Museum
Kazerne Dossin was built in 1756 and was at various times used as accommodation for Austrian and Belgian soldiers. From July 1942 up to the liberation in 1944, the barrack functioned as SS-Sammellager Mecheln for Jews and Gypsies. After the end of the Second World War, the building again served its original purpose as a school for the administration of the armed forces. However, in 1975, this military institute moved, after which Kazerne Dossin fell into disuse. This is why the complex was divided into apartments in the 1980s. At the request of the Vereniging van de Joodse Weggevoerden in België - Dochters en zonen van de deportatie (VJWB) (The Association of Jewish Deportees in Belgium – daughters and sons of the deportation) and the Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België (CICB) (Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium), space was made available for a museum about the period during which the barrack served as a transit camp.
The Flemish Government, the Province of Antwerp and the City of Mechelen financed the purchase of Kazerne Dossin’s ground floor and the basement of the right wing. The first stone was placed by the Minister-President of the Flemish Government, Luc Van den Brande on 20 September 1992. The Representative of Albert II, King of the Begians, the Representative of the Governor of the Province of Antwerp and the Representative of the Mayor of the City of Mechelen attended the ceremony.
The Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance (JMDR) was officially inaugurated on 7 May 1995 by King Albert II. The doors were opened for the general public as of 11 November 1996. The museum welcomes approx. 35,000 visitors annually. Most of the visitors are schoolgroups. Receiving so many interested people in the relatively small surface area of 12 small rooms is, to say the least, not easy.
In 2001, under the impulse of the Minister-President at the time, Patrick Dewael, there was a plan to make the JMDR a museum with much greater capacity. On 22 June 2001, the Flemish Government approved the basic concept which was to lead to the establishment of the renewed museum: Kazerne Dossin – Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights.
Construction began in November 2010 on the new complex that will be built opposite the old barracks. The new museum offers a place for permanent as well as temporary exhibitions and will open its doors in September 2012.
The location of Kazerne Dossin – Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights remains remarkable. It is one of the few museums in Europe in the actual historic place that is proof of the tragedy that came over the Jews during the Second World War. Kazerne Dossin wants to first and foremost be a historical museum, but also an educational aid, a memorial and a warning lest we forget.
