Homomonument

100,000 men were arrested by the Nazi regime for their sexual orientation... and this monument beneath your feet honors every single one of them, plus countless others who faced persecution simply for who they loved. You're standing on the world's first monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ victims of persecution, unveiled right here in Westermarkt on September 5th, 1987. Artist Karin Daan embedded three massive pink granite triangles into the pavement around you, each one strategically aimed like an arrow through time itself. The triangle you see extending over the Keizersgracht canal points toward the National Monument on Dam Square, representing the present. But look across the water - that second triangle aims directly at the Anne Frank House, symbolizing the past, while the third points toward the headquarters of COC Nederland, the world's oldest continuously operating gay rights organization, representing hope for the future. The pink triangle wasn't chosen by accident. In Nazi concentration camps, this very symbol was sewn onto prisoners' uniforms to mark them for persecution. But here, carved in granite stronger than any oppression, it transforms shame into pride. Jacob Israël de Haan, a gay Jewish poet, wrote the words inscribed here: "Such an endless longing for friendship." Every year on Remembrance Day, you'll find fresh wreaths placed on these triangles... because some monuments don't just remember the past - they actively shape the future.