In Amsterdam, the February strike of 1941 was commemorated on the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein. Mayor Femke Halsema and writer Johan Fretz, among others, will give a speech. Wreaths and flowers are also laid at the statue of De Dokwerker on the square.
Jaïr Stranders, chairman of the Committee for the Remembrance of the February Strike 1941, gave a speech, while music and spoken word artist Benjamin Fro performed during the ceremony.
This year marks 83 years since tens of thousands of Amsterdam residents stopped working to stand up for their Jewish fellow citizens who were deported by the German occupiers.
The strike on February 25 and 26, 1941 was triggered by the raid in the city a few days earlier. In the process, 389 Jewish men were arrested and deported.
The resistance action spread to Zaanstreek, Haarlem, Velsen, Utrecht, Hilversum and Weesp. It was the first large-scale resistance action against the German occupiers in the Netherlands. The Germans ended the strike violently. Nine people were killed and more than 20 seriously injured.
