Netherlands

DISCOVER THE HISTORY OF DUTCH JEWS!

Though Jews likely arrived in the Netherlands and Belgium, together known as the “Low Countries,” during the Roman Conquest, the earliest records of Jewish communities there date back to the 11th century. These Jewish communities faced alternating periods of peace and hostility with frequent expulsions of all Jews from the area. As a result, few Jews remained in the Low Countries until a community of Marranos, Jews who converted to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition but practiced Judaism in secret, made its way to Amsterdam during the 16th century. Though they faced some restrictions, Jews became a part of the city’s economy and were allowed to reside there and work but were denied citizenship. The Jews of Amsterdam were far more integrated with the rest of the city’s society than in other parts of Europe and were not confined to a ghetto. In the 17th century, Amsterdam’s Jewish community was riven with controversy when Baruch Spinoza, a Sephardic Jew and philosopher, was excommunicated for heresy.

By the time the Germans invaded the Netherlands, 140,000 Jews lived there, including nearly 40,000 refugees from Germany. Deportations began in 1942 and by the end of the war, less than a quarter of the country’s Jewish population had survived. Today, there are about 25,000 to 30,000 Jews in Amsterdam where there are several synagogues and Jewish schools

PLACES OF INTEREST

SYNAGOGUES

PLACES TO EAT