Ode to Jorien Feijtes | You are the 21st-century New Amsterdam

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Dear Jorien,

To me, you are a beautiful and important part of Amsterdam. Or should I say “New Amsterdam?

That is why I am writing you an ode.

I got to know you when I was just eighteen, really still a girl. You were, I think, thirty at the time. And I looked up to you enormously. You were my supervisor at Café Nieuw Amsterdam, where you were one of the owners. Café Nieuw Amsterdam is at the intersection of Haarlemmestraat and Herenmarkt; in the West Indisch Huis. A fraught place. It was at this location that the headquarters of the West India Company was located. It was at this location that Dutch merchants founded New Amsterdam - what is now New York. It was in this location that money obtained from trading enslaved people from Africa was earned. And it was at this location that the Indigenous populations around the Hudson River were driven out and murdered to make way for Dutch settlements.

It is and will forever remain a fraught place.

You are the only woman co-owner of the hospitality facilities that have occupied the West Indian House since 2019. We've talked about this before. What should we do with heritage monuments like the West Indisch Huis? What does the name “New Amsterdam” mean? How do we deal with the statue of Peter Stuyvesant, which still stands full of splendor in the courtyard - surrounded by a fountain?

Meanwhile, I no longer work in the service of Café Nieuw Amsterdam, but at the Amsterdam Museum. A place where we regularly reflect on such issues. I well remember you and I talking again last summer about the disputed, historical background of the West Indisch Huis. By the way, our conversations about this are always full of understanding and nuance, taking into account as many perspectives as possible.  You indicated that you thought very carefully before embarking on your adventure called “Café Nieuw Amsterdam,” knowing that the property carries with it a history marked by colonialism and slavery. You took me through that thought process and told me that you saw opportunities in establishing an Amsterdam restaurant on this very spot. Because you - as a young woman, of partly Indian descent - would literally embody the concept of 'New Amsterdam' in the West Indisch Huis, by reclaiming the place and the name, with nuances made in the present. You told me that it is precisely places like this, where so incredibly much injustice, violence and pain has been caused, that we can all now give new meaning to. And you make this happen time and again. Everyone is welcome at your bar and every topic of conversation is valuable. This is how you breathe new life into the West India House, with the goal of making it a living place for everyone where the past is still tangible but the present is represented much more strongly. A new “New Amsterdam.

And you go to extremes to make this happen. I can imagine that this is not always easy, in an all-male board and in a building where you always have to take into account municipal rules on how to deal with the past. But you don't get demotivated. You pick up the phone when you disagree with someone and ask for an explanation. You organize get-togethers for the neighbors so that they too remain part of the still-evolving life of the West Indian House. You invite all your friends over for dinner and drinks. You engage in conversation with people who have different views than you. You run after someone to explain why something happens the way it does. And that's only what you are to others. Because to me, you are a friend, a big sister, an advisor, someone to learn from, and someone to laugh incredibly with.

Your heart, home and restaurant are always open, to anyone.

You are 21st-century New Amsterdam.

Thank you.

Kiss, Sigi