Election results had ministry concerned for National Slavery Museum future

Civil servants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science were worried about cuts to the National Slavery Museum in Amsterdam as a result of the election results of November 22. This can be seen in documents provided to ANP at the news outlet's request. The largest party in the coalition, the PVV, was outspoken in their disapproval of apologizing for the Dutch colonial history of slavery, which was done by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and was later repeated by King Willem-Alexander.

Near the end of 2022, Rutte offered his apologies and also promised to invest in a museum dedicated to the transatlantic slave trade. The now-outgoing Cabinet has promised to spend 29 million euros on the building, and the municipality of Amsterdam will match that.

The election results resulted in discussions between the municipality of Amsterdam and the ministry about the possible impact on the plans for the slavery museum. These can be read in the documents that were requested using the Open Government Act (Woo).

In the meeting announcement, they called it "essential" that a scenario be set up in case the government's financing in The Hague is withdrawn. The minister or state secretary who will be responsible for this in the new Cabinet still needs to make a decision regarding 24 million euros. "A new minister could withdraw this," the civil servants wrote.

The ministry's leaders expect "the chance of additional resources being allocated is very unlikely." In a different document, the ministry said that the PVV would probably have the lead in a new Cabinet, which turned out to be the case. "No slavery museum?" the civil servants mentioned as a possible consequence.

Other documents show that the election results elicited significant emotional responses from the ministry employees. Less than a week after the election, senior officials called an online meeting to reflect on it. "The number of participants showed that the meeting was needed," the organization wrote, stating that around a thousand people were involved.

Senior officials promised during the meeting that "everyone can be themselves at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science wherever you come from, whoever you voted for or love," according to a report.

The report's composer went on to write, "Personally, I really hope that we in the Netherlands will not be tempted into polarization as a result of the election results but will instead look for the real concerns that exist among various voters."