#Monument
Jewish Monument
Immediately after the Kristallnacht, the attack orchestrated by the Nazis on the German Jews and their possessions in the night from 9 to 10 November 1938, a wave of Jewish refugees got underway, also towards the Netherlands. A group of around 120 Jewish refugees ended up in Reuver. They found temporary shelter in the local Heilig Hartklooster (Sacred Heart Convent), where they stayed until 29 August 1939. On that day, they left for Vianda camp in Hoek van Holland, a former export slaughterhouse that served as a camp for Jewish refugees. Before leaving Reuver, the refugees thanked the locals by building a grotto in honour of the Holy Virgin Mary in the garden of the convent. It was made of clinkers originating from a local pottery company.
The Jewish monument in Reuver (municipality of Beesel) is an expression of gratitude of the more than one hundred German Jewish refugees for the help and hospitality they received from the Dominican Sisters during their stay between December 1938 and the end of August 1939. The monument has the shape of a Mary's grotto and was built with clinkers from a Reuver-based stoneware factory. A memorial at the grotto is a reminder of the stay of these refugees.