Europe’s only significant slavery memorial is physically hidden and marginal

Evidence

The Dutch Slavery Monument, an expressionistic statue commemorating as much the struggle for freedom as the suffering of chains, is hidden discreetly behind a row of hedges in Amsterdam’s Osterpark, a stone’s throw from where Theo van Gogh was felled but a stiff bike ride from the city center. Easy to miss unless you know where to look. Out of sight, cast from national memory save for the item on the national news each July 1 as the anniversary of emancipation is quietly (or sometimes not so quietly) honored by those whose ancestors suffered the chains. Amsterdam’s memorial, revealingly, stands more or less alone across the continental European landscape. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 882

Categorization

• SHARE: A specific person interested in monuments, memory studies, or the van Gogh assassination geography would enjoy this precise detail.
• CANDY: The image of Europe’s main slavery monument tucked behind hedges a bike ride from city center is a striking, tellable fact.