Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the 16th century and World War II.

History of the Jews in the Netherlands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dutch Jews
Nederlandse Joden
יהודים הולנדים

Job Cohen Harry Mulisch Tobias Asser Max Moszkowicz Gerard Philips Hedy d'Ancona Ed van Thijn Uri Rosenthal Max Kohnstamm Frans Weisglas Hendrik S. Houthakker Ivo Samkalden Martin van Amerongen Sidney J. van den Bergh Jacques Wallage Ischa Meijer
Total population
30,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Rotterdam, The Hague, Apeldoorn
Languages
Dutch, Hebrew
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Dutch people, Ashkenazi Jews

Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
Etymology Who is a Jew? Jewish peoplehood Jewish identity
Religion[show]
Texts[show]
Communities[show]
Population[show]
Denominations[show]
Culture[show]
Languages[show]
History[show]
Politics[show]
Category  Judaism portal  WikiProject
v t e

Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the 16th century and World War II.

The area now known as the Netherlands was once part of the Spanish Empire but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence. A principal motive was a wish to practice Protestant Christianity, thenforbidden under Spanish rule, and so religious tolerance was effectively an important constitutional element of the newly independent state. This inevitably attracted the attention of Jews who were religiously oppressed in many parts of the world.

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 History of Jews in the Netherlands
  • 1.1 Early history
  • 1.2 Marranos and Sephardic Jews
  • 1.3 Ashkenazim
  • 1.4 The French Revolution and Napoleon
  • 1.5 19th century and early 20th century
  • 1.6 The Holocaust
  • 1.7 Yad Vashem
  • 1.8 1945–1960
  • 1.9 1960s and 1970s
  • 1.10 1980s and onwards
• 2 Religion
  • 2.1 Orthodox Judaism
  • 2.2 Reform Judaism
  • 2.3 Conservative Judaism
• 3 Education and Youth
  • 3.1 Jewish schools
  • 3.2 Jewish youth
• 4 Jewish health care
• 5 Jewish media
• 6 Amsterdam
• 7 Cultural distinctions
• 8 Economic influences
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 External links

History of Jews in the Netherlands[edit]

Early history[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2015)

Jews do not seem to have lived in the province of Holland before 1593; a few references to them are in existence which distinctly mention them as present in the other provinces at an earlier date, especially after their expulsion from France in 1321 and the persecutions in Hainaut and the Rhine provinces. The first Jews in the province of Gelderland were reported in 1325. Jews have been settled in Nijmegen, the oldest settlement, in Doesburg, Zutphen, and in Arnhem since 1404. In 1349 the Duke of Guelderswas authorized by the Emperor Louis IV of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany to receive Jews in his duchy, where they provided services, paid a tax, and were protected by the law. In Arnhem, where a Jewish physician is mentioned, the magistrate similarly defended him against the hostilities of the populace. When Jews settled in the diocese of Utrecht is unknown, but rabbinical records regarding Jewish dietary laws speculated that the Jewish community there dated back to Roman times. In 1444 Jews were expelled from the city of Utrecht, and until 1789 no Jew might pass the night there. They were however tolerated in the village of Maarssen, two hours distant, though their condition was not fortunate. Nonetheless, the community of Maarssen was one of the most important in the Netherlands. Jews were admitted to Zeeland by Albert, Duke of Bavaria.

In 1477, by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to the Archduke Maximilian, son of Emperor Frederick III, the Netherlands were united to Austria and its possessions passed to the crown of Spain. In the sixteenth century, owing to the persecutions of Charles V andPhilip II of Spain, the Netherlands became involved in a series of desperate and heroic struggles against this growing political and religious hegemony. In 1522, Charles V issued a proclamation in Gelderland and Utrecht against Christians who were suspected of being lax in the faith, as well as against Jews who had not been baptized; he repeated such edicts in 1545 and 1549, as theReformation grew. In 1571 the Duke of Alba notified the authorities of Arnhem that all Jews living there should be seized and held until the disposition to be made of them had been determined upon. At Dutch request, Archduke Mattias established religious peace in most of the provinces, which was later guaranteed by article 13 of the 1579 Unie van Utrecht.^[2] Moreover in 1581, the deputies of the United Provinces memorably declared independence by issuing the Act of Abjuration, which deposed Philip as their sovereign. As a consequence of these two events the Jews persecuted in Spain and Portugal turned toward the Dutch Republic as a new place of refuge.