War museums across the country tighten their security after burglaries at two similar museums. They also get German masterpieces from the collection, because thieves may have targeted them.
Two weeks ago the War Museum was opened in Ossendrecht looted. Thieves looted tons of museum pieces. It was in August already hit at a war museum in Beek in Limburg. These burglaries cause unrest at other museums.
“It is very disturbing, every museum has its concerns”, says John Meulenbroeks of Museum De Bewogen Jaren in Hooge Mierde. Broadcasting Brabant. Because it is a small world, many collectors and museum owners know each other personally. Mutual warnings are given to remove the German masterpieces from the collection and to increase security.
The 1940-1945 War Museum in Loon op Zand, for example, removes forks from the personal cutlery of Adolf Hitler and SS leader Heinrich Himmler. “Yesterday I already took stuff away from the Hitler Youth. And uniforms of the SS are also being removed”, says museum owner Frans van Venrooij. There will also be an extra door with bars to keep burglars out.
Roadblocks in Arnhem
Last week it was already announced that the Arnhem War Museum places roadblocksso that trucks cannot enter the site. And the Overloon War Museum is returning two rare Nazi books to the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), which lent the books two years ago.
Museum owners think that burglars are specifically looking for German items, preferably from the SS. According to Meulenbroeks, there is a worldwide demand for this type of material. “It seems like this is on request,” he says. “Perhaps it is already with a collector who is wealthy”, says Van Venrooij.
The police are still investigating the burglaries in Ossendrecht and Beek. No arrests have been made so far.
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