Verzetsmuseum (Museum of the Dutch Resistance)

The Verzetsmuseum is one of Amsterdam's most illuminating museums and quite possibly its most moving. It tells the story of the Dutch Resistance through a wealth of artefacts: false ID papers, clandestine printing presses and illegal newspapers, spy gadgets and an authentic secret door behind which Jews hid. The exhibits all help to explain the ways people in the Netherlands faced up to and dealt with the Nazi occupation. The engaging presentation is enhanced by the constant use of personal testimony; indeed, the museum's disparate exhibits are linked effectively by these stories - told, by those who lived through the war, on small panels that act as adjuncts to the main displays. Regular temporary shows explore wartime themes (like the much more predominant flipside of resistance, collaboration) and modern-day forms of oppression, and there's a small research room as well. An excellent enterprise.