Voices concerning the project…

Projektverantwortliche:

“The cross-border project offers a unique opportunity in the German-Dutch cooperation to commemorate the history of the deportation of Jewish citizens during the Nazi regime, to look back on and reappraise this and give it an appropriate place in public.”

Bernhard Bramlage
District Administrator – Rural district Leer

“The municipality Oldampt and its inhabitants provide through participation in the project” On the way of Anne Frank “to contribute to the enlargement of awareness about the suffering of the Jewish citizens and Mitt citizens during the Second World War. I am proud that we can cooperate on the part of the municipality of Oldambt on the project. The great feature of this is the cooperation with the German partners.”

Pieter Smit
Mayor – Municipality Oldambt

„If a single word can describe the essence of this project, then it’s probably” the meeting “. First and foremost, the encounter with the history of Jewish persecution – as well as in our own country and among our neighbors. In addition, the joint restoration of the monument “The 102,000 stones” of German and Dutch former job seekers an important focus of the project. In this way, the traces of the past are given a contemporary significance.”

Dirk Mulder
Director – Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork

Lenkungsgruppe:

„If German and Dutch restored  the memorial Westerbork side by side, when Dutch interview German eyewitness for the events during the deportation and when German and Dutch create memorial sites at the stations in common, then perople understand, accept and perceive themselves actually – regardless of origin, nationality and the past.”

Monika Fricke
Project leader – Zentrum für Arbeit

„When the eastern neighbors have asked us to cooperate in the restoration of the memorial, there was no doubt. Thus, we are able to consolidate the already well cooperation even more. Another aspect of participation in the project has a historical background. After Amsterdam, the proportion of Jewish fellow citizens in the population in the municipality Winschoten was the highest.”

Thea Gielleit
Municipality Oldambt

„For me, the project “On the way of Anne Frank” figures a common journey from the past to the present and back. We now have the knowledge and experience of the past in the present. I hope that this knowledge and experience to contribute to a better future.”

Ellen van der Waerden
Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork

„The visible and invisible regional linkages and connections we share in common, both in the presence and in the past shape our identity. To visualize these linkages and connections in this cross-border project opens many new doors in individual and community interaction.”

Ben Brink
Rural district Leer

„As the atrocities of the Nazi regime can not be undone, it is even more important to work up these events for the posterity and make the results available to the public. The cross-border cooperation between Germany and the Netherlands, underlines the importance of the project. In our society there is no place for inhuman ideology of any kind and may never again find a place. Never again.”

Anke Wessels
Rural district Leer

„For the Working Group School Rhauderfehn eV, it is a great honor to be able to controbute for that long-term unemployed people from Germany and the Netherlands are working together on the restoration of the stones and therefore to make a small contribution to the memory of the victims of Kamp Westerbork and make the atrocities of the Nazi regime never be forgotten. We thank the Dutch for the trust placed in us and wish us all a successful project.”

Helmut Fennen
Working Group School Rhauderfehn (AKSR e.V.)

Projektmitarbeiter:

„As a direct neighbor, it a great honor for all of us to be jointly involved in such a politically and culturally relevant topic. The German-Dutch cooperation is an exciting challenge in which mutual respect plays a very important role. We all learn an incredible amount from each other.”

Holger Weers
Working Group School Rhauderfehn (AKSR e.V.)
Instructor german group

Are proud to working together – the team of the restoration of the 102,000 stones

„My name is Sake Elzinga (1959) and I am working as a photographer for the Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork for 30 years. Together with Willem Vugteveen I conducted vocational integration projects in the Netherlands and Germany in advance. Through these activities, I finally came in touch to the project “On the way of Anne Frank”. By working together, I see the project as an opportunity to get insights across borders, promote mutual understanding and to develop friendships.”

Sake Elzinga
Photographer

„I see the participation in the project “On the way from Anne Frank” as a milestone that can rewrite the German-Dutch to history. From my parents view such cross-border cooperation would not have been possible – now it really happens. I am proud to tell my children that forgiveness is worth … but not to forget.”

Willem Vugteveen
Tutor Working Group