Arnhem
Arnhem is one of the first cities in the northern Netherlands in
which Jews settled. The first report of a Jewish presence in Arnhem
dates to 1237.
During Medieval times, the position of Jews in Arnhem was
vulnerable at best. During the Plague epidemic of 1349 Jews were
imprisoned and their possessions confiscated. Beginning in 1451, at
the instigation of a papal representative, the Jews of Arnhem were
forbidden to lend money to Christians and were forced to wear
distinctive badges, this despite their being under the protection
of the city council. From the late-fifteenth century until the end
of the seventeenth, there is no further mention of the presence of
Jews in Arnhem.
Jews settled anew in Arnhem during the time of the Republic of the
United Netherlands. In 1737, the Jews of Arnhem were granted
political rights. Membership in guilds, however, was denied them.
During this period synagogue services were held in a private
residence.
At first, the Jews of Arnhem buried their dead in nearby Huissen
and in Wageningen, two places with long histories of Jewish
settlement. In 1755, Arnhem Jews established their own cemetery at
Zandbergen aan Onderlangs. In 1756, the Jewish community
organization of Arnhem was officially recognized by the municipal
authorities. The very same year, a new synagogue was opened in the
Nieuwe Walstraat. In 1780, Jonas Daniël Meijer - who was later to
play the main role in the Emancipation of the Jews of the
Netherlands - was born in Arnhem. With the arrival of Napoleonic
rule late in the eighteenth century the formal emancipation of the
Jews of the Netherlands finally became a fact.
As the capital of the province of Gelderland,
Arnhem experienced rapid growth in the nineteenth century Arnhem.
The Jewish community grew apace, causing it to require a larger
house of worship. In 1853, the community opened a new synagogue
Pastoorstraat at the very site of the birthplace of Jonas Daniël
Meijer. The building stands to this day.
The growth of the community also called for new cemeteries. During
the nineteenth century, two additional Jewish cemeteries were
opened, one at De Valk (Bovenover) and the other at Onder de
Linden. The dead of both cemeteries were later re-interred at the
cemetery at Moscowa, opened in 1866. This cemetery is still in use
but now also contains non-denominational and Catholic sections and
a crematorium.
In Jewish eyes, Arnhem reached its zenith in 1881 when it was
declared the capital of the regional Synagogal District and the
seat of the chief rabbinate of the province of Gelderland, an honor
previously held by the city of Nijmegen.
The Jewish community of Arnhem boasted a number of societies for
the study of Torah as well as numerous charitable organizations.
The community also maintained a Jewish school and homes for the
Jewish elderly and Jewish soldiers .
Most Arnhem Jews worked as shopkeepers, wholesalers, salesmen,
market workers, and butchers. Jacques Coenraad Hartogs, the founder
of the Algemene Kunstzijde Unie, the forerunner of the
modern multinational AKZO, was a member of the Arnhem community.
The economic well-being of Arnhem Jews eventually was such that
just prior to the Second World War the community numbered few poor
members.
During the 1930s, the community absorbed a large number of Jewish
refugees from Nazi Germany. During the war, almost all of the Jews
in Arnhem were deported to Nazi death camps and murdered. A
monument to their memory can be found in the Jewish section of the
cemetery at Moscowa.
The
Jewish community of Arnhem was reestablished after the war. The
synagogue on the Pastorstraat was restored and reopened in 1950. It
remains in use to this day. Late in the 1960's, a Liberal
(reformed) congregation was founded in Arnhem. Arnhem's Jewish old
age home, Beth Zikna, closed its doors in 1998. It had
been opened in 1960 as a successor to Beth Mikloth
Lezikno, which was closed by the Germans during the
deportations in 1942.
In 1998, the Arnhem Synagogue Foundation was established to ensure
a complete restoration of the synagogue to its original state. The
restoration began in 2001 and was completed in 2003. In a ceremony
attended by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, the Foundation
formally handed the synagogue over to the community. In 2001, a
group of volunteers from the Dutch Christian foundation "Penance
and Reconciliation" (Stichting Boete en Verzoening)
commenced restoration of the Jewish cemetery at Zandbergen aan
Onderlangs.
Today, the Jewish communities of Zevenaar, Doesburg, Dieren,
Oosterbeek, and Velp formally belong to the Arnhem community.
Jewish population of Arnhem and surroundings:
| 1809 | 332 |
| 1840 | 509 |
| 1869 | 990 |
| 1899 | 1275 |
| 1930 | 1389 |
| 1951 | 327 |
| 1971 | 241 |
| 1998 | 70 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Uitnodiging
1959-08-23
Uitnodiging voor de installatie van de heer L. Slagter
als voorganger der NIG-Arnhem, 1959.
Collectie > Documenten > 00009920
meer treffers in Collectie > Documenten
Penning
1908
object, penning. maker, onbekend. materiaal, zilver. datering, 1908. plaats, Nederland.
diepte, ø 4.3. collectie, Joods Historisch Museum. trefwoorden, ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 00356
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
Overzichtsfoto
1981
Meisje leest voor uit tora tijdens bat mitswa, 1981.
Collectie > Fotos > 40000336
meer treffers in Collectie > Fotos
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
1906
Verslag van de jaarvergadering van het hoofdbestuur met de commissie van toezicht
van de vereniging "Centr. Isr. Oude Mannen- en Vrouwenhuis" in Gouda.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20060367
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Collectie Citroen
1959
Collectie Citroen.
Collectie > Literatuur > 11504980
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
Yad Vashem, 6 maart 2008, Johannes Penseel en echtgenote Maria Elizabeth van der Post :...
2008
Uitzending voorafgaand aan de postume uitreiking van de Yad-Vashem onderscheiding
aan Johannes Penseel (1886-1975) en Maria Elizabeth Penseel-van der Post, in Arnhem ...
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 40001929
