Belgian Jewish museum opens in old Nazi HQ

5 May 2004

BRUSSELS – The Jewish museum in Brussels has finally moved into its permanent home in a building that used to be a Nazi police station during World War II.

For the past 14 years the museum has been operating in makeshift quarters in a rundown area of Brussels.

But on Tuesday evening it officially moved into its new home in the upmarket Sablon district.

The decision to house the museum in a former Nazi police station was of course deliberate and is hugely symbolic.

At the inaugural ceremony on Tuesday night, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said he hoped the museum would help to fight rising anti-Semitism in Europe.

“It would be wrong both historically and culturally to forget the influence of Jewish culture in Europe,” he said.

“If we forget history, we also forget our past mistakes,” he added.

Subject: Belgian news