A dispersed memorial to the Jewish residents of Leiden who were deported and murdered during the Second World War. Rather than a single monument, artist Sigrid Sigurdsson placed small bronze suitcases at locations throughout the city connected to the Jewish community — outside former homes, schools, shops, and synagogues.
Each suitcase is engraved with a name, a date, and a destination — usually Sobibor or Auschwitz. The effect of encountering them one by one as you walk through the city is cumulative and powerful: each small suitcase represents a life interrupted, a journey that ended in murder. A map of all locations is available online. The memorial is related to the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) found across Europe, but the suitcase form is unique to Leiden and particularly affecting.