4 May Remembrance

The Hollandsche Schouwburg was restored and established as a national memorial centre in 1962. A few years later, residents in the Plantage-Weesperdistrict decided to hold the annual memorial service in the theatre on Remembrance Day - 4 May in the Netherlands. The ceremony held in the Hollandsche Schouwburg on 4 May is especially planned for and organized by those from the immediate neighbourhood. School students from the nearby IVKO School at 27 Plantage Middenlaan (a former teacher training college attached to the day care centre from which many Jewish children were helped to escape) recite poems; a guest speaker recalls the Naziterror and those who were murdered. Each year at eight o'clock in the evening two minutes silence are observed nationwide. The remembrance ceremony closes with the singing of the Dutch national anthem.