Jewish Museum
9.30am
Meet and greet with your English-speaking guide in the lobby of your hotel, from where you will be taken for a scenic walk to the Jewish district. Upon arrival, you will be taken on a guided tour of the Jewish Museum, Portuguese Synagogue, the National Holocaust Museum and Hollandsche Schouwburg (Dutch Theatre).
Jewish Museum
Four restored synagogues in the heart of Amsterdam’s former Jewish quarter now house the Jewish Museum. Its central themes are the eventful history of the Jews in the Netherlands and their colorful culture. Religion presents Jewish customs with beautiful ceremonial objects.
Jewish Museum
History of the Jews in the Netherlands 1600-1900 shows how different groups of Jews integrated and emancipated in the Netherlands. History of the Jews in the Netherlands 1900-the present day is brought to life in a display of objects and historical film clips. Other historical and topical subjects associated with Jewish culture are featured in temporary exhibitions. https://jck.nl/en/location/jewish-museum
The Portuguese Synagogue
In the heart of the old Jewish neighborhood stands the Portuguese Synagogue. The biggest synagogue in the world when it was built in the 17th century. Jews still worship here to this day, but whenever this wonderful building isn’t being used for services it’s open for you to visit.
Everyone is welcome. Whether you’re Jewish or not. A visit to the Portuguese Synagogue is a breathtaking experience. Everything has been kept just as it was in the 17th century. Instead of electric lights, the synagogue is lit by hundreds of candles.
Portuguese Synagogue
Since 1675 it has occupied its current premises in the marvelous complex of the Portuguese Jewish Synagogue since 1675. The library’s collections reflect the congregation’s interests in a wide range of subjects in addition to specific religious education. It consists of some 560 manuscripts and 30,000 printed works, possesses a large, rich collection relating to Jewish life in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and as such it has been a core part of Amsterdam’s cultural heritage for almost 400 years. In 2003, the collection was included as world heritage of great cultural and social importance in the UNESCO ‘Memory of the World Register’. https://jck.nl/en/location/portuguese-synagogue
Hollandsche Schouwburg
Once a theatre, Hollandsche Schouwburg (Dutch Theatre) was seized by the Nazis in the Second World War. From July 1942, Jews ordered to report for deportation were assembled here. Tens of thousands of people passed through these doors. Many spent hours, days, even weeks locked in here before being sent to concentration and extermination camps. Today, it’s a memorial for all the victims of the Holocaust. https://jck.nl/locatie/hollandsche-schouwburg
Hollandsche Schouwburg
National Holocaust Museum
The National Holocaust Museum tells the story of the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews of the Netherlands. Before the Second World War, Jews and non-Jews lived side by side. They had the same rights. But during the war, the Nazis and their collaborators killed around six million Jews in Europe. That was the Holocaust or Shoah.
National Holocaust Museum
This is the first and only museum to relate the history of the persecution of the Jews of the entire Netherlands. Including the day-to-day life of Jews on the eve of the Second World War, the liberation as Jews experienced it, and how the Holocaust has been treated in our national culture of remembrance: all this is examined in the museum. https://jck.nl/en/location/national-holocaust-museum
You will also stop at the Auschwitz Monument and the National Holocaust Names Memorial.
In between, there is leisure time for lunch at one of the local restaurants.
3.15pm
From here you will be taken back to your hotel, where you will have the remainder of the day for your own leisure. You will be back at your hotel around 3.45pm.
This tour can be extended by adding the Ets Haim Library, the Anne Frank House and/or the Resistance Museum:
Ets Haim ‘Tree of life’ – Livraria Montezinos library, is the oldest active Jewish library in the world. It has been internationally renowned since the Dutch Golden Age. Established in 1616, it was part of the Talmud Torah school, founded by the first Portuguese Jewish congregation in Amsterdam, as there was a great demand for education in the city’s new Jewish community. www.jck.nl
The Anne Frank House is the former hiding place, where Anne Frank wrote her diary. It is a well-known museum and one of the top sights in Amsterdam. The museum tells the history of the eight people in hiding and those who helped them during the war. Anne Frank’s diary is among the original objects on display. www.annefrankhuis.org
At the Verzetsmuseum (Resistance Museum), the permanent exhibit recreates the atmosphere of the streets of Amsterdam during the German occupation of the WWII. Big photographs, old posters, objects, films and sounds from that horrible time, help to recreate the scene. The background of the Holocaust is visualized to the visitor. This is an exhibition about the everyday life during that time, but also about exceptional historical events, resistance of the population against the Nazis and heroism. www.verzetsmuseum.org