This photograph, printed on a postcard from 1902, portrays the old synagogue in the Dutch town of Zwolle. The synagogue, which can be seen in the background, is a large building with intricate glass windows. In front of the synagogue is a street with many houses and adults and children in front of them. The Dutch text at the bottom of the postcard reads: “New Market – View of the Jewish Church,” the name of the city Zwolle, and the name of the Amsterdam company that printed the card.
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Zwolle – The town of Zwolle is situated in the north of Holland, east of Amsterdam. A Jewish community has lived in Zwolle since the first half of the fourteenth century, although anti-Jewish decrees later forced the Jews to leave the city to find a safer location. Favourable conditions towards the end of the seventeenth century made the town a haven for Jews, and in the ensuing centuries, Zwolle became home to hundreds of Jews, leading to the reestablishment of the community. From 1746, the Jews of Zwolle were allowed to hold religious services, which led to the leasing of an old house for these services, and in 1758, following several years of restoration, the building was opened and consecrated as a synagogue. Many years later, in 1899, the community built a new synagogue in the centre of the town. Given that the postcard featured here dates from 1902, the building would have been very new at that time. A Jewish school was built at the same time as well as a cemetery, and a society for helping the needy was founded. The community continued to grow in the twentieth century with the establishment of new cultural and social societies, and in the 1930s the community supported many Jewish refugees from Germany. During the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Holland, the Jews were persecuted and many were deported to death camps, but a quarter of the Jews of Zwolle survived the war in hiding. The German authorities used the synagogue as a storage place, and the Torah scrolls were desecrated as were many gravestones. After the war a small Jewish community was renewed in Zwolle, and the synagogue was restored in 1991.
The Jewish Community of the Netherlands – Jews have been living in the Netherlands since the Roman era, but the most reliable records referring to Jews living in Nijmegen, Doesburg, and Arnhem date back to the 1100s. The spread of the Black Death during the Middle Ages led to much anti-Semitism, blood libels, expulsions, and massacres in the Netherlands, as in other European countries. Documentation describes that Jews provided services, mainly financial, and paid taxes and in return received some protection from the kings and nobles. In the late fifteenth century, Jews were expelled or forced to convert to Christianity in Spain and Portugal. The atmosphere in the Netherlands, however, was more tolerant and favourable for the Jews, and many Spanish and Portuguese Jews arrived in the country, where they could practise their religion freely. Many of these Spanish and Portuguese Jews settled in Amsterdam and established successful trading businesses. Famous Jews of this time included the rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel and the philosopher Baruch Spinoza. German Jews were also attracted to the tolerant Dutch cities and began to immigrate to the country. They were generally poorer than the Sephardi Jews who had already settled in the Netherlands and were less welcome. Many were turned away and ended up settling in rural areas and establishing Jewish communities throughout the Dutch provinces. Over time, these Jews also prospered, and many were responsible for founding the Dutch diamond business. The eighteenth century brought the Dutch Jews emancipation and further prosperity. By the outbreak of World War II around 140,000 Jews lived in the Netherlands, among them approximately 25,000 German Jewish refugees. Germany occupied the country in 1940, and only 35,000 Dutch Jews survived the Holocaust. The Dutch Jewish community underwent many changes after the war, and many of the survivors immigrated to Israel and other countries. In the 1980s the community was boosted by an influx of Israeli and Russian Jews, and currently around 45,000 Jews live in the Netherlands, mostly in Amsterdam.
