A new residential area is being developed on the site of the former Daniel den Hoed clinic in South Rotterdam. The Board of the Mayor and Aldermen of Rotterdam has decided that an avenue, two streets and a square will be named after those who played a key role in saving the seven Jews in hiding in the Organ Attics in the Breeplein Church. We have already been able to take a photograph of the Leo Lashley Avenue sign. Shortly we will also be able to photograph the street signs of the De Mars Family Square, the Brillenburg Wurth Family Street and the Van de Leer Family Street.
The Board has followed the advice of the Vreewijk District Council. It is unusual for a street or square to be named after a family. The decision to name the families is felt to be justified because “acts of resistance cannot always be attributed to one person alone. These efforts often involved a larger group of people.” That is exactly what had happened.
The map below shows how the Family De Mars Square is embraced, as it were, by the Avenue and the Streets.