Site of Deportation, Site of Memory The Amsterdam Hollandsche Schouwburg and the Holocaust

The Hollandsche Schouwburg is a former theater in Amsterdam where during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands tens of thousands of Jews were assembled before their deportation to the concentration camps. Before the war it was a site of cultural integration of Jews. In stark opposition, it was used as the Jewish Theater for five months to culturally isolate Jews before it was appointed to serve as Umslagplatz Plantage Middenlaan. After the liberation, the Schouwburg became the first commemoration site in memory of the Jewish victims of the war. It currently is a memorial museum and a unique site in Europe’s heritage of the Shoah.