The Netherland is planning on opening a National Slavery Museum in 2030, to “tell the whole story” of its colonial past and its repercussions.
The plan was announced by Prime Minister Mark Rutte in December 2022 during an apology on behalf of the country for its history of slavery. At the time, Rutte announced a €200 million fund to raise awareness of the Dutch trade in human beings and its consequences in modern society, from which €27 million would be allocated for the creation of the slavery museum.
“We are doing this – and doing it now – so that, standing on the cusp of an important commemorative year, we can find a way forward together”, Rutte said referring to 2023 marking the 150th anniversary of the official end of Dutch slavery. “We not only share a past; we share a future too. So with this apology we are writing not a full stop, but a comma.”
The past (…) is often ugly, painful, and even downright shameful. That is certainly the case with the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery.
Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister
On 15 February, more details of the project were unveiled at a launch event in Amsterdam that was attended by Surinamese ambassador Rajendre Khargi and US ambassador Shefali Razdan Duggal. The launch was also live streamed to former Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and to Suriname.
“This is a national history, a national slavery museum and with this national character in mind, the government has made money available to make the museum possible”, Fleur Gräper-van Koolwijk, junior culture minister, said at the event. “A place where there is room for recognition, commemoration, healing, admission… not just for the relatives of enslaved people but for everyone. So also for people who think – ‘ach, a slavery museum isn’t about me.’ The Dutch slavery museum is about everyone.”
The museum will be located on the Java Island, a narrow peninsula located east of the city centre. With a space totalling 9,000 square metres (it is not yet clear over how many floors), the building will encompass “rooms for healing”, a knowledge centre, a children’s space and a kitchen where visitors will be able to cook together and learn each other’s traditions.
These elements were decided following a one year long research and consultation procedure during which 3 quartermasters visited former colonies to discuss the country’s colonial past and the idea of the museum. They asked 5,000 people how they envisioned such a museum and how the issues should be addressed.
An awareness of history means not looking away from the consequences of the past, the poverty and deprivation that so often affect people of colour while so much of the wealth is “white”.
Touria Meliani, Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam
“An awareness of history is about more than knowing facts, more than droning numbers of years or names and places”, said Amsterdam Deputy Mayor Touria Meliani. “An awareness of history means understanding how our world is as it is, and understanding how in our country so many people can live peacefully. But also understanding that so many of our country’s people have a deep-rooted pain, passed from one generation to another. (…) The museum will be a vital part of building for the future.”
The quartermasters, John Leerdam, Peggy Brandon and David Brandwagt, say Java Island, is their preferred site for the museum because the island is easily accessible, has enough space available and offers an attractive and distinguished waterside location. According to them, the building, which will take shape following an international architecture competition, should do justice to the weight of its content in terms of its architecture, appearance, materials, form and surroundings.
Leerdam, Brandon and Brandwagt also explored how the story of the history of Dutch slavery should be told. They recommend presenting the history divided into periods, spanning the earliest civilisations on the African continent to present day society. In each period, visitors will experience part of this long history thematically and through stories of strength, resistance, oppression, pain, celebration and cultural expression. The periods will make the timeline clear, while also connecting continents, cultures and traditions.
