The Movement Hotel: Former Dutch prison reforms livelihood for Syrian refugees

September 25, 2017 17:12 SGT

By Solomon Kenneth

The Movement Hotel, which opened this month in one tower of the Bijlmerbajes, once the Netherlands' most notorious prison, offers both a unique experience for its guests and a glimpse of a more hopeful future for its employees. The hotel is staffed and run by asylum-seekers, selected from a group of 600, mostly Syrians, who are being temporarily housed by the Dutch government - not under lock and key - in other parts of the complex. Reuters

Ever seen a 6 tower prison complex transform into a home and workplace for asylum seekers? Here's how refugees helped turn things around.

Once known to be a notorious prison, Amsterdam's Bijlmerbages no longer houses inmates as it was permanently closed in June 2016. The Dutch government permitted refugees to stay in vacant cells of the building instead. As many as 600 refugees are temporarily allowed to stay in the building waiting to begin new lives in the Netherlands.

Occupying a revamped two-floor space in one of the former prison's six towers, The Movement Hotel as its name implies constitutes to a movement which aims to empower asylum seekers through job training, providing opportunities for them to start life afresh in the Netherlands. Personnel involved in this enterprise aim at creating a sustainable model for refugee integration on par with offering a lifetime experience to visit, explore and stay at the Bijlmerbages prison.

Selected refugees alongside professionals run the pop-up (temporary) hotel providing visitors with a distinctive experience of comfortably getting locked up in a prison cell. Reception staffs of the hotel are expected to be present round the clock to welcome and offer assistance during the stay.

The cells converted into hotel rooms are designed to offer amenities such as a double bed along with free wifi access, a private bathroom, lounge area with meeting and game room and free parking. Lunch at a restaurant operated by the Refugee Company called "A Beautiful Mess" and a private guided tour of the prison are key highlights.

IBTimes Singapore has compiled a series of images of The Movement Hotel.

A visitor takes photos inside the former The Bijlmerbajes prison turned Movement Hotel. The staff know their residence status is uncertain, but all hope to gain experience and build up their resumes as they dream of future employment in a more normal life. "We heard from the (Dutch) government that if the situation in Syria is safe, we must go back," said the hotel manager, Hachem, who like other staff asked that his surname not be used because of the potential danger to his family in Syria. Once he has been in the Netherlands five years, however, he hopes to get permission to remain long-term. Reuters

Asylum seekers, Monjid from Syria (L) and Bassit from Egypt, welcome a visitor. Rob Hoogerwerf, the Dutchman who organised the project with donations and the help of various authorities, says the staff are working toward a certificate that would let them work in the hospitality industry in the Netherlands - or wherever they end up. "We are helping them, or at least we would like to help them, to find their way." Reuters

Housekeeping Manager Ella Delsanto and Monjid, an asylum seeker from Syria, are seen inside the former Bijlmerbajes prison. The Bijlmerbajes once housed notorious criminals, including the group that kidnapped beer magnate Freddy Heineken in 1983 for a 17 million euro ransom. The prison's name comes from the Bijlmer neighborhood to the southeast and "bajes", a Yiddish slang term for jail that entered Dutch via Amsterdam's Jewish population. Reuters

View of a control room inside the former Bijlmerbajes prison. "We were looking for something different ... and at the last moment, we saw this place," said Andrea Legaspi, a Spanish law student attracted by the chance to get some kind of feel of prison life. Sure enough, she found a name carved into her cell, and had a view through the bars down into the prison exercise yard - as well as a comfortable bed and wifi. Reuters

Asylum seeker Monjid from Syria brings food to visitors. Rooms cost 99-140 euros ($119-$168) a night. Each is decorated with a single word on the wall intended to invoke the many contradictions of the place: "Freedom?" Reuters

View through a window of the former Bijlmerbajes prison. Last week the city announced that next year it will start redeveloping the whole area into a new "Bajes" neighborhood designed by the architecture firm OMA. That means the hotel will probably have to close on Jan. 2, though Hoogerwerf is hoping for an extension. Reuters