Pekela
The village of Pekela arose at the end of the seventeenth
century as the result of the exploitation of the surrounding peat
bog region. The first Jews to settle in Pekela were a tobacco
dealer and his sons. They arrived in the village in 1683. A decade
later, the Jews of Pekela purchased ground for a cemetery in the
Haanswijk. The cemetery, which was also used by the Jews of the
city of Groningen, is one of the oldest
Jewish cemeteries in the province. In 1710, the ruling council of
the province of Groningen decreed that all Jews be banned from the
province. The village of Pekela ignored the decree.
At the outset of the eighteenth century, Pekela split into two
separate villages: Oude (Old) Pekela and Nieuwe (New) Pekela. At
the time, most Jews in Pekela worked as butchers, tanners, or
sellers of textiles. Prior to 1737, the Jews of Pekela gathered to
pray in private homes. A synagogue was founded in Oude Pekela in
1737 at the initiative of a Jewish women from Veendam. The building was
replaced with a new synagogue built on the same site in 1792. The
new synagogue was renovated in 1843. From 1781 on, the Jews of
Pekela maintained a hostel for Jewish travelers in a private
residence. The hostel was mostly used by Jews visiting from
Germany.
Following the founding of the NIK (the
central consistory of Jews in the Netherlands) early in the 19th
century, the Jewish community at Oude and Nieuwe Pekela was granted
the status of Ringsynagoge or regional community.
At the time, most of the Jews in the two villages continued to work
as butchers or traders. After 1850, the economy of the villages
diversified. Cigar manufacturing arose as well as the trade in rags
and metal. The local Jewish-owned Catz Elixir factory
began to flourish during the same decade. During the nineteenth
century most members of the local Jewish community were unable to
pay their head tax. This suggests that most of the Jews in the two
villages were poor. A Jewish school for the poor had been
established in the villages in 1838.
The Jewish community of the Pekelas was governed by a community
council and maintained a council for aiding the poor. Jewish
voluntary organizations in the Pekelas included a burial society, a
society for caring for the sick, and a society for maintaining a
synagogue and its appurtenances. The community also organized
fellowships for the study of Hebrew as well as theater and choral
clubs. Until the early years of the 20th century, the Pekelas
boasted a popular family orchestra of its own, comprised of a Mr.
Stoppelman and his seven sons.
The Jewish community of the Pekela' grew in numbers up to the
1880s. In 1884, the community built a new synagogue complete with a
ritual bath and an apartment for its teacher.
Under the German occupation of the Netherlands during the Second
World War, the majority of the Jews of the two Pekelas were
interned at the detention camp at Westerbork and from there were
deported to Nazi death camps in Poland and murdered. Only a dozen
or so members of the Pekela community were able to survive the war
in hiding. The community's Torah scrolls and archives were hidden
in Amsterdam. The synagogue and its contents were heavily
damaged.
After the war, Jewish life in the Pekelas did not resume. In 1948,
the Pekelas were assigned to the jurisdiction of the Jewish
community at Stadskanaal. A monument to the
memory of the murdered Jews of the two Pekelas was unveiled in the
local Jewish cemetery in 1950. The synagogue was sold in the same
year and was razed thirty years later; all that remains of the
building is a portion of its façade. The Jewish cemetery, now
surrounded by the suburban neighborhood of Draaierswijk, is
maintained by the local authorities.
Jewish population of Oude and Nieuwe Pekela:
| 1809 | 212 |
| 1840 | 344 |
| 1869 | 354 |
| 1899 | 293 |
| 1930 | 140 |
Collectie en mediatheek
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
Affiche
1925-1940
Man, zittend aan tafel en profil naar rechts. In zijn uitgestoken linkerhand houdt
hij glas elixer. Zijn rechterarm steunt op tafel en de hand omklemt de fles.
Collectie > Museumstukken > 11271
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
Prentbriefkaart
1915 (ca.)
Prentbriefkaart van Orkest Stoppelman uit Oude Pekela, circa 1917.
Collectie > Fotos > 40005764
Prentbriefkaart
1914 (ca.)
Prentbriefkaart met reclame voor Catz Elixer, circa 1914.
Collectie > Fotos > 40006370
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
Vermelding van benoemingen met betrekking tot de Ned. Isr. schoolbesturen.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20031385
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Fragmenten uit het dagboek van een joods onderduikertje die aan de Schoolstraat in Oude...
1990
Fragmenten uit het dagboek van een joods onderduikertje die aan
de Schoolstraat in Oude Pekela was ondergedoken.
Collectie > Literatuur > 11000876
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
[interview met Benjamin Kosses]
2001
Interview met Benjamin Kosses, geboren 25-10-1921.
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 40001841
