###Nazi prison ###
Between 1940 and 1945, over 25,000 people were imprisoned here for interrogation and trial. The prisoners were a diverse group of resistance members, Jews, communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and illicit traders, all arrested for acts the German occupiers considered an offense. During the war years, the prison had already earned the nickname the ‘Orange Hotel’ for all the resistance members imprisoned there.
Well-known and lesser-known prisoners
The prisoners included people well-known in the Netherlands such as ‘Soldier of Orange’ Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, Rudolph Cleveringa, Titus Brandsma, George Maduro, Pim Boellaard, Corrie ten Boom, Trix Terwindt, Anton de Kom, Simon Vestdijk, Henri Pieck and Heinz Polzer (also known as Drs. P.). Countless others shared their fate. For many of them, the Oranjehotel was the first in a long line of German prisons and concentration camps. It was the final destination for over 250 prisoners, who were executed by firing squad on nearby Waalsdorpervlakte.
Impactful stories
Until 2009, the cell block was still in use as a prison and was not open to the public. After a lengthy restoration and renovation, the Oranjehotel was opened by King Willem-Alexander in September 2019 as a memorial center. The Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel (Oranjehotel national monument), tells stories of fear, hope, faith and patriotism, and through exhibitions and films illustrates the conditions in which the prisoners lived. The museum shows the fragility of freedom and the choices people make in the face of injustice, suppression and persecution.
