Den Haag
Jewish settlement in The Hague dates to the seventeenth century
and the arrival of a number of Portuguese Jewish diplomats,
physicians, and merchants. The first Ashkenazic Jew to settle in
The Hague, a ritual slaughterer, arrived in 1674. More Ashkenazic
Jews followed during the 1680's.
By the final decades of the seventeenth century, two Portuguese
Jewish congregations had been founded in The Hague. Both moved from
location to location until permanent sites for their synagogues
could be found. Congregation Beth Jacob consecrated a synagogue on
the Korte Voorhout in 1707. Congregation Honen Dal consecrated its
synagogue, located on the Princessegracht, in 1726. The two
congregations joined together in 1743 under the name Honen Dal. The
Ashkenazic community initially conducted their religious services
in a private home. They opened their own synagogue on the
Voldersgracht in 1723.
Despite the arrival of increasing numbers of Ashkenazic Jews,
Portuguese Jews maintained control of local Jewish institutions. A
degree of friction existed between the two groups. In 1694,
Ashkenazic Jews purchased land for a cemetery on the present-day
Scheveningseweg. From the start, Portuguese Jews also buried their
dead in the cemetery but, by 1710, the Portuguese had pressured the
Ashkenazim into dividing the cemetery into separate burial grounds
for the two groups. During the same period, the provision and sale
of kosher meat was mostly the realm of Ashkenazic Jews. Their
prices included a tax to benefit the Ashkenazic poor. This practice
was resented by the Portuguese but, in 1710, a solution was
found.
By the eighteenth century, growing wealth and international
connections provided local Portuguese Jews with a large measure of
influence. A number reached high posts in diplomacy and finance and
circulated amongst royalty. Portuguese Jews demonstrated an
openness to the culture, art, literature, and music of Dutch
society. Within the Jewish world, the Portuguese community of The
Hague produced several important rabbis. By the late eighteenth
century, however, worsening economic conditions had reduced many
members of the Portuguese community to penury. Despite this, the
community continued to produce influential personalities in the
centuries that followed.
Over the course of the eighteenth century, the Ashkenazic
population of The Hague grew to surpass that of the Portuguese.
Most Ashkenazic Jews lacked the connections enjoyed by the
Portuguese and still resided in the poor Jewish neighborhood near
the center of the city. As time passed, their condition did improve
somewhat, albeit quite slowly largely due to trade guilds remaining
closed to Jews. During the eighteenth century, Askenazi rabbis
contributed to the emergence of The Hague as a center of Jewish
culture, a trend that was reinforced by the establishment of a
Hebrew-language printing house in the city.
The Napoleonic occupation of the Netherlands
brought with it the Emancipation Decree of September, 1796 and a
total transformation of the legal and social status of Jews.
Initially, only a small number of local enlightened Jews expressed
enthusiasm for this momentous development. This small group
followed the lead of the Amsterdam-based Dutch organization Felix
Libertate and worked for social change. Within the Jewish world,
community structures were transformed to reflect the liberal and
emancipated spirit of the times. The Jewish community of The Hague
played an influential role in the implementation of a new
consistorial system, in no small part because the consistory itself
was based in The Hague. Initially, few Jews benefited from these
changes, but over the course of the next hundred years the lives of
almost all Jews would be transformed.
Following emancipation, many Dutch Jews from the provinces migrated
to The Hague. They were attracted by factors including improvements
in their legal position, loyalty to the reigning House of Orange
(which returned to The Hague in 1813), and the renewed importance
of The Hague as the country's center of government.
The Jewish population of The Hague continued to increase throughout
the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Despite the scope of
social change during this period, most of the Jews in The Hague
continued to live in poverty in the large Jewish neighborhood near
the city's center. The Hague's relatively small population of
well-off Jews, however, produced a steady stream of bankers,
parliamentarians, painters, poets, and writers, as well as the
first Jew to achieve a ministerial cabinet post in the national
government. At the same time, the community continued to produce
prominent rabbis.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, The Hague's Ashkenazic
community had outgrown the synagogue it built in 1723. In 1844, a
new Ashkenazic synagogue was consecrated. Construction of the
synagogue, located on the Wagenstraat, was financed in part by
contributions from King Willem II. 1887 saw the completion of
another Ashkenazic synagogue, located in the Voldersgracht, which
was to remain open until 1926. Smaller synagogues served
congregations scattered throughout the city. In addition, a Jewish
family named Lehren maintained a private synagogue in their
home.
The history Jewish education in The Hague can be traced to the
eighteenth century. Despite the official opening of Dutch secular
schools to Jewish children in 1798, Jews rich and poor continued to
prefer Jewish schools for their children. Despite official
government opposition, Yiddish remained the language of instruction
in Ashkenazi schools until the mid-nineteenth century. Following
the passage of educational reform legislation in 1857, The Hague's
remaining Jewish schools continued on as purely religious
institutions. Ultimately, following the passage of another
educational reform act in 1920, all independent Jewish schools were
closed and replaced with the optional religious instruction within
secular schools.
The financing of aid to the Ashkenazic poor through voluntary
donations and a tax on kosher meat continued until the 1830's. In
1836, a council was established to administer aid to the poor. The
community maintained an old age home, orphanage, and hospitable.
Community members also formed voluntary charitable organizations
dedicated to providing aid to the sick, poor brides, young mothers,
and the destitute elderly. Voluntary organizations in the religious
sphere included a burial society, a society to care for the
interior of the synagogue, and various societies for the study of
Jewish law. Other voluntary organizations provided aid to Jewish
education.
From the end of the nineteenth century until the eve of the Second
World War, the Jewish population of The Hague grew threefold.
During this period, most of the city's Jews worked in the retail
sector, in municipal and national government, or as independent
professionals. Several founded large companies. Jews settled
throughout the growing city, leading to the establishment of
additional prayer houses and voluntary organizations. A vibrant
Jewish community also arose in The Hague's fishing village,
Scheveningen, in part due to its popularity as a seaside vacation
resort amongst the Jews of Antwerp. Polish Jews who settled in
Scheveningen during and after the First World War formed their own
tight-knit community. In 1926, they consecrated a synagogue on the
Harstenhoekweg. In the same year, the Jewish community of the
wealthy suburb of Wassenaar was separated from the Jewish community
of the city of Leiden and merged into that of The Hague.
The growth of The Hague's Jewish community also effected the old
Jewish quarter near the center of the city. In 1925, the Ashkenazi
community opened a central administrative building on the Nieuwe
Molstraat around the corner from the synagogue on the Wagenstraat.
The community also opened a large new synagogue on the De
Carpentierstraat in 1937.
The secularization of The Hague community, begun in the nineteenth
century, continued in the twentieth. New Jewish social, cultural,
and athletic organizations arose. In addition organizations aimed
at Jewish youth were founded to counter a rising trend towards
assimilation. Between the two world wars, Zionist and anti-Zionist
organizations came to play a central role in Jewish life in The
Hague. The wave of Eastern European Jews that settled in
Scheveningen following their expulsion from Germany following after
the Nazi takeover in 1933 became enthusiastic participants in local
cultural, religious, and Zionist activities.
The 1930's saw the rise of Liberal (Reform) Judaism in The Hague,
aided in part by the arrival of Liberal Jewish refugees from
Germany. Despite strong opposition from the local Orthodox Jewish
establishment, a Liberal Jewish community was founded in The Hague
on the very eve of the Second World War.
The wartime occupation of the Netherlands by the Germans affected
the Jews of The Hague just as it did Jews elsewhere. In May of
1940, the Germans established their central occupational
administration for the Netherlands in The Hague. A significant
number of Jews committed suicide.
In September, 1940 all Jews not holding Dutch nationality were
forced to leave the coastal regions of the Netherlands. Almost
2,000 Jews were expelled from The Hague and Scheveningen as a
result. The Jews that remained in The Hague were subject to
registration of person and property, dismissal from the civil
service, and a ban on the practicing of professions.
Late in 1940, the Jewish Coordination Commission was founded to aid
Jewish interests. It was superseded a year later by the
German-controlled Jewish Council (Joodse Raad). After the expulsion
of Jewish children from public education in September 1941, a
number of Jewish elementary schools, high schools, and vocational
schools were established. These functioned until the very last
deportations of Jews from The Hague in September 1943.
Between May 1940 and August 1942, anti-Jewish measures were
implemented one after another. The situation worsened when a member
of the Dutch Nazi party (NSB) was appointed mayor of The Hague.
Collaboration with the Germans by The Hague's police force
expedited deportations, which began in August, 1942.
During the early months of the deportations, Jews
were confined at the Scheveningen prison prior to being transported
out of the city. This function was later served by the former
Jewish orphanage on the Paviljoensgracht. Despite protests from the
Council of Churches and the commiseration and, sometimes, aid from
some quarters of the population, deportations continued apace until
the last day of September, 1943, ironically, the eve of Rosh
Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. All told, approximately 80% of the
10,000 Jews of The Hague were deported. Most were murdered. Of the
remaining 2,000, most survived the war in hiding.
During the war, almost all of The Hague's many seven synagogues
were plundered, heavily damaged, or destroyed, whether willfully or
during bombardments. Most appurtenances, including Torah scrolls,
were never recovered. Only the Portuguese synagogue survived the
war undamaged. Its Torah scrolls and other ceremonial objects were
hidden in Amsterdam and recovered after the war.
Following the war, religious services were resumed at the
synagogues on the Wagenstraat, De Carpentierstraat, and the
Harstenhoekweg in Scheveningen. Eventually, the synagogues on the
Wagenstraat and De Carpentierstraat were closed and their buildings
sold. The former synagogue on the Wagenstraat today serves as a
mosque. The present-day synagogue and offices of the The Hague's
Orthodox Jewish are located on the Cornelis Houtmanstraat.
The Portuguese Jewish Community of The Hague was officially
dissolved in the aftermath of the war and its synagogue on the
Princessegracht sold to the Liberal Jewish Community, which has
used the building since 1976. An extensive restoration of the
building was completed in 1997. Currently, a new Liberal Jewish
center is being built next to the synagogue. The Dutch artist
Corneille donated a wall of glazed tiles for installation at the
Center. The work, entitled "Bird of Peace," contains motifs from
Jewish history.
The Jewish cemetery on the Scheveningseweg was restored during the
late 1980's.
Today, almost all of the Netherlands' Jewish organizations have
branches or offices in The Hague. The Hague is the seat of the
Embassy of the State of Israel to the Netherlands, and of the
Dutch-Jewish organization CIDI (Center for Information and
Documentation Israel).
Throughout The Hague, plaques, monuments, and names of streets and
institutions commemorate aspects of the Jewish past. In 1994, the
Mr. L. E. Visserhuis Jewish old age home was opened on the
Doorniksestraat in Scheveningen. The home commemorates Visser, a
famed Dutch Jewish jurist who, during the war, was expelled from
his position as Minister of Justice. A square on the renovated
Bezemstraat is named after reknowned Rabbi Maarsen. A replica of
the plaque "Rachel Weeps," a memorial to the Jewish students of The
Hague's high schools deported during the Second World War, was
recently installed on the wall of The Hague's historic church, the
Nieuwekerk. The original plaque by sculptor Theo van de Nahamer, a
native of The Hague, can be seen in The Hague's educational museum,
the Museon.
In 2003, what may be the most important of all monuments to the
city's Jewish past was returned to The Hague from Russia. The
remains of the archive of The Hague's Jewish community, a stack of
documents almost thirty feet high, had been taken by the Germans in
1943 and, after the war, moved from Germany to Russia. The
documents are now kept at The Hague's Municipal Archive.
Jewish population of The Hague and surroundings:
| 1809 | 1871 |
| 1840 | 2768 |
| 1869 | 3651 |
| 1899 | 5591 |
| 1930 | 10605 |
| 1951 | 2400 |
| 1971 | 1214 |
| 1998 | 284 |
Collectie en mediatheek
Ontvangstbewijs
1933-1937
Ontvangstbewijzen (16) tnv H. de Jong, wonend in de Anna Paulownastraat te Den Haag,
mbt giften aan verschillende joodse weldadigheidsinstellingen, 1933-1937.
Collectie > Documenten > 00005950
meer treffers in Collectie > Documenten
[siertoren]
1922 (?)
Perspectivisch aanzicht van één filigrain siertoren in rode en zwarte inkt over
een opzet in potlood. De bellen en knop zijn in rode inkt. De tekening is uitgeknipt ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 00680
meer treffers in Collectie > Museumstukken
1855-1885
1885-02-18
Drieluik met familiefoto's van de familie Simons gemaakt ter gelegenheid van het
30-jarig huwelijk van Mozes Simons en Kaatje de Sterke, 1885.
Collectie > Fotos > 40000626
meer treffers in Collectie > Fotos
[Binnenland] : Amsterdam
1906
Verslag van de jaarvergadering van het hoofdbestuur met de commissie van toezicht
van de vereniging "Centr. Isr. Oude Mannen- en Vrouwenhuis" in Gouda.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20060367
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Liefde! Kunst! Passie!
2009
Liefde! Kunst! Passie!
Collectie > Literatuur > 12014613
meer treffers in Collectie > Literatuur
[interview met Sara Wilhelmina Kiek-Cohen]
2004
Interview met Sara Wilhelmina Kiek-Cohen, geboren 21 november 1922.
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 40001837
