in detail
When the Friesland Museum of Resistance opened in 1979 in the historic law office building at the Leeuwarden Turfmarkt, it was the first Museum of Resistance in the Netherlands. Today's museum design was created in 1995. Its permanent exhibition is dedicated to the four topics of collaboration, assimilation, resistance and persecution. A series of temporary exhibitions is realized too.
Yet the museum is also a place of reflection and awareness: the names of all 290 fallen Frisian resistance fighters, as well as approximately 600 persecuted and murdered Jews are recorded on two memorials. A further memorial recalls the approximately 1,000 forced labourers from Friesland who died during the war.
Historical objects placed in a contemporary context can be viewed in the »Open Depot« in the museum's cellar. The museum's motto is »Decide, then and now«.
The Friesland Museum of Resistance in Leeuwarden was opened in 1979 as the Netherlands' first museum of resistance. The permanent exhibition was inaugurated in 1995 under the museum's motto, »Decide, then and now«. In the »Open Depot«, there are many historical objects on display. Three memorials recall the resistance fighters who died in the war and the more than 600 Frisian Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.
1979
The Friesland Museum of Resistance was opened as the first museum of resistance in the Netherlands. A memorial plaque that recalls the murdered Jewish workers at the Benninga Company will be given to the Museum of Resistance in December.
1987 to 1994
The museum was located at Zuiderplan.
1995
Prince Willem Alexander opened the new Museum of Resistance at its original location at the Turfmarkt. At the same time, the fusion of the Friesland Museum of Resistance with the Frisian Museum was complete.
October 1995
The Jewish Memorial in the Museum of Resistance was inaugurated with the reading out of the names of all deported Frisian Jews.
1996
Unveiling of the memorial for the approximately 1,000 Frisian forced labourers who died in Germany.
Since 1996
Development of educational programmes with a strong focus on oral testimonies.
