| History of the Deventer Jews |
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Probably the first Jews came to the north of the Netherlands about the year 1300. In the year 1215, it was decided at the fourth Council of Laterans that Jews could only live in ghetto's (separated parts of town) and they were required to wear a clear sign of being a Jew, normally a yellow lapel or a red or yellow hat. At that council, it was also decided that Jews could not practice any profession that Christians also practiced. During the crusades years of 1095, 1146, and 1148, especially in Germany, Jews were heavily persecuted. Also in those years Jews were expelled from England and France. We can assume that at that time they attempted to find shelter in adjacent countries like the Netherlands. It is known that starting in the 14th century Jewish traders came to the east of the Netherlands. In Deventer, like in many other towns in the 13th and the 14th century where markets were held, many Jewish people came to trade, even though they were prohibited from living inside the town. They often sold oriental fruits and bought and sold old clothes and second hand iron. Because most Jews could read and write, they were very suitable for working in banking and monetary exchange, something the most Christians couldn't do for religious reasons. They specialized in lending money against at a fixed interest rate. Between the years 1347 and 1350 there was a severe epidemic of black plague that almost killed the half of the population. In many places in Europe Jews were killed. They were accused of being the cause of this epidemic. A Memorbuch (book of remembrance) from the year 1349 mentions Deventer as one of the places where the Jewish community had been destroyed during the black plague. Floggers, men who traveled around flogging people accused of spreading the plague, were responsible for that fact. In those years Jews lived more hygienically than most other people. For example, the very stringent Kosher laws of food processing and butchering. That is why when compared to other people, less Jews died and because fewer Jews died they were accused of being guilty of spreading the plague. After a few years some Jews started settling again inside the town of Deventer. In the records of the Deventer Cameraars( the accounts of the town), after the year 1350, there are a few reports of Jews inside Deventer. In the annals of Deventer of 1372 there is a Jew being mentioned who rented a piece of ground in Frieswijk. It took a few centuries before a regular Jewish community would exist in Deventer. In September of the year 1451, a legate of the pope visited Arnhem, Deventer and Zwolle. In Arnhem,he preached against the Jews. He preached against their system of profit and their free contact with Christians. In Deventer and Zwolle he didn't talk about that, probably because there were no Jewish people living or trading there anymore. Only a few survived the killings by the floggers and the black plague. A few years later in the Deventer history, it is inscribed "The Jew turned up". Around the year 1545, in a petition of the Deventer Gild (Union of craft workers), Jews are mentioned again and are still closed out for their professions. Only a small trade on oranges and lemons was left for them, and the trade in money against rent. Requests to live in Deventer were not granted. The rules for Jews were different in every town. In Zwolle it was possible for Jews to live inside the town already in the year 1525. Until 1796 it was still difficult for Jews to live in and around Deventer. The Christians were afraid for the religion of the Jews, traders feared for their own trades and so there where many reasons to hold the Jews outside of the town. Jews could trade inside the town during the day but could not live there. In the year 1796, it was decided at the National Meeting of the Republic of Batavia to grant equal rights for the Jews. The same rights as other civilians enjoyed. That was one of the consequences of the French Revolution that proclaimed "freedom, equality and fraternity". A certain Jacob Mozes and his three sons requested the council immediately to live in town, which they did. In 1797 the first Jewish Community started, in the Jewish year 5558. In 1798 the community bought a house at the Brink, on the corner of the Golstraat, where the religious services had been held. After a short while they started to build the first real synagogue at the Roggestraat, which was opened in 1809. The Etty Hillesum Centrum is located in this building. In the year 1811, there lived in Deventer 20 Jewish families, altogether 165 people. Twelve heads of families worked in trades, three of them were traders, four were industrialists, and five were butchers. No less than 8 heads of a family kept themselves busy with selling of lottery tickets. During the 19th century the Jewish community grew until almost 500people. Deventer had 25.000 inhabitants. Most of the Jewish population was suffering from poverty. Taking care of the poor was the responsibility of the Jewish Community all by itself, but that lead to many problems. In the year 1901 144 people, out of a community with 527 members, were supported. In the second part of the 19th century, for a few years the Jewish community was divided by internal sow discord. At the end of 1868 this lead to 30 members leaving the community and starting the "New Israelite Community" with their own synagogue on the corner of the Zwolschestraat (now T.G. Gibsonstraat) and Graaf van Burenstraat. In 1883 both parties were reunited, but the synagogue in the Roggestraat had became too small and a new one was built in the Golstraat. A booming social life existed. There were the usual Jewish unions for funerals, study of the Torah, for decorating of the synagogue and for taking care of the ritual objects, the committee for the poor, and the committee for Palestinian donations. There was a Jewish theater group and a also literary fellowship. There was even a church choir named: Practice will make art. During the growing industrialization at the end of the 19th century Deventer's economy was getting better. Also the Jewish people from Deventer took part in the improved economy. They formed their own society and had a important special place in the Deventer society. Even when they were integrated, they still kept their character. There was Seligman Susan (1813-1880), a teacher at the High school in Deventer from 1862 till 1872, the chairman of the Freemasonry, Le Préjugé Vaincu. Later, from 1934 till 1937 Herman Gelder (1879-1949), who was chairman of the Deventer Jewish Community from 1907 till 1949, and was chairman of the Deventer Freemasonry ‘Veritas’ (Odd Fellows). Bernard Spanier (1882-1951), who like his brother Heinrich (1879-1944), an owner of a fashion shop, was for a few years the chairman of the Deventer Tourist Organization. Han Hollander (1886-1943), Moos Polak (1884-1943) and Jaap Ehrenreich (1896-1945) before the war were board members of Go Ahead, the Deventer football club. In the beginning of the 20th century the Jewish community was all-round. Some of them, like dr.L.Hillesum (1880-1943), principal of the Deventer Gymnasium, and a few well-done shop owners were an integral part of the Deventer society. Others like "Cheap Sam" (Sam Noach, 1882-1942) and Moos Noach (1864-1938) from “The worsted yarn", stayed outsiders, but were very well known and colorful. There were religious and cultural organizations, but also Zionistic unions came into existence national and international. The Union of Professional Training of Pioneers of Palestine, or simply “The Deventer Union”. Ru Cohen (1889-1945) and his wife Eva Köningsberger (1891-1944) were the pivots on which everything hinged. The Deventer Union was started in the year 1918 with the purpose of training pioneers for agriculture in Palestine. They got an internship by farmers in the area surrounding of Deventer. After 1933, when many German refugees arrived in the Netherlands, it was possible to receive training in several different professions. The brother of Ru, Chi (Isidoor, 1884 – 1944), was an active Zionist. He was the leader of the Palestine-Resort in Rotterdam. The activities of the Brothers Cohen started with offering of help to refugees from Eastern Europe, especially from Russia. The eldest brother, David, wrote in his memories about his involvement with the settlement of the Transmigrate Union in 1903. There purpose was to work together with other organizations in Germany and the Netherlands to give shelter to people who couldn’t cross the border because they had a lack of papers or tickets for a ship. The Union negotiated with the Dutch government to prevent the people being sent back to Germany or further east. Earlier the brothers Cohen and some friends, includung Henri Gelder, started to help people at the Deventer station. They were giving comfort to the people on the trains from middle- or Eastern Europe going to England and the U.S.A., through Rotterdam and Amsterdam, by offering tea, water, and the chance to talk a little bit. One day at the beginning of 1900.on the 16.45 train there was a railroad carriage with a lot of Jewish emigrants who were escaping after the Russian Pogroms. This started the involvement of David Cohen with Jewish refugees. Transmigrate Unions were also started in Zevenaar and Oldenzaal, places next to the German border. In 1907 in Deventer a division of the Dutch Zionistic Union started. Again, the family Cohen played an important role. The eldest brother David (1882-1967) became especially famous for his chairmanship of the Jewish Council from 1941 till 1943, an organization that played a questionable role in the prosecution of the Jews. David Cohen was a classical anguage professor. In The Hague he was a teacher in old languages from 1910 till 1926. From the year 1924 of he was professor Old Languages at the University of Leiden and later Old History in Amsterdam. He served on several board memberships in Jewish Holland and was a prominent Zionist. From the year 1933 of he played an important role as chairman of the Jewish Refugee Committee and strongly looked after the Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Non-Jewish people from Deventer were a part of the Jewish life in different ways. The family of the synagogues' caretaker (De Vries family) was not Jewish, and the grocery shop Slot-Kleverkamp provided kosher products, especially for Pesach. Like many other Jews, the chazan of Deventer Uriel Moskovits sold all his non-kosher products (chameets) before Pesach started to the man Slot. He bought it back again after Pesach. At Pesach Jews are not allowed to have chametz (sourish/ rise food) in their house. In the years before the Second World War many stores in Deventer had a Jewish owner, especially in textiles, but there were also many (often kosher) butcheries and bakeries. Some families were trading old clothes, second hand iron and leather. After June 1941 Jews in Deventer were separated step-by-step, just like in the rest of Holland. They were prosecuted and then finally driven away and murdered. In 1942 the Jewish Community counted 492 members. The Nazi’s said that even people that were not a member of the Jewish church, but with at least 2 Jewish grandparents, were Jewish. In august 1942 in Deventer there were living about 80 Jewish refugees, mainly from Germany. In the Deventer police archives there is a list of 590 Jews living in Deventer on august 1942. 401 were dead at the end of the war. The Jews that came back to Deventer held their religious services in a room next to the destroyed synagogue. The Deventer Nazi’s destroyed the interior of the synagogue in 1941. After the war the restoration of the synagogue was started quickly and finished in 1947. Because the Jewish community was so small they had to sell the building and the Jewish Religious School in the Roggestraat in 1951. From that time on, a house in Lange Bisschopstraat had to function as a synagogue. Some active members of the Jewish Community immigrated to Israel. Others moved to Amsterdam, or elsewhere. From the year 1984 on the Jewish Community was merged into a collective with Zutphen and Apeldoorn. At this moment there are still living Jewish people in Deventer, but there is no Jewish life anymore. Religious services are not held anymore in Deventer. There is no Jewish social and cultural life. In the Etty Hillesum Centrum sometimes there are cultural events with a Jewish theme and concerts with Jewish music. Also there is an archive about Deventer Jewish families. Only the remembrance of Jewish life is still there. You still can find some traces of Judiaism in several places in Deventer, like on buildings or the buildings themselves or monuments about Jewish life. A monthly city walk, organized by the Etty Hillesum Centrum, goes to these places. Names of Deventer Jewish families: Van Aalbergen, Adelaar, Beem, Behr, Benninga, Berg, Bos, Brom(m)et, Cohen, Colthof, Van Creveld, Ehrenreich, Eisman, Elte, Van Engel, Van Esso, Fortuin, Frank, Frankfort, (Van) Gelder(deren), Godschalk, Gompers, Gosschalk, Goudsmit, De Haas, Hartz, Heilbron, Hillesum, Hollander, Jacobs, Kei(j)zer, Koppels, De Lange, De Leeuw, Lezer, Lievendag, Lindeman, Mesritz, Meyer, Mol, Mosbacher, Muller, Nihom, Nijstad, Noach, Oppenheim, Pinto, Polak, Prins, Van Raalte, Roeper, Roos, Salomons, Samuel, Van Son, Spanier, Van Spiegel, Susan, Turksma, Urbach, Visser, Vomberg, Vos, De Vries, Weinberg, De Wied, Wolf(f), Zendijk, Zilversmit, Zwartz. Source of information: “Het verstoorde leven, een wandeling langs plaatsen die herinneren aan het leven en werken van joden in Deventer”. “The disturbed life, a walk along places that remember the life and work of Jews in Deventer”. Writers: Manja Pach en Lex Rutgers, 2006. More info about the Palestine Pioneers (Chalutsim): House of the Palestina pioneers (Beth Hachalutsim) van 1939 tot 1942 in de Papenstraat, corner of Ankersteeg. It was very important for the" Chalutsim" because they had quite a culture shock. They came from mostly high educated Jewish cultural family’s who mostly lived in the big towns of Germany and were settled at a plain Dutch Christian family. In" Beth Hachalutsim" they came together to celebrate their religious days and to talk and discuss about the future of Palestine. There was space for 19 persons living there, together with the caretaker. About half survived the war, mainly because they lived with Dutch Christian Farmers who could give them more easily shelter than the people in the towns. After the war till 1948 " Beth Hachalutsim" was in the Noordenbergsingel. About 400 "Chalutsim" had a professional training by the Deventer Union. Many of them have been the pioneers of several kibbutzim in Israel. |