Arjan van der Boon is passionate about shining a light on people he calls the invisible immigrants.
It’s a cultural group he says is missing from the pages of New Zealand history.
Forgotten. Ignored. Denied.
“We’re an untold story. We thought we’d tell that story,” he says.
“We put ourselves back on the pages of history. We were missing.”
There are lots of stories that involve the Dutch, but one key one involving a teen girl – Anne Frank – is hard to go past given it defines a tragic period within a country’s history.
Her story, as part of an exhibition, has now found a new temporary home in the place van der Boon helped create, the home of Dutch culture and heritage in New Zealand.
Van der Boon arrived in New Zealand more than 30 years ago and for more than 10 years he has been involved with the creation of New Zealand’s national Dutch museum, Oranjehof Dutch Connection Centre in Foxton.
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