The Oranjehotel is the nickname for the Scheveningen prison during Second World War. Between 1940-1945, the German occupier held more than 25,000 people here for interrogation and trial: resistance members, but also Jews, communists and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The complex was already called ‘Oranjehotel’ during the war. An ode to the resistance fighters who were here. People were locked up here because in the eyes of the German occupier they had broken the law. Among the prisoners were well-known names such as Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, ‘the Soldier of Orange’, Anton de Kom, George Maduro, Titus Brandsma and Corrie ten Boom. In addition to them, many lesser-known men, women and even children.
The Oranjehotel was the most important German prison in the occupied Netherlands. It has been a memorial center since 2019. Here you will hear the stories about fear, injustice and insecurity in the occupied Netherlands. The permanent exhibition and films show the conditions under which people had to live in this prison.
The complex consists of approximately 120 cells. The heart of the memorial center is Cell 601, a cell that is still completely preserved in its original state.
