's-Hertogenbosch
References in a document dated 1558 suggest that Jews had lived
in Den Bosch during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. There
are no other mentions of Jews in Den Bosch until the 1680's, when
the first Jew to do so received citizenship in the city. By 1777, a
total of thirteen Jews had become citizens of Den Bosch and a
number had been admitted to the market vendors' guild.
It was not until after the introduction of full civil equality in
the Netherlands in 1796, however, that the Jews of Den Bosch
achieved a secure legal footing in the town. Over the century
before, economic competition between Jews and non-Jews had
engendered legal obstacles. In 1779, for example, all Jews without
valid residence permits were forced to leave Den Bosch. Those Jews
who did hold residence permits were faced with restrictions as to
the observance of their religion; permission to hold religious
services was denied to local Jews as was their petition to
establish a Jewish cemetery. It was not until 1790 that the Jews of
Den Bosch finally were allowed to purchase a cemetery, located on
the present-day Berkenheuveldreef in Vught, in which they in fact
had been burying their dead for a number of years previously.
The Emancipation Decree of 1796 changed all this. An officially
recognized Jewish community was founded in Den Bosch in 1799. In
1824, a synagogue was opened in a private home located on the
Mortel. Ownership of the synagogue were transferred to the
community some years later and the building went on to serve the
Jewish community of Den Bosch for more than a century. In 1937, it
was rebuilt to serve as a meeting hall and the community's
auxiliary synagogue. A newly constructed synagogue located on the
Prins Bernhardstraat was consecrated in 1938.
Den
Bosch was also important to the Jews of the region. Following the
establishment of a national Jewish consistory in 1814, Den Bosch
was selected as the seat of the chief rabbi of the province of
North Brabant. At the close of the nineteenth century, Jewish
organizations in Den Bosch included a fellowship for Talmudic
studies, a burial society, a women's society for the upkeep of the
interior of the synagogue, a second women's society for the
purchase of ceremonial objects for the synagogue, and a branch of
the Alliance Israélite Universelle. Aid to the poor was
administered by a community council and a separate voluntary
charitable organization. The community also maintained a Jewish
school.
The majority of the Jews in Den Bosch work in the cattle trade or
in the manufacturing of shoes and cigars. Due to the overall
prosperity of Den Bosch, the local Jewish community, unlike many of
those in the Mediene, continued to grow during the first years of
the twentieth century. From 1910 to 1940, community membership
rolls remained relatively constant. During the same period, new
Jewish organizations arose including both Zionist organizations and
organizations opposed to Zionism.
Following the 1941 expulsion of Jews from public
education during the Second World War, a Jewish elementary school
and Jewish high school were established in Den Bosch. The first
round-up of Jews for deportation occurred in mid-1941. A
representative of the German-controlled Jewish Council was
appointed for Den Bosch late the same year year. When deportations
began in earnest late in August, 1942, Den Bosch served as a
detention and transit point for Jews deported from throughout the
province of North Brabant. This was due in part to the stationing
of a special brigade (Einsatzkommando) of the Nazi security police
at Den Bosch and to the proximity of Den Bosch to the German prison
camp at the Dutch town of Vught.
The camp at Vught was established in 1942 and modeled on the
Nazi prison camps at Buchenwald and Dachau. Only a part of the
Vught camp was intended for Jews. An estimated 12,000 Jews passed
through the prison camp at Vught between January 1943 and the
closure of the camp's Jewish section in June 1944. During their
detention, a portion of the Jewish prisoners at Vught labored in
factories established in the camp by companies including Philips.
Deportation of the Jews of Den Bosch was completed in April, 1943.
Of the 500 Jews deported from Den Bosch only 200 survived the war.
The synagogue came through the war intact; its contents, however,
were stolen.
Jewish life in Den Bosch was reestablished immediately following
the Allied liberation of the south of the Netherlands in 1944. The
synagogue was consecrated anew in 1947 and furnished with the
contents of the former synagogue at Zaltbommel. In 1947, a plaque in
memory of the murdered Jews of the city was unveiled in the
interior of the Den Bosch synagogue.
By the 1970's, membership in the Den Bosch community had fallen to
the point that it was no longer possible to hold Sabbath religious
services. In 1989, a foundation was established to restore the
original 1824 synagogue building which, by then, was in an
extremely poor state. In 1996, during the Jewish holiday of
Hanukkah, the restored building was reopened as a musical theater.
In 1984, a monument designed by Otto Treumann in memory of the Jews
who passed through the prison camp at Vught was unveiled in the
village's railway station. In 1995, on the fiftieth anniversary of
the final Allied liberation of the Netherlands, a monument was
erected in the Casinotuin garden in Den Bosch in memory of the
murdered students of the war-time Jewish elementary and high
schools.
Jewish population of 's-Hertogenbosch and surrounding:
| 1795 | 65 |
| 1809 | 155 |
| 1840 | 472 |
| 1869 | 370 |
| 1899 | 525 |
| 1930 | 388 |
| 1951 | 104 |
| 1971 | 75 |
| 1998 | 36 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Jad
1700-1724
Levi (de) Hartog, oorspronkelijk afkomstig uit Druten bij Nijmegen, vervulde een
belangrijke rol in de joodse gemeente van Zaltbommel en woonde in een groot huis ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 02000
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
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
Fotoalbum
1880 (ca.)
Fotoalbum met 22 foto's en 14 losse foto's van de familie's Van
de Waal, Levisson, Levison en Simons, circa 1880.
Collectie > Fotos > 40000670
meer treffers in Collectie > Fotos
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
Vermelding van benoemingen met betrekking tot de Ned. Isr. schoolbesturen.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20031385
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Catalogus van de collectie antieke meubelen, zilverwerken, miniaturen, schilderijen,...
1937
Catalogus van de collectie antieke meubelen, zilverwerken, miniaturen, schilderijen,
enz. uitsluitend uit de nalatenschap van den Heer Mauritz Azijnman gewoond ...
Collectie > Literatuur > 12012031
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
[chazanoet]
1987
De heer Max Cahen zingt melodieën zoals hij ze kent
uit de Joodse Gemeente te Den Bosch.
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 10000445
