Detention Centre II

We are now standing before the second House of Detention on Amstelveenseweg, known as Detention Centre II at Havenstraat 6. Originally opened in 1890 outside the city, it was converted into a Detention Centre in 1940 due to lack of capacity at the Weteringschans prison.

During World War II, political prisoners, resistance members, and helpers of those in hiding were detained here. Notably, Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler were held here after their arrest in 1944; they communicated by tapping on steam pipes and exchanging notes during yard time. Resistance figure Hannie Schaft was also incarcerated here in April 1945 before her execution in Bloemendaal; the SD even threatened to shoot her in the prison courtyard.

After liberation, the building held suspected collaborators. It closed in 1978, reopened in 1987 due to a nationwide shortage of cells, and finally closed again in 2013. Since 2021, it houses the British School of Amsterdam, preserving its distinctive architecture as a quiet witness to history.