Assen
In eighteenth-century Assen, as throughout the Dutch province of
Drenthe, a simple rule applied to questions of Jewish settlement.
In each town, only three Jewish families were allowed to reside at
any one time, those of a trader, a butcher, and a dealer in hides
and bones.
The first Jewish trader settled in Assen in 1750. The arrival of a
second in 1774 created a public protest but ultimately the second
trader was permitted to remain. Until 1800, the two traders and
their families were the only Jews in Assen. During the nineteenth
century Assen developed into a regional economic, cultural and
social center. As Assen grew, its Jewish population grew
apace.
In 1778, the first Jews to settle in Assen received permission to
establish a cemetery behind the Asscherbos on the Twijfelveld.
Eventually, the community also made use Jewish cemeteries in nearby
Norg, Veenhuizen, Rolde, Borger, and Zuid Laren.
Religious services in Assen were initially held in
a private home. Not until 1832 was a synagogue finally built on the
Groningerstraat, in part with the help of donations from Catholic
and Protestant residents of Assen.
In 1840, the status of the Jewish community of Assen was raised
from Bijkerk, or local synagogue under the authority of
the Jewish community of nearby Hoogeveen, to Ringsynagoge,
or full-fledged regional synagogue in its own right.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the Assen community maintained its
own religious school and a number of other social and cultural
institutions including a burial society, a society for the
promotion of Jewish knowledge, a society for the maintenance of the
furnishings and appurtenances of the synagogue, a youth club, and,
for a brief time, an amateur theater company. The community also
cared for its own poor.
As Jewish families continued to flock to Assen from throughout
Drenthe, the community began to outgrow its synagogue. In 1901 a
new, larger synagogue was built in the Groningerstraat on the very
location of the old synagogue.
By the twentieth century, Jews had begun to profit from Assen's
steady economic growth. In the early years of the century, the
majority of the Jews of Assen worked as traders, cattle dealers,
small-scale manufacturers, slaughterers, and butchers. The
community also counted among its members a number of landowners and
government employees.
During the war, the Jews of Assen suffered the same
measures as Jews elsewhere. A Jewish school was established
following the expulsion of Jewish children from Assen's public
schools in September, 1941. The school was closed in the summer of
1942, not long before the expulsion of Jews from Assen began. In
October, 1942, the Jews of Assen were taken to the concentration
camp at Westerbork and from there to the Nazi death camps in
Eastern Europe. Only a few returned. A mere dozen of Assen's Jews
survived the war in hiding.
The synagogue on the Groningerstraat was badly damaged during the
War and most of its contents disappeared. The building was
ultimately sold to the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1974, the
glass-in-lead windows of the former synagogue were sent to Israel
and installed in the recreation hall of Kibbutz Beit Keshat.
In 1988, the Jewish communities of Assen, Emmen, and Hoogeveen were
united into a single community: the Israelite Community of Drenthe.
Three monuments in Assen preserve the memory of the city's murdered
Jews. In recent years, Assen's Jewish cemetery has been maintained
by the municipal government.
Not far from Assen is Veenhuizen, established in 1821 as a
rehabilitation center for beggars and vagrants. In 1839, a
synagogue and Jewish cemetery were opened at Veenhuizen. After
1890, Jews no longer numbered amongst the residents of the
institution and the synagogue and cemetery were abandoned.
Following the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938, a number of Jewish
refugees from Germany were accommodated as charity cases at
Veenhuizen. The nearby village of Norg now maintains Veenhuizen's
former Jewish cemetery.
The nearby village of Rolde, whose Jews once belonged the Assen
community, also contains a Jewish cemetery, located at Ruige Veld .
A three-year long restoration of this cemetery was completed in
2004.
Jewish population of Assen and surroundings:
| 1809 | 84 |
| 1840 | 309 |
| 1869 | 474 |
| 1899 | 542 |
| 1930 | 581 |
| 1951 | 46 |
| 1971 | 44 |
| 1998 | 51 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Havdalakandelaar
1927
object, havdalakandelaar. maker, Poelman, Hendrik. materiaal, zilver. datering,
1927. plaats, Den Haag & Nederland. hoogte, 18.5. breedte, 7.3. ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 01322
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
Fotoalbum
Twee losbladige fotoalbums met 148 kleurenfoto's van joodse
begraafplaatsen in Nederland, jaren '80.
Collectie > Fotos > 40006664
meer treffers in Collectie > Fotos
Dossier
Dossiers (158) van de Commissie voor Oorlogsschade mbt 155 joodse
gemeentes (Amsterdam en mediene), 1945-1950.
Collectie > Documenten > 00005954
meer treffers in Collectie > Documenten
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
Vermelding van benoemingen met betrekking tot de Ned. Isr. schoolbesturen.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20031385
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Gegevens over joodse inwoners in Drente
1999
Gegevens over joodse inwoners in Drente.
Collectie > Literatuur > 12016779
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
Interview met Menachem Joseph Levie (Nieuwe Pekela 1903/01/14 - 1984, Herzlia, Isr.) en...
1982
titel, Interview met Menachem Joseph Levie (Nieuwe Pekela 1903/01/14 - 1984, Herzlia,
Isr.) en Mirjam Bolle-Levie over jeugd in Pekela en Assen, emigratie naar ...
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 30000013
