An essential for anyone keen to learn about the region's WWII history, the National Liberation Museum is divided into three parts. The introductory, red-walled section analyses the rise of Fascism after WWI and subsequent occupation from September 1939 until June 1944. The blue-walled section, forming the bulk of the museum, relives the liberation (1944–45), while the final, green-walled section looks at the region post-WWII. When the promised, brand-new museum building opens in 2020 more hi-tech displays will be included in the mix.
The current museum houses two small cinemas screening documentaries, including one made by the son of a local war veteran who used his father's diary as the basis of the emotive film which makes no bones about the massive carnage the war brought. Don't miss the model of Nijmegen's original red-brick train station before it was bombed in February 1944 – kids will love picking up the fragment of bomb and feeling it's almighty weight. In the final hall, a round-domed tent known as the Dome of Honor, several books list the names of the 150,000 known allied servicemen who perished in the Netherlands.
