In 1979 Bob van Schijndel thought that it was strange that for example Jews and gypsies have a monument, but gays do not. After he had written a letter to the municipality, a foundation was established to realize the gay monument. The municipality doubled the money collected to contribute and a competition was held for the most beautiful design. Karin Daan won this competition with her design consisting of three pink triangles that together form one large triangle. In the war, homosexuals in concentration camps had to wear a pink triangle. Nowadays, the pink triangle acts as a sign of choice for gay associations. The sign almost always appears in gay monuments around the world. On the triangle in the ground is the text: 'Naar Vriendschap Zulk Een Mateloos Verlangen' which means 'To Friendship Such A Mateless Desire'. This sentence is a line of poetry by the gay Jewish writer Jacob Israël de Haan (1881-1924).