photo Jannes Linders
The artwork
The Monument voor alle gevallenen 1940 – 1945 was created as a result of a competition held by the Comité tot Oprichting Gedenkteken Rotterdam, founded on May 16, 1945. None of the entries were satisfactory, after which the Kring van Nederlandse Beeldhouwers (Dutch Sculptors Circle), on its own initiative, put forward several sculptors, including Mari Andriessen. He had gained a great reputation for sculptures referring to the resistance, such as De dokwerker (1952) in Amsterdam, and was awarded the commission in 1953.
Andriessen, after staying in Rotterdam for a while, made a design of a sculpture group consisting of a woman and two men. At a later stage, he added another child to make the whole more dynamic. The four figures embody present, past and future: the sorrow for the past takes shape in the bent head of the woman, the child symbolizes the becoming of life, the man in the middle shares the sorrow of the woman, but at the same time has his arm around the man, who is facing the future and with spade in hand is ready for reconstruction.
The statue is strategically placed, between the old City Hall and the new Lijnbaan building. On the pedestal are the words ‘Stronger through struggle’. Wilhelmina spoke these words after her return from England, and Rotterdam included them as a motto in its city coat of arms. On the other side is a poem that Clara Eggink wrote to accompany the statue: “The work of the day requires a gifted man. One must forget disaster for its recovery. Like the swarm of seagulls on your harbors, life’s urge inevitably turns. Yet your prosperity is also based on the untimely grave of those who now know of no construction. Remember this irreparability – then shall thy posterity eat its bread in freedom.” This sculpture, together with De verwoeste stad by Ossip Zadkine and Ongebroken verzet by Hubert van Lith, forms an ensemble around the war and the resistance. Princess Wilhelmina unveiled the sculpture on May 4, 1957.
