, made up of representatives of the various LGBT organizations, members of the city administration and design experts, started a competition. In 1981 the jury decided in favor of the artist Karin Daan's (* 1944) proposal . However, it took some time to raise money for the construction. The equivalent of 180,000 euros was mostly made available by individual donors and collected through charity events. Companies did not want to associate their names with the project. The big night voor het Ochtendgloren (“night before dawn”) on December 7, 1986 in the Concertgebouw was the last fundraising event. A few days later the city parliament approved the missing 50,000 euros and on April 28, 1987 the foundation stone was laid by Mini Luimstra-Albeda, the Christian Democratic city councilor for art. The memorial was inaugurated on September 5, 1987, 100 months after the first initiative and 100 years after the founding of the Scientific and Humanitarian Committee , the historic beginning of the gay and lesbian movement.
In contrast to the Gay Liberation sculptures created in 1979 by the American George Segal , which commemorate the Stonewall uprising and were erected in New York City and Los Angeles , there were no protests against the Homomonument . This may be due to several factors: The Homomonument project benefited from the greater general tolerance in Amsterdam that had grown over several decades. It uses abstract symbols rather than person sculptures depicting ethnic and cultural types. In addition, various groups of the gay and lesbian community were involved from the start. And finally, Daan lives openly as a lesbian, but this was not an issue in the selection, as it was based on a competition in which many different people took part.
A model of the Homomonument on a scale of 1:25 and with a side length of 160 centimeters can be viewed in Madurodam in The Hague next to the Magna Plaza shopping center and the Rijksmuseum . It was inaugurated on October 24, 2006, along with other objects, by Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen , the 17-year-old Mayor of Madurodam Maurits van der Donk and COC Chairman Frank van Dalen. The project was initiated by the COC and was supported by other gay organizations.
The 20th anniversary was celebrated from 9th to 10th September 2007. In addition, the public library of Amsterdam showed the exhibition (Homo-) Monument van Trots (“(Homo-) Monument of Pride ”) until January 6th, 2008, where various experts and visitors from all over the world explained what the monument means to them . Then the exhibition went on tour.
See also
literature
- Thijs Bartels: Dansen op het Homomonument . Schorer Boeken, Amsterdam 2003, ISBN 90-73341-17-5 . (Dutch)
Web links
- Official website of the homomonument
- Homomonument Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Inspiritus
- Monument van Trots (Dutch) - Exhibition for the 20th anniversary
- Homologie - Deel 1: Het Homomonument (Dutch) - with a television report that was made between 1981 and 1987 (for Windows Media Player or RealPlayer ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Hans Hafkamp: Het Homomonument, veel méér dan een vlam voor de onbekende homo , September 26, 2003
- ↑ a b c d Richard G. Mann: Patronage II: The Western World since 1900 ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 9, 2005, as of December 11, 2006. In: Claude J. Summers: glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture
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↑ “Statistisches Reichsamt” & Jürgen Baumann: Paragraph 175 , Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1968 p. 61
Compiled in: Hans-Georg Stümke, Rudi Finkler: Rosa Winkel, pink lists , Rowohlt TB-V., July 1985, ISBN 3-499- 14827-7 , p. 262 - ↑ Ilse Kokula: Written statement on the hearing of the Interior Committee of the German Bundestag on June 24, 1987 . In: German Bundestag (ed.): Reparation and compensation for National Socialist injustice . Bonn 1987, p. 325
- ↑ a b c Jason Goldman: Homomonument ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2002, as of June 25, 2005. In: Claude J. Summers (Ed.): Glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture
- ^ Gert Hekma: Jacob Israel de Haan: sexology, poetry, politics . University of Queensland, Past Conferences - Sexuality at the Fin de Siècle: The Makings of a "Central Problem" - Titles and Abstracts, accessed March 13, 2008
- ↑ Jaeob Israel de Haan: Liederen , PN van Kampen & Zooji, Amsterdam 1917
- ^ German translation: Stephan, as of October 8, 2013
- ↑ Mini-Homomonument in Madurodam onthuld ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , coc.nl, accessed on: March 17, 2008
- ↑ ANP : 20 years homomonument ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , amsterdamgay.tribe.net, September 9, 2007
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 28 ″ N , 4 ° 53 ′ 5 ″ E