Photo: Hanhil (talk) 22:18, 8 February 2009 (UTC) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Museum Johannes Postschool

Former schoolhouse in Rijsoord where the Dutch capitulation was signed in 1940; currently closed due to conversion work.

Temporarily closed

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Temporarily closed. The building is closed due to renovation and conversion into a neighbourhood centre; the historic capitulation room will be preserved and is to be accessible again afterwards.

About the museum

The building, dating from 1889, was a Christian primary school in Rijsoord. In the night leading into 15 May 1940, the Dutch General Henri Winkelman and the German General Georg von Küchler signed the capitulation of the Dutch armed forces here; at the time the school served as the temporary headquarters of the German General Kurt Student. In front of the building stands a capitulation memorial, and in the garden a bust of Winkelman from 1953.

The private individual Ad Los saved the building from demolition in 1995 and opened a museum there on 15 May 2000, which combined a school museum, the local history of the Second World War with a focus on the capitulation, and a small planetarium, and could only be visited by appointment. The building was declared a municipal monument in 2021. Since 1 December 2023 it has been owned by the municipality of Ridderkerk, which also took over the museum fittings.

The municipality is currently converting the building into a multipurpose neighbourhood centre and has approved investment and operating funds for this. The historic capitulation room will be preserved and is to be open to the public in future; museum supervision has been offered to the Stichting Oud Ridderkerk, and the Stichting Facet is to run the building and take over the catering. Until the work is completed, the museum is closed.