Jewish children's monument (2013) Wim Quist

photo Otto Snoek
About the artwork

The Jewish children's monument was founded in memory of the 686 Rotterdam Jewish children aged 0 to 12, who were deported from Loods 1942 to Westerbork in 1943 and 24. From there they were transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor, where they were all murdered. The steel arch is a design by architect Wim Quist. All the names of the children and their ages are engraved on the arch. Quist designed the memorial like a long ribbon; hemisphere, so that the viewer surrounds himself with their names. The monument is located next to the remaining part of the wall of Loods 24. This remnant was part of a long wall that enclosed Loods 24 and from where approximately 7.000 Jews from Rotterdam and the surrounding area were transferred to Westerbork. The deportations started on 24 July 30 from Loods 1942, which is why an annual commemoration takes place on 30 July. It Jewish children's monument was unveiled by Mayor Aboutaleb on April 10, 2013. Nearly 700 Rotterdam primary school students, invited guests and interested parties were present. Click here .

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About the artist

Wim Quist (Amsterdam, 1930 – there, 2022) graduated from the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam in 1960, after which he established himself as an architect in Rotterdam. The geometric box shape and the visible construction are important themes in Quist's work. Characteristic are the regularly recurring diagonals in his design. From 1975 to 1979 he was Chief Government Architect. In 1995 he merged his own office with Architektenburo Wintermans into Quist Wintermans Architekten. In Rotterdam there are several buildings by him, such as the Schaardijk drinking water complex (1977), the Maritime Museum (1986), the (new) Rotterdamse Schouwburg (1988), the Willemswerf office building (1989) and the Robeco office building (1992). Quist received the AJ van Eyck Prize (1970), the BNA Kubus (1986), the David Roëll Prize (1990) and the Oeuvre Prize for Architecture from the Fonds BKVB (2007), among others.

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