Oosterpark

With the Oosterpark, Springer designed a neighbourhood park that was inspired by nature in the middle of a densely populated residential area. The design, in English landscape style, has wide fields interspersed with wooded groves and a whimsically shaped pond. In order to lay the northern part of the Oosterpark, the old Oosterbegraafplaats (cemetery) needed to be removed. A new cemetery, the Nieuwe Ooster was built in Watergraafsmeer (district of Amsterdam).

The Eighty Movement

Spread around the Oosterpark are a number of statues and monuments. One of these is the monument for the Dutch literary movement the Beweging van Tachtig (Eighty Movement) created by writer and artist Jan Wolkers (1925 – 2007). The monument is a steel flame on the edge of the pond. The writers and poets of the Eighty Movement often met together in the home of painter and photographer Willem Witsen (1860-1923) at Oosterpark 82.

Impression of the Oosterpark

The history of slavery in the Netherlands

In the south west corner of the Oosterpark is the Nationaal Monument Slavernijverleden (national monument to slavery) by the Surinamese artist Erwin de Vries. The monument was erected in 2002 in commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands on 1 July 1863. A memorial service remembering the history of slavery in the Netherlands is held every summer on 1 July.

National Slavery Memorial, designed by Edwin de Vries in 2002

Theo van Gogh

In November 2004, the Dutch filmmaker and columnist, Theo van Gogh, was murdered. His murder shocked the Netherlands and debates about freedom of expression flared up. On the east side of the Oosterpark, not far from where Van Gogh was murdered, a monument was unveiled under great public interest. The monument to Van Gogh by Jeroen Henneman is called ‘De Schreeuw’ (the scream).