Exhibiting Peace: Projects and Initiatives in the Netherlands, 1900–1930s (2008)

Numerous peace exhibitions have been organized in the Netherlands, some resulting in proposals for a peace museum. Both were stimulated by events such as the opening of the Peace Palace in The Hague (1913), the founding of the League of Nations following the First World War, and the Olympic Games in Amsterdam (1928). Rev. J. B. Th. Hugenholtz, the leader of several radical Dutch and international peace organizations, was the driving force behind many initiatives. A permanent Peace Room, opened in The Hague in 1927, was expanded into a Peace House (1934) after Hugenholtz had visited Albert Einstein in 1932 and received his support. Other exhibitions were organized by the Youth Peace Federation including one in Amsterdam (1931) that was meant to provide support for the Geneva Disarmament Conference (1932). An official exhibition on the Dutch East Indies in The Hague led young people to form an Anti-Colonial Exhibition Action group.