Sneek
Throughout the eighteenth century Jewish families
occasionally resided in Sneek, however the local Jewish population
did not begin to grow until after 1809. An organized Jewish
community was founded in Sneek in 1817. The new community was
initially granted the status of a local community (Bijkerk) under
the aegis of the Jewish community at Leeuwarden but in 1824 was
elevated to the rank of regional community (Ringsynagoge).
Initially, the Jews of Sneek met for prayer in a private residence
on the Oosterdijk. Over the course of the nineteenth century, a
series of other locations served the community as its synagogue.
These included an upstairs room in a house on De Pol, purchased by
the community in 1819, and a building on the Wijde Brugstraat,
first used a synagogue in 1836. In 1880, the Sneek community
constructed a brand new synagogue on the site of the Wijde
Brugstraat building. The building was designed in neo-Moorish
style. It was restored in 1905.
The ground for the Jewish cemetery on the Leeuwarderstraatweg (the
present-day Burgermeester De Hooppark) was purchased by the
community in 1823. The cemetery was expanded in 1890. Following a
split in the community at the end of the nineteenth century over an
issue pertaining taxation, a second Jewish cemetery was opened in a
separate section of the Non-sectarian cemetery on the Kerkhoflaan.
The issue was eventually resolved and the community reunited.
The Jewish community at Sneek was governed by a community board and
community council. Voluntary organizations included a torah study
fellowship, a society for assistance to the poor, a burial society,
and a society for the upkeep of the synagogue and its
appurtenances. During the first decades of the twentieth century,
branches of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and the
Nederlandse Zionistenbond were active in Sneek. Many of
the Jews of Sneek worked in the retail sector, a smaller number
worked in the meat processing industry.
Under the German occupation of the Netherlands during the Second
World War slightly more than half of the Jews of Sneek went into
hiding and survived; the balance were deported and murdered. The
community's synagogue was destroyed by members of the Dutch
collaborationist NSB movement. The synagogue's torah scrolls came
through the war unharmed and its silver ceremonial objects, stolen
by Germans, were later recovered.
Jewish life did not resume in Sneek after the war.
The ruined synagogue building was razed in 1949. A number of its
remaining ceremonial objects were donated to the settlement of Kfar
Batya in Israel.
In 1950, Sneek was placed within the administrative district of
the Jewish community at Leeuwarden. A memorial plaque was placed at
the site of the former synagogue in Sneek in 1972; the plaque was
moved to the garden of Sneek's town hall in 1999. In 1980, a street
in Sneek was renamed after the locally-born Jewish economist Sam de
Wolff (1878-1960), an active socialist and Zionist.
The Jewish cemetery at Sneek is currently maintained by the local
authorities.
IJlst and Stavoren
From the seventeenth century on, Jews lived in nearby IJlst and
Stavoren; their numbers, however, were never sufficient to form a
separate Jewish community.
Workum
The Jewish cemetery at Workum in the nearby municipality of
Nijefurd was declared a national monument in 1999.
Jewish population of Sneek and surroundings:
| 1809 | 13 |
| 1840 | 144 |
| 1869 | 127 |
| 1899 | 132 |
| 1930 | 49 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Dossier
Dossiers (158) van de Commissie voor Oorlogsschade mbt 155 joodse
gemeentes (Amsterdam en mediene), 1945-1950.
Collectie > Documenten > B0005954
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[Kermis in Sneek II]
1938
Schets van een kermis (in Sneek): links zijn twee woonwagens zichtbaar en rechts
twee kraampjes en een man voor een ouderwetse ijscokar.
Collectie > Museumstukken > 10117
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
Overzichtsfoto
1903-08-01
Foto van Wijde Burgstraat in Sneek met synagoge, 1903.
Collectie > Fotos > 40001018
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Alfabetisch register op de collectie Brilleman van de begraafplaatsen der Nederlands...
1991
Alfabetisch register op de collectie Brilleman van de begraafplaatsen der Nederlands
Israelietische Gemeenten in de Mediene Friesland = index graveyards Friesland ...
Collectie > Literatuur > 11508649
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
Vergadering van de Centrale Commissie tot de Alg. Zaken van het Ned. Isr....
Eerste deel van het verslag van een vergadering van de Centrale Commissie tot de
Alg. Zaken van het Ned. Isr. Kerkgenootschap die plaatshad in de vergaderzaal aan ...
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20065733
