Don't Forget Me

The reason.

The National Holocaust Museum chronicles the history of the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands during World War II. One way the museum does this is through 18 remarkable objects linked to personal stories. The museum calls these 'forget-me-nots': installations in which these objects are displayed, in combination with text and explanation.

Because the museum wants to reach a wider audience than just museum visitors with these stories, the idea arose to develop a podcast for this purpose.

The main precondition for developing the podcast was that it should be able to function as a stand-alone and thus be worth listening to independently of a museum visit. At the same time, listeners should be encouraged to come to the museum.

The idea.

With "Don't Forget Me,” (original Dutch title: ‘Vergeet me niet’) we chose to use six of the "forget-me-nots" as the starting point for the series. This selection was carefully chosen: for each of these personal stories is linked to a different part of the history of the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands. This creates a series with gripping personal stories, on the one hand, and outlines a historical picture, on the other.

For example, the series starts with the story of the Jewish Rosa, who arrives in the Netherlands as a refugee in 1939 as a nine-year-old via the so-called children's transports. One of her few possessions is a heart-shaped locket, the object to which her story is connected.

Another episode takes place later in the war and reconstructs the history of a Jewish couple who end up in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Together with researchers and curators, podcast creator Reinjan Prakke tries to get a picture of the lives hidden behind the objects, showing that these individuals are more than just victims.

The impact.

The opening of the National Holocaust Museum in February 2024 was big national and international news. The podcast was also mentioned extensively in the coverage surrounding the museum, making an important contribution to putting the museum on the map from a public relations perspective. In doing so, several media outlets reported - unanimously positively - specifically on the podcast itself.

Listeners appreciate the series, as evidenced by the exceptionally high consumption ratio, which in some episodes exceeds 100 percent. In addition, the majority subscribe to the channel and the series has an average of around 5 stars (on a scale of 1 to 5).

'Forget Me Not' reached the top 20 (overall) in the Apple Podcast charts and a No. 1 position in the History subcategory.