Instruments

The authorities had a broad range of instruments they could use to punish suspects and lawbreakers, or force them to confess.

Many still occur in Dutch proverbs and sayings, such as: “Voor paal staan” (“be at the scaffold”, which means “look like a fool”), “iemand de duimschroeven aandraaien” (“tighten the screws on someone”), or “voor de bijl gaan” (“be executed at the guillotine”, which refers to giving in).

Here you can see a selection from the more than 40 instruments of torture in the collection. Find out more about this “painful past”? Click here to read more.