Stichting Herengracht 401 (H401) is a private cultural foundation located in the Herengracht building of the late artist Gisèle d’Ailly van Waterschoot van der Gracht (1912 – 2013). It has roots in the Second World War, during which Gisèle’s flat at Herengracht 401 served as a hiding place for Jewish youngsters. During that time the flat used the safe name Castrum Peregrini. An exile community arose around the hiding place after the war, founding later a publishing house. Gisèle continued to live and work in the house until her last days. In 2008, the current board radically changed course and discontinued the activities of the publishing house. Since then, cultural activities and contemporary art have been at the centre of a series of thematic programmes. Via the themes such as Vulnerability to Group Fanaticism, Freedom, Friendship, Collective Memory, the Female Perspective and Perplexity, a continuous deepening of the central research question ‘why innocent people had to go into hiding in the building H401 during WWII’ took place from 2009 onwards. An investigation by an independent commission into the house’s multi-layered past initiated by H401, revealed lives were saved, but also damaged. As one of the measures taken to address and incorporate the complex history of the foundation into today’s organization, a new name came into effect in 2019. H401 – short for Herengracht 401 – is a concise embodiment of the location house. Although in the same house, with partly historic interiors, the new name bears testament to the different, topical activities being now organised as art, research and dialogue take centre stage these days. The research motivated H401 to focus on the difficult, ambiguous or contested history by developing, implementing or engaging in projects such as Heritage Contact Zone, SPEME – Questioning Traumatic Heritage Spaces of Memory and Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues. H401’s team is relatively small as it is composed of 4 members, however, the foundation relies on an extensive network on the local and international level. Thanks to the latest EU projects such as SPEME, and CDCD, H401 collaborations have widened to South America and Africa. Stichting Herengracht 401 forms a statutory unit (management and financial) with Stichting Huis van Gisèle; the consolidated balance sheet is drawn up annually. The listed legal representative is representative of both foundations. The most up-to-date consolidated balance sheet currently available (2022) is attached.

The foundation’s current focus revolves around collective memory and identity, with activities intertwining art and heritage. These initiatives have an investigative and participatory character and are carried out in cooperation with local and international cultural organizations and universities. Michael Defuster – Co-director of H401 (and Stichting Huis van Gisèle) Responsible for strategic development of H401 He will especially focus on local co-funding structures, embeddedness in local activities, strategic links with organisational development and outreach to relevant projects and initiatives. He has a background in architecture and has developed H401 from a hermetic publishing house and exile community into an open and vibrant cultural centre of today. Frans Damman – Co-director of H401 (and Stichting Huis van Gisèle) Quality assurance, with Capacity Building as focus. Head of Administration, Facilities and Educational Programme. Frans will liaise with the administration office which provides an external service to H401, to see to the correct administration, timely payments of receipts and time writing. Frans will also play a key role in the pilot training scheduled at H401. He is responsible for the visitors programme content wise and to ensure access to the historic parts, archives, library and workspaces. He will also serve as a liaison person to local initiatives and networks. Micol Manunta – Project Assistant/Administration Micol is the Project and Administration Assistant for H401. She is a graduate of the Research Master in Cultural Leadership (University of Groningen, NL). She has a background in Russian and Memory Studies.