Liberty Park Museum, Holland
 
War Belongs in the Museum.

Recently two friends and I went for a city break in Dusseldorf, and on our last day we drove to Overloon to see the Museum there.
The museum is based within a Liberty Park, a peaceful, wooded area of more than 14 hectares. It hosts two collections: the National War and Resistance Museum and the Marshall Museum. There is a friendly and pleasant cafe near the entrance to the park, and also an excellent model shop whose shelves contain a range of high quality kits and books. The park itself is quiet and rather beautiful, although we arrived just before a torrential downpour and thunderstorm, so we didn’t get the chance to enjoy it as much as we might! One aim of the park is to act as a memorial for all those who lost their lives to the war and as such there are some very moving sculptures scattered though the trees.
 
At one time the museum’s exhibits were also in the park, but it became clear that the elements were causing them to decay, and so an indoor display hall was built.

The first hall contains some vehicles which were disabled during the battle of Overloon, which was a ferocious tank battle and part of Operation Aintree, the Allies attempt o secure the salient formed during Operation Market Garden. Additional interest is added by brief histories of the vehicles on display, including how they were destroyed and recovered. Attached to this hall is the National War and Resistance Museum. This is primarily a photographic display, but there are no English captions to the photos (an omission which is not typical of the rest of the museum) and I found this frustrating as I had not seen these photos before and would have liked to learn more about them.

From this hall visitors pass through a room dedicated to General George Marshall, in recognition of The Marshall Plan. This is an antechamber to the Marshall museum, which is a huge collection of military vehicles from 1939 to the modern era. These are well presented and in excellent condition. I’ll let the photos of some of the exhibits tell their own story.

The museum also has a small souvenir shop and a large, airy cafe. We spent a long afternoon there, and could easily have made a full day of it. For a little known museum, I was extremely impressed with how well exhibits were presented and the atmosphere of the whole place and for anyone with an interest in military vehicles it’s well worth going out of your way to visit.

Sean
 

See the Museum Website