Photo exterior Oranjehotel: J.L. van den Oever
The vulnerability of freedom
Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel, Den Haag (NL)
Locked up in a lonely cell, deprived of your liberty: many people suffered this fate, and worse, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. In the Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel, a former prison, pupils will learn how vulnerable freedom can be if the Dutch constitutional state comes under threat.
New educational programme
We’re developing a new educational programme for the former prison. Many resistance fighters, Jews, communists and Jehovah’s Witnesses were incarcerated here during the Second World War. The aim is twofold: to keep memories of these people alive by transmitting their moving stories to new generations and to spur young people to think about what freedom really means.
Portrait of prisoner Anton de Kom
Portrait of prisoner Helen Cohen
Portrait of prisoner Arij Kop
Free thought, imprisoned
Pupils enter the cells in small groups. Inside, they hear the stories of prisoners who were locked up during the German occupation. In an interactive experience incorporating sound, light and objects, visitors witness the harsh reality of life in the cells and the everyday activities of prisoners and guards. Spending half an hour in a cell gives visitors a sense of how dark, cramped and lonely it is. Pupils learn about the fragility of the Dutch constitutional state during the totalitarian Nazi regime and how it acted to limit people’s freedom.
“We had to follow a female guard. I remember we walked down a long corridor and then the door to a cell opened. (…) We had to go inside”
Former prisoner Helen Cohen, then aged 8
Credits
Client
Nationaal Monument OranjehotelContent Design
Studio LouterSpatial Design
Maarten Stolk