National Holocaust Museum

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The National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam

The Nationaal Holocaust Museum (German: National Holocaust Museum) is a Dutch museum that deals with the Holocaust in the Netherlands . The museum is located in the former Hervormden Kweekschool opposite the Hollandschen Schouwburg in Amsterdam . The museum is part of the Joods Cultureel Kwartier .

During the persecution of the Jews in World War II , more than 600 children who had been housed in this house were saved.

Creche and Kweekschool

In October 1942, on the initiative of Walter Süskind, the creche was built in a former Torah school . The creche was a “children's house” for children up to the age of twelve who were housed there - separated from their parents - until their planned deportation . In January 1943 employees of the Creche came into contact with the director of the Kweekschool . As the childcare center was overcrowded, they asked the director Johan van Hulst to allow some of the children to take their afternoon nap at school. This collaboration and mutual trust made the school the main route to rescue children in 1943. Walter Süskind managed to save more than 600 children from deportation together with employees of the Jewish Council and in cooperation with Johan van Hulst and resistance groups. The helpers benefited from the fact that then (as now) there was a tram stop in front of the Schouwburg . When the tram stopped and blocked the view, they would run alongside the tram with a child by the hand and get on at the next stop. Although the tram drivers and passengers saw this and knew where the children were from, they were never betrayed. They smuggled smaller children out of the “children's house” in washing baskets or rucksacks. Their parents provided them with straw dolls that were wrapped in blankets to simulate a baby. The children were brought to safety in foster families.

The museum

Since May 2016, the former school has housed the Nationaal Holocaust Museum, which is currently still under construction. The museum has exhibitions on the ground floor of the building, and lectures, symposia and commemorations are held regularly. On the other floors of the museum there are currently studios of artists with and without a refugee background. At the opening, the museum showed the exhibition De ondergang van Abraham Reiss (in German: “The Downfall of Abraham Reiss”) by the artist Jeroen Krabbé , which deals with the story of his grandfather. In the future, however, the museum will be expanded into a permanent overview exhibition on Jews during the Holocaust in the Netherlands. The aim of the initiators is to present the events as comprehensively as possible, which is not limited to the years 1940 to 1945, but should begin as early as the 1930s.

In January 2020, the German federal government promised to support the construction of the museum with four million euros. The final opening of the museum, which has been temporarily closed since summer 2019 due to renovation work, is planned for autumn 2022.

literature

  • Esther Göbel, Henk Meulenbeld: Betty - Een joodse Kinderverzorgster in verzet. Gibbon Uitgeefagentschap 2016, ISBN 978-94-91363-71-9 . (Dutch)
  • Alex Bakker: Dag pap, dead tomorrow - Joodse kinderen gered uit de crèche. Lost BV, Uitgeverij 2005, ISBN 90-6550-862-7 . (Dutch)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nationaal Holocaust Museum in oprichting - Joods Cultureel Kwartier. Retrieved July 10, 2019 (Dutch).
  2. ↑ De Kweekschool as plaats van verzet - Joods Cultureel Kwartier. Retrieved July 10, 2019 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ Amsterdam krijgt Nationaal Holocaust Museum. In: www.nu.nl. May 12, 2016, Retrieved June 11, 2019 (Dutch).
  4. ↑ Holocaust Museum gaat door dankzij Duitse miljoenen. 'Shoah voltrok zich in felste zonlicht. Dat sake wij ton '. In: volkskrant.nl. January 13, 2020, accessed March 20, 2020 (Dutch).
  5. ↑ Germany donates four million euros to the Holocaust Museum. In: uni-muenster.de. January 14, 2020, accessed March 20, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Tobias Müller: Opening in autumn 2022. In: juedische-allgemeine.de. March 19, 2020, accessed March 20, 2020 .