Jodenbuurt
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Jodenbuurt | |
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Neighborhood of Amsterdam | |
Country | Netherlands |
UTC+1 (CET ) |
The Jodenbuurt (
Boundaries
Traditionally, the boundaries of the Jodenbuurt, east of the city center, are the
History
The first Jews to settle in Amsterdam were the
This was because, with the Union of Utrecht in 1579, all the residents of the Dutch Republic were to be given religious freedom, the first time a European country had ever established and enshrined the freedom of religion as the law of the land.[2] So the Jews were allowed to build their own synagogues. The first of them was the Beth Jakob, built between 1602 and 1610, followed by the second synagogue, Neve Shalom, constructed between 1608 and 1612, and the third, Beth Israel, founded in 1618. They were all Sephardic. They were all hidden and therefore not visible from the streets.
But the Jews were not alone in the Jodenbuurt. They were joined by several Christians. One of them was the artist
On 8 November 1616, the Jews were made legal citizens by the City of Amsterdam. But they were still not allowed to enter certain occupations; they were not permitted by the guilds of Amsterdam. So they were limited to street trading,
The Sephardi did not have proper knowledge about
Because of their knowledge of
19th and early 20th centuries
The achievements of
With the increase of their wealth in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, many of the residents moved out of the Jodenbuurt for the newer neighborhoods, such as the
In the 1930s, with the rise of
World War II
During the Second World War, the Germans invaded the Netherlands in May 1940 and stayed until May 1945. In 1941, the Jodenbuurt was declared by the Nazis to be the Jewish Ghetto and subjected to ever-increasing restrictions. A big fence was erected around the entire quarter and many bridges were placed under permanent guard to control the comings and goings of the residents. Many other Jews were warehoused in the Transvaalbuurt. On 10 January 1941, all the Jewish citizens had to register with the Nazis. On 6 July 1942, they were not allowed to make any phone calls and receive Gentile visitors. On 23 October 1942, they were prohibited from driving cars and trucks. Three major raids took place in Amsterdam, including the Jodenbuurt, in May, June and September 1943,[7] and from these raids hundreds of Jews were deported to "the East". But many more of them went into hiding with the help of their Christian neighbors and friends and survived the war.
So the Jodenbuurt was virtually empty and it would stay that way until the end of the war. Then came the
The war decimated the Jewish population of Amsterdam. Before the Germans came, there were 80,000 Jews in the whole city but, after they left, there were only 5,000 left.[8] They were the ones who returned from the death camps in Germany and German-occupied Poland.[9] Some of the Dutch saved many more of the Jews in their homes, cloisters and orphanages.
After World War II
After the war, what was once a bustling, thriving neighborhood was largely abandoned and neglected. In 1953 the municipal government made plans for a major renovation, including a large expansion to Weesperstraat and Prins Hendrikkade and the construction of the so-called 'oostlijn' expansion to the Amsterdam Metro. Many houses were demolished and replaced with large apartment blocks and office buildings, including the Maupoleum, built by and named for the Jewish real estate developer Maup Caransa, who had survived the war in the neighborhood and acquired much of it.[10]
Today, little remains of the once-thriving Jewish neighborhood that once existed in the Jodenbuurt; however there are a few surviving monuments from Amsterdam's Jewish history. These include the Jewish Historical Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue. Saved from nearly being demolished in 1975, the Huis de Pinto is a mansion in Sint Antoniesbreestraat that once belonged to a wealthy Portuguese Sephardic family often referred to as the Rothschild family of the Dutch Golden Age.
See also
Gallery
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Judenstraße in Amsterdam by Max Liebermann (1906)
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Former 'Deventer Houtmarkt' - now the J.D. Meijerplein - in 1861, painting by Willem Hekking.
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The Leprozengracht (Lepers' canal, since filled in) and in the background the Mozes en Aäronkerk, in the heart of the Jodenbuurt. Painting by J. Lamers from 1895, copied from an original work by Cornelis Christiaan Dommershuizen (1842-1928).
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Portuguese Synagogue on Mr. Visserplein square
References
- ^ (in Dutch) "Mokum-Events", MokumEvents.nl, retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ Jeanette Loeb, "The Jewish History of Amsterdam", Jewish History Amsterdam – Guided Tours in Jewish Amsterdam, retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ "The market on Waterlooplein: Waterlooplein", Joods Historisch Museum / Jewish Historical Museum, retrieved 28 December 2013.
- Nobel Prize for Peace.
- ^ (in Dutch) Oorlog, vervolging, verzet, honger en bevrijding in Plan Zuid [ War, Persecution, Resistance, Hunger and Liberation in South Plan ], retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ (in Dutch) "Plan Zuid en de oorlog [ South Plan in the War" ]", Geheugen van Plan Zuid [ Memories of South Plan ], retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ (in Dutch) "Razzia's en andere anti-Joodse maatregelen in Amsterdam-Zuid / Rivierenbuurt [ Raids and other anti-Jewish Measures in South Amsterdam / Rivierenbuurt ]", Oorlog, vervolging, verzet, honger en bevrijding in Plan Zuid [ War, Persecution, Resistance, Hunger and Liberation in South Plan ], retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ISBN 978-1860467899, page 264.
- ^ Lucy S[childkret]. Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, 1933–1945 (New York City: Open Read Integrated Media, 2010), page 447.
- ISBN 9781568587233.
Bibliography
- (in Dutch) Ab Caransa, Verzamelen op het Transvaalplein. Ter nagedachtenis van het joodse proletariaat van Amsterdam [ Gathering on the Transvaal Square: In Memory of the Jewish Proletariat of Amsterdam ] (Amsterdam: Bosch & Keuning, 1984), ISBN 90-246-4523-9.
- (in Dutch) Flip ten Cate, Dit volckje seer verwoet: een geschiedenis van de Sint Antoniesbreestraat (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Pantheon, 1988), ISBN 90-72653-01-7.
- ISBN 0-8143-2338-3
- Steven Nadler, Rembrandt's Jews (ISBN 0-226-56736-2
- (in German) Barbara Beuys, „Leben mit dem Feind“. Amsterdam unter deutscher Besatzung 1940-1945 [ "Living with the Enemy", Amsterdam under German Occupation 1940-1945 ] (ISBN 9783446240711