JACQUELINE VAN MAARSEN
First stone laid at Dutch Holocaust Memorial in Amsterdam
THE HAGUE – A friend of World War II Jewish diarist Anne Frank laid the first stone Wednesday at a new memorial under construction in Amsterdam to honor all Dutch victims of the Holocaust. “I almost can't believe it, but it is now really happening,” Jacques Grishaver, chairman of the Netherlands Auschwitz Committee, said in a statement. “The first of the more than 102,000 stones has been laid.”The last of the stones, each of which is engraved with a name, is expected to be placed in the memorial in March. A Dutch court cleared the way last year for the memorial to be constructed. Amsterdam Municipality had granted permission for construction to start in 2017, but residents argued that it was too big for the location and could cause traffic problems.