✡︎ Dutch Jewry ✡︎

A thread on the history of Dutch Jews because I’m bored and I am Dutch Jew.

✡︎ ORIGINS ✡︎

It’s speculated the earliest Jews arrived in the Low Countries during the Roman conquest of the area in 55-57 BCE.
Rome would carve the land into two provinces: Gallia Belgica (Belgic Gaul) and Germania Inferior (Lower Germania)

For centuries, Jewish presence in the region was slim to none. The only reliable documents available date back to the 1100’s, and for 700 years since then, Jews had been persecuted and expelled multiple times, along with dozens of conversion efforts.

Things were made even worse during the Black Death. Jews were obviously blamed and widespread murder occurred in cities like Brabant and Zwolle. Pogroms occurred and Jews faced abuse in Zutphen, Deventer, and Utrecht for “desecrating the Host.”

Most Jews in the region were killed, and those who remained were expelled. From then, it was fairly quiet, until Jews were then expelled from Utrecht in 1444 and not even 30 years later Spain took control of the Netherlands and we all know how Spain just LOVES Jews.

Sike! It sucked. Jews were targeted with proclamations in in Gelderland and Utrecht by Charles V and in 1571, authorities in Arnhelm were informed that all Jews living there would be seized and held captive until their fates were determined!!!

Thankfully, at the request of the Dutch, religious peace was (mostly) achieved in the provinces by Archduke Matthias. This was later reinforced by article 13 of the “Unie van Utrecht” (1579).

✡︎ INDEPENDENCE ✡︎

The beginnings of Dutch independence occurred in 1581 with the “Act of Abjuration”, when multiple Dutch provinces broke free from Spanish rule and deposed Philip. The Dutch Republic was born and Jews from Iberia began fleeing to the Netherlands for safety.

✡︎ SEPHARDIM ✡︎

Portuguese Sephardim began immigrating to the Netherlands in the late 15th century and early 16th century, as the newly formed country proved to be fairly religiously tolerant. They brought navigation knowledge from Portugal, which helped the Netherlands

insert itself in maritime trade and enabled the country to begin establishing colonies and compete with Spain or Portugal via trade. Trade between South America and the Dutch was, in fact, facilitated by these Iberian Jews.

Unfortunately, this also meant a heavy involvement of Dutch Jews in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Dutch Jews on the island of Curaçao had owned upwards of 15k enslaved Africans, and controlled about 17% of Caribbean trade in Dutch colonies. https://jewishmuseum.org.uk/2019/12/03/memento-mori-and-the-dutch-and-jewish-involvement-in-transatlantic-slavery/

Sephardim created vibrant communities in major Dutch cities like Utrecht and Amsterdam that thrived for centuries, with Judaeo-Portuguese being a common language between them.

✡︎ ASHKENAZIM ✡︎

After the mid-17th century, German Ashkenazim began immigrating to the religiously tolerant Dutch provinces. These were Jews fleeing from Jewish ghettos, pogroms in the HRE, the Chmielnicki Uprising, and the Thirty Years’ War.

Also unlike Sephardim, Ashkenazim tended to settle in the Dutch countryside, though communities in major cities weren’t unheard of, though they were sometimes turned away due to fear of economic competition.

✡︎ CULTURAL DISTINCTIONS ✡︎

The Dutch Jewish community was VERY unique in that Sephardim and Ashkenazim were constantly intermixing with each other and goyim. The lines became blurred in some communities (though there still remained distinct Sephard and Ashki communities).

Sephardi Rabbis would commonly perform services for Ashkenazim and vice versa. Dutch Jews commonly name their children after their grandparents (a Sephardi practice), even if they were Ashkenazi. Intermarriage was a lot higher in the Netherlands as well, even with goyim.

Things blurred even more in 1809, when under Napoleonic rule, the country required Jewish schools to teach Dutch alongside Hebrew. This came at the expense of Yiddish and Judaeo-Portuguese— ultimately resulting in Dutch Ashkis no longer speaking Yiddish and JP becoming extinct.

That’s why there are so many Dutch translations of holidays or objects associated with Judaism. We were literally forced to speak Dutch and adapt to the culture of our Host. However, some Yiddish and JP influences exist in some dialects of Dutch!

✡︎ WWII AND THE HOLOCAUST ✡︎

In 1939, ~140k Jews lived in the Netherlands. ~24-25k were German Jews who had fled Germany and Austria.

In 1945, only ~35k remained.

The Netherlands had the HIGHEST amount of murdered Jews out of every Western European country.

We couldn’t hide. The Netherlands was densely populated. The Dutch civil administration kept too many records, leaving Dutch Jews terribly exposed. The most famous Dutch Jew is Anne Frank, and we all know her unfortunate fate.

TW: Graphic images

If images of the Holocaust trigger you, please avoid this.
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My Jewish family who continued living in the Netherlands were among those ~140k dead. Looking at these pictures truly fills me with grief knowing that these were their last moments.

I like, physically can’t talk about the effects of the Holocaust on the Netherlands anymore. I apologize for leaving it out, but there are many sources you can read that explain the impact.

Most Dutch Jews left after WWII. Some made aliyah and left for Palestine/Israel. Some went to the US. The Dutch Jewish community was but a shell of its former self and it’s never recovered, and I don’t think it will.

✡︎ THAT’S IT, I’M NOW SAD ✡︎

I probably left a lot out, sorry, this is just what I could physically manage because holy fuck there’s a lot

I feel I should also add that the intermixing is why I have barely a clue as to whether I’m Sephardi, Ashkenazi, or both on my Dutch side