Podwalk Plantage Area Amsterdam 1940-1945

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

The walk ends at the Resistance Museum. It was founded by former resistance members and opened its doors in 1984 in the Lekstraat Synagogue in the South of Amsterdam. That building proved too small and too far away from the city center. The museum reopened in April 1999 in this new location, where visitor numbers increased rapidly. In 2013, the museum expanded with the addition of the Resistance Museum Junior, located in a new building behind the original museum. In May 2022, the museum closed for renovation and the renewal of the permanent exhibit. Information about the museum can be found on the website: verzetsmuseum.org

Directions to location 22

Cross the street and turn left at the end of the road to return to the Resistance Museum.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Numbers 6 to 12 on Henri Polaklaan were home to the former Portuguese-Israelite hospital. Above the entrance at number 12 is the symbol of the Portuguese-Jewish community: a pelican that feeds three younglings with its own blood.

This imagery is assumed to be a symbolic reminder of the peaceful coming together of three previously quarreling Portuguese-Jewish communities in the 17thcentury. The hospital was one of the addresses where in 1943 Jews in mixed marriages were sterilized. Sterilization meant they would not be deported and would no longer have to wear a star. For both the mixed married people and the doctors there were two options: cooperate or deportation.

Nevertheless, not everyone cooperated. Surgeons would also perform fake surgeries. After the war, survivors of the camps were housed in the building.

Directions to location 21

Continue until you reach numbers 6 to 12. This used to be the Portuguese-Israelite Hospital.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Amsterdam City Archives 1937

Here, at Henri Polaklaan 9, which was known as Plantage Franselaan until the end of October 1945, is the Burcht van Berlage or Fortress of Berlage. The building dates back to 1900 and belonged to the Algemene Nederlandse Diamantbewerkersbond, or in English: The General Dutch Diamond Workers Union. It is a special building, designed by the idealistic architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and was modeled after Italian city palaces. It is a reminder of the flourishing diamond industry in which many Jews worked as well as of Henri Polak, co-founder and chairman of the trade union for the diamond workers, co-founder of the National Trade Union in the Netherlands and the predecessor of the labor party, SDAP. Later in life, Polak also devoted himself to nature conservation and the preservation of historic cities. Henri Polak was such an internationally renowned person that the Germans postponed his deportation and placed him under house arrest instead. He died in 1943 at the age of 75 from pneumonia. The street was renamed Henri Polaklaan in his honor in October 1945.

Directions to location 20

Exit the park through the main entrance. Cross the street straight ahead and immediately turn left once you have crossed. Take the first side street on the right, which is Henri Polaklaan. Walk until you reach number 9 on the opposite side.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Amsterdam City Archives 1898

In Wertheim Park is a 19th century monument in honor of Amsterdam Jewish banker and benefactor A.C. Wertheim. The monument consists of a fountain with inscriptions dating back to 1898. If you follow the path to the left, you will pass the 1993 “Never again Auschwitz” monument by sculptor and writer Jan Wolkers. The broken mirrors symbolize that the sky is no longer unblemished after Auschwitz. The annual Auschwitz commemoration takes place at this memorial on the last Sunday of January, always around January 27th, the day Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated. The event usually involves speeches and wreath-laying ceremonies.

Directions to location 19

Continue along the house fronts to the Nieuwe Herengracht. Follow the curve to the left along the canal. At the end, turn right over the Hortus Bridge. Cross the street and enter Wertheim Park.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

This square is located between two synagogue complexes. The German Synagogue, which is now home of the Jewish Museum, and the Portuguese Synagogue. Both were built back in the 17th century. The statue of the dock worker commemorates the February Strike in 1941.

At the beginning of the occupation, the Germans still hoped to win over the Dutch, so they behaved relatively moderately. But the Dutch National Socialists of the NSB terrorized Jews, which led to riots. When an NSB member was killed and a German patrol was sprayed with corrosive gas, the German occupiers used this as an excuse for their first roundup. On the 22nd and 23rdof February 1941, 427 young Jewish men were brutally arrested on this square and taken away in trucks. Many Amsterdammers witnessed this and were shocked. The illegal Communist Party called for a major strike. The trams did not run on February 25th. The whole city noticed something was wrong. An Amsterdammer wrote in his diary: “Everywhere they are striking! The ferries are no longer sailing! The trams are not running! Strike – General Strike! Against the persecution of the Jews, against inhumanity.”

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On the second day of the strike, other cities also joined in. Tens of thousands took to the streets. The Germans retaliated. They began shooting; ten people were killed and hundreds of strikers were arrested, including single mother Coba Veltman, one of the typers of the strike pamphlets. The typewriter she used to do this is on display in the Resistance Museum. Coba was sentenced to six months in prison, but was not released afterwards. She survived the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp. Five people were sentenced to death immediately after the strike and were executed in March 1941.

The February Strike was the only mass protest against the persecution of the Jews in occupied Europe during the entire war. Every year on February 25th, the February Strike is commemorated here at De Dokwerker, a statue by Mari Andriessen of a dock worker who does not move aside.

During the raid on 22 February 1941, Dutch police officers from the Jonas Daniel Meijerplein police station were ordered to assist the German Grüne Polizei. Most officers were upset by this. Some deliberately carried orders out incorrectly to save Jewish men. One of the officers, Cornelis Roos, was later involved in the attack on the Amsterdam registry office and was executed for this. Due to the poor cooperation of the Dutch police during the roundup, Chief Commissioner Versteeg was fired in April 1941.

Directions to location 18

Exit the monument on the left hand side and turn right under the tunnel. On the other side, immediately cross the bicycle path and turn left again over the bridge, now with the tunnel on your left. At the top, turn right and walk to the statue of the Dock Worker.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Wikipedia 21 September 2021

More than 102,000 victims of the Holocaust, none of whom have a grave, have been given a plaque on this monument. These are the names of every Jew as well as every Sinti and Roma who were deported and murdered from the Netherlands. Murdered Dutch Jews who lived in other countries are also included. The monument makes the devastating scale of the genocide clear even at a glance.

The monument was initiated by the Dutch Auschwitz Committee which went through a long and difficult process to have the monument constructed in 2019. This effort was especially led by chairman of the committee, Jacques Grishaver. The monument was designed by the well-known Polish-Jewish architect Daniel Liebeskind. The walls form four Hebrew letters meaning “to remember.” The walls bear the same four letters of mirrored stainless steel, which reflect the trees and clouds. The narrow space between the walls and the letters symbolized the interruption in history and culture brought about by the Holocaust. There are gravel fields, so that visitors can, according to an old Jewish custom, place a stone in memory of someone.

Directions to location 17

Walk a little further and turn right through the gate to the back entrance of the Hermitage Museum. Turn right and walk through the courtyard, until you reach the entrance to the Holocaust Names Memorial.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: website Schaduwkade

Since 2013, the Shaduwkade or Shadow Quay has been a monument to the two hundred Jewish residents of the Nieuwe Keizersgracht in Amsterdam who were murdered during the Second World War. The monument consists of two hundred metal signs displaying the names of the Jewish residents opposite the house in which they lived across the water. This initiative was undertaken by twelve residents of the Nieuwe Keizersgracht.

Directions to location 16

Now walk up to the left of the tunnel and turn left. Walk through the gallery. Cross at the crosswalk and turn left onto Nieuwe Keizersgracht.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Wikipedia 2016

There was a school for the deaf and a Jewish school in the buildings at Hortusplantsoen 1 and 2. The monument commemorates all deaf Jews who were murdered. The statue on the pedestal was made by Truus Menger-Oversteegen, who, together with Hannie Schaft, the famous ‘girl with the red hair,’ killed traitors during the war.

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The Resistance Museum displays a photo of the sculptress Truus Overstegen dressed as a man standing next to Hannie Schaft, shortly before they carried out the execution of a traitor. In case of trouble, they would pose as a couple in love. Truus always boldly defended the choice for this form of resistance. She would say: “we couldn’t lock them up in a prison, so we had to kill them.” She also often shared how difficult she found the moment they had to pull the trigger. Silently, she struggled with this all her life. In 2007 she said: “It is so sad that I always have to talk about the shooting. When I speak to young people, I never mention this. Who learns from that? There are still things we want to fight for, but not with weapons.”

Directions to location 15

Now turn right, not along the canal but along the Hortusplantsoen, until you reach the Monument for the Deaf.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Built in 1914 and 1915, the Nurses Home belonged to the Dutch Israelite Hospital next door, which was demolished in 1978. The hospital was built twenty years before the Nurses Home and better situated Jews were nursed here. The home, which was built thanks to a gift from Baroness Rosenthal-May, had many rooms for nurses, caretakers, and domestic staff. It was only accessible through the hospital at the time. During the German occupation, hospital nursing initially continued as usual. Jewish medical students began working there when they were no longer allowed to study. Over the course of 1943, through various raids, patients and staff were taken to Westerbork transit camp and further on to concentration- and extermination camps. Only a few survived the war.

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Initially, many Jews saw illness as an opportunity to escape deportation. Doctors from the Dutch Israelite Hospital helped. They applied ointments that triggered eczema patches, manipulated X-rays, and so on. The number of patients rose sharply in the second half of 1942, until raids in the spring of 1943 made clear that the sick were not exempt from deportation.

Directions to location 14

Walk straight ahead until you reach the railing by the canal. On the other side of Nieuwe Keizersgracht 104-114 you can see the inscription: Rosenthal May Zusterhuis.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

The bridge at the Hortus and the Overlooppark was given the name of Piet Meerburg in 2012. Piet Meerburg was a leader of the Amsterdam Student Group which smuggled Jewish children away from the nursery across from the Dutch Theater. He later said: “I always thought we wouldn’t survive. I think the others felt that way too, but we pushed it aside. I think this fatalism also played a part in what happened between all those young people around the nursery. All the tension and fear, the camaraderie. Sometimes this made love flare up.” Piet Meerburg’s story is also told in the Resistance Museum

Directions to location 13

Continue to the Piet Meerburg Bridge.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

This is where the Turkish Rabbi Liaho Frances lived with his wife. Not many people know that Jews from Turkey and Morocco also lived in the occupied Netherlands. They had more options for survival and escape than Dutch Jews did. Moroccan Jews could return to Morocco where they were protected by the king. Some of the 88 Turkish Jews in the Netherlands were able to return to Turkey by train, even during the fighting, in an exchange for a group of captured Nazis from Palestine. 19 of the Turkish Jews in the Netherlands who were not eligible for the exchange were deported from the Netherlands and subsequently murdered, including the rabbi who lived here.

Directions to location 12

Continue walking to number 2. On the second floor was the home of the Turkish Rabbi Liaho Frances.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Above the door of Plantage Parklaan 9, above the overhang, is a plaque stating “Jewish Community” with a Hebrew inscription below. An office of the Jewish Council was located here during the war. Jews who wanted to get married could do so here since they were no longer welcome in the town hall. It also became one of the locations where Jews had to buy their stars.

Wearing a Star of David was compulsory for all Jews over the age of 6 after May 1942. Each Jew was allowed a maximum of 4 stars, which had to be paid for with one textile ration stamp and 4 cents per star. As a comparison, a loaf of bread cost 16 cents at this time. We know that Anne Frank and her family bought their stars here because they were already sold out in the neighborhood where they lived.

Protests took place after the introduction of the stars. Men tipped their hats to those wearing a star and pamphlets condemning the star’s imposition on the Jewish community were distributed. Sometimes fake stars were even worn out of solidarity.

Twenty students at the Agricultural School in Deventer were arrested for this and were sent to the Amersfoort concentration camp. When they emerged two weeks later, they were ‘emaciated and exhausted.’

Directions to location 11

Walk further and turn left at the corner until you reach Plantage Parklaan 9. This was a Star of David distribution point.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Amsterdam City Archives - Internationaal Persfoto Bureau N.V. 1927

The building with the Art Deco façade at Plantage Middenlaan 4a (now Studio Desmet) opened in 1927 as the Rika Hopper Theater, on the site where the Frascati Theater previously stood. The then very famous stage actress Rika Hopper performed at her own theater. She lived close by but still liked to be taken to the theater by taxi. In 1938, the year of Princess Beatrix’s birth, the name was changed to Beatrixtheater. Prominent Jewish artists who fled from Germany performed revues and cabarets at the theater. In 1941 it became a Jewish theater, just like the Dutch Schouwburg. Apparently SS officer Aus der Fünten, undercover in civilian clothes, would sometimes go to the theater to see his favorite Jewish artist Willy Rosen perform. In 1942, the theater had to close. From 1944 to 1946, it reopened under the name Hortus Theater. Theo Desmet bought the property in 1946 and turned it into a movie theater and in 2000 it became a sound recording studio.

Directions to location 10

Continue on to the property at number 4a on your left with the Art Deco façade.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Amsterdam City Archives Arsath - Ro'is, J.M. 1975

Across the street at number 19, a popular dance school was run by the couple Mona and Dop Helms during the war. Dop Helms participated in resistance work until he was arrested in June 1942. He died in early 1943 after being severely beaten while imprisoned. His wife Mona secretly continued the dance school since she did not register with the Kultuurkamer, insisting that she “did not want to join the enemy.” The dance school remained a resistance address until liberation and was mainly used as a hiding place until it was subject to a raid. Everyone who had been there during the raid was able to escape. Following the raid, the location was mainly used for storing weapons and giving weapons instructions to the armed branch of the Dutch Resistance, the Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten. The Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten, or in English the Interior Armed Forces, was formed out of armed resistance groups when liberation was in sight. The secret phrase: “Folk dancing this afternoon” meant: “weapon instruction at Mona’s” for the Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten people in the neighborhood. The dance school “Dop and Mona Helms” continued to exist for years after 1945.

Directions to location 9

Continue walking. Across the road at number 19 was the Mona Helms dance school.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Where the colorful building now stands, which was designed by the well-known architect Aldo van Eyck, used to be a nursery. Henriette Pimentel, a progressive Jewish woman, ran the nursery since 1926. In 1941, it was forced to become an exclusively “Jewish nursery”. During the deportations from October 1942 onwards, children up to 12 years of age were housed there while their parents were detained in the Dutch Theater. Around 600 children were smuggled out of the nursery to safety and later also through the Reformed teacher training college next to it, using the cover of tram line 9. Trams would block the view of the guards in front of the Theater which made the escapes from the nursery possible. Children with dark hair (or code word ‘Coffee’) often went into hiding around Limburg, while blond children (or code word ‘tea’) were placed into hiding in Friesland.

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Johan van Hulst, the director of the teacher training college, made the school building available for rescuing children. Henriette Pimentel and some other Jewish employees at the nursery such as Virrie Cohen and Sieny Kattenburg, assisted with the rescues. Walter Süskind and his assistant Felix Halverstad along with other members of the Jewish Council, ensured that children disappeared administratively as well. Resistance groups mainly comprised of students, would then take the children to hiding places. The groups involved in helping with the children were the NV group, the Amsterdam Student Group, the Utrecht Children’s Committee, and the Trouw group.

Sieny Kattenburg recounted that she would go to the Theater to find parents whose names she had been given. Very carefully she would then ask: “Would you like to leave your child with us? We’ll make sure your child gets to people where they are taken care of until you get back.” She then said: “A few hours later I went back to hear their decision. Most parents refused. Who gives up their child just like that, without knowing where it will go? They felt young and strong, and wanted to take care of their child themselves.”

From 2023 onwards, the National Holocaust Museum is housed in the former training college. On the building’s façade is a plaque that reads: ‘To all who helped save Jewish children from deportation.’

Directions to location 8

Look across the street. You should see a colorful building and to the left of this Plantage Middenlaan 27-31. This was a nursery. To the left of it was the teacher training college.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

This former theater dates back to 1892. Back then it was called ‘Artis Schouwburg’ and operettas were performed there. In 1900 it was given the name ‘Hollandsche Schouwburg’ (Dutch Theater) and offered a Dutch theatrical repertoire. In the summer of 1941, it was forced to become a theater where only Jews were permitted. The name changed to ‘Joodse Schouwburg’ (Jewish Theater). From mid-1942 to the end of 1943, the building was used by the German occupiers as a gathering place for Jews who were to be deported from Amsterdam. SS officer Aus der Fünten, head of the “Zentralstelle für Jüdische Auswanderung” or the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, commanded the building. Day-to-day business was managed by officials of the Jewish Council, which you will learn more about later. The Council was led by Walter Süskind. Of the approximately 80,000 Jewish residents in Amsterdam, 63,000 were deported, and more than half of them through the Theater.

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Wim van den Berg’s dance school was located in café Eik en Linde, next to the Dutch Theater. Van den Berg was sent to Germany for forced labor while his wife Cisca continued to run the school. Until July 1942, the hall above the dance school was the artist foyer of the Dutch Theater. An escape route for Jews detained in the Theater ran along the back of the dance school. It was possible to reach the street through one of the two doors at number 20. Walter Süskind played a pivotal role in this resistance. When the Theater was cleared at the end of 1943 because most Jews had been deported, he himself did not want to go into hiding and was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. He died in early 1945.

Directions to location 7

Walk back to the intersection and turn left, walk to Plantage Middenlaan 24, to reach the Hollandsche Schouwburg/Dutch Theater.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Just behind this house was the courtyard of the Hollandsche Schouwburg (Dutch Theatre), the building designated by the Germans as an assembly point for Jews who were to be deported. Daughter Lydia Riezouw had a Jewish school friend named Greetje Velleman, who Lydia spotted one day in 1942 in the crowd of prisoners detained at the Schouwburg. In those early days, prisoners were still allowed to enter the courtyard for some fresh air. Soon, the atmosphere in the Schouwburg would become much more grim. Lydia took a series of photos of Greetje and her fellow prisoners, both from the garden and from the balcony. Greetje Velleman was only 17 years old when she was murdered on September 30th, 1942 in Auschwitz. At the beginning of the occupation, Father Riezouw, an antique dealer by trade, gave shelter to the wanted communist Daan Goulooze, who was communicating with Moscow via a transmitter. Son Bart, who studied law, participated in the student resistance and in December 1940, was one of the founders of the resistance newspaper De Vrije Katheder. Lydia helped with stenciling and distribution.

She always wore a nurse’s uniform during her courier work because, as she later said, she was never stopped when a street was closed during a raid. Bart Riezouw was later arrested and tortured in the infamous prison in Scheveningen, called the Oranje Hotel. He survived the war but never fully recovered.

Directions to location 6

Walk back to the intersection where you crossed Plantage Middenlaan. Now cross Plantage Kerklaan and turn left until you reach house number 9, the former residence of the Riezouw Family.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

This monument was designed by Carel Kneulman. It depicts a reclining figure with a raised fist, in a final gesture of resistance. On the pedestal is a poem by the resistance fighter and sculptor Gerrit Jan van der Veen: “What do you do now that your country is being kicked and enslaved…?” Together with Willem Arondeus, Van der Veen took the lead in the resistance against the Kultuurkamer, the Nazi-run organization which all artists had to join if they wanted to continue working legally. Jews were excluded from registering. Van der Veen subsequently set up a resistance group to create forged identity cards for Jews and Kultuurkamer resisters: the Central Office for Identity Cards. His collection of false stamps can be seen in the Resistance Museum. Because it was possible to cross check with the Amsterdam Registry Office to determine whether an identity card was fake, Van der Veen became a co-initiator and perpetrator of the attack on the registry office. He initially escaped arrest, but was caught a year later during a raid on the Weteringschans prison and was also shot.

Directions to location 5

Continue walking until you reach Plantage Middenlaan. Cross this street and then turn left, until you find a large monument on your right.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

From 1941 onwards, the Amsterdam Registry Office was located in the building to the right of the main zoo entrance. This location is now a restaurant. In the evening of Saturday, March 27th 1943, resistance fighters in fake police uniforms forced their way into the building: they overpowered the guards who were rendered unconscious with an injection, pushed over drawers containing Personal ID cards, and set these on fire. The goal was to destroy the personal data which enabled the deportation of Dutch Jews. The fire fighters realized what was going on and took their time with extinguishing the flames, later on making sure that the water would cause even more damage. The attic floor was never repaired so you can still see the roof from the other side. To the right of the entrance to the restaurant are the names of the twelve resistance fighters who were executed for their involvement in the attack.

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Although the attack was successful, the end result of the attack was disappointing. Many personal cards were restored and there was also a shadow archive in The Hague which meant that most destroyed cards had duplicates and could be replaced. But the action did inhibit the prosecution and deportation of Jews somewhat and lifted people’s morale: Everyone in the Netherlands was talking about it! The resistance newspaper Het Parool wrote: “Amsterdam enjoyed a bonfire.” Even Anne Frank in hiding was aware of what had occurred. She wrote in her diary: “Men posing as German police bound and gagged the guards and managed to destroy some important documents.”

For the group of students and artists who planned the attack, it was a big moral step to resort to violence. That’s why they decided that there should be no deaths. Once this decision was made, they had to figure out how to execute their plan since no one involved had any experience with such an operation. So, a map of the building had to be found, the guard schedule had to be figured out, they had to organize explosives, find police uniforms for their disguises, and so on. These were not items one just had laying around. Preparation for the attack took five months, during which the deportations continued. Many people were involved. One person mentioned the operation in a pub and was subsequently arrested and tortured. 22 others who were involved were also arrested and 12 of them were shot on July 1st, 1943. The announcement by the SS- and Polizeiführer stated that they had been a terrorist gang and that “Five perpetrators had Jewish blood. Two of the main perpetrators were homosexual.”

Willem Arondeus led the action. He had struggled with life as a gay artists and felt useful in the resistance. In the farewell letter he wrote before his execution, which is on display in the Resistance Museum, Willem wrote: “… tomorrow morning we will be shot. It is so easy to go: there is no longer any sadness or fear left in us…” The memorial plaque was unveiled on August 4th, 1945 and was designed by Willem Sandberg, director of the Stedelijk Museum, who was also involved in the attack.

Directions to location 4

Cross the street at the crosswalk. Restaurant De Plantage is right next to the entrance to Artis. The Amsterdam Registry Office was located in this building from 1941 onwards. You should see a plaque inscribed with names.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Artis remained open to the public throughout the war, with 1943 having the greatest number of visitors. The zoo nevertheless did have to deal with the consequences of the war. The current location of the Artis car park used to be a railway yard which was used by the German occupiers. In July 1941, it was attacked by Allied incendiary bombs, some of which also hit Artis. Fortunately, the damage was minimal. From fall of 1941, the infamous “Forbidden for Jews” sign hung by the entrance to Artis. The increasing lack of food and fuel caused major problems, which the zoo’s resourceful director Armand Sunier always managed to solve.

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Artis survived the Hunger Winter of 1944/45 and even the aquarium’s pump continued to function. Right before the liberation, only the aquarium was still connected to the power supply. This was made possible by city officials who helped to illegally tap electricity from the cable which runs along the tram tracks outside the zoo. This cable ran alongside Artis all the way to the headquarters of the German Grüne Polizei in the Colonial Institute, today called the Royal Tropical Institute.

During the Hunger Winter, food for animals was stolen by visitors as well as intruders. Even a pig from the petting zoo was taken once. Sunier then also had a second pig slaughtered for the staff. The lions were fed stockfish for a while. An estimated 200 to 300 people hid in Artis during the occupation. Young men who wanted to escape forced labor in Germany, alongside several Jews, hid in the attic of the predator gallery, for example. They hid there, even though many German soldiers also visited the zoo. Sunier, who was Swiss by birth, spoke German well and managed to maintain control of the zoo, also saving his staff from forced labor.

Directions to location 3

When you stand with your back to the front door, turn right and walk until you are right across from the entrance to Artis Zoo.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Wikipedia Gunter Demnig in Utrecht 2010

Right next door to the museum, placed into the sidewalk in front of number 63, are seven Stolpersteine, or in English, Stumbling Stones. These particular Stolpersteine display the names of the five members of the Prins family who lived there during the war and who were murdered. Two family members, Sara and Frederike, survived the war. The Stumbling Stones project, unofficially initiated by German artist Gunter Demning in 1992, is an international initiative to commemorate Holocaust victims at their last place of residence or sometimes work.

The stones are placed through the private initiative of relatives, current residents, or others who wish to commemorate former residents of buildings throughout various cities. They can be seen at several locations along the route and throughout Amsterdam.

Directions to location 2

Right next to the door of the museum, at number 63, are seven Stolpersteine, or Stumbling Stones placed within the sidewalk.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

The Plancius building was built from 1875 to 1876 and was intended to serve as a meeting center for the Jewish choir Oefening Baart Kunst. The inscription on the building’s façade at the time, “Liedertafel Oefening Baart Kunst” has since disappeared. However, you can still see a Star of David, the name Plancius, and musical instruments on the building. Plancius was also a well-known meeting place for the emerging socialist movement, in which many Jews were also active.

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The decline of Plancius began around 1900. In 1913, the property was sold to Jacques Pimentel, who was Jewish and the brother of nursery director Henriette Pimentel, whom you will hear more about later. Jacques Pimentel renovated the building in 1914 and converted it into a taxi company, which was very modern for the time. He added an extension behind the original building which is now used by the museum as its exhibition space. Due in part to the First World War, the taxi company went bankrupt and in 1919, the garage was acquired by the Amsterdamse Rijtuigen Maatschappij or the Amsterdam Carriage Company. During the German occupation in the Second World War, the Amsterdam Carriage Company once again started using wagons and horse drawn carriages due to the lack of petrol and Plancius was briefly transformed into a stable for horses. During the last year of the occupation, the Germans used this space to store vehicles and the guards were given their own rooms in the building. The ground floor of Plancius remained a garage until the Resistance Museum moved there in early 1999. The building’s various levels, now also apartments, have served many different purposes over the years, including as a mime theatre.

Voice: Nina Technow
Production: Freek Schröder
Image: Dutch Resistance Museum

Jews have lived in the neighborhood around Amsterdam’s city hall since around 1600. The neighborhood, which was always home to many different people, was nevertheless called “The Jewish Quarter.” The adjacent plantation area was still largely undeveloped until around 1870 when it was transformed into country estates and a few restaurants. The economic boom of the 19th century turned the plantation area into a residential district for the better off. Many residents of the Jewish Quarter, who benefitted from this boom, also moved there.

During the war, the district’s Jewish residents were deported from Amsterdam and in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the former Jewish Quarter was largely demolished. Nowhere else in the city are there as many memorials and monuments commemorating Jewish Amsterdam, the persecution of the Jews, and the resistance than in the Plantage neighborhood and former Jewish Quarter. This walk will take you through the most noteworthy of these places. We start and end the walk at the Resistance Museum, which has been located in the Plancius building since 1999.