Haarlem
There are reports of the occasional presence of Jews in Haarlem
during the Middle Ages. However, in Haarlem, as in all of the
Netherlands, there is no evidence of a sustained Jewish settlement
during the period. A group of Portuguese Jewish merchants tried to
settle in Haarlem in 1605. Their attempt failed. They were unable
to bring with them the full complement of fifty families required
by the local authorities for the granting of permission to
establish a synagogue.
Ashkenazic Jews arrived in Haarlem at the outset of the eighteenth
century. The first of their numbers to become citizens of Haarlem
did so in 1703. Initially, the economic condition of Jews living in
Haarlem was constrained by the denial of guild membership to
Jews.
A Jewish school was founded in Haarlem in 1742. Not long after,
Jews were granted the right to hold religious services in a house
on the Zoetestraat. In 1765, permission was granted for the opening
of a synagogue on the first floor of a house on the Begijnhof, the
present-day Goudsmidpleintje. One year later, the city fathers
granted local Jews the right to create an organized Jewish
community. In 1770, the community founded a cemetery of its own on
the Bolwerk. The early years of the Jewish community of Haarlem
were marred by conflicts. As a result, in 1794, the municipal
authorities found it necessary to intervene in the internal affairs
of the community. A Portuguese Jewish community was founded in
Haarlem at the end of the eighteenth century but was dissolved soon
after.
Despite the introduction of civil equality in the
Netherlands in 1796, the overall economic condition of the Jews of
Haarlem at the outset of the nineteenth century was poor. The
municipality had to step in to help support the community and
efforts including such as the founding of a school for the Jewish
poor 1819 and the construction of the synagogue on the Lange
Begijnenstraat in 1841.
During the nineteenth century, voluntary organizations within the
Jewish community of Haarlem included the directorate and council of
the synagogue and numerous social, cultural, religious, and leisure
organizations. The late nineteenth century witnessed a brief
flourishing of Jewish friendship clubs.
The Jewish cemetery on the Bolwerk remained in use from 1770 until
1833. In 1832, a section of the public cemetery on the de
Kleverlaan was assigned to the Jewish community and remained in use
until 1915. In 1877, a separate Jewish cemetery was opened on the
Amsterdamsche Straatweg, today the Amsterdamse Vaart. The latter
cemetery is still in use. In 1960, the cemetery on Het Bolwerk was
cleared and the remains of its dead interred at the cemetery on the
Amsterdamse Vaart.
At
the end of the nineteenth century, the industrialization of Haarlem
brought with it a rise in the size and level of activities of the
city's Jewish community. At the time, an important role in the
spiritual life of the community was played by Rabbi Simon P. De
Vries, an early champion of Zionism. By the early twentieth
century, various new religious, social, cultural and Zionist
organizations arose within the community. In 1930, a Jewish
hospital was founded in a wing of the public St. Elisabeth
Hospital. In 1936, Haarlem was selected as the seat of the chief
rabbinate of the province of North Holland. During the 1930's, an
influx of Jewish refugees from Germany caused the Jewish population
of Haarlem to spike.
At the outset of the German occupation of the Netherlands during
the Second World War, Jewish refugees from Germany were expelled
from all coastal regions of the of the country, including from
Haarlem. A branch of the Jewish Coordination Commission was soon
established in Haarlem, followed by a branch of the
German-controlled Jewish Council. Both were chaired by Chief Rabbi
Philip Frank. Following the participation of Haarlem in the general
strike of February 1941, the Germans installed a member of the
Dutch collaborationist NSB party as mayor of Haarlem. Thereafter,
anti-Jewish measures were implemented at an accelerated tempo.
Jewish children were barred from public education and a Jewish
kindergarten, elementary, and high school established. Deportations
of Jews from Haarlem commenced in Augustus, 1942. A number of
leading members of the community, including Chief Rabbi Frank, were
shot. It is estimated that a total of more than 1,000 Jews were
deported from Haarlem, of these only a dozen returned alive from
the concentration camps. During the German occupation, the Jewish
cemetery on the Amsterdamse Vaart was vandalized and the synagogue
was plundered, its Torah scrolls, however, were eventually
recovered.
After the War, the synagogue was sold and later razed. The Jewish
community was founded anew and, in 1949, purchased a building at
Kenaupark No. 7 for use as a synagogue, school, and community
offices. The Jewish hospital was sold and the proceeds used to
found an old age home with branches in Haarlem and in Haifa. The
Haarlem branch, named after Rabbi De Vries, was closed in 1991. The
cemetery on the Amsterdamse Vaart was repaired and restored in as
far as was possible. In 1996, the Stichting Boete en Verzoening
(Foundation for Penance and Reconciliation) voluntarily renovated
the cemetery. Other Jewish Cemeteries still existing in the
vicinity of Haarlem include those at Overveen, Hoofddorp, and
Santpoot-Zuid.
An initiative in 2001 to install a monument in the Kenaupark in
memory of the Jews of Haarlem murdered in the Second World War
failed due to a conflict between the organizers and the
municipality. The pre- and post-war archives of the Jewish
community of Haarlem have been collated and, since 2002, have been
open to public viewing at the archives of the surrounding
Kennemerland district of the province of Noord-Holland.
Jewish population of Haarlem:
| 1798 | 198 |
| 1809 | 166 |
| 1840 | 418 |
| 1869 | 571 |
| 1899 | 819 |
| 1930 | 1130 |
| 1951 | 260 |
| 1971 | 184 |
| 1998 | 71 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Behouwen reys der nieuwe / VLUGTELINGEN.....
1763
Rijm geïllustreerd met twee prenten. Op de rechter prent vluchten acht joden met
een schip uit Culemborg waar zij hun kwade praktijken hebben uitgeoefend, ze gaan ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 07335
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
Groepsfoto
1937
Genodigden bij installatie Ph. Frank als opperrabbijn van Noord-Holland, 1937.
Collectie > Fotos > 40000001
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
De toelating van Sefardische joden in Haarlem in 1605
1991
De toelating van Sefardische joden in Haarlem in 1605.
Collectie > Literatuur > 11000794
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
Onbekend monument
Documentaire over de in 1944 door de Duitsers gefusilleerde Johannes Hoogendoorn.
Johannes Hoogendoorn had een illegale drukpers in Haarlem.
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 40000361
