Plattegrond ECK-kade Engels

You are standing next to the former site of Warehouse (‘Loods’ in Dutch) 24.
During the WW II, the German occupying forces gathered Jews from
Rotterdam and the island region to the south of the city in this location
before deporting them to concentration camps in Eastern Europe.

The wall
Loods 24 was a warehouse used to store tobacco. During WW II the warehouse served as a
transit location for the deportation of Jews. The part of the wall still standing here now is a
remnant of the wall that served as an enclosure of the facility.

Before 1940, approximately 13,000 Jews lived in Rotterdam. When the deportations started
on 30 July 1942 their number had already declined to about 11,000. A total of 6,790 persons
transited through Loods 24 and were transported in eight separate transports, mostly to
Sobibor and Auschwitz. Only 488 people (6 percent) survived these deportations. Of the
total number of 11,000 Jewish residents in 1942 just 36,9 percent survived the war.

Memorial for Jewish children
In 2013 the Memorial for Jewish children was placed next to the wall of Loods 24. This
memorial shows the names all 686 Jewish children from Rotterdam younger than 12 years of
age who were deported and murdered.

The Memorial for Jewish children is a design of the renowned Dutch architect Wim Quist
(1930-2022) and has the shape of a semi-circle. This semi-circle consists of metal sheets
containing all the known names of the deported children. One sheet is empty, in memory of
the children whose names we do not know. On 10 April 2013, Rotterdam mayor Ahmed
Aboutaleb unveiled the memorial in the presence of 686 pupils of Rotterdam primary
schools.

Fourteen silver lime trees
In 1997, fourteen silver lime trees (also known as silver linden) were planted in this spot, in
honour of Rotterdam native Jan Zwartendijk. In WW II, Jan Zwartendijk worked as a diplomat
in Lithuania and in this capacity he helped thousands of Jews to escape from the Holocaust.

LIVES 10,000 STONES
In 2022 a new memorial was unveiled in this location. The design of artist Martine Herman is
called LIVES 10,000 STONES and commemorates the Jews from Rotterdam and the island
region to the south of the city who were murdered in WW II. The memorial is composed of
10,000 individual stones, with each stone representing a unique life.

In order to make the quay greener, the work of art integrates strips planted with various
kinds of ornamental grasses. These plants move with the wind and symbolize the living
memory of the Jewish citizens of Rotterdam who perished. Between the patches with grass
there are empty spaces, as a symbol of the emptiness the victims left behind.

Olive tree

Since 2022 an olive tree is standing across from the wall of Loods 24. This tree was a gift of
the Israeli Embassy and the Jewish National Fund to the City of Rotterdam and symbolizes
peace and connection. In order to protect the roots against the cold in winter, the tree has
been placed in a large container.

See the QR code next to the container.