Amersfoort
The history of the Jews of Amersfoort begins in the
mid-seventeenth century. In approximately 1650, a group of
Portuguese Jews became the first Jews to settle in the city. Ten
years later, the first Amersfoort Jew was awarded full rights as a
citizen of the city. Soon after, the Ashkenazi Jews began to arrive
Amersfoort and, in 1676, an Ashkenazic Jew was appointed lease hold
of the municipal lending bank.
During the first years of Jewish settlement in Amersfoort,
religious services were held in a private house. The Jewish
community of Amersfoort grew steadily and soon enjoyed the
protection of the municipal leaders, not least due to its role in
the tobacco trade. Around 1700, a small cemetery was established
near the Bloemendaalse Poort. Eventually, the growth of the
Ashkenazi Jewish population led to the construction in 1727 of an
Ashenazi synagogue in the Juffersgat. The Portuguese community
slowly declined.
Benjamin Cohen, an heir of a
leading dynasty of Amersfoort tobacco merchants, was a fervent
Dutch patriot and twice during riots in 1787 offered his house on
the Zuidsingel as a refuge to Stadtholder Willem V and his
wife.
The Jewish community of Amersfoort was extremely observant. Its
leaders not only opposed reforming measures put forth by the
central Jewish Consistory at the outset of the nineteenth century
but also initially opposed the establishment of the government of
King Willem I in 1813.
From 1814 to 1917 Amersfoort was the seat of the Chief Rabbinate of
the province of Utrecht. In 1867, a conflict within the community
led to the building of a second synagogue located near the
Kortegracht. In 1873, the community purchased a parcel of land
along the Soesterstraatweg to serve as a new cemetery.
The Amersfoort Jewish community maintained a religious school, a
burial society, and a society offering care to the sick and aged. A
women's society engaged in charity and cared for the maintenance of
synagogue appurtenances. The community also maintained two study
societies, a cultural society, and a theater society. During the
twentieth century, a number of Zionist organizations were
founded.
During the German occupation, the lot of the Jews of Amersfoort was
the same as that of Jews elsewhere. In September, 1941,the
community established a school for Jewish children banned from
public education. Between August, 1942 and April, 1943 the Jews of
Amersfoort were deported to the concentration camp at Westerbork in
the north of the Netherlands. From there, they were eventually
transported to Nazi death camps in eastern Europe and murdered.
Fortunately, several dozen Jews from Amersfoort and surroundings
managed to survive the war in hiding.
Not far from Amersfoort is the site of the Polizeiliches
Durchgangslager (Police Detention Camp) established by the Germans
in 1941. The worse lot at this infamous detention center was
suffered by its Jewish labor unit. In 2000, a memorial center was established at this
terrible site.
After the war, the Amersfoort
Jewish community was established anew. The synagogue on the
Drieringensteeg was re-consecrated. In 1949, its badly damaged
interior was fully restored. From 1960 untill 2008, in
addition to a fully functioning Jewish community, Amersfoort
was home to the Sinai psychiatric hospital of the Central
Association for Jewish Mental Health. In 2008 the Sinai centre
moved to Amsterdam.
In 1999, a memorial in the form of a scroll bearing the names of
the 333 Jews of Amersfoort murdered during the war was unveiled at
the local historical museum, the Flehite Museum. The scroll will be
moved to permanent place at Amersfoort's municipal information
center.
In the summer of 2000, during the restoration of a building at
Muurhuizen 26, remains were recovered belonging to the former Mikve
(Jewish ritual bath) that had stood at the site from 1737 to
1943.
The Jewish population of Amersfoort and
surroundings:
| 1809 | 350 |
| 1849 | 456 |
| 1869 | 465 |
| 1899 | 383 |
| 1930 | 398 |
| 1951 | 230 |
| 1971 | 164 |
| 1998 | 128 |
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
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
Gezicht van het Huys van de Heer B. Cohen, a Amersfourd.
1750-1800
Vierkant drielaags woonhuis met door timpaan gekroond middenrisaliet, gelegen aan
een gracht. Op het eerste plan is een gezelschap van drie mensen in een bootje ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 07534
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
Vermelding van benoemingen met betrekking tot de Ned. Isr. schoolbesturen.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20031385
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Dagboek uit Kamp Amersfoort, 1942
2005
Dagboek uit Kamp Amersfoort, 1942.
Collectie > Literatuur > 12014003
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
De Bezetting [12] : Gevangenen en Gedeporteerden
Deel 12 van een 21-delige documentaire over Nederland tijdens de tweede wereldoorlog.
In dit deel een beeld van het lot van mensen die in Duitse handen vielen. ...
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 40000427
