Inside the Dutch Bakery That Doubles as a DIY World War II Museum

Mathieu Sonnemans and his son Rolf in front of their bakery

This article originally appeared on VICE Netherlands

Sonnemans is a small, picturesque bakery in Haamstede, Netherlands where you can buy a fresh loaf of bread and also look at some original World War II helmets. That combination is not that surprising when you consider that the bakery's owner Mathieu Sonnemans is a baker as well as an avid collector of Nazi-related items from WWII.

The stuff Mathieu collects and displays in his bakery mostly has to do with the Atlantic Wall—a coastal defense structure built by the Nazis. The Atlantic Wall ran along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia, and part of it was located in Burgh-Haamstede—the village, where you'll find Mathieu's bakery. Mathieu dug up some of the items himself, in and around the bunkers in the woods and dunes of Burgh-Haamstede. The rest of his pieces found their way to him through word of mouth.

Mathieu isn't a Nazi sympathizer—he's just fascinated with World War II. "When I was 13, my family moved to Zeeland and shortly after that, I discovered the first bunker in the woods. That war has always intrigued me," he explained when I visited him. "The Atlantic Wall has had such a profound impact on Zeeland, as a local you simply can't escape it."

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