Learn and explore
Exhibits
Select material from the collection has been used to create a series of philatelic exhibits looking at the impact of World War II in Holland, focusing on the war's impact on the civilian population. Each exhibit consists of forty(40) tabloid pages and includes both philatelic and other original artifacts, organized around a central theme. The first exhibit "The Evolution of the Holocaust in Holland" looks at the Nazi's increasingly harsh measures against the Jewish population that ended in the death camps of Auschwitz and Sobibor. The second exhibit "False Hopes and Lasting Thanks" examines the impact of Operation Market Garden. Three further exhibits are currently in production: "Code Name Yellow: 1940-Invasion and Occupation of Holland," "Daily Life in Occupied Holland," and "The Hunger Winter and Liberation.
view all 
Timeline
The timeline provides a chronological overview of major events in World War II, occurring both globally and in Holland.
learn more
Map
The map illustrates each letter's "journey" as it makes its way through war-torn Holland. Information on the sender, the recipient and the routing is supplemented with photographs, film and other non-philatelic information that provides context and insight to the lives of the civilian Dutch population during the war years. Using available resources, both analog and digital, the timing and routing of multiple postal artifacts is used to take students through a virtual war-time environment. Military history is combined with the social history of the Dutch people who were writing and receiving letters during this time.
exploreSearch and Browse
The database contains images and information on postcards, letters, postal covers and related artifacts. Browse the item table or search by name, location, postmark or keyword.
go to the database
The Evolution of Holocaust in Holland
This exhibit shows in detail how the destruction of the Jewish population in Holland evolved from pre-war Refugee Camps through a series of Transit Camps and Concentration Camps to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Sobibor. Using conteporaneous correspondence and related documents, the exhibit shows the clear progression from collection to internment and on to deportation to the "East," ultimately resulting in the death of over 105,000 Dutch Jews.
learn more
False Hopes and Lasting Thanks: The Battle of Arnhem
Operation Market Garden, undertaken by the Allies in September 1944, raised hopes of liberation and the end of four years of German occupation in Holland. This exhibit looks at the Battle of Arnhem and its aftermath from the perspectives of the Dutch civilians and German and British combatants whose lives intersected for ten days in Arnhem and the surrounding area.
learn more
Code Name Yellow: 1940-Invasion and Occupation of Holland
This exhibit follows the initial mobilization of Dutch forces following the German invasion of Poland in September of 1939. Despite the Dutch's longstanding policy of neutrality, the invasion of Holland began when German troops crossed the border in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, May 10th, 1940 under Operation FALL GELB (Case Yellow). Only five days later the Germans controlled the entire country except for a small area of Zeeland in the southwest. Zeeland would also soon fall.
learn more