On Friday 8 September 2023, the Museum Aan de Stroom (Museum At the Stream) or MAS opened the exhibition ‘City at war, Antwerp 1940-1945‘, which, you guessed it, explores Antwerp during World War II. 

This new permanent exhibition shows the impact of the Second World War on Antwerp and its inhabitants. The city was hit particularly hard: at least 25,000 people were killed by military violence, the persecution of Jews and Nazi terror. Compelling personal stories make this important part of history tangible.

Several Antwerp residents still remember it vividly: the impact of the Second World War was enormous. Visitors to the new permanent exhibition in the MAS walk past symbolic places in the city such as a cinema, a school, a factory, a house, the cathedral, the park or the town hall. Each of these ‘places’ receives a cinematic introduction and tells about part of life in the war city at the time. At each location, visitors come face to face with Antwerp residents of the time. Their authentic stories, photos and objects make the experience of war and dictatorship tangible. They are stories of division, powerlessness, betrayal, violence, but also of courage, resistance and help.

The exhibition asks what it means to live in a city at war: What happens when basic values such as freedom, equality and security disappear? Who is mainly the victim of this and who is not? What choices do city residents make: flee or stay, cooperate with the occupier, wait and obey or resist? And what choice would you make?

Traces until today

The Second World War ended on May 8, 1945, but the conflict still leaves its mark even now, including on the children and grandchildren of the people who lived in Antwerp at the time. 

In 2020-2021, the MAS organized a call to share personal heritage about Antwerp during the Second World War. The unexpected success of the call shows how strongly that part of history still lives on today: more than 300 people came to tell about themselves or their family, neighbors or acquaintances. Some donated objects, others gave them on long-term loan. 

The MAS also had the opportunity to interview a number of 90-year-olds who consciously experienced the war themselves. It is these testimonies that have become the core of this exhibition.

Too much for one exhibition

Together with the collected objects, the testimonies bring the exhibition to life. Unfortunately, there is not enough space to accommodate all the stories in the exhibition. However, the testimonies are not lost and are used to commemorate WWII in other places.

ErfgoedLab Antwerpen published a City Chronicle with 15 families who share their war stories. Several generations contributed to these stories, written by a family member: people who experienced the war themselves as children, as well as children, grandchildren and a great-grandchild who wrote about their family’s terrible experiences. 

The central question is: What impact did the Second World War have on the family? But in addition to their own experiences, there is also room for the contemporary impact of the war. How do war stories live on?

The ‘Open Houses‘ initiative takes place every year. These are stories about the lives of victims of the Second World War in an intimate atmosphere, in the place where victims lived or often visited. A number of stories that were featured in the 2022 edition emerged from the collection round. In the 2023 edition, the MAS stories were given an even more prominent place in the program.

Articles regularly appear on the Antwerp Memorial website with unknown stories about the Second World War in Antwerp. Every month, articles with a story or a piece of heritage that emerged from the collection round are published in the Antwerpen Commemorated newsletter. The thematic stories provide a personal look at the war years.

The Antwerp districts were not all liberated at the same time. This autumn, you can view commemorative points in the streetscape to the rhythm of the liberation of each district 79 years ago. The story of the local liberation is told in words and images at different locations in each district. 

Personal stories of fascinating people from that district are also discussed. In the districts that celebrate Liberation Days, the commemorative points are combined with them. See Antwerp Commemoration/pop-up exhibition.

Content programme

From September 8, 2023, the MAS will develop film screenings, lectures, tours, testimonials and workshops on the themes of war and dictatorship in collaboration with the Antwerp Peace Centre and other partners. For more information: https://mas.be/nl/stadintrouw.

Art and museums in Antwerp

• ANTWERP | Discovering queer(ed) art with the Queer Tour at the KMSKA fine arts museum.
• ANTWERP | Baroque Influencers city festival of tradition and renewal.
• REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
• Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
• FOMU 2023 | Reimagined collection, strippers – Nicaragua – Kurdistan and people touching each other.
• ANTWERP 2023 | MoMu fashion museum presents IO Van Oostveldt and Man Ray exhibitions.
• ANTWERP | Rubens House closed for renovation.
• Inside the KMSKA or Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
• VIDEO | Inside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp.
• Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
• ANTWERP | ‘Stories of Refuge’ exhibition at Red Star Line Museum.
• 2023 at the museums of Antwerp.
• 2022 in the museums of Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | ‘Stories of refuge’ exhibition at Red Star Line Museum.
• ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
• ANTWERP | Garden of renovated Rubens House to be open air exhibition space.
• ModeMuseum MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp 2021.
• ModeMuseum MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp 2022.
• ‘Freight’ and ‘Listen’ exhibitions at MAS in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Goshka Macuga’s ‘Figures of Absence’ honours underrepresented women in public domain art.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
• ‘Eurasia – A Landscape of Mutability’ exhibition at Antwerp’s M HKA modern arts museum.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus will exhibit long-lost illustration by Rubens: ‘Opticorum Libri Sex’.
• ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
• BOOK | ‘Antwerp. An Archaeological View on the Origin of the City’ by Tim Bellens.
• Red Star Line Museum.
• Paleis op de Meir. 
• DIVA, Antwerp Home of Diamonds.
• ANTWERP | Red Star Line Museum of (e)migration.
• ANTWERP | Museum Mayer van den Bergh is expanding into former District Hall.
• ANTWERP | Traveling exhibition #StolenMemory at Museum At the Stream (MAS).