King to open National Holocaust Museum
On Sunday 10 March, His Majesty the King will open the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, after giving a speech at a gathering in the nearby Portuguese Synagogue. Following the ceremony he will be given a guided tour of the museum. Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Mariëlle Paul, State Secretary for Culture and Media Fleur Gräper and State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport Maarten van Ooijen will also be in attendance. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and German Bundesrat President Manuela Schwesig will attend the opening as well and deliver brief speeches. Germany and Austria have contributed financially to the establishment of the museum. President Herzog will represent the homeland of the Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who emigrated to Israel after the Second World War.
This text was updated on 7/3/2024.The National Holocaust Museum will tell the story of the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands. Between 1940 and 1945, on the orders of the German occupying authorities, Jews in the Netherlands as well as others, including Roma and Sinti, were systematically discriminated against, persecuted, deported and murdered. Approximately 102,000 Jews living in the Netherlands were killed in the Holocaust. Using 2,500 objects, rediscovered photos and films, sound recordings, documents and displays, the museum will recount the history of the Holocaust in the Netherlands and in concentration and extermination camps elsewhere in Europe. The museum will also shed light on Jewish daily life before the Second World War, the Liberation from the standpoint of Dutch Jews, and the treatment of the Holocaust in the Dutch culture of remembrance. The objects have come from dozens of museum collections in the Netherlands and abroad. The National Holocaust Museum will also show objects that have not previously been exhibited to the public, which belonged to victims, survivors and survivors’ family members. It will offer educational programmes for older primary school pupils, as well as secondary school and vocational secondary school students, to preserve knowledge of the Holocaust and make it accessible to younger generations. The museum is housed in a former Protestant school, across from the Hollandsche Schouwburg Holocaust Memorial. Both locations are part of the Jewish Cultural Quarter.
Both will be presented as part of the opening programme, and young people will recount the experiences of Dutch victims, survivors and eyewitnesses during the Second World War. The King’s speech will conclude the programme. Afterwards a survivor and a survivor’s family member will join His Majesty in opening the National Holocaust Museum, he will be given a tour, and he will meet representatives of the Jewish Cultural Quarter and other stakeholders.
Government Information Service, no. 50
