In The Power of Meeting you see photos of encounters between primary school students and Jewish elderly people from the same neighborhood who experienced the Second World War.

What can we still learn from our older fellow citizens who talked about their childhood during the encounters? They are stories of intense fear, grief and loss. But also about the right inspiration, clear intuition and love. How did they find resilience as victims of the war?

Writers and photographers were present during the interviews that the children conducted at the homes of the older Amsterdammers. They watched and listened. What observations did they make? You can see it in the photos, read it in the texts and hear it through audio fragments.

This presentation is a collaboration with StichtingIn my Neighborhood – Learning by Meeting. In my Neighborhood brings young and old together in living rooms throughout the country. During personal meetings, students interview elderly people from their own neighborhood about a part of Dutch history, such as the colonial past, migration or the Second World War. Students are trained to become the new Heritage bearers of the stories of the elderly. They take these stories with them into their lives and tell them at commemorations.

Header photo taken by Jennifer Drabbe. Meeting between Suze Krieg and students Eldana, Enes and Jai from OBS Corantijn in Amsterdam-West, 2023.

The Power of Meeting, Amsterdam Museum, Amstel 51