While we prepare to celebrate 52 years of Singapore, we should also take some time to commemorate the nation’s struggle in World War II
While we celebrate how Singapore has come so far in the National Day month of August, we also must remember to reflect on the not-so-pleasant memories in the making of Singapore. In line with the upcoming big day for the nation and the 75th anniversary of The Fall of Singapore, the National Museum of Singapore will be presenting the international exhibition, Witness To War: Remembering 1942.
Opening on 23 September, the exhibition will focus on the six months leading up to the Fall of Singapore and will feature more than 130 artefacts to present first-hand accounts from witnesses during the war in 1942. Pay attention, because there will be personal war stories that you won’t get from your regular textbooks.
If you have kids and think that this might be quite heavy content for your little one – no one is too young for a history lesson! – the exhibition will have activity spaces for the younger ones and will feature war stories through the perspectives of children. We reckon it will be a humbling lesson on resilience, courage, and the triumph of the human spirit – for both adults and children. But this is, indeed, the story of Singapore.
Witness to War: Remembering 1942, 23 September 2017 – 25 March 2018, National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road, Singapore 178897, p. 6332 3659. Admission is free for all Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
For a more current take on Singapore today, see another side of the city through the lens of Aik Beng Chia and drop by these offbeat independent stores around town.
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