3 Best Sights in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Unveiled in 2021, 76 years after the end of World War II, the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of Names is the first memorial site in the Netherlands to display all the names of the Dutch victims of the Shoah, including their dates of birth and age at death. Designed by the Polish-Jewish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, the monument is made up of four reflective stainless steel Hebrew letters that translate to "in memoriam," and below it, 102,000 bricks with the names of murdered Jewish, Sinti, and Roma people. Situated in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, it is a touching remembrance.

The world's first memorial to persecuted gays and lesbians was designed by Karin Daan and unveiled here in 1987. Three huge triangles of pinkish granite—representing past, present, and future—form a larger triangle. On May 4 (Remembrance Day), there are services here commemorating all homosexual victims in history, with an emphasis on the victims of World War II, when thousands were killed (the 50,000 sentenced were all forced to wear pink triangles stitched to their clothing). Flowers are laid daily for lost friends, especially on the descending triangle that forms a dock of sorts into Keizersgracht. The points of the triangles point to the Anne Frank House, the National Monument on Dam Square, and the COC Center, the gay-and-lesbian organization founded in 1946 (discreetly called the Center of Culture and Leisure Activities). Near the Homomonument is the kiosk housing Pink Point, the best source of information on gay and lesbian Amsterdam.

The National Monument, a towering white travertine obelisk, was erected in 1956 as a memorial to those who died in World War II. Designed by architect J. J. P. Oud, who thought that De Stijl minimalism was in keeping with the monument's message, it's the focal point for Remembrance Day (May 4), when Dutch losses in wars and peacekeeping missions around the world are commemorated. The monument contains 12 urns: 11 are filled with earth from all the Dutch provinces, and the 12th was meant to contain earth from the former colonies (Indonesia, Suriname, and the Antilles) but was never filled. Oud designed the steps to be used as seating, and today it's still a favored rest spot and a great place to watch the world go by.