Homomonument
Monument
Theme: Violence against women, sexual diversities and/or for gender reasons
Address
Westermarkt, 1016 DV
Country
Netherlands
City
Amsterdam
Continent
Europe
Theme: Violence against women, sexual diversities and/or for gender reasons
Purpose of Memory
To commemorate all homosexual persons who suffer and/or have suffered persecution because of their sexual orientation by governmental regimes that object to their mere existence.
Date of creation / identification / declaration
1987
Public Access
Free
Location description
The Homomonument is composed of three equilateral triangles of pink granite with edges of 10 meters long, each of which is interconnected to the other two by lines of the same material that are drawn in continuity between two of its sides. In this way, these lines form a large equilateral triangle of 36 meters on each side, whose vortices are the three pink triangles. The first triangle is located on the embankment of the Keizersgracht canal and has four steps that taper downward from the sidewalk to a platform resting on the water. The second triangle is shaped like a podium and rises 60 centimeters above the surface. The third triangle is arranged at the same level as the paving stones of the square. It was designed by Dutch artist Karin Daan.
A sign on the site reads: “Homomonument: Commemorates all men and women oppressed and persecuted for their homosexuality. It supports the International Lesbian and Gay Movement in its fight against contempt, discrimination and oppression. It demonstrates that we are not alone. It calls for continued vigilance. Past, Present and Future are represented by the 3 triangles in this square.”
Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the first homoerotic novels, medical books on homosexuality and male pornography in the history of the Netherlands were published. The Christian political parties that dominated Parliament responded to this “liberal climate” in 1911, when laws against abortion, pornography and same-sex sexual acts with minors under the age of 21 were passed. The latter law, commonly referred to as “Article 248bis,” introduced a discriminatory provision into Dutch law: while the age of consent for heterosexual behavior remained sixteen, the age of consent for homosexual behavior was set at twenty-one. For its part, in the scientific and medical fields during these years, medicalization advanced as a response to “treat” homosexuality. The naturalization of homosexuality in emancipatory discourses had a counterpart in its pathologization by doctors, who began to castrate “sexual offenders”, including homosexuals, in the 1930s and continued to do so until the 1960s. However, Article 248 bis was the main expression of the Dutch legal system’s condemnation of homosexuality. From 1911 to 1971, 5,000 people were prosecuted under this law, 99% of them men.
Other homophobic provisions were also adopted: among them, local regulations introduced in the 1930s prohibited men from staying more than 5 minutes in public toilets. Lesbians had to face restrictions as women including, for example, limitations for going out in public and visiting bars, or the obligation to wear clothing “appropriate” to their gender.
With the advent of World War II, beginning in 1938 and primarily during the German occupation that began on May 10, 1940, the main change was the introduction of paragraph 175 against homosexuals in the Netherlands. This law prohibited sexual intimacies between men of all ages. Homosexuals were already persecuted and oppressed under Hitler’s regime in Germany, as they did not fit into the concept of a strong Aryan nation and were therefore targeted for elimination. Homosexuals arrested and taken to concentration camps were given a “mark” in the shape of a pink triangle. They were forced to wear this symbol on the upper left corner of their jackets and on the right leg of their pants. These triangles were two to three centimeters larger than the triangles worn by other prisoners, so that everyone could see from a distance that the wearer was a homosexual man. Lesbian women were classified as political prisoners or social deviants and were therefore forced to wear a red or black triangle.
During Nazi rule in Germany and the territories occupied and annexed by the regime between 1938 and 1945, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 homosexuals were taken to concentration and extermination camps, the vast majority of them male. The mortality rate for these prisoners has been estimated at 60 percent, a higher rate than for other prisoner groups. A smaller number of men were sentenced to death or killed in Nazi euthanasia centers.
After the end of the German occupation, the main post-war Dutch homosexual organization, the COC (Center for Culture and Leisure, in english), emerged in 1946. However, the number of prosecutions under Article 248 bis reached its highest level in the 1950s. From 1955 onwards, discotheques, hotels, saunas and leather bars opened, and Amsterdam became one of the centers of European gay culture. In the 1960s, gays and lesbians began to express themselves more openly in public space. The gay movement became more organized and fought more articulately and institutionally against anti-homosexual discrimination. In 1971 Article 248 bis was abolished; in 1973 openly gay and lesbian people were admitted to the army, and most psychiatric professionals in the Netherlands abandoned the medical conception of homosexuality as a disease. In 1978 the possibility of sex reassignment surgery was legally recognized; such surgery could be paid for through the national medical aid fund. The first Dutch lesbian-only bar, Tabu, opened in 1970 in Amsterdam, and the first radical lesbian group, “Purple September,” was organized in 1972. From the late 1970s, gay and lesbian groups were formed in political parties, trade unions, universities, health organizations, the police and the military. A new newspaper, the Gay Krant, became the main organ for the dissemination of gay civil society. In 1977 the annual gay and lesbian parade was inaugurated.
The sum of these social and political events and movements advanced the social consideration that homosexuality was not a problem, and the majority of Dutch people at the time came to support the legal reforms of the sexual revolution, including the decriminalization of homosexuality, adultery, abortion, prostitution and pornography. These changes transformed the Netherlands into one of the most sexually progressive countries in the world.
The creation of the Homomonument arose from the dissatisfaction of Dutch gay and lesbian groups with the lack of attention to the persecution of homosexuals in World War II victims’ commemorations. Ideas in favor of a public memorial had been spreading in these circles since shortly after the war, and at the Center for Culture and Leisure (COC, in dutch) there were discussions proposing a memorial as early as 1961. Despite complaints about the widespread suppression of homosexual persecution during the German occupation at remembrance events, the organization of a public memorial was not fully realized until the 1970s, when visibility became an important political goal for many gay and lesbian emancipation groups.
Further political catalysts came in 1970, after two members of the Amsterdam Homosexual Youth Action Groups were arrested for attempting to lay a lavender wreath at the National War Memorial in Amsterdam’s Dam Square during the annual national memorial service. The wreath, which was intended to draw public attention to the thousands of gay men and women persecuted during the war, was removed by police and denounced as a disgrace.
Throughout the 1970s, similar wreath-laying demonstrations were held with varying success. In these and other ways activists constantly pressed for the inclusion of homosexuals in the public’s collective memory of Nazism’s “social purification” campaigns.
On May 5, 1979 – one day after that year’s Memorial and Liberation Day commemoration – Bob van Schijndel, a member of the gay group of the PSP political party, called for a monument to be erected for the murdered gays. The idea was widely supported by the Dutch gay and lesbian movement, and also received enthusiastic international support. The municipality of Amsterdam designated the Westermarkt as the site. In 1980 the Homomonument Foundation was established, with initial members drawn from the COC, the lesbian group 7152 and gay groups from political parties across all the Netherlands’ ideological spectrum. The foundation’s initial mission was to create the monument, for which a competition was held, artists were invited to submit designs and a jury of experts in the fields of art and design was assembled. The jury chose artist Karin Daan’s proposal as the winner. To raise funds, a Recommendation Committee was formed consisting of people active nationally in politics, the arts and religious life. Over the next eight years, the necessary resources to build the monument were raised: part of it came from donations from individuals and gay organizations; another important source was the proceeds from various charity festivals, such as the Spring Festival in 1980 and a “Homomonu-month” in October 1981. On December 7, 1986, the “Night Before Dawn” took place in the famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Several days later, the Dutch Parliament donated the equivalent of 50,000 euros in today’s worth, which made it possible to start construction. The city of Amsterdam, the province of North Holland and a ministry had already made substantial contributions. The 800,000 euros required for the monument’s renovation in 2003 were paid in full by the municipality of Amsterdam. The foundation stone was laid on April 28, 1987, at the Westermarkt, and the opening ceremony took place on September 5, 1987.
Although the monument officially commemorates the suffering and attempted elimination of homosexual men and women during the Third Reich, it was conceived and executed more broadly as a recognition of the persecution suffered by gays and lesbians throughout history. The Homomonument was initially conceived to address three dimensions: a warning of the past, an acknowledgment of and confrontation with the present, and an inspiration for the future. With these aspects in mind, the point of the triangle resting on the water of the nearby canal and symbolizing the present is oriented towards the National War Memorial on Dam Square, in the center of Amsterdam. The second triangle, raised sixty centimeters above the ground as a podium, symbolizes the future. This triangle points to the COC building (the world’s oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian organization) on the Rozenstraat. Daan placed the third triangle leveling with the ground, between the cobblestones. It marks the Anne Frank House and symbolizes the past. Engraved on this stone is a text that reads: “Naar vriendschap zulk een mateloos verlangen” (“Such an endless desire for friendship”). This text is an excerpt from the poem “To a young fisherman”, written by Jacob Israël De Haan (1881-1924), considered the first gay activist in the Netherlands for his writings between 1900 and 1910.
The memorial is also a place where people go to commemorate and celebrate. Gay men and women from all over the world attend the monument to lay flowers, take pictures and embrace each other. The memorial also serves as a place to remember loved ones who have died of complications from HIV/AIDS.
Since 1988, every year on May 4, people from all walks of life gather at the Homomonument to commemorate the homosexual victims of the war. Representatives of political parties, social organizations, the military, the police, dignitaries and ordinary citizens come to observe the traditional two minutes of silence at 8 p.m. and listen to speakers. The Dutch flag flies at half-mast and the “Wilhemus” (Dutch national anthem) is sung. While May 4 is reserved for remembering the fallen, the Homomonument itself serves as a venue for celebrations on Queen’s Day, April 30, and Liberation Day, May 5. On those days, gay men and women gather at this monument to dance and have fun. The national anthem is replaced by pop music, live performances and drag queens. Since 2022 the site hosts the ‘Celebrate Life’ gathering on September 5, while every November 20 a commemoration gathering is held on the occasion of the International Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Homomonument is thus a place for both contemplation and celebration. These two functions do not conflict, but rather complement each other. It is also adopted by the community as a place of protest in the face of various events such as the 2014 anti-gay law in Russia, the 2016 Orlando Club attack, the 2019 Nashville Declaration, and the 2021 Hungarian anti-LGBT law.
The Homomonument Foundation is currently dedicated to promoting the space as a living memorial, an international symbol of hope and pride, and an inspiration for respect, solidarity and equality. The foundation initiates, coordinates and supports celebrations, demonstrations, exhibitions, parties, commemorations and other activities at the Homomonument.
