fries verzetsmuseum

frisian resistance museum

The Fries Verzetsmuseum (Frisian Resistance Museum) is part of the Fries Museum. Here, visitors meet people who lived in Friesland between the years 1940 and 1945. Frisians and non-Frisians relate how they experienced the war in the Frisian countryside. There was resistance and persecution, but no hunger winter, and refugees and people came from far and wide to fetch milk and food.

The Fries Verzetsmuseum tells moving and confrontational stories that invite contemplation about people who had to make difficult choices in trying times. In the exhibition visitors experience how the Second World War was and still is experienced in Friesland. Eyewitnesses and objects with a personal story bring the war very close. Topics such as the air war over Friesland, the resistance against the occupying forces and going into hiding are central. Special attention is paid to the spectacular attack by the Frisian resistance on the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention) in Leeuwarden.

choices

When war prevails people have to make difficult choices. What would you do in such circumstances? The presentation in the Fries Verzetsmuseum allows you to experience the impact of the Second World War in Friesland, and how it resonates to this day. Individual stories, objects, photographs, film fragments and documents retell stories that are passed down from generation to generation.

'shoes of madness'

The presentation revolves around individual stories and the stories behind the actual objects such as the ostensibly insignificant ‘Schoenen van de Waanzin’ (‘Shoes of Madness’). During the war these shoes made a remarkable journey from an American pilot via a German soldier to a Jewish person in hiding. This tale illustrates that thinking in terms of black and white or good and evil frequently has no bearing on reality.

'the raid'

One of the most spectacular acts of resistance in Friesland during the war is undoubtedly ‘De Overval’ (‘The Raid’). On 8 December 1944 the prison, the ‘Huis van Bewaring’, in Leeuwarden was overrun by the armed resistance, the ‘Knokploegen’ (‘Strong-arm Boys’). Fifty-one resistance fighters managed to escape within half an hour without a shot being fired. The Fries Verzetsmuseum tells the story of this famous act of resistance from the perspective of the various people involved and examines the problems associated with executing the raid.

fries verzetsmuseum

frisian resistance museum

choices

more infromation

'shoes of madness'

'the raid'