Gorinchem

The first Jewish citizens of Gorinchem were registered late in the seventeenth century. An organized Jewish community existed at Gorinchem by 1787. At the time, local Jews gathered for prayer in a rented room. The community grew following the granting of full civil rights to the Jews of the Netherlands in 1796.

In 1814, the Gorinchem community purchased a former Lutheran church located at the Havendijk and, in 1817, reopened it as synagogue. By 1837, the building had fallen into disrepair and was razed. A new synagogue, located on the Kweckelstraat, was inaugurated in 1842 and remained in use until World War II. A religious school was established adjacent to the synagogue. The Jewish cemetery at Gorinchem, located on the present-day Willem de Vries Robbéweg, was probably already in use as early as 1796, although it was not officially purchased by the community until 1814.

The Jewish community at Gorinchem grew in size throughout the nineteenth century. At the time, most of the Jews in Gorinchem worked as retail traders. The number of Jews residing in Gorinchem reached its apogee in about 1900 and declined thereafter, falling by as much as two-thirds by 1930.

During the peak years of Jewish life in Gorinchem, the community maintained voluntary organizations including a burial society, a society for aiding the poor, a religious association, and a society for the upkeep of the interior of the synagogue. A branch of the Alliance Israélite Universelle was opened at Gorinchem late in the nineteenth century. In the years immediately preceding World War II the community established a young people's society for theater and Jewish knowledge.

In January, 1941, early in the Second World War, Germans and members of the Dutch collaborationist NSB party vandalized the Gorinchem synagogue. Deportation of Jews from Gorinchem commenced in May of 1942, not long after the commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the community's synagogue. More than half the Jews of Gorinchem were deported and murdered during the war.

Only a few Jews returned to Gorinchem following the war. The synagogue was restored but was soon sold due to its small number of members. The building was razed in 1958. The Jewish community at Gorinchem was officially dissolved in 1964 and administratively merged into the Jewish community at Rotterdam.

In 1989, a monument to the memory of the seventy Jewish residents of Gorinchem deported and murdered during World War II was unveiled on the Blijenhoek. The monument - consisting of a marble menorah set against a stone wall - was restored and moved to a new location on the Melkpad during the mid-1990's. In 2000, a structure that had once housed the Gorinchem community's ritual bath was discovered during construction at the site of the former synagogue; the structure was left intact and moved several meters. The Jewish cemetery at Gorinchem was restored in 2000 and is currently maintained by the municipality. 

Jewish population in Gorinchem and surroundings:

1809	84
1840	131
1869	184
1899	212
1930	93
1951	34

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Collectie en mediatheek

 Toramantel  1867
Het genootschap Gemiloet Chasadiem te Gorinchem werd in 1842 opgericht als instelling
die zich bezighield met de verzorging van overleden personen en bezoeken van ...
Collectie > Museumstukken > 00467

 Fotoalbum  
Twee losbladige fotoalbums met 148 kleurenfoto's van joodse
begraafplaatsen in Nederland, jaren '80.
Collectie > Fotos > 40006664

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 Dossier  
Dossiers (158) van de Commissie voor Oorlogsschade mbt 155 joodse
gemeentes (Amsterdam en mediene), 1945-1950.
Collectie > Documenten > 00005954

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 Centraal Israel. Weeshuis  1882
Vermelding van ingekomen giften in december 1881.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20030394

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 Toespraak en brochure ter gelegenheid van de onthulling van het joods gedenkteken te...  1992
Toespraak en brochure ter gelegenheid van de onthulling van het joods gedenkteken
te Gorinchem op 2 mei 1989 - Yom Hashoa 5749 (herdenking van de holocaust).
Collectie > Literatuur > 11506724

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 [interview over dagboek Esther van Vriesland]  
Mevrouw Giessen Nunnikhoven praat met Ruben Spekle naar aanleiding van
de publicatie van de dagboeken van Esther van Vriesland.
Collectie > Audiovisueel > 10000394