Stadskanaal
A Jewish community came into being in the village of Stadskanaal
(a part of the municipality of Onstwedde) during the 1840's. A
Jewish cemetery was established along the Afdraai, the present-day
Gedempte Ceresdiep, on the southern end van Stadskanaal in
1845.
In its early days of Jewish settlement, the Jews of Stadskanaal
belonged to the Jewish community at Veendam. Because of the
distance between Stadskanaal and Veendam, the Jews of Stadskanaal
gathered for their religious services in a room at the Boerendiep.
Despite opposition from the Jews of Veendam, the Jews of
Stadskanaal were awarded the status of Bijkerk or local
community in 1850, and were recognized as forming an independent
community in the decennium that followed. The synagogue on the
Hoofdstraat in the center of Onstwedde dates from 1860.
The local Jewish community grew rapidly during the second half of
the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Most
Jews in Stadskanaal worked in the cattle trade. The community
included so many children that two teachers were employed to
instruct them. The economic circumstance of most local Jews was
reasonable.
The
Jewish community at Stadskanaal was governed by a council. The
community structure also included a council for aid to the poor.
Voluntary organizations included a burial society, a society that
maintained the appurtenances of the synagogue, and societies that
cared for the sick and the needy. During the 1930's, a number of
Jewish refugees from Germany settled in Stadskanaal.
Between August and November of 1942, under the World War II German
occupation of the Netherlands, the majority of the Jews of
Stadskanaal and surroundings were arrested and interred at the
concentration and transit camp at Westerbork from whence they
deported to Nazi death camps in Eastern Europe. Few returned.
Several dozen local Jews managed to survive the war in hiding. The
synagogue was plundered and heavily damaged. The torah scrolls and
curtains of the ark were hidden in advance and recovered after the
war.
The damaged synagogue building was sold and razed in 1958. Until
1964, religious services were held in the former residence of the
community's teacher, located next to the site of the former
synagogue. The teacher's residence was also later razed. A monument
to the memory of local Jews murdered during the war was unveiled on
the Navolaan in 1986. The Jewish community at Stadskanaal was
formally disbanded and merged into that of Groningen in 1988. The local
Jewish cemetery is maintained by the municipal authorities.
Jewish population of Stadskanaal and surroundings:
| 1840 | 11 |
| 1869 | 60 |
| 1899 | 208 |
| 1930 | 142 |
| 1951 | 26 |
| 1971 | 18 |
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
[Binnenland] : Stadskanaal
1905
Bericht over de bar mitswa van Abraham Goudsmid.
Hij laaiende de hele sidra zeer correct.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20057746
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Klein en groot zijn daar gelijk : de Joodse begraafplaatsen in de provincie Groningen
2009
Klein en groot zijn daar gelijk : de Joodse begraafplaatsen in de provincie Groningen.
Collectie > Literatuur > 12015341
