Amsterdam and the Second World War: memorial sites to visit

Background before your visit

The German army invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940; the country surrendered five days later and remained occupied until May 1945. In Amsterdam, measures against Jews followed one another from 1940 onwards: exclusion from public jobs, registration, and from 1942 the compulsory yellow star. The first round-ups, on 22 and 23 February 1941, triggered the February Strike, the first large-scale protest against the persecution of Jews in occupied Europe. From the summer of 1942, deportations to the transit camps of Westerbork and Vught, then on to Auschwitz and Sobibor, emptied the old Jewish quarter around Waterlooplein.

The memorial sites are concentrated in two areas: Westermarkt, on the Prinsengracht, and the Plantage district, east of the centre. To place this period in the wider history of the city, read our guide to the history of Amsterdam.

The Anne Frank House and Westermarkt

The Anne Frank House is the most visited memorial site in Amsterdam. Anne Frank, her family and four other people hid from 1942 to 1944 in the Secret Annex, behind Otto Frank's business at Prinsengracht 263. The museum entrance is at Westermarkt 20.

• Opening hours: daily from 9am to 10pm, with shorter hours on some public holidays and closed on Yom Kippur.
• Prices: €16.50 for adults, €7 for ages 10 to 17, €1 for ages 0 to 9 and with the Museumkaart (including a €1 booking fee). The I amsterdam City Card gives no discount.
• Booking: online only, on the official website, for a specific time slot. Tickets go on sale every Tuesday at 10am Amsterdam time for visits six weeks later. There are no sales at the door.

Right next door, the Westerkerk is the church whose carillon Anne Frank could hear from the hiding place. It can be visited free of charge on weekdays from 11am to 3pm.

On Westermarkt, between the church and the Keizersgracht, the Homomonument is the world's first memorial to people persecuted for their homosexuality. Unveiled on 5 September 1987, it was designed by the artist Karin Daan: three large triangles of pink granite, a reference to the pink triangle the Nazis forced homosexual prisoners to wear in the camps. One of them steps down to the water, where flowers are often laid. The monument is freely accessible at all hours.

The Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum)

The Resistance Museum, at Plantage Kerklaan 61, opposite Artis Zoo, is the best starting point for understanding daily life under the occupation. Founded in 1984, it tells of the choices people faced, between adapting, collaborating and resisting, through objects, documents and many personal stories. One section covers the war in the former Dutch colonies (the Dutch East Indies, Suriname and the Caribbean islands), and the Verzetsmuseum Junior, included in the ticket, is designed for children.

• Opening hours: daily from 10am to 5pm; closed on 1 January, 27 April and 25 December.
• Prices: €17.50 for adults, €9.50 for ages 7 to 17 and for students (ISIC or EYCA), family ticket €40. Free for under-7s, with the Museumkaart and with the I amsterdam City Card. Audio guide included.
• Booking: tickets online or at the entrance; allow about two hours.

The Jewish Cultural Quarter and the Plantage

The Jewish Cultural Quarter brings together four sites in the old Jewish quarter, a few minutes' walk from one another, with a combined ticket.

• The Jewish Museum (Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1) occupies four former Ashkenazi synagogues and presents Jewish history and culture in the Netherlands, before and after the war.
• The Portuguese Synagogue (Mr. Visserplein 3), inaugurated in 1675, came through the occupation without being destroyed. It is still a place of worship: closed on Saturdays and on certain Jewish holidays.
• The National Holocaust Museum (Plantage Middenlaan 27), opened in 2024 in a former teacher training college, is devoted entirely to the persecution and murder of the Jews of the Netherlands. It is recommended for ages 10 and up. During the war, hundreds of Jewish children were saved from deportation by being smuggled through this building from the crèche next door.
• The Hollandsche Schouwburg (Plantage Middenlaan 24), opposite, is the former theatre where Amsterdam's Jews were assembled before deportation from 1942 onwards. The auditorium is gone: the site is now a place of remembrance, free to enter without a ticket.

The combined ticket for all four sites costs €30 for adults online (€2 more at the desk) and is valid for one week: each site can be visited once, not necessarily on the same day. The Jewish Museum is open daily from 11am to 5pm, the Holocaust Museum and the Hollandsche Schouwburg from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free with the Museumkaart and the I amsterdam City Card. Reduced prices and the synagogue's Friday hours are listed on our attraction page.

Open-air monuments

Several monuments, free and accessible without booking, complement the museum visits.

• The National Holocaust Names Memorial (Nationaal Holocaust Namenmonument), on Weesperstraat, between the Nieuwe Keizersgracht and the Nieuwe Herengracht. Designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind and unveiled on 19 September 2021, its brick walls bear the names of more than 102,000 Jews from the Netherlands, as well as Sinti and Roma, who were murdered and have no grave. Each brick carries a name, a date of birth and the age at death. Open from 8am to 8pm from October to March and from 8am to 9pm from April to September, free entry.
• The Dokwerker (the Dockworker), on Jonas Daniël Meijerplein, between the Portuguese Synagogue and the Jewish Museum. This statue by Mari Andriessen, unveiled in 1952, honours the February Strike of 1941.
• The "Nooit meer Auschwitz" monument (Never Again Auschwitz), in the small Wertheimpark, opposite the Hortus Botanicus. Its broken mirrors, designed by Jan Wolkers and placed here in 1993, cover an urn containing ashes from Auschwitz.
• The National Monument, on Dam Square, opposite the Royal Palace. Unveiled on 4 May 1956, this white stone pillar, designed by J.J.P. Oud with sculptures by John Rädecker, is dedicated to the victims of the Second World War. The national ceremony of 4 May is held here every year, as described in our article on Remembrance Day and Liberation Day.

Stolpersteine, stones of remembrance

Walking through the centre, especially in the old Jewish quarter and the Plantage, you will come across cobblestones topped with a brass plate, set in front of doorways. These are Stolpersteine, or Struikelstenen in Dutch: each bears the name of a person who lived there, their date of birth, the date of their deportation and, where known, the date of their death. Amsterdam has several thousand of them. They are not visited like a monument: simply take a moment to read them as you pass, without stepping on them.

Summary table

Prices checked in October 2026 on the official website of each site. The Resistance Museum and the Jewish Cultural Quarter are free with the Museumkaart and the I amsterdam City Card; the Anne Frank House costs €1 with the Museumkaart and does not accept the I amsterdam City Card.

A one-day route

There are too many sites to see everything in depth in one day. This route covers the essentials; if you have more time, save the Resistance Museum for another morning.

1. 9am, Anne Frank House: book the first slot and allow about an hour for the visit.
2. 10.30am, Westermarkt: stop at the Homomonument and, on a weekday, step into the Westerkerk.
3. 11am, Dam Square: a 10-minute walk along Raadhuisstraat to the National Monument.
4. 11.30am, Waterlooplein: walk to the Jewish quarter, about 20 minutes. Visit the Portuguese Synagogue, pass the Dokwerker, then visit the Jewish Museum. Have lunch around Waterlooplein.
5. 2.30pm, Weesperstraat: walk a few minutes to the Names Memorial.
6. 3pm, Plantage Middenlaan: National Holocaust Museum and Hollandsche Schouwburg, then the Wertheimpark if you still have time.

The Jewish Cultural Quarter combined ticket is valid for one week: if the day is too full, spread out the visits. Avoid Saturdays, when the synagogue is closed.

Booking and visiting in the right conditions

The only visit that is genuinely hard to get is the Anne Frank House: note the Tuesday of release, six weeks before your visit, in your diary and log on at exactly 10am. Our guide to booking tickets in Amsterdam explains the steps. For the other museums, booking the day before is usually enough, but buying online saves queuing and the desk surcharge at the Jewish Cultural Quarter.

These are also places of remembrance. At the Hollandsche Schouwburg and the Names Memorial, keep your voice down and avoid posed photos. Photography is not allowed inside the Anne Frank House, and large bags are not admitted. For children, the Anne Frank House and the Holocaust Museum are recommended from age 10; the Verzetsmuseum Junior and the Jewish Museum's junior section are designed for younger visitors. Finally, around 4 and 5 May, Dam Square and some museums change their opening hours: check before you go.

Further reading

The Jewish Cultural Quarter museums and the Resistance Museum are in the Plantage, a quiet, leafy neighbourhood worth lingering in: our guide to the Plantage district also covers Artis Zoo and the Hortus Botanicus. To fit these visits into a longer stay, follow our Amsterdam in 3 days itinerary.