Hollandskeshoberg

About

The Hollandsche Schouwburg opened on May 5, 1892, in Amsterdam's Plantage district, designed by architect Cornelis Antonius Bombach. Originally named the Artis Schouwburg, it was renamed the Hollandsche Schouwburg two years later. Located near the Jodenbuurt, the city's historic Jewish neighborhood, it drew a large Jewish audience. In 1941, Nazi occupation authorities designated it a "Jewish theatre." From July 1942 it was used as an assembly point for Jews ordered to report for deportation; over sixteen months, roughly 46,000 people passed through the building on their way to concentration and extermination camps. On May 4, 1962, the mayor of Amsterdam dedicated the site as a memorial. Most of the building was demolished at the time, leaving only the façade, a memorial room known as the Chapelle Ardente, and a monument in the courtyard. The memorial wall bears roughly 6,700 surnames representing the approximately 104,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands and killed in the camps. The site reopened in March 2024 after a three-year renovation and can be visited free of charge.