On 29 April 2004 the Digital Jewish Monument Meppel was put into use, after the official presentation of the book ‘Joden in Meppel 1940-1945’.
This was the 3rd of a series of steps.

Small Memorial
Twenty-five years after World War II the initiative was taken to realize a memorial for the Jewish citizens of Meppel who were killed during WWII. It was on the initiative of H. Bakker , a resident of Meppel, that in 1970, in the park ‘Slotplantsoen’ near the demolished synagogue, a small monument was realized. During the ‘silent procession’ on 4 May people could now commemorate in silence their fellow-citizens who were killed.
The monument was a stone with a relief representing Moses with the Tables of the Law.
On it the text both in Dutch and in Hebrew: ‘To the memory of our Jewish fellow-citizens, who during the years of our occupation (1940-1945) were abducted and have never returned’.

New Memorial
A second step was taken by the end of the nineties by the newly-founded ‘Stichting Joods Monument’ in Meppel. This foundation developed a plan to move the existing monument to the opposite side of the ‘Slotplantsoen’ and to integrate it into a larger monument, designed by the Meppel artist Onno de Ruijter. The principal part of this new monument, which was inaugurated in 1997, is a number of bluestone tablets with the names of 232 Jews of Meppel who were killed.

Digital Monument
The realization of the Digital Jewish Monument on 29 April 2004 was the third step. The monument has a dual purpose.
It wants to ‘give a face’ to the Meppel Jews who were killed in WWII, but it also wants to create the possibility of a dialogue. Here you can see photographs of and read texts about as many Jewish citizens of Meppel who did not survive the war as possible. There is a possibility to expand this material, both pictures and texts, which in fact happens regularly. Many photos and stories that the compilers of this site got (and still get) sent were incorporated in this digital monument during the past few years. This way an interactive monument has been created that can be consulted all over the world.