The location

Rabbijn Maarsenplein

The square – a conscious choice

The new monument has been installed on Rabbijn Maarsenplein on Bezemstraat and Sint Jacobstraat, opposite the garden of the Nieuwe Kerk.
A conscious choice, because the area around the square formed the heart of the Jewish district in The Hague from 1625 until the Second World War. There were also various schools here, including a Jewish primary school. On the orders of the German occupiers, Jewish children were forced to go to Jewish schools. The primary school on Bezemstraat remained open until 1943.

After 1945, the Jewish district became run down. The derelict houses and schools were finally demolished and replaced by new homes. The open area on Bezemstraat and Sint Jacobstraat which was once the site of the school playground was known as the Bezemplein. In 1999, the city of The Hague decided to give this square an official name. It was named after Isaac Maarsen (1892-1943), chief rabbi of The Hague since 1925. He and his wife and two of their three daughters were killed in Sobibór in 1943. Their third daughter was gassed in Auschwitz.

This square already had the Children’s monument and a replica of the bronze plaquette called ‘Rachel weent’ (Rachel weeps). Both memorials were created in memory of the Jewish children in The Hague who were killed in the Second World War.’