"Gifted" Article from NY Times about a New Exhibit at the Dutch Resistance Museum

As long as wounds aren’t healed and for some obviously never will WW2 remains a delicate subject here (and ofcourse not only here) in the Netherlands. But first I have to visit the exhibition to form a well-founded opinion about it before saying anything further. Nevertheless the discussion about the new exhibition still shows how much we in the Netherlands struggle even till today with our past. Not only concerns WW2 but also our role about slavery, the time we were very much involved in the colonisation of Suriname, the Antilles and Indonesia. And how we dealt with the Indonesian War of Independence directly after WW2.

So during WW2 we were as a nation a victim, but on the other hand in Indonesia as a nation perpetrators. So how can you defend the idea supporting resistance in your own country and not tolerating other people fighting for their freedom as soon as you are the one in charge. So that’s a serious contradiction, so looking for answers there is a need for nuance. Nowadays we try to revise our history and trying to face the painful side of it. And must be one of the reasons why the exhibition in the Resistance Museum is changed.

But as already said as long the wounds are not healed it will remain a painful and delicate subject. I think it’s a good idea looking for nuance but realize too that not everybody see this in the same way.

Wil, that was an eloquent and balanced consideration.

I read the article, and I plan to visit the exhibit in May. Every now and then one needs a little more nuance. Certainly not a nazi sympathizer, and my late father-in-law was a lucky survivor of the D-Day landing, but we also paid a visit to the German cemetery in Normandy just a few miles from the beaches and the other, famous resting place of Americans. Lots of young German draftees there. There were fresh flowers on some of the graves.

Thank you Estimated Prophed for the link and the gift of the article.

And thank you Wil for your post as well.

I went to this museum long ago and had decided I would go see it in April when I'm in Amsterdam. The controversy has been mentioned here before and I am interested to go judge the museum for myself. It was good to read the article to see what people are upset about.

I'm sorry they are not using the term "heroes" for resistance fighters though.

Estimated Prophet, thank you for sharing this informative article. I was privileged to visit the museum in 2019. I have been waiting to hear about the new exhibit. Prior to our visit we hired Jewish Historian Naomi Koopmans and toured the Synagogue, Jewish Museum and Holocaust Memorial. I highly recommend this knowledgeable guide. The Resistance Museum was a wonderful way to complete what I call a pilgrimage. I would love to return and view for myself.
Edited to add: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiIy9P0-Oj8AhURAzQIHZdLAyQQFnoECB8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjewishamsterdamtour.com%2Fabout-us%2F&usg=AOvVaw0Tj8m06UdLOK66lDH3UGV5

My outstanding memory of the Resistance Museum is the video of a woman describing how her childhood friend was murdered by a German soldier because she didn't step off the sidewalk as he approached them. A brave little girl is no match for a bully with a gun.

I like to pretend that I would have been a hero of the Resistance if I had lived my life in Europe during the war years. In reality, I would probably have been too afraid for my own safety and for that of family to take that risk. The people who accepted that risk deserve our attention.

The museum has publiced the following statement on their website about the renewed exhibition. Unfortunately it’s in Dutch only, so here the English translation. Hopefully it makes things more clear.

Published the 9th of December 2022

Wrongly circulates that the Resistance Museum want to ban the term resistance hero. To be clear: this is a misunderstanding. The museum never used the term resistance hero, as the founders of the museum, coming themselves from the resistance never wanted to create a hall of heroes. The Resistance Museum put a wide variety of resistance actions and forms under attention without making judgements who is a hero or not. Visitors are free to do that.

The Resistance Museum has always looked for nuance and throwing light upon different perspectives. The new setup honours the resistance fighters who took under very hard conditions huge risks to resist against the nazi regime. Portrays of perpetrators underline how dangerous resistance work was.

In 1985 stated former resistance fighter and co-founder of the Resistance Museum Joop Wolff in (newspaper) Trouw: We don’t feel the slightest need for hero worship. Not that we want to downplay heroic actions, but our goal in this museum is demythologizing of what has happened. Especially many young people have a too romanticized idea about the war. (…) The resistance was often prozaic. People got involved in many cases unexpectedly.

That Resistance Museum Amsterdam suddenly has banned the word “resistance hero” according some sources in the media is not true. The Resistance Museum has not a new policy, don’t want to ban the term resistance hero and is certainly not against tribute. In the museum there are many Yad Vashem distinctions awarded, whereby Jews in hiding honour their saviours. Completely in the spirit of the founders, the resistant fighters, the museum has from the start the word “resistance hero” in exhibition texts almost never used.

The Resistance museum has always looked for nuance and throwing light upon different perspectives. Since the first December of 2022 the museum has renewed the exhibition, that in hundred poignant, personal stories paying tribute to the courageous people who had under difficult conditions, taking huge risks to resist against the nazi regime. Hundreds of the surviving relatives very much agreed with this during the opening meeting. Entirely according the spirit of the founders we don’t put someone on a pedestal but show that people from the resistance were human and struggled with dilemma’s just to convey how difficult it was – and is – to resist against a dictatorial regime. With full approval of the surviving relatives we have sometimes putting forward confronting stories.

We are the Resistance Museum Amsterdam, founded by courageous resistance fighters and we want not present a rosy picture of history. The renewed exhibition, designed by Creative Design Studio Ilona Laurijsse, received very good reviews from among others (Dutch leading newspapers) Het Parool, Trouw, Volkskrant, NRC, Elsevier, De Telegraaf and Nederlands Dagblad. In Dutch newspaper Trouw Tineke Bennema wrote that “not someone’s personality, but someone’s actions should serve as example”. In magazine Elsevier wrote Joppe Gloerich that showing heroic actions has more effect than mentioning it and: Who still thinks after visiting the Resistance Museum that the Resistance Museum want to put heroes from their pedestal didn’t pay attention.

It has become a beautiful, well balanced exhibition, we are proud of and will inspire many visitors. So come and see for yourself and experience WW2 close to the skin and close to the skin of history.

So a good reason to visit the renewed museum and so the best way to form an opinion.