The Just

In The Just, based on master storyteller Jan Brokken’s book of the same name (in Dutch: De Rechtvaardigen), Cappella Amsterdam presents the unknown, compelling story of Dutch consul Jan Zwartendijk. He risked his life for the freedom of others. At the beginning of World War II, he issued visas to thousands of Jews in Kaunas, Lithuania. With this visa for Curaçao, they could travel to Japan via the Trans-Siberian Express and escape the Holocaust.

In our time, the news is still dominated by refugee crises, most often in regions beyond Europe’s borders. But the devastating war in Ukraine has ignited a new conflict zone right within Europe, forcing countless innocent people to flee their homes and become refugees. This concert is about how one person’s good deeds can save thousands of lives. Jan Brokken himself takes the stage to narrate the story, accompanied by choir and saxophone quartet.