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Anne Frank: The Vulnerability of a Universal Symbol
11 September 2024
After the publication of her diary, Anne Frank became more than just a symbol of Jewish suffering during World War II; she transcended the 1940s to become a universal and timeless representation of innocence and victimhood. However, that second dimension is now under scrutiny.
New Holocaust Museum Shows The Persecution Of Jews In Its True Colours
13 March 2024
Knowledge about the Holocaust and the role played by the Dutch in it is declining - especially among young people. High time, then, for the new National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam. But what can this museum say that has not been said before by dozens of other Dutch museums and memorial sites conce
Simon Gronowski’s Great Escape from the 20th Nazi Convoy
10 January 2024
Meet Simon Gronowski, a 92-year-old jazz pianist and lawyer from Brussels, and, above all, a Holocaust survivor who escaped from a deportation train to Auschwitz.
Graphic Artist Fré Cohen: A Free Woman of Many Styles
10 August 2022
Graphic artists have rarely received much attention in the Low Countries. The exhibition about Fré Cohen (1903-1943) in Amsterdam’s Het Schip Museum and the accompanying publications are a welcome addition to well-known art history. Cohen's life story in turbulent times and her free play with sty
Voyage Around the World on Sandals
17 June 2022
On the eve of the First World War, three Dutch friends believed they could make the world a better place by walking around the globe and propagating socialism in Esperanto. Naïve? Perhaps, but appealing, to say the least.
#12 – When Jews Were Blamed for the Black Death
1 February 2022
These days The Netherlands is one of the most tolerant and liberal places for Jews in the world. Unlike in the 1300s, when Jews often were blamed for the Black Death and subsequently burned at the stake as punishment.
Between God and the Gutter Lies a Stretch of No-Man’s-Land for Moroccans
2 June 2020
During his speech on National Remembrance Day, Dutch author Arnon Grunberg warned attendees for the dangers of re-emerging racism. But he also caused quite a stir when he said: 'This Remembrance Day is always a warning as well. When they are talking about Moroccans, they are talking about me.' Altho
Etty Hillesum: a Life Interrupted, a Spirit Unperturbed
6 May 2020
In 1981, nearly forty years after she was killed in Auschwitz, Dutch Jewish Etty Hillesum found fame overnight after her diary entries were published in Het verstoorde leven (An Interrupted Life). Her diary notes, which she jotted down in occupied Amsterdam, are a testament to strong personal develo
Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter: A Tale of Two Fridges
27 April 2020
The Jewish Community of Antwerp – numbering some 20,000 – is one of the largest in Europe. Derek Blyth invites you to discover their synagogues, bookstores, restaurants, Kosher bakeries and diamond stores.
The Shoah as the Essence of Marga Minco’s Writing Career
6 April 2020
On 31 March 2020, we celebrated Marga Minco’s (pseudonym for Sara Menco) 100th birthday. Her oeuvre is an incessant attempt to come to terms with the war past by constantly creating new literary variants of it.
The World’s First Yiddish Newspaper Was Printed in Amsterdam
18 December 2019
Uri Faybesh Halevi was his name and he was the publisher of the very first Yiddish newspaper in the world. A serious news publication, not a tabloid. Amsterdam librarian David Montezinos happened upon the Kurant more than two centuries later. What did the paper write about and who were its readers?
The Amsterdam Zoo Was a Hiding Place to Escape From the Nazis
10 December 2019
At the Amsterdam Light Festival, which illuminates the city with the most wonderful works of art, one light installation refers to a dark page in Dutch history. Hiding in the Wolf’s Lair brings back alive the fact that during the Second World War, the Amsterdam Artis Zoo served as a hiding place f
