WThe history of the Jews in the Netherlands is considered to begin largely in the 16th century, when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. Following the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the Jewish community was severely persecuted. About 70% of its members were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War II.
WThe Anne Frank Foundation is a foundation in the Netherlands originally established to maintain the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. This foundation also advocates the fight against antisemitism and racism and publishes the Dutch annual Monitor Racisme en Extreem-rechts, in which the activities of present-day racists and extreme rightists are studied.
WBeit Ha'Chidush (BHC) is a Jewish congregation founded in 1995 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was founded by Jews, many of which were expats, with secular and religious backgrounds who wanted to create a welcoming, inspiring and renewed Jewish congregation. BHC is an independent modern and progressive community where anyone with a Jewish background, either paternal or maternal, is welcome. People with a non-Jewish partner are more than welcome to attend the services together with their partner. BHC is a community based on equality and inclusiveness and welcomes individuals of all genders and sexual orientations.
WThe Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana is the Jewish cultural and historical collection of the University of Amsterdam Special Collections. The foundation of the collection is the personal library of Leeser Rosenthal, whose heirs presented the collection as a gift to the city of Amsterdam in 1880. In 1877 the city library had become the University Library, so the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana was essentially given to the University. The Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana has since expanded to become the largest collection of its kind in Continental Europe, featuring manuscripts, early printed books, broadsides, ephemera, archives, prints, drawings, newspapers, magazines, journals, and reference books.
WThe Dienstagische Kurant was the earliest known Yiddish language periodical. It was a semi-weekly founded in Amsterdam in 1686, and it lasted for only two years. It covered local news and news from other Jewish communities, including those as far away as India.
WThe February Strike was a general strike in the German-occupied Netherlands in 1941, during World War II, organized by the then-outlawed Communist Party of the Netherlands in defence of persecuted Dutch Jews and against the anti-Jewish measures and activities of the Nazis in general.
WDespite being neutral, the Netherlands was invaded by Nazi Germany on 10 May 1940, as part of Fall Gelb. On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal family saved themselves by fleeing the country and going to London. Princess Juliana and her children moved on to Canada for additional safety.
WThe Jodenbreestraat is a street in the centre of Amsterdam, which connects the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates to the Mr. Visserplein traffic circle. North of the sluice gates, the street continues on to Nieuwmarkt square as the Sint Antoniesbreestraat. The Mozes en Aäronkerk church stands at the southern end of the street. Directly behind the Jodenbreestraat is Waterlooplein square with its daily flea market.
WJodensavanne was an agricultural community in Suriname, South America established by Jews fleeing persecution in Spain. It was located in Para District, about 50 km (31 mi) south of the capital Paramaribo, on the Suriname River. Sugarcane plantations were established and Black African people were used as slave labour. The colony faced an attack and heavy levies imposed by a French captain, competition with sugar beets, disease and revolts from indigenous people and slaves. The community eventually relocated to the capital of Paramaribo. Clearing of grave-sites and maintenance of the synagogue ruins has taken place in the 21st century.
WThe Joods Historisch Museum, part of the Jewish Cultural Quarter, is a museum in Amsterdam dedicated to Jewish history, culture and religion, in the Netherlands and worldwide. It is the only museum in the Netherlands dedicated to Jewish history.
WOJG Klal Israël was founded in 2005, in Delft, the Netherlands. OJG Klal Israel holds services twice a month in the Delft synagogue, Koornmarkt 12 in Delft. It is affiliated with the Jewish Reconstructionist Communities.
WThe Nederlands Verbond voor Progressief Jodendom is the umbrella organisation for Progressive Jews in the Netherlands, and is affiliated to the World Union for Progressive Judaism. It was founded in 1931.
WThe Portugees-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap (PIK) is the community for Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands. Sephardic Jews have been living in the Netherlands since the 16th century with the forced relocation of Spanish but above all Portuguese Jews from their home countries due to the Inquisition. Nowadays some 270 families are connected to the PIK, also sometimes called PIG, which stands for Portugees-Israëlitische Gemeente.
WThe Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga, or Snoge, is a late 17th-century Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam, completed in 1675. Esnoga is the word for synagogue in Ladino, the traditional Judaeo-Spanish language of Sephardic Jews.
WTheresienstadt was a hybrid concentration camp and ghetto established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town Terezín, located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Theresienstadt served two main purposes: it was simultaneously a waystation to the extermination camps, and a "retirement settlement" for elderly and prominent Jews to mislead their communities about the Final Solution. Its conditions were deliberately engineered to hasten the death of its prisoners, and the ghetto also served a propaganda role. Unlike other ghettos, the exploitation of forced labor was not economically significant.
WThe Theresienstadt Papers are a collection of historical documents of the Jewish self-government of Theresienstadt concentration camp. These papers include an "A list" of so-called "prominents" interned in the camp and a "B-list" created by the Jewish Elders themselves. The Theresienstadt papers include two albums with biographies and many photographs, 64 watercolors and drawings from prisoners in Theresiendstadt, and the annual report of the Theresienstadt Central Library. The papers were preserved at the liberation of the camp in May 1945 by Theresienstadt librarian Käthe Starke-Goldschmidt and later loaned to the Altona Museum for Art and Cultural History in Hamburg by her son Pit Goldschmidt. The collection was opened for viewing by the public in 2002 at the Heine Haus branch of the Altona Museum.
WThe history of the Jews in Tilburg, Netherlands, did not start until 1767, when a Jewish citizen of the town Oisterwijk was given permission to settle in Tilburg, despite objections from the city council. Several Jewish families also succeeded in settling in Tilburg soon afterwards in 1791.