In early 2024, the National Holocaust Museum (“Nationaal Holocaustmuseum”) will open its doors in Amsterdam, becoming the first and only museum in the Netherlands to tell the story and share the history of the persecution of the Jewish people.

Not only will the exclusion, persecution, and murder Jews faced be shared, but it will also celebrate the stories of rescue, survival, and solidarity.

Together with the Jewish Museum, the Portuguese Synagogue and the Hollandsche Schouwburg, the National Holocaust Museum will form the Jewish Cultural Quarter. Four centuries of Jewish culture will be brought to one square kilometer of Amsterdam.

What was the Holocaust? The Holocaust was a devastating period in world history. It refers to the systematic persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945 during World War II.

The Holocaust began with the Nazi Party coming to power in 1933, and it was only after the invasion of Poland in 1939 that the systematic mass murder of Jews began. During this time, Jews were systematically rounded up and sent to ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination camps, where they were subjected to forced labor, starvation, dehumanization, and execution.

The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events in human history, and it serves as a reminder of the devastating consequences of hatred and antisemistism.

Besides the permanent display of the National Holocaust museum, temporary exhibitions, activities and educational programs about the history of the persecution of the Jews of the Netherlands can be seen and followed.  

The variety of exhibits, displays and interactive activities will help the visitors learn more about the Holocaust and the events that led up to it. Visitors can take a self-guided audio tour of the museum.

From interactive displays and timelines to personal stories and photographs of survivors, the museum is a powerful reminder of the painful period and suffering endured by the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

The National Holocaust Museum is a place to honor and remember the victims of the Holocaust, and to discuss the consequences of indifference and discrimination now and in the past.

This museum is a powerful reminder of the tragedy of the Holocaust. The museum serves as a place to learn and a place to remember the 6 million of lives lost during the Holocaust.

Visitors to the museum can pay their respects to the victims, learn more about the history of the Holocaust, and be inspired to work for a better future and prevent the Holocaust to happen again.

The museum’s mission is to honor the victims of the Holocaust and to keep their stories alive.

The National Holocaust Museum is located in the former “Hervormde Kweekschool”.

This place has played an important role, as hundreds of Jewish children were saved here during the Second World War. In the summer of 1943, Jewish children from the nursery next door, which were separated from their parents, were taken to this Kweekschool.

From there they went to hiding places. About 600 Jewish children were saved in this way.

Now, as the new National Holocaust Museum is located at the former “Kweekschool”, this place will be opened to public. Visitors can learn more about and see how the Jewish kids were put into hiding during the war.