The memorial is located in the courtyard behind the Zuidplein buildings Grieving woman by Cor van Kralingen. The statue was erected in 1958 and commemorates the shooting of twenty people on March 12, 1945. In reprisal for two attacks, 3 civilians were shot that day. Twenty men fell before a firing squad on Pleinweg in South Rotterdam; the other twenty were executed on Hofplein. At first there was a simple wooden cross as the first monument. Later, money was collected for a permanent monument, which was unveiled on May 1958, XNUMX, by order of the Comité Pleinwegmonument. The statue is a kneeling, mourning woman, her head bowed, supported by one arm. The statue stands on a plinth, built of stones, on which the names of the executed and the text “For those who fell".
Cor van Kralingen (Rotterdam, 1908 - Mijnsheerenland, 1977) was a sculptor and illustrator. Between 1935 and 1960 he made many pen drawings for the Varagids and publishing house Thieme. During the reconstruction period, Van Kralingen was able to design reliefs and facing bricks in Rotterdam. He designed it Twentsch Ros (1948) on the roof of the then Twentsche Bank on the Blaak and the eight animal figures of the Hofplein fountain (1955). He also made a number of war monuments, such as Falling man (1951) en Woman with pigeon (1965) at the war graves on Cemetery Crooswijk, and the Ttraveling woman (1958) on the Goereesestraat in Charlois. His style was characterized as invariably figurative. He liked simplicity and a classically oriented beauty.
Pleinweg Monument Committee and Municipality of Rotterdam
Owner
Municipality of Rotterdam
About the artwork
The memorial is located in the courtyard behind the Zuidplein buildings Grieving woman by Cor van Kralingen. The statue was erected in 1958 and commemorates the shooting of twenty people on March 12, 1945. In reprisal for two attacks, 3 civilians were shot that day. Twenty men fell before a firing squad on Pleinweg in South Rotterdam; the other twenty were executed on Hofplein. At first there was a simple wooden cross as the first monument. Later, money was collected for a permanent monument, which was unveiled on May 1958, XNUMX, by order of the Comité Pleinwegmonument. The statue is a kneeling, mourning woman, her head bowed, supported by one arm. The statue stands on a plinth, built of stones, on which the names of the executed and the text “For those who fell".
Cor van Kralingen (Rotterdam, 1908 - Mijnsheerenland, 1977) was a sculptor and illustrator. Between 1935 and 1960 he made many pen drawings for the Varagids and publishing house Thieme. During the reconstruction period, Van Kralingen was able to design reliefs and facing bricks in Rotterdam. He designed it Twentsch Ros (1948) on the roof of the then Twentsche Bank on the Blaak and the eight animal figures of the Hofplein fountain (1955). He also made a number of war monuments, such as Falling man (1951) en Woman with pigeon (1965) at the war graves on Cemetery Crooswijk, and the Ttraveling woman (1958) on the Goereesestraat in Charlois. His style was characterized as invariably figurative. He liked simplicity and a classically oriented beauty.
