The Resistance Museum in Amsterdam

The museum is located at the 61A Plantage Kerklaan street in, quite surprisingly, the city of Amsterdam!

Just by reading the name, it’s evident that the museum focus is on the resistance that occurred in the Netherlands. As I don’t think there are so many different famous resistance movements in this country, we can also guess that it’s all about the German occupation during World War II. 

Pre-war times explained by the Resistance Museum in Amsterdam

The exhibition starts with a pre-war introduction which is showing the state of Europe before the war. It is presenting the different confrontation on a political point of view like the rise of two extreme parties,  fascism in Italy and Germany and communism in Russia. But also some regarding religions: between Catholicism and Protestantism.

Beginning of the occupation, what we learn in the Resistance Museum in Amsterdam

Then it moves on the beginning of the occupation. The Netherlands is, along with Belgium and France, one of the first countries to be invaded by German force. The first part of the exposition clearly shows how the relationship in the Netherlands between Dutch and German evolved.

The beginning of the occupation was calm, as the Nazis hadn’t started their “program” yet. The Germans were trying to be friends with the Dutch and to help them, but the Dutch were not cooperative.

Germany removed the democratic government in the Netherlands after dissolving the parliament and sending the royal family in exile in England.

Things started to go badly when the Nazis isolated the Jews from the rest of the population. They expelled many Jewish teachers; students protested against this. After this action, many members of the Dutch Nazis Party started to attack Jews. The people took the defence of the Jews and fights appeared in the streets.

These incidents led to the arrest of many Jews. In return, further protestations occurred, but these were not to end as well as the previous ones...

Occupation times in the Resistance Museum in Amsterdam

The rest of the exhibition shows how the Dutch resistance and Nazi Germany were fighting each other. Germany was forcing every person aged 15+ to carry ID cards. They wanted to recognize them easily and send propaganda based on “V” for victory. On the resistance side, they made fake identity cards to fool German controls. They also turned the German “V” propaganda into an anti-German one.

The inhabitants of the Netherlands were waiting for the allies to end the German occupation. Hopefully, they were quickly advancing into German territory.

Germany started harsh war measures to turn the situation to their advantage. Those measures included seize of raw materials and forcing Dutch people aged from 18 to 35 to work for Germany.

The resistance was organizing in small groups. They were helping Jewish to escape the Nazis persecution by hiding them and providing them with food.

End of WWII, end of this museum in Amsterdam!

The exhibition finally ends on the progressive liberation of the Netherlands by the allies and shows how World War II ended between the Japanese and the U.S.

The museum is overall fascinating as it is showing another aspect of the second world war. We learn about the German occupation from the Dutch point of view. Many countries suffered from WWII. It’s important to consider all of their memories to have a better knowledge of that significant historical event. It's the reason why I recommend this place to people visiting Amsterdam.