History of the museum

On 24 April 1984, the future board of a foundation whose aim was "the establishment and maintenance of a museum dedicated to resistance against National Socialism and Fascism” held its first meeting. At the time, there was no money, no premises and no collection. However, the time was right for a resistance museum. Just a year and a half later, the museum would open, thanks to the drive and fighting spirit of former resistance fighters. They were board members, volunteers and supporters. They were often newly retired and had a large network of political connections. Partly due to the rise of far-right political parties, they wanted to transfer their stories to the younger generation, and there was also great interest from schools for this.

The museum quickly managed to raise money and find a building: the former synagogue on Lekstraat in Amsterdam-South. The municipality wanted to preserve the "New Objectivity" style building, because of its architectural value. On 6 September 1984, the Jewish Community agreed to rent the main building to the Resistance Museum. The municipality gave financial support. The Amsterdam 4 and 5 May Committee took care of a collection. On 19 November 1985, the museum was opened by Prince Bernhard, with two part-time permanent staff and hundreds of volunteers, mostly from the resistance.

After this flying start, the museum was visited by many school groups and foreign tourists also proved to be interested. In 1990, the museum received support from the state and two new paid staff could be employed. However, the building and location proved unsuitable for growth. There was virtually no office space, no room for the growing collection and the Dutch culture enthusiasts were reluctant to visit the relatively small museum in an inconspicuous backstreet far from the city centre. The number of visitors stuck at an average of 15,000 a year. The museum started looking for another location. 

The board and staff still possessed fighting spirit. Millions were raised, which were used to purchase the ground floor and part of the first floor of the Plancius Building in Amsterdam's Plantage neighbourhood in 1997. This dilapidated building was rebuilt and on 29 April 1999 the museum was opened with a totally renovated permanent exhibition and all kinds of new facilities, again by Prince Bernhard. From here things went well for the museum. Within five years, the number of visitors grew to 50,000 a year. The Historisch Nieuwsblad proclaimed the museum the best Historical Museum in the Netherlands in 2002.

In 2005, the museum expanded to include a section about the Dutch Colonies, focusing on the Dutch East Indies. It also featured Indonesians' resistance to the Netherlands. This was very innovative at the time. Members of the Dutch East Indies community also recognized their stories and were enthusiastic.

The museum continued to grow continuously. Partly thanks to increasing admission revenues, the museum was able to continue professionalizing. However, volunteers remained of great importance to the museum, even when the generation of those directly involved in the war fell away.

Schoolchildren were an important target group of the museum from its inception. As the permanent exhibition did not offer enough space to meet school demand, the museum also started organising temporary exhibitions for children. These were so successful with schools and families that the idea arose to expand the museum with a permanent children's section.

This became a reality when the museum had the opportunity to buy the back part of a garage in the Doklaan plantation around the corner, adjacent to the permanent exhibition. It took seven years to raise the necessary funds and obtain the permits. In particular, the plan to add a floor for the much-needed expansion of the office and reception areas was a big hurdle.

In October 2013, Resistance Museum Junior was able to open. This innovative exhibition, about four real-life children in wartime, was immediately popular. It won several museum award  and ensured further visitor growth. In 2015, the mark of 100,000 visitors was passed. In 2018, the museum developed an equally successful travelling version of the successful children's museum: Resistance Museum Junior on Wheels.

With a brand-new Junior Museum, it became clear that the still highly valued permanent exhibition from 1999 was also in need of a renewal. The museum made attempts to expand the museum space again, by buying surrounding property or constructing a new underground floor. Partly due to the corona crisis, the plans ran aground.  It was decided to create more space for the new permanent exhibition after all and to move the section about the colonies to a separate part of the temporary exhibition space.

The Dutch Resistance Museum reopened on 1st December 2022 and visitor can come and see the new permanent exhibition.