Day 3 & Day 6 (20170608, 20170611) Jewish Cultural Quarter

This single ticket entitles entry to 4 places in the Jewish Cultural Quarters, where most of the Jews in Amsterdam live in.

• Jewish Historical Museum
• Portuguese Synagogue 
• National Holocaust Memorial
• National Holocaust Museum

Is "Jew" a race or religion? I wonder.
It's a race - that's what I concluded after the visit to the Joods Historisch Museum. It's like Malay is a race that practises Muslim. Similarly, the Jews (or Jewish people) practise Judism.

The visit to the museum tells a sad story of the fate of the Jews in Netherlands, in particular during the Nazi invasion - holocaust, where many Jews perished. Indeed, this is one place where the Jews were sent to the concentration camp of no return - Auschwitz. Felt connected to the sad stories as I could still clearly recall their end-point when visited the Auschwitz concentration camp (in Poland) a few years back - the display of the belongings of the victims before they were sent to the gas chambers.

The museum tells the livelihood of the Jews before and after war. That reminds me that one should not be complacent of the current status of life, or should I say, take for granted of what we have? The Jews enjoyed good times before war, and how they led a life-threatening dark period when those who went into hiding had to pay to live in fear, just for survival. The difficult times that they had to integrate into the Dutch community in post-war period. And of course, how they lost their sense of belonging after war. A place which they called home was no the home they knew anymore.

There are lots of reading charts in the museum. Some clips. Some artefacts. It's a good place to start with among the 4 locations. On the other hand, the visit to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp had helped me to empathsize more with the victims of the holocaust.

This is my first visit to a synagogue. It is the place of worship for the Jews. Simple decoration. There is no sight of grand organ like the churches. However, it is well decorated with chandeliers (with electric candles) that offers a different ambience, compared to churches, in general.

Visited the National Holocaust Museum. This was the place where the children were confined in that dark period. While the display of the personal belongings from the victims was not extensive (compared to the concentration camp), the personal items of the individuals (mostly children) were displayed with a write-up that would melt one's heart. These include photos, gloves, toys, etc. that the kids left behind for safekeeping, hoping that they would collect on return, which they did not. In fact, the date they were killed were also documented. It was a pain to see these.

In the same museum, one of the galleries was devoted to a showcase the works of a wartime reporter-photographer, who documented the damages war did to the country, and changes and development of the Netherlands.

Once again, it is proven that photographs is one of the best ways to document evidences that form the footprints of history.

The Memorial is nearby, a rather small place that is still under development. A narrow staircase led to a showroom with more photos and write-ups. And yes, some pictures on Anne Frank's House.

Having completed these 4 visits, I decided that I shall not visit Anne Frank House anymore. It's not because of the queue, but I think it could be a bit overwhelming for me....

Below were the photos taken outside Anne Frank House - note that the queue starts everyday after 3.30 pm if one does not book the ticket online (open two months in advance) and the wait could be an hour or two.

Below were some photos taken around the Jewish Cultural Quarter: