The first Jews to settle in Oud-Beijerland arrived there in
middle of the eighteenth century. At first, they prayed in the home
of one of their numbers. Only in 1843 did the community construct a
synagogue. The new synagogue building also contained a school room
and an apartment for the community's teacher. From 1790 on, the
Jews of Oud-Beijerland buried their dead in a cemetery located in
the Ossenbil, near the present-day Prinses Irenestraat.
The Jewish community at Oud-Beijerland was managed by a
directorate. Other officials included a treasurer for the
collection and disbursement of funds for Jews in Eretz Israel. Most
of the Jews in Oud-Beijerland engaged in trade. During the 1850's,
a member of the Jewish community served on the town council.
At the outset of the twentieth century almost a quarter of the Jews
of Oud-Beijerland survived on public support. In the decades that
followed, Jewish population of Oud-Beijerland fell to the point
that the community could not form a governing council. Eventually,
community membership became so small that religious services could
no longer be held even on the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur. Late in the 1930s, a small number of Jewish refugees
from Germany settled in Oud-Beijerland.
Between August and October of 1942, under the German occupation of
the Netherlands during the Second World War, most of the Jews of
Oud-Beijerland were compelled to move to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam,
they were deported to Nazi death camps. Only one of the deported
survived. Some local Jews managed to go into hiding but were later
betrayed and deported to their deaths. A few Oud-Beijerland Jews
escaped deportation by obtaining baptism papers.
The synagogue building was sold after the war and later housed a
school for home economics. Two plaques on the façade of the
building commemorate its original function. In 1947, the Jewish
community at Oud-Beijerland was merged into the district of that at
Rotterdam. In 1987, a
monument was unveiled on the Havendam in Oud-Beijerland in memory
of the murdered Jews of the town. The Jewish cemetery is maintained
by the local authorities. In 1997, a local high school successfully
raised funds to provide the cemetery with a new fence.
In 2005, the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, the Dutch National
Art Collections Foundation, presented on temporary loan to the
municipality of Oud-Beijerland a silver Kiddush cup. The cup had
been given as a gift in 1889 to Hartog (Zwi Uri) Koopman. Koopman,
who died in 1892, was the director of the Van Koopman Bank and a
prominent member of the Jewish community at Oud-Beijerland.
Buitensluis, Klaaswaal en Zuid-Beijerland
During the second half of the nineteenth century, approximately 20
Jews lived in the villages of Buitensluis, Klaaswaal,
Zuid-Beijerland. Together, they maintained a common synagogue. A
group of German Jewish refugee children, members of a Youth Aliya
organization, resided in the nearby village of Mijnsheerenland
during the autumn of 1939.
Jewish population of Oud-Beijerland and surroundings:
| 1809 | 150 |
| 1840 | 291 |
| 1869 | 98 |
| 1899 | 84 |
| 1930 | 25 |
Fotoalbum
Twee losbladige fotoalbums met 148 kleurenfoto's van joodse
begraafplaatsen in Nederland, jaren '80.
Collectie > Fotos > 40006664
Overzichtsfoto
2010-02-16
Foto's (2) van de joodse begraafplaats in Oud Beijerland, 2009.
Collectie > Fotos > 40013130
Dossier
Dossiers (158) van de Commissie voor Oorlogsschade mbt 155 joodse
gemeentes (Amsterdam en mediene), 1945-1950.
Collectie > Documenten > 00005954
Brief
1946-03-06
Brief van JE Hartogs uit Oud-Beijerland aan Adolf Menco
en Ans Menco-Hakkert in Arnhem, 1946.
Collectie > Documenten > 00011209
[Binnenland] : Benoemingen
Benoemingen door de Permanente Commissie in diverse schoolbesturen.
Collectie > Joodse pers > 20031865
meer treffers in Collectie > Joodse pers
Utrecht en omstreken [en] Oud-Beijerland
1981
Utrecht en omstreken [en] Oud-Beijerland.
Collectie > Literatuur > 11000049