Few theatres have had a history of such highs and lows. It was opened as the Artis Theatre in 1892 and became a hub of cultural life in Amsterdam, staging major dramas and operettas. In WWII the occupying Germans turned it into a Jew-only theatre, and later, horrifyingly, a detention centre for Jews held for deportation.
Tickets cover admission to all of the Joods Cultureel Kwartier (Jewish Cultural Quarter) sites, including the Joods Historisch Museum and the Portuguese-Israelite Synagogue.
The occupiers processed up to 80,000 Jews here on their way to the death camps. Glass panels are engraved with the names of all Jewish families deported, there is a memorial garden, and upstairs is a modest exhibit hall with photos and personal video stories of Jewish life during the war.
