The Foundation Museum "Somewhere in the Netherlands 1939–1945" is a collection of World War II items that has been on display in the museum in Emmen since March 2015. The collection consists of original objects dating up to 1945.
Through thousands of items, the story of the Second World War is told. The stories range from remarkable personal local tales and general wartime accounts related to specific objects to interesting anecdotes about how the museum acquired particular items.
The collection was assembled by Erik Zwiggelaar. His passion for collecting began sometime in the 1980s, behind his grandparents’ house in Erica, where an American B-17 bomber had crashed during the war. Many Sundays were spent there searching for remains — first by sight, and later with a metal detector. The museum includes a section with various archaeological finds, where parts of this American bomber are on display.
