Diemen cemetery
Oud Diemerlaan 146, Diemen
In 1907 the Ashkenazi community needed to provide more burial grounds - after two centuries of intensive use, Zeeburg Cemetery was full. In 1914 Diemen Cemetery was opened but before very long the land was reallocated. In 1925 the Amsterdam municipality acquired some of the land by compulsory purchase, in order to build a railway viaduct, whereby the cemetery was split down the middle.
When part of the Zeeburg Cenetery was sold in 1956,
no fewer that 28,000 graves were transferred to Diemen. A large
gravestone in the middle of Zeeburg cemetery reads in Hebrew; 'May
this resting place in future remain undisturbed'.
About 400 funerary urns from the Dutch concentration camp at
Westerbork have been placed in Diemen. Between the years 1943-1945,
under pressure of circumstances, about 529 Jews were cremated in
Westerbork camp. Both during and after the war the urns containing
their ashes were returned to their home towns and cities.
