In the Plantage district, the Verzetsmuseum explores personal choices under Nazi occupation and the war’s colonial histories. Its home, the 1876 Plancius Building, began as a Jewish choral hall; across the street, resistance fighters attacked Amsterdam’s population registry in 1943.
Quick facts
Built between 1874 and 1876 for Jewish choral society Oefening Baart Kunst, the Plancius Building later hosted concerts, political meetings and synagogue services.
The Verzetsmuseum was founded in 1984, opened in 1985, and moved to the Plancius Building in 1999.
On 27 March 1943, resistance fighters attacked the Amsterdam population registry opposite the museum; Willem Arondéus and eleven others were executed for the action.
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Look up at the Plancius Building’s façade and you will find a Star of David above the entrance. It is not a later museum emblem. This building began as a home for Jewish music and public life; today the Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam uses it to explore resistance, persecution, survival and compromise under occupation, as well as the war’s longer reach into the former Dutch colonies. Its setting makes the museum’s histories especially tangible.
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