The SS. Versatile Extremism
11-10-2017

The SS is one of the most infamous organisations in history. The name SS immediately recalls images of blond Aryan men, ruthless camp guards, and death squads. However, this image is incomplete. The SS was a very broad criminal organisation that aimed to influence every aspect of society. Who knew that the SS organised archaeological expeditions to Tibet to support its racist theories, forced prisoners to plant herb gardens at concentration camps, and that the Waffen-SS was one of the most multicultural organisations on earth with soldiers from over 30 countries? In this exhibition you will see the many faces of evil.

From 13 October 2017 to 15 April 2018 the National Liberation Museum will present the exhibition ‘The SS: Versatile Extremism’ which will elaborate on the unknown and hidden history of the SS, its structure, its cruelties, and all its weird and bizarre aspects.

The SS often appears in media in myths, fish stories, and stereotypes. The SS is also romanticized in sensationalist pulp documentaries, organisations of ex-SS members, and neo-Nazis. This makes the subject of the SS vulnerable to falsifications of history. The National Liberation Museum then also presents this exhibition with a specific goal in mind: preventing misinformation on one of the most evil organisations of the Second World War and giving a broader and more complete image of the SS. The common thread is versatile extremism: the goal of the SS was to drive the National Socialist ideology to the extreme. The SS did this in every aspect of life ranging from medicine to corporate life and the Germanisation of Christmas. In all this, the SS was heavily influenced by the personal irrationality and cruelty of the eccentric people in charge and particularly by Himmler’s personal ideas on race, antisemitism and old-Germanic occultism.

‘The SS: Versatile Extremism’ shows extraordinary objects and photographs on loan from Dutch and German museums and collections amongst which the Eyewitness Museum in Beek and Porzellanikon in Selb. These highlights will be shown along with impressive photographs, video footage and astonishing biographies.

Rosie the Riveter
28-01-2017

‘Rosie the Riveter’ is the name that became synonymous with the American women who worked in the factories during World War II. They filled the gaps in the job market that occurred when men went off to fight at the front. Millions of women flocked to the factories to produce war materials: everything from car tyres to airplanes. They did hard and sometimes dangerous work that was previously seen as ‘men’s work’, and received a salary that before the war, women could only dream of. This offered young women independence and they were eager for more. The role of women in the job market would never be the same. The National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 shows the extraordinary history of these women from 28 January to 1 October 2017 in the temporary exhibition ‘Rosie the Riveter’. A homage to the women who worked for our freedom.

Riveter was the most important profession in the construction of airplanes. To make one B-26 bomber, 25,000 parts had to be attached with 300,000 rivets. The thousands of women who did this work became a symbol for the working women during the war. However, women did much more during World War II. They maintained the railroads, worked as firefighters, flew transport planes, brought in the harvest, tested weapons, drew blueprints and much more. Ranging from the stunning propaganda posters that would call on women to get a war job to the less than glamourous reality of working overtime and sleeping in packed emergency housing: the exhibition ‘Rosie the Riveter’ puts their stories in a broad international context. It will show how this history inspired generations of women and how the famous ‘We Can Do It!’ poster became a feminist icon.

A historical researcher of the National Liberation Museum travelled to the United States for this exhibition and collected hundreds of photographs and stories that have never been shown before. The result is an abundance of engaging video footage, music, historical objects of real-life Rosies, and a large number of incredible photographs. Several real life Rosies will fly to Groesbeek from the United States for the opening of this exhibition. On Saturday 28 January they will be present at the museum for a unique meet & greet. The exhibition has been produced thanks to financial support from the vfonds (National Fund for Peace, Freedom, and Veterans care).

The Gulag. Terror and arbitrariness in the Soviet Union
08-09-2016

On 8 September 2016, a new exposition focusing on the Gulag forced labour camps in the former Soviet Union will open in the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945. The history of the Gulag, though unknown to many, contains a larger story about a system that can compete with that of Nazi Germany. The historical photos and objects on display come from archives and institutions from the Czech Republic, Poland and – naturally – Russia.

The Gulag camp system originates with the Russian tsars, but became truly notorious under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Under his leadership millions of Russians were arrested without cause, sentenced in shady show trials and sent to the camps to work supposedly for the honour and glory of the country, often in inhumane conditions. The Gulag greatly impacted Russia for decades and this impact is still notable today in contemporary Russian society. How do Russians deal with this black page in their history and have they coped with this national trauma?

An as of yet neglected theme is that of the thousands of Dutch people that were kept prisoner and sometimes died in the Gulag. Idealistic communists, naive fortune seekers and captured SS officers: all of them directly experienced the cruelties of the Gulag. The exposition highlights several of these Dutch stories to give an indication of the background diversity of these camp prisoners. The exposition has been realised in collaboration with the Netherlands-Russia Centre in Groningen. Czech organisation Gulag.cz Project has also loaned rare historical objects from the camps. In addition, Dutch Russia experts Jelle Brandt Corstius, Alexander Münninghoff and Nanci Adler from NIOD (Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies) have contributed to this exposition.

The exposition is a Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught production and has been made possible by financial support from the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei. The presentation of the exposition in Groesbeek has been realised in cooperation with the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945.

‘Freedom Afoot’. The Four Days Marches in war and freedom
14-07-2016

2016 is the year of the 100th Four Days Marches. Walking in freedom during these marches has not always been as self-evident as it is today! The next exhibition at the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 in Groesbeek focuses on the turbulent years of the 1930s and 1940s. This outdoor exhibition is on show from July 14 to October 30, 2016. Take a walk through the 20^th century and see the tensions of this time reflected in the Four Days Marches. During the Four Days Marches, from 19 to 22 July, the Liberation Museum offers a special discount: on these days individual visitors only pay a symbolic price of 100 eurocent per person!

‘Freedom Afoot’ walks the visitors through the history of the marches since their military origin. The First World War caused some disruption, but especially the troubling developments of the 1930s and 1940s had great consequences for the marches. The exhibition shows all challenges: the mobilisation and occupation, the emergency Four Days Marches, resistance walks, accusations of collaboration and finally, walking through the ruins immediately after the war. Step by step the Four Days Marches grew to be the biggest event in the Netherlands today.

The exhibition shows this and more of the Four Days Marches in times of war and freedom. Discover and experience it in the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945. Developed with financial support from the vfonds (National Fund for Peace, Freedom and Veterans Care) and in collaboration with Foundation DE 4DAAGSE and the Foundation Liberation Route Europe.

Routes of Liberation. European Legacies of WW2
06-06-2016

From 6 June until 31 August the internationally acclaimed exhibition ‘Routes of Liberation. European Legacies of the Second World War’ will be on display in the National Liberation museum in Groesbeek. This exhibition has been in our museum before and due to its great success will now once again take to the spotlights. 

For the first time in history the European countries have combined forces to show how they experienced WW2 from a multiperspective storytelling point of view as demonstrated in this unique multimedial and travelling exhibition. Five countries present their perspectives: Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain. An absolute must see for everyone. It becomes profoundly evident how history was and is experienced. Personal stories, films images, time lines and unique photographs from European leading war and liberation museums show the joint European legacy. The leading thread throughout is: how did we lose our freedom, how did we regain this freedom and how do we keep this freedom.

Leading museums participated in this project, the Alliierten Museum Berlin, the Mémorial in Caen, the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk and the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 in Groesbeek. The exhibition will be brought under attention once again during the celebrations of the 100^th Four Days Marches through the financial support of the vfund (National Fund for Peace, Freedom and Veteran Care) and in close collaboration with the Four Days Marches Foundation and the Liberation Route Europe Foundation. This foundation participates with more than 60 international partners in unfolding the route through Europe taken by the allies to end the Second World War. The 3.000 km route begins in the south of England and travels via Normandy through Belgium and the south-east of the Netherlands in the direction of Berlin. The Liberation Route Europe was officially launched on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th 2014, exactly 70 years after D-Day.

The Poles. Liberators in exile
20-11-2015

They fought for our freedom with the allied forces, but they themselves were not liberated. The Polish story of WW2 is one of the most tragic and also least exposed stories of the liberation history of WW2. The National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 shows their stories in a new temporary exhibition from November 20th-May 31st 2016 entitled 'The Poles. Liberators in exile'.

WW2 started in Poland and the occupation was extremely brutal. The most notorius concentration and extermination camps lay in Poland: Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz. But from the start of WW2 the Poles also had a very strong resistance movement. They even tried to liberate Warsaw in the Autumn of 1944. Many Poles were active abroad. As exiles they joined the allied armies to fight against national socialism. They fought in North-Africa, Italy, Normandy and in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden for the liberation of the Dutch southern provinces.

Their motto was 'For your and our freedom', but when Europe celebrated her freedom at the end of WW2, Poland became a satellite state of the Soviet Union. A bitter disappointment for the soldiers who had liberated us. Many Poles stayed in Great Britain or the Netherlands for the rest of their lives.

There are unique masterpieces and images from Dutch and Polish museums: the General Maczek Museum in Breda, the National WW2 Museum in Gdańsk, the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw, the Centre for Mathematics & Computer Science Amsterdam and the Eyewitness Museum in Beek. On show among others are an Enigma machine and the uniforms of the generals Sosabowski and Maczek. Impressive photographs are alternated with surprising personal stories for example the story about Wojtek the bear, the mascot of one of the Polish units.

Songs of Liberation
24-04-2015

We all know the images of liberation, but what did that liberation sound like? What kind of music was being played? That is much less known. The Liberation Museum answers these questions in a new exhibition from April 24-November 1 2015 and also special activities.

Exhibition

When we see liberation images we immediately think of jazz, but there was seldom a microphone present at the photo and film recordings. The jazz heard in the documentaries about the liberation was nearly always added to the images in a later stage. The actual liberation music was much more versatile. The music from the liberation period has been brought back to life in this temporary exhibition ‘Songs of Liberation’ based on a unique collection of more than 300 pieces of sheet-music, recently donated to the museum from the US. From the Foxtrot to the Swing, from hastily written liberation songs to international hits.

Songs of Liberation also looks further than the summer of 1945. From the introduction of jazz in the Netherlands in the 20’s to censorship and Schlager-music in the occupation years. After the war the American and British music thrived from jazz to rock ‘n roll and pop music. Thanks to the cooperation with the dept. of American Studies of the Radboud University Nijmegen, next to historical recordings also modern reconstructions can be heard of songs that were never recorded like ‘Snoezepoes, The Tommy Song, the Free Netherlands and the Sten-Gun-Walk’. In the exhibition there is also a possibility to dance to authentic dance instructions.

Book publication and educational programme

On the occasion of this exhibition also a new richly illustrated book will be published titled ‘Soundtrack of Liberation’, author prof.dr. Frank Mehring, dept. of American Sudies, Radboud University Nijmegen. This book published by VanTilt Publishers is available in bookstores and the Liberation Museum shop from April 24.

For the exhibition ‘Songs of Liberation’ and in cooperation with the Musidesk Rijnbrink Group, Get Vibes Music Academy and Het Musiater, also lesson and other new educational material has been composed for elementary and secondary education.

Soldiers. Operation Market Garden and the Rhineland Offensive
26-09-2014

Routes of Liberation. European Legacies of the Second World War.
01-09-2014

For the first time in history the European countries have combined forces to show how they experienced WW2 from a multiperspective storytelling point of view as demonstrated in this unique multimedial and travelling exhibition. Five countries present their perspectives: Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France and Great Britain. An absolute must see for everyone. It becomes profoundly evident how history was and is experienced. Personal stories, films images, time lines and unique photographs from European leading war and liberation museums show the joint European legacy. The leading thread throughout is: how did we lose our freedom, how did we regain this freedom and how do we keep this freedom.

Leading museums participated in this project, the Alliierten Museum Berlin, the Mémorial in Caen, the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk and the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 in Groesbeek. The exhibition was produced with financial support by the vfonds and the Foundation Liberation Route Europe. This foundation participates with more than 60 international partners in unfolding the route through Europe taken by the allies to end the Second World War. The 3.000 km route begins in the south of England and travels via Normandy through Belgium and the south-east of the Netherlands in the direction of Berlin. The Liberation Route Europe was officially launched on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th 2014, exactly 70 years after D-Day.

The period of rebuilding after WW2. 'From Drees to Frank Sinatra'
18-12-2013

The war was over, the future lay ahead. But how were the first years after WW2 actually? The second half of the 40’s and the beginning of the 50’s are extraordinarily captivating, but contrary to this not often in the spotlights. Caught between the end of the war, the period of economic prosperity, the welfare-state and the consumer society, these years are an important hinge point of the 20th century.

The Liberation Museum shows it all: the tackling of the ruins, the breakthrough of new political ideas, the desire for moral recovery, the relationship with the German neighbours, the new culture, The Dutch-East Indies, the Marshall Plan, the onset of the Cold War and the European cooperation. The era of prime minister Drees started, coca-cola, jazz and swing grasped the country and the Dutch Automobile Association (ANWB) put tourism on the map. New music, new fashion, but also the debate about how the country must be rebuilt.

The visitor walks through the rebuilding street, listens to the rythms of post-war jazz, discovers the first years of the car breakdown-service and admires the wide pleated skirts of the post-war fashion.
This exhibition was built in collaboration with the Department of American Studies of the Radboud University Nijmegen.

Canadian War Brides. A one way passage to love.
07-06-2013

On show at the Liberation Museum from June 7th -November 17th 2013 an exceptional Canadian museum collection, never before exhibited in The Netherlands.

Canadian War Brides shows the story of the Dutch war brides in Canada. Many of us are familiar with the Dutch song ‘Trees has a Canadian’, but we know very little about the women who followed their love overseas. This will change after viewing this exhibition: the beautiful paintings by Beverly Tosh, she herself a daughter of a war bride, original wedding dresses, other objects, documents, photo’s and films show the moving story.


Surrounded by war and danger brief romances with Canadian soldiers quickly turned into lifetime love. Shortly after WW2 thousands of Dutch women traveled to Canada to be with their wartime love. The painter Beverly Tosh painted 22 portraits, collected their impressive stories and memorabilia. Together they tell the history of many brides.


Elly from Hilversum wore a suit made of an army blanket. Loes from Bergen op Zoom married in her Dutch army uniform. Olga from Haarlem made her own wedding dress from a parachute. After their marriage the Canadian soldiers left for home and the young women waited for the ship to take them to their loved one. A one way passage to Canada. Many would never see their family again. Upon arrival in a strange country they often found that their new home was a wooden cabin on the prairie and their existence was full of poverty and deprivation. But the occupation and liberation period had strengthened these young women and many would do anything for love.


Canadian War Brides is a new exhibition that brings to life the romance and reality of the Dutch war brides who traveled to Canada. Years ago brave young women brought these with them from their homeland. Generations later their stories return home: now for the first time in The Netherlands.

‘All the children, they are gone’
01-03-2013

In 2013 it is 70 years ago that nearly 1.300 children were deported on 6 and 7 June 1943 to the extermination camp of Sobibor in Poland. All Jewish children under 17 had to leave the Jewish transit camp Vught in the Netherlands. It was said that the children were being taken to a ‘children’s camp’ because camp Vught was too full.

The Liberation Museum will be showing this impressive story from March 1st-May 20th 2013 in a temporary exhibition entitled ‘All the children, they are gone’. The personal stories of the children involved and eyewitness accounts of prisoners and bystanders, bring these events closer and give the visitor a clear and emotional picture of the course of these chaotic days. At the same time the story of the children’s transport from camp Vught is a timeless story of exclusion, stigmatization and persecution.
The story of the children’s transport is told through diaries, letters and interviews in chronological order. The stories can be read and listened to on walls, screens and posts around a symbolic barrack functioning as centerpiece.

The Dutch Sobibor Foundation developed educational material with regards to the children’s transport, entitled ‘Jewish children in camp Vught’ consisting of a lesson package and a dvd with the stories of eight survivors of the camps. This makes a visit and/or guided tour for schools more interesting and embedded in an educational context. For young people this is a great impuls to take in the story and the events of 1943. See alsowww.joodsekindereninkampvught.nl.

The exhibition was achieved in collaboration with the Camp Vught National Memorial and the Dutch Sobibor Foundation and was realized through contributions by the Province Noord-Brabant, the National Veterans Foundation, the VSB Foundation, the Levi Stassen Foundation and the Prince Bernard Culture Foundation.

Forever Free. Dancing and War in a Frontline City
03-05-2012 - 17-02-2013

From May 3rd 2012-February 17th 2012 the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 in Groesbeek presents the exciting experiences of the people in the Nijmegen region during the last year of the war.
Although Arnhem was a bridge too far during Operation Market Garden, Nijmegen had been liberated on September 20th 1944. But the people of Nijmegen had to face new dangers because Nijmegen became a frontline city. The centre and southern part of Nijmegen was in German hands. The frontline ran right through the Betuwe and the Ooypolder, passed through Groesbeek in the direction of Mook and was constantly changing due to heavy fighting. For 6 months the region was under attack from German torpedo’s, grenades and bombs. Many people lived like rats in the bomb shelters. Thousands of allied soldiers were in the city, Nijmegen was one large army camp.

Despite the great danger, there was also an atmosphere of liberation. This sense of freedom and the need to relax and have fun found a release at the dances in the concert hall ‘De Vereeniging’, country-houses, YMCA's, emergency hospitals, factories, schools and pubs. Young people growing up in the occupation period tasted freedom for the first time. Surrounded by the violence of war, there were many love-affairs between allied soldiers and Dutch girls.
In the frontline period, some 90.000 people were evacuated from the Betuwe and the wider area around Nijmegen. In Nijmegen some 2.200 citizens had been killed in the war, thousands had been wounded and as many houses had been destroyed or damaged.

On February 8th 1945 the finale to freedom came within sight: Forever Free!. On this day the large Rhineland Offensive was launched. From the wider region around Nijmegen 50.000 allied soldiers moved into Germany starting the battle of the Niederrhein. This was the largest and final allied campaign in Western Europe during WW2. Never before had such a large military operation been launched from Dutch soil.

In the exhibition ‘Forever Free. Dancing and War in a Frontline City’ you will hear, experience and understand it all. Scientific data, impressive diaries, sounds, film fragments and photographs never exhibited before, take the visitor back in time.

 

Scribbles and Blobs
06-03-2011

 21-04-2010 - 07-03-2011

 'Scribbles and Blobs' in times of occupation is a unique manuscript from WW2 presenting a detailed image of the last year of the occupation from April 1944 up till the liberation in May 1945. The author Frans Brouwer, wrote and drew the manuscript in the greatest secrecy in his house in Voorburg, the Netherlands.

 

‘Love in wartime. Butterflies in the stomach of the forties’.
October 24 2008-November 2 2009

WW2 influenced the love life of a complete generation of people. As always they fell in love: in underground shelters, in hiding places, in trenches or just simply in the street. The exhibition ‘Love in war time’ demonstrates how people survive under difficult circumstances and how feelings can change everything, for what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in love?
The new exhibition is on show from October 24th 2008 in the National Liberation Museum 1944-1945.

The combination love and war is as old as mankind. What makes the relationship between them so special is that under threat of death, life and thus also love affairs and heartache are experienced much more intensely. This is also evident from the many personal stories of married couples and lovers who survived the war and who share their experiences with the visitor.

The exhibition ‘Love in war time’ sheds light on the human side of war. For most people life and therefore also love continued, sometimes interrupted by staying in shelters, going into hiding or during forced labour in Germany. Even in the transition and concentration camps love struck and kept people going. Many women fell for the smartly uniformed occupier or liberator. According to recent research about 8.000 Dutch women had a child by a liberator, considerably less however than the number of children born from relationships with German soldiers: more than 30.000! Obviously the number of love affairs is much higher.
The exhibition also shows subjects like the persecution of homosexuals and the widespread prostitution during the war. And although not romantic love, the intense unconditional friendship between soldiers has also not been forgotten.

Love itself is unpredictable and elusive, but with the aid of among others personal photographs, love letters, wedding gifts, films and sound recordings, war time love stories become alive. This is an intimate exhibition with material never shown before that will quicken your heartbeat!

The exhibition ‘Love in wartime’ is on show from October 24th 2008 - October 31st 2009.

The National Liberation Museum 1944-1945.
Visiting address: Wylerbaan 4, 6561 KR Groesbeek, The Netherlands
Tel. 00 31 24 397 44 04
info@bevrijdingsmuseum.nl
www.bevrijdingsmuseum.nl

 

‘Nijmegen between occupation and liberation’
April 24th-September 28th 2008
The daily life of inhabitants of Nijmegen between 1940 and 1945 is shown in this all encompassing exhibition. The invasion of German troops, the persecution of the jews, the Nijmegen resistance, the bombardment of February 22nd, 1944 and the liberation are a few of the themes which are presented to the public with never before seen objects and images.

‘Heroes and heroines. About land mines and gut, 1940-2040’
Until April 13th, 2008
During wars mines are laid which often remain a danger for the population long after the peace treaty has been signed. Regularly World War II mines are exploded by teams of professional deminers. The heroes and heroines who disarm mines from recent wars take center stage in this exhibition.