Talking about stumbling blocks

Holocaust monument in Berlin, Germany
On this page you can watch a video fragment from Dutch RTL television about this new monument (just click on the 'monument for holocaust' video link).

Today I saw a photograph in a Dutch news paper depicting the new Holocaust monument in Berlin. It did remind me of the things I discussed with German blogger Kerstin Hack from Berlin. I didn't know about this monument until today... so it is a strange coincidence that I mentioned 'stumbling blocks' in my posting (referring to the wounds of the past inflicted by World War II). Read my posting about this here and - in German - this entry from Kerstin on her personal blog. I am looking forward to meeting Kerstin next Friday. She is in Holland to attend a rememberance ceremony in Rotterdam*. Blessed are the peacemakers!

*On May 14, 1940, Nazi warplanes bombed Rotterdam, decimating the city center.

In September 1939, when World War Two broke out, the Netherlands mobilized its army. The Netherlands hoped and expected to stay out of the war, as it had during World War One. The government adhered to a policy of strict neutrality, and the country was totally unprepared for the German attack of May 10, 1940. On May 14, 1940, after the bombing of Rotterdam had swept away the entire center of the city, the Dutch army capitulated. The bombing of Rotterdam cost at least 600 people their lives, and 80,000 people were made homeless. During these first days of the war, 2,300 soldiers were killed and more than 2,000 civilians perished in war-related violence.

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