Plaque commemorating the raid on the Registry Office
Plantage Kerklaan 36
The Amsterdam Registry Office was housed at the time of World
War II in what used to be a concert hall, part of the buildings
attached to Artis, the city's zoo. The Registry contained the names
and information about some 70,000 Amsterdam Jews.
On 27 March 1943, disguised as policemen, members of a Resistance
group forced their way into the Registry Office and set fire to the
papers. The identity cards were slow to catch light but thanks to
well-disposed firemen the damages from hosing the cards was quite
considerable. However, for Jews the effect was minimal, since the
majority of then had already been deported.
The Resistance group was betrayed to the Sicherheitsdienst
(Security Police) and most of them were picked up within a couple
of weeks. Twelve of them were liquidated on 1 July. These included
well-known Dutch figures such as the writer and painter Willem
Arondeus, the Jewish medical student Rudolf Bloemgarten, the writer
Johan Brouwer and the architect Koen Limperg. The sculptor Gerrit
van der Veen together with Willem Sandberg, then curator at
Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum, managed to escape.
In the night of 14 to 15 May 1944, Gerrit van der Veen was
arrested, and executed on 10 June, in the sand dunes of
Bloemendaal, just beyond Haarlem. His memory endures as one of the
bravest Dutch Resistance fighters on record. Willem Sandberg, who
was to survive the war, designed the plaque to commemorate the raid
on the Registry Office.
Collectie en mediatheek
Krantenartikel
1943-07-01
Krantenknipsel naar aanleiding van de aanslag op het Bevolkingsregister
aan de Plantage Kerklaan in Amsterdam, op 27 maart 1943.
Collectie > Documenten > 00000798
Overzichtsfoto
1993
Plaquette ter herinnering aan de aanslag op het bevolkingsregister, 27
maart 1943. Hoek Plantage Middenlaan - Plantage Kerklaan.
Collectie > Fotos > 40004998
