Nijkerk
The first Jews to settle in Nijkerk arrived early in the
seventeenth century. The new arrivals purchased land in the
vicinity of Nijkerk on which to cultivate tobacco. In the period
following their arrival, the present-day Nieuwstraat came to be
called the Jodenbreestraat (Jews' Main Street). By 1650, the Jewish
population of Nijkerk was large for enough for the community to
purchase ground for a cemetery of its own on the Hoogstraten.
In the
decades that followed, most of the original group of Jewish tobacco
farmers left Nijkerk; however, the arrival early in the eighteenth
century of an influential Jewish family of Italian origin gave new
impetus both to the local tobacco industry and to Jewish life in
Nijkerk. As a result, the Nijkerk community became the only
Italian-Jewish community in the Netherlands at the time. Until
1728, religious services were held in a private home on the
Koetsendijk called Huijs met de Bijenkorf and later in another,
unnamed private home.
Ashkenazi Jews arrived in Nijkerk beginning early in the eighteenth
century. They worked as slaughterers and butchers as well as
growers and traders of tobacco. At first, the Ashkenazi Jews were
absorbed into the Italian Jewish community but soon their numbers
grew to the point that they organized religious services of their
own, also in a private home. In 1761, the Ashkenazi Jews applied to
the local authorities for permission to build a synagogue of their
own. Their application was approved but, instead of constructing a
new synagogue, they converted the attic of a building on the Singel
to serve as a synagogue. They prayed there until 1801 when they
finally did consecrate a new synagogue, also located on the
Singel.
The statutes of the Askenazi community of Nijkerk were formalized
in 1778. Two years later, the community purchased ground on the
Oude Amersfoortseweg between Nijkerk and Nijkerkerveen for a
cemetery of their own, later known as the De Korte Dood (Brief
Death). Subsequently, the Ashkenazi community established a second
cemetery on the Hoogstraten near Nijkerk's original seventeenth
century Jewish burial ground.
As time passed, the Askenazi population of Nijkerk grew and the
town's Italian Jewish population declined. By 1808, the Central
Consistory of Dutch Jewry compelled the Ashkeni and Italian Jewish
communities of Nijkerk to merge, this over objections by of the
Italian Jews. Torah scrolls brought to Nijkerk from Italy by the
first generation of Italian Jews to settle in the town were then
transferred to the Ashkenazi synagogue. The Italian synagogue was
converted to a meeting hall and school house - religious lessons
earlier having been given in the home of the community's teacher.
Until as late as 1844, the combined community continued to pray
according to the Italianate tradition.
An officially recognized Jewish school was established in Nijkerk
in 1848. In 1850, secular subjects were added to the school's
solely religious curriculum. Sometime thereafter, the school was
moved to a building of its own in the Kloosterstraat. Over the
course of the nineteenth century Nijkerk built a reputation as a
center of Jewish learning, a tradition that continued well into the
twentieth century.
Formal bodies and positions within the Nijkerk community included a
community directorate and council and a treasurer for the
collection and disbursement of aid to the Jewish community in Eretz
Israel. Voluntary organizations included a burial society, a
society for the upkeep of the synagogue, a women's society, various
study fellowships, and a lending association for retailers.
The Jewish population of Nijkerk declined over the first four
decades of the twentieth century and, by the eve of the Second
World War, had shrunk to only a few families. Nonetheless, the
community restored its synagogue in 1926 on the occasion of the
house of worship's 125th anniversary. A Jewish social and
recreational club was founded in Nijkerk in 1936.
During the Second World War, religious services at the Nijkerk
synagogue ceased following a German raid in the winter of 1940 -
1941. The synagogue was later damaged in a grenade attack. For as
long as possible, the community continued to hold religious
services in the building of the Jewish school on the
Kloosterstraat. In April 1943, the Jews of Nijkerk - with the
exception of a few who managed to survive the war in hiding - was
apprehended and detained at the prison camp and Vught prior to
being deported to Nazi death camps and murdered. Only a small
number of the deported returned alive.
Jewish life in Nijkerk did not resume after the war. The remains of
the synagogue were sold in 1954 and the site later redeveloped for
commercial space. The Jewish community of Nijkerk was officially
dissolved in 1962 and placed under the jurisdiction of the Jewish
community at Amersfoort. The two cemeteries on the Hoogstraten were
cleared away the very same year. The cemetery on the Oude
Amerfoortseweg was partially restored in 2000 and is currently
maintained by the local authorities. A monument in memory of the 48
Jews of Nijkerk deported and murdered during the Second World War
was unveiled at the corner of the Bruins Slotlaan and the Vetkamp
in 2002. A plaque on the wall of a shoe store on the Singel marks
the site where the Nijkerk synagogue had once stood. The plaque was
donated by the the Stichting Joods Monument Nijkerk (Nijkerk Jewish
Monument Foundation).
Jewish population of Nijkerk and surroundings:
| 1809 | 239 |
| 1840 | 206 |
| 1869 | 129 |
| 1899 | 149 |
| 1930 | 114 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Fotoalbum
Twee losbladige fotoalbums met 148 kleurenfoto's van joodse
begraafplaatsen in Nederland, jaren '80.
Collectie > Fotos > 40006664
meer treffers in Collectie > Fotos
Voorzittershamer
1898
Voorzittershamer van de Bestuurderen der Maatschappij Het Diamantwerkers Wezenfonds
in foudraal van de firma JL Hassoldt Jr. Hamer vervaardigd van ebbenhout en ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 09320-01
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
Dossier
Dossiers (158) van de Commissie voor Oorlogsschade mbt 155 joodse
gemeentes (Amsterdam en mediene), 1945-1950.
Collectie > Documenten > B0005954
meer treffers in Collectie > Documenten
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
1898
Bericht over binnengekomen extra giften bij het
"Weldadigheidsfonds" in de maand januari.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20044574
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
'Van jubileum....naar catastrofe : de Joodse gemeenschap van Nijkerk in de periode 1926...
2007
'Van jubileum....naar catastrofe : de Joodse gemeenschap
van Nijkerk in de periode 1926-1945.
Collectie > Literatuur > 12013189
