Out of the Shadows
29 November 2010 until 8 May 2011
Jews in the Netherlands after 1945
From 29 November
the Jewish Historical Museum is presenting a major survey of Jewish
life in the Netherlands after the Second World War entitled Out of
the Shadows. Despite the devastation of the Holocaust there has
been a dynamic and flourishing Jewish life in the Netherlands since
1945. Jews picked up the thread, took new directions and formed a
vital and growing Jewish community with ideological, ethnic and
religious bonds.
Jews in the Netherlands since 1945 are mainly associated with war,
sorrow and loss. The other side of the story - the vitality of this
period - has long been overshadowed. After the war many people
assumed that Jews would have no future here. Many survivors'
ultimate goal was to move elsewhere, including Israel. But in the
1970s the tide slowly began to turn and we have seen the growth of
a varied and future-oriented Jewish community in the
Netherlands.
This exhibition shows the great diversity of Jewish life in the
Netherlands: the return from the war, the emigration, the
processing of trauma, the renewal of relations with non-Jews and
new directions in Judaism. How did Jews rebuild their lives in the
decades immediately after the war? What were the decisive events?
And how did the community come to flourish once more?
It provides a richly layered view of personal and public
(un)happiness, migration and international influences and
differences in representations of the Jewish community, both from
within and without. Which issues cause friction? Which are a source
of pride, and which are painful? Which issues are matters for
public debate and which does the community wish to discuss behind
closed doors? The exhibition aims to evoke recognition and surprise
among both Dutch and foreign visitors.
Interviews and film clips introduce us to numerous well- and
lesser-known figures from different generations and to their
personal stories and belongings. Many of the objects have never
previously been exhibited publicly.
The accompanying publication includes essays by leading writers
about important aspects of Jewish life in the Netherlands from 1945
to 2010. The exhibition's theme is echoed in a post-doctoral
position within the NWO's research programme Dynamiek van de
herinnering (The Dynamic of Memory).
