The history of the Mesdag Collection during the second world war is inextricably linked to that of the Mauritshuis. The Mesdag Collection has been administered by the Van Gogh Museum Foundation since 1990. During the war, however, it shared a director with the Mauritshuis.
This director, Wilhelm Martin, played a key role in preserving the national collections. He gave instructions on how to package art works and arranged for objects to be collected from the museums.
Martin also kept annual records throughout the war, and these serve as the basis for much of this story. After the war, Martin stepped down as director of the Mauritshuis, but remained the director of the Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag until 1954.
Anonymous, Portrait of Wilhelm Martin (1876-1954), 1933. Source: RKD
1942 Annual Report. Source: Verslagen omtrent ’s Rijks verzamelingen van geschiedenis en kunst
Preparations for war
Preparatory measures that followed national guidelines were implemented in 1939. Important works of art were moved to safe locations. Measures to protect the museum itself, however, were limited to placing sandbags and buying buckets and shovels. This was highly frustrating for Martin, who feared the threat of airstrikes. The museum’s attendant expressed his frustration even more explicitly in the newspaper Het Vaderland:
‘What use is that to us if a bomb falls....’. Martin backed this up, saying: ‘The building is, however, so loosely constructed that these measures can only be expected to achieve partial success, especially since, despite all efforts by the undersigned [Martin], no protection team has yet been appointed.’
A protection team had, meanwhile, been assigned to the Mauritshuis.
Preserving the collection
As the war continued, a range of measures were taken to protect part of the collection. In late March 1941, for example, a bunker in the Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes at Zandvoort was made ready for use. This facility was used by a number of museums. A map shows that the collection of Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag shared a vault with the Mauritshuis, the Haags Gemeentemuseum and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde Leiden.
It soon became clear, however, that the dunes were not a secure location for the storage of major artworks due to the construction of the Atlantikwall, the five thousand kilometre long defence line built by the Germans to prevent an Allied invasion.
Unknown, The storage facility for art works at Zandvoort, shortly before the sand was deposited, date unknown, (probably 1941). Source: Image bank Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (Cultural Heritage Agency)
Map of the Rijksbergkelder Zandvoort. Source: Huis in de storm, p119
A small part of the collection remained in the museum, while the rest was moved to different locations throughout the Netherlands. Martin may have based his decision as to which paintings to remove first on the value assessment of the collection which formed part of the fire prevention measures.
The artworks left behind in the museum were moved to the ground floor in 1944 to protect them from the threat of air raids.
Despite everything, the museum remained open
The museum reopened its doors five days after the German invasion. Although the most important items in the collection had been removed, visitors could still enjoy the museum, as the ground and first floors were open. As the war progressed, however, the museum was often forced to close for months at a time due to staff and fuel shortages. On the 6th of June 1944, the museum closed once more ‘because there was nothing more of significance for visitors to see’, according to Martin.
Number of visitors with free entry in 1941. Source: 1941 Annual Report
Gerard Drukker, Facade of Museum Mesdag, 1974. Source: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (Cultural Heritage Agency)
To everyone’s surprise, there was a marked increase in the number of visitors following the outbreak of war. Martin suggested two possible explanations. The war had made it impossible to travel abroad, so the Dutch could only visit museums in their own country.
The other reason was the Stempeltocht (stamp excursion booklets) issued by the Tourist Information Board. Booklets costing 25 cents gave access to 24 places of interest in The Hague, including the Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag. A full stamp book gave its holder the opportunity to win a range of prizes, including an original watercolour by Sientje Mesdag-van Houten.
Employees kept note of people who were allowed to visit the museum free of charge, such as students and artists. A new category of free visitors was added: German soldiers.
Unknown, Person hiding in a display cabinet in Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, date unknown. Source: Beeldbank WO2
Visits by Germans soldiers were not only a tense occasion for employees and other visitors. It is thought that the museum served as a hiding place during the war. The bottom part of a display cabinet probably served as a hiding place for Henk Bremmer (1904-1996). Bremmer, a physics professor, had to go into hiding during the war. It is not known why this was necessary or for how long.
It’s possible that Bremmer was able to hide in the museum thanks to his father’s connections. Hendricus Petrus (Henk) Bremmer, was a well-known figure in Dutch artistic circles. He knew Martin, and advised Helene Kröller-Müller, among others. This photo was probably taken just after the war to record how the cabinet had been used as a hiding place.
‘As a result of the bombing of the Kleykamp building on the 11th of April 1944, two windows were damaged, one of which has a crack, while the other one had to be replaced by the Government Buildings Agency.’
The bombing of Kleykamp
This matter-of-fact observation in Martin’s 1944 annual report actually referred to an important event in the wartime history of The Hague. The occupying forces had requisitioned the Kleykamp Royal Art Gallery to serve as the Central Population Register. It was used to store copies of identity cards to enable the Germans to identify false ID cards.
Six British Royal Air Force fighter bombers bombed the villa at the request of the Resistance. The bombing cost many lives, and not all of the identity cards were destroyed. Despite this, the air raid was viewed as a success.
H.A.W. Douwes, Villa Kleykamp, 1942. Source: The Hague City Archives
Unknown, War damage from bombing Villa Kleykamp, April 11th 1944. Source: Beeldbank WO2
The museum reopens
The items from the collection were returned to the museum after the liberation. It was even possible to return each artwork to its original location; attendant J.J. Verlinden had made a map especially for this purpose in 1940. The festive reopening of the museum, however, was not possible for some time. Not enough glass could be obtained to repair everything.
On the 10th of October 1946, almost eighteen months after the liberation it was finally time for the museum to reopen. The director was all too aware of the hard work undertaken by the museum’s employees to make this possible. Martin concluded the 1946 annual report with the following sentence:
‘At this point, the undersigned [Martin] would like to express his gratitude to the entire staff for their care and dedication, thanks to which the entire museum now looks as if the war had never happened.'
Unknown, Wilhelm Martin (far right) with Dirk Hannema (far left) at the National Storage Centre at Zandvoort. Source: Huis in de storm, p120