Our Lord in the Attic Chapel seats 150 people and has served the local Catholic parish for over 200 years. Today Amstelkring Museum provides guided tours of this attic and of the rest of the house, with exhibits of many Christian artefacts, paintings and silver.

Amstelkring Museum history

In 1578, Amsterdam changed allegiances from the Roman Catholic King Philip II of Spain to William I of Orange in what is known as the Alteratie. This rebellion not only led to the Eighty Years’ War, but Catholic Mass was outlawed in the city by Protestant authorities. However, Amsterdam enjoyed some degree of religious tolerance, as clandestine Catholic churches were silently accepted within private homes.

In 1661, a wealthy Catholic merchant, Jan Hartman, bought a grand canal house along with the 2 behind it. His son had been studying for the priesthood when Catholicism was banned in Amsterdam, and so Hartman built a beautiful chapel within his new property. The secret church took over the entire top floor of the 3 houses, and was known as ‘the Hart’, likely after the owner’s name and the stag statue outside.

The home and chapel underwent renovations in 1739 when the property was bought by a priest, Ludovicus Reiniers. He rebuilt the facade and introduced a new stairway. Reiniers also removed the stag, and so the church became ‘Our Lord in the Attic’. In 1887, a large church near the train station was dedicated as the new local parish church, but a group of Catholics purchased the attic chapel to preserve it for posterity. It was opened to the public in April 1888.

Amstelkring Museum today

Today, the Church of Our Lord in the Attic is a museum, but continues to host Catholic services every first Sunday of the months and occasionally weddings. The museum boasts many 17th century religious artefacts, as well as preserving the attic chapel itself.

The temporary exhibitions currently explore 19th century Catholic women’s fashion, as well as providing an exhibition space for fashion students of the brand Cruèl. After exploring the attic chapel and more, stop in the light and airy museum cafe for a snack.

Getting to Amstelkring Museum

Located on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal on the canal front, the easiest way to travel Amsterdam is on foot or by bicycle. Via public transport, the nearest stop is Dam only 5 minutes walk away, serving tram lines 4 and 14, as well as bus routes N85, N86 and N87.

Although known as Anne Frank’s House, the site was originally her father’s office building and all eight inhabitants lived in a secret annex in the attic hidden by a moveable bookcase.

Anne Frank’s House history

Anne Frank was born in the German city of Frankfurt am Main in 1929. Due to the rampant antisemitic sentiments in Germany, Anne’s parents, Otto and Edith Frank, decide to move to Amsterdam. There, Otto founded a company that traded in pectin, a gelling agent for making jam.

On 1 September 1939, when Anne was 10 years old, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and so the Second World War began. Not long after, on 10 May 1940, the Nazis also invaded the Netherlands. Five days later, the Dutch army surrendered. Slowly but surely, the Nazis introduced more and more laws and regulations that made the lives of Jews more difficult.

When Anne’s older sister Margot received a call-up to report for a so-called ‘labour camp’ in Nazi Germany on 5 July 1942, her parents were suspicious. They did not believe the call-up was about work and decided to go into hiding the next day in order to escape persecution.  In the spring of 1942, Anne’s father had started furnishing a hiding place in the annex of his business premises at Prinsengracht 263. He received help from his former colleagues. Before long, they were joined by four more people.

On her thirteenth birthday, just before they went into hiding, Anne was presented with a diary. During the two years in hiding, Anne wrote about events in the Secret Annex, but also about her feelings and thoughts.

When the Minister of Education of the Dutch government in England made an appeal on Radio Orange to hold on to war diaries and documents, Anne was inspired to rewrite her individual diaries into one running story, titled Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex).

Anne started rewriting her diary, but before she was done, she and the other people in hiding were discovered and arrested by police officers on 4 August 1944 and subsequently imprisoned in concentration camps.

Despite the raid, part of Anne’s writing was preserved: two other helpers took the documents before the Secret Annex was emptied by order of the Nazis.

Anne Frank died in Bergen-Belsen in March 1945, but her diary was later discovered by her father and published to worldwide acclaim.

People all over the world were introduced to Anne’s story and in 1960 the hiding place became a museum: the Anne Frank House.

Anne Frank’s House today

Until his death in 1980, Otto remained closely involved with the Anne Frank House and the museum. He hoped that readers of the diary would become aware of the dangers of discrimination, racism, and hatred of Jews.

The museum allows visitors to see the moving bookcase, walk through the cramped secret annex and gain a true appreciation of the hardship this group endured in their fight for survival.

The museum displays many original letters, photos and objects belonging to the Frank family as well as to the van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer. Anne Frank’s original diary is also on display.

Getting to Anne Frank’s House

The Anne Frank House is located in the city centre of Amsterdam, at Prinsengracht 263-267. The entrance to the museum is around the corner, at Westermarkt 20. It is a 20-minute walk from Amsterdam Central Station. Alternatively, take tram 13 or 17 and get off at the Westermarkt stop.

Arnhem Bridge history

By September 1944, the Allies had broken Hitler’s Atlantic Wall with the invasion of Normandy, and after bitter fighting the Germans had been forced back through France, with Paris liberated.

Wanting to capitalise on their momentum and determined to defeat Germany as swiftly as possible, Allied forces planned to invade northern Germany. In doing so, they planned an ambitious airborne assault to capture a number of key river crossings and open a gateway into the country.

The plan, known as Operation Market Garden, involved dropping thousands of Allied troops behind enemy lines. These troops would then secure the crossings of the Rhine, including Arnhem Bridge, paving the way for a ground assault. It would be the biggest airborne assault in history.

The divisions included the American 82nd Airborne Division under General James Gavin, the 101st American Airborne Division led by General Maxwell Taylor and the First British Airborne Division commanded by Major General Robert Urquhart. This ambitious plan would also require the British XXX Corps to relieve the airborne troops.

Operation Market Garden, which took place from 17-25 September 1944, soon went badly wrong for the Allies. Paratroopers were dropped too far from their lines and few made it to their correct targets. Communication was a major issue and the force of the German response had been underestimated.

The Second Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, led by Lieutenant-Colonel John Frost were responsible for securing Arnhem Bridge, but only had a fraction of their planned numbers after the jump. They did succeed in capturing half of the bridge and fought determinedly to defend it for several days against overwhelming odds, but eventually the Germans managed to pin them down and regained control of the area.

Despite the fact that the Battle of Arnhem and Operation Market Garden as a whole were a defeat for the Allies, the bravery and valour of Frost’s troops has become the stuff of legend and even inspired the 1977 film, “A Bridge Too Far”.

Arnhem Bridge today

Today, the bridge at Arnhem is a reconstructed version of the one used in World War Two, as it was bombed by the British around a month after the battle to prevent its further strategic use by the Germans.

In 1977, it was renamed John Frost Bridge after the commander of the British forces tasked with securing it, and today there are a number of memorials and museums nearby. Yearly commemorations also take place at Arnhem Bridge to remember the battle that took place there.

Getting to Arnhem Bridge

Arnhem Bridge is located in Arnhem in the Netherlands. The nearest train station is Arnhem Velperpoort, a 20-minute walk away, while a number of bus services stop of Arnhem, Airborneplein, a 5-minute walk away.

Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, bringing the formally neutral country into the war and occupying it thereafter. It would not be fully liberated again until May 1945. By the end of the Second World War, the Netherlands had one of the highest casualty rates of all German occupied countries, with over 205,000 people having died.

The Dutch National Monument commemorates these casualties as well as the Dutch resistance during the occupation.

History of Dutch National Monument

Dam Square is the historic centre of The Netherlands’ capital, Amsterdam. Until 1914, a different monument – De Eendracht or popularly Naatje van de Dam – stood there, which commemorated the Ten Days’ Campaign.

After the Second World War ended in 1945, a liberty pole was erected on Dam Square, and shortly thereafter, the Dutch government proposed that there be a permanent World War II monument in the same place.

A temporary monument was placed there while planning for the current one took place. It consisted of 11 urns with soil from World War II execution grounds and war cemeteries from each of the Dutch provinces. Three years later, a twelfth urn was added with soil from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia.)

John Rädecker was commissioned to design the monument, with his designs being exhibited in 1946 at the Stedelijk Museum, with his two sons Han and Jan stepping in to complete the project after Rädecker died four months before its completion.

The Dutch National Monument was officially opened in May 1956 by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.

The monument became a symbol of liberation, and, in the 1960s and 70s, became a central gathering and camp site for hippies. This was condemned by the government, which then incited riots.

The monument has undergone a number of restorations to improve its sturdiness and accessibility over the last 60 years or so, and gained rijksmonument status in 2009.

Dutch National Monument Today

Today, the monument serves as a stark reminder of war atrocities and those lost in conflict. It also plays a central role in National Remembrance Day, on 4 may, when the royal family and local residents gather to pay their respects to all soldiers lost in conflict from the Second World War and during more recent conflicts.

Getting to Dutch National Monument

From the centre of Amsterdam, the Dam Square and thus the Dutch National Monument are a 6 minute drive, via Rokin street. It’s also around 15 minutes by foot, via Jodenbreestraat. There are also a number of connecting buses – the Intercity and Sprinter – which take around 15 minutes from the centre of the city.

Freedom Museum history

Designed to describe the history of the period and challenge visitors to understand the reality of this time, the museum mixes exhibitions with interactive displays to bring the challenges of the period to the forefront of the visit. Also weaved into the experience are films showing original footage from the time and displays, dioramas, music and even aromas from the period.

The Freedom Museum is a historical educational museum that tells the cross-border and multi-perspective story of War and Freedom without Borders for young and old. The focus is on the Second World War, in the context of the history of the 20th century and current events. The museum is affiliated with the Dutch Museum Association (NMV) and has the Registered Museum quality mark.

Freedom Museum today

Split into three permanent exhibitions, Freedom Museum covers the inter-war years and those of the German occupation, the liberation period and the post-war era. There is a particular focus on certain key elements of the campaign to liberate Europe which took place in the vicinity of the museum, including Operation Market Garden as well as the war in the Lower Rhine region.

The museum also includes an area devoted to remembering the 150,000 Allied soldiers who lost their lives during the campaign to liberate Western Europe. There is also an extensive activity programme including battlefield tours, film screenings and children’s programmes. Both individuals and groups can visit the museum, where they can also enjoy a visit to the museum café and museum shop.

Getting to Freedom Museum

From Nijmegen Central Station visitors can take city bus 5 to Groesbeek, “De Oude Molen” stop. From this stop it is only a 5 minute walk to the museum.