Names of SS members removed from Eindhoven war memorial

The names of 22 people which had been included by mistake on a 1950s war memorial in Eindhoven will be removed, council officials say.

An investigation earlier this year had shown that the names of six members of the SS, three members of the pro-Nazi NSB and 13 men who served in the German army figured in the list of Eindhoven’s war dead.

“No personal history is black and white but we feel nevertheless that these names don’t belong on a monument commemorating Eindhoven’s World War II victims,” local broadcaster Omroep Brabant quoted mayor Jeroen Dijsselboem as saying.

The council is hoping to contact family members of the people whose names will be removed “to explain why the decision was made,” the broadcaster said.

The investigation, prompted by Foundation 18 September, which organises activities surrounding the liberation of Eindhoven, also showed that some 155 names were missing, including those of Sinti and Roma people.

Their names will be added, the council said, and checks will be made every five years to correct any mistakes.

The Eindhoven war memorial is not the only one to include names that shouldn’t be there.  A memorial in Fort De Bilt was found to have listed the names of dozens of people who had not died there, while a memorial in Leidschendam-Voorburg also contained the names of several members of the SS.