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The Jewish Community of Oud-Beijerland
The village of Oud-Beijerland is located on an island
"de Hoeksche Waard," about 20 kilometres south of
Rotterdam.
A bit of history
After the St. Elizabeth flood (1421), large parts of the
islands of Putten and de Grote Waard were lost and
became clay banks and salt marshes, inundated at high
tide and unsuitable for habitation. During subsequent
centuries, portions of land were reclaimed.
The village of Oud-Beijerland was founded in 1559 as "Beijerland"
by Lamoraal, Count Egmont. He was granted the rights to
the area in 1557 and had the land reclaimed. The new
polder was named "Beijerland, Moerkerken,
Cromstrijen and de Greup".
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by
an embankment, known in Dutch as a dijk, forming
an artificial hydrological entity. The reclaimed land
has no connection with outside water, other than through
manually operated devices.
Around 1624 the smaller polders Bosschenpolder
and Nieuwlandpolder were added. Beijerland was named
after Sabina van Beijeren, the spouse of
Count Egmont.
In 1582 the name
was changed to Oud-Beijerland, in order to distinguish
it from Nieuw-Beijerland, which was founded several
kilometres to the west.
Count Egmont did not enjoy his property for a long time.
After a few years he was decapitated on the market
square of Brussels, together with Count van Horne, by
order of Philips
II. The war of independence of the Netherlands had
started.
In 1604 the village got its church tower from Sabina van
Beijeren and in 1622 the town hall was built. This
building, known today under the name of Oude
Raadhuis, the Old Municipality, is still one of the
most beautiful buildings of the Hoeksche Waard. It was
used by the municipal council of Oud-Beijerland till the
seventies of the 20th century.
In the past Oud-Beijerland was one of the most important
market centers of
the Hoeksche Waard. Its economy was dependent on trade,
industry, agriculture and fishing. The prosperity of
those years is still reflected in the elegant mansions
along the Vliet. The harbour was busy serving the
industrial activity of the town. There was a sugar
factory, a cigar factory, a cement factory, and an eel
and salmon smokehouse.
From the end of the 19th century until ca. 1955, a
steamtram connected Oud-Beijerland with Rotterdam. The
tram was nicknamed "Het Moorde-naartje," the Little
Murderer, due to the many casualties involved with its
operation.
The Jews
The first Jews settled here in the middle of the 18th
century, about two centuries after the village was
founded. They were Ashkenazi Jews, members of a
German-Polish group, who were compelled to leave their
homeland after the persecutions in Frankfurt in 1741.
Their number was always very small. Between 1835 and
1860 the Jewish population increased to 165 persons, on
a total of 3,500 inhabitants, but afterwards their
number declined gradually. In 1941 there were 33 Jews.
Jewish family names
We do not know for sure who the first Jewish villagers
were. In 1773 however, a certain Baruch Meijer is
mentioned in the so called “gaarders-boeken,” the tax
registers. The birth register of the Nederlandse
Israëlitische Ringsynagoge mentions some names, over
the period from 1793 to 1811.
An Imperial Decree from 20 juli 1808, obliged all
citizens who did not yet have a family name, to adopt
such a family name within three months, in order to
enable a general registration of the whole population.
On 31 December 1811 the following Jewish family names
are mentioned in the Jewish family archive:
1. Goudsmit (Simon);
2. van Koppels (Jozeph);
3. Koopman (Philip);
4. de Haas (Simon); 51. Pinkhof (Salomon).
The more current
family names in Oud-Beijerland were: van den Berg,
Boers, Cats, Cohen, van Dijk, Frenkel, Goudsmit, Hamme,
Koopman, van Leeuwen, Rood, van Tijn and Ullmann. On the
Jewish cemetery one also finds names like van Gelderen,
Hartog, Hijmans, Horneman, Keizer, Kleinkramer,
Kooperberg, Kühn, Langendijk, Ligtenstein, Meijboom,
Meijer, Mendels, Monasch, Morisco, Philip, Rees,
Rosenberg, Salomons, Schliecher Cohen, Sluis, van
Straten, de Vries, Vrooman, Weijl, Wolf, Zeehandelaar
and Zwarenstein.
The names Kleinkramer and Zwarenstein also appeared in
the nearby villages of Strijen and Numansdorp. Until
1857 the Jewish inhabitants of Strijen were members of
the kehilla of Oud-Beijerland.
The Jewish community
Part of the history of the Jews of Oud Beijerland is
reflected in the history of some of the families there.
The van den Berg family
Levie van den Berg (born in 1800) arrived from Nieuw
Beijerland and settled in Oud Beijerland in 1836. He was
a trader and a banker. In 1818 he received a lease to
manage the Loan Bank for a period of six years
together with Moses Goudsmit.
Levie and his wife Gerritje had ten children. One of
their sons became health officer in West India and later
in The Hague. Other children became shopkeepers,
tanners, a securities agent, and a math teacher.
The van den Berg family was highly respected in the
community.
In 1843 Levie became one of the parnassiem of the
synagogue.
In 1873 he was invited to the reception in honor of the
jubilee of King Willem III. In 1874 he became a member
of the school management.
Elizabeth van den Berg, one of their grandchildren, was
hidden in Dordrecht during the Second World War and
survived the war.
On 29 October 1987 she inaugurated the monument at the
Havendam, erected in memory of the Jews murdered during
the war.
The Boers
family
This family arrived from Trier. In 1846 Simon Boers
married Sara Philip and opened a butcher shop in the
Oost-Voorstraat. Their son, Salomon, became a tanner and
traded in hides. During many years he was the chairman
of the Jewish community in Oud Beijerland.
He did not keep account books and therefore his heirs
published in 1920 a summons to all his creditors and
debtors.
Salomon was married to Henriette Hartogs. They had nine
children.
His family was respected in the community and the local
orchestra played at the 25th year jubilee of
their marriage.
Also living in Oud-Beijerland were David Boers with his
spouse Bertha and their foster-daughter Clara Haagens
from Middelharnis.
The Cats
family
The family of Pinchas Levie Cats, born 1843, and Eva
Philip, came from Nieuw-Beijerland and settled in Oud
Beijerland in 1895. Pinchas was a butcher. His shop was
in the Molendijk. One of his sisters, Betje, born in
1837, was married to Eliazar Monasch, born 1845, who
repaired watches.
The Cohen
family
Samuel Moses Cohen came from Tholen to Oud Beijerland in
1835. The same year he married Elsje van Koppels, the
daughter of the secretary of the synagogue. The marriage
was very short, because Elsje died in 1836. He married
again in 1837 with Hester Kooperberg from Oosterhout.
They had 12 children.
At their 40 years '
anniversary,
Samuel Moses received the "chower" title. (A title of
honor, bestowed
by the
Chief Rabbi for exemplary
services to the Jewish community).
His son Nathan Samuel became a shopkeeper. He married
Isabella Schlicher in Köln. They had seven children.
Their eldest son, Felix Samuel, left the S.M. Cohen firm
in 1921 and became a male nurse. The second son, Jacques
Schlicher continued to manage the business.
The van Dijk
family
Benjamin van Dijk was a cattle trader and moved from
Zuidland to
Oud-Beijerland. He was married to Emma Clara Levie. They
had three children. In 1939 the family moved to Delft.
One son, Meijer, survived the war; all other family
members were murdered in Auschwitz.
The Frenkel
family
Hessel Frenkel moved from Rotterdam to Oud Beijerland.
He traded in old metal and textiles. He was married
three times and had five children from his marriages. On
11 August 1942 the family was transported to Auschwitz
or Sobibor and murdered there.
The Goudsmit
family
Simon Jonas Goudsmit was born in Veghel in 1774. About
1800 he moved with his wife, Lena Koopman, to
Oud-Beijerland. He was a descendant of
a family of
butchers, tanners and traders in animal skins.
His father, Jonas Samuel Goudsmit, lived at the time in
Lommel, today in Belgium. His daughter Gerritje, born in
1802, was married to Levie van den Berg, as mentioned
before.
His son, Hartog (1805), married Maria van den
Meijdenberg from Oosterwijk.
Hartog was a butcher and trader, and one of the money
lenders from the Vlaardingse Bank van Lening in
Vlaanderen.
His son Philip (1809) married Catharina Goudsmit from
Eindhoven. He was a butcher, a shop holder and also an
official seller of the Koninklijke Nederlandsche
Loterij. A memorable tombstone was erected on his
grave in the Jewish cemetery of Oud-Beijerland.
Simon Philip (1844), one of the children of Philip and
Catharina, deserves to be mentioned. In 1868 he moved to
Rotterdam and from there to Amsterdam in 1870. In the
same year he opened a textiles shop at the Nieuwendijk
in Amsterdam, named "The Bijenkorf." From 1870 till 1883
he worked together with Abraham Salomon Polak.
We quote from Wikipedia:
The Bijenkorf is a Dutch chain of department stores. It
was founded in 1870 by Simon Philip Goudsmit (1845-1889)
and grew from a small textile shop at the Nieuwendijk
132 in Amsterdam to a warehouse of the highest order,
with establishments in several other towns. The simple
shop, which started with four employees, sold only yarn
and band, but slowly on the assortment grew.
After the death of Simon Philip Goudsmit in 1889 from a
serious illness, his widow enlarged the business with
the help of her nephew Arthur Isaac. Later on, Alfred,
the son of Simon Philip Goudsmit and Catharina, also
joined the business.
He and Arthur Isaac displayed a greater assortment, and
enlarged the business by acquiring the neighboring
houses. In 1909 they decided to rebuild the whole shop
on a greater scale.
They moved in 1909 to an empty lot, where the former
bourse van Zocher had been, where they erected a
wooden building, which later on was enlarged and
rebuilt. The new building was named the Bijenkorf.
Till today the Bijenkorf is an impressive
building at the Damrak and the Dam in Amsterdam.
In 1926 they opened another shop, the HEMA, which
also did very well, making use of the expertise of the
Bijenkorf.
After the outbreak of the Second World War the
management fled from the Netherlands together with
selected members of their staff. More than 700 Jewish
staff members were murdered by the Nazi's.
The Hamme
family
Marcus Hamme, born in The Hague in 1901, was a brother
of Helena Hamme, the spouse of Hartog Koopman (see the
Koopman family, hereunder). He married Keetje
(To) Tromp in
The Hague. Marcus (Max) was an economist and was
employed by Hartog, his brother in law. From 1938 till
1941 he taught Economic Science at the Rijks Hogere
Burgerschool in Oud Beijerland.
Marcus(Max) and
Keetje(To) had
two daughters, Hanneke (1933) and Aaltje (Elly)
(1936). In
October 1942 the family was arrested and transported to
the Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam. One day Keetje
just walked out of the Schouwburg with her two
daughters. They were hidden by Dutch families. All three
survived the war, but Marcus was caught during a razzia
in Amsterdam, deported and
murdered in
Sobibor.
Hanneke is married to Ben Noach, the vice chairman of
the
board of the
"Akevoth" organization
and the coordinator of its daily activities.
The Koopman
family
At the end of the 18th century Philip Hartog
Koopman (Bergwelle 1762) and his wife Rebekka Levij
Hijmans (born about 1766), settled in Oud- Beijerland.
They had five children.
In 1809 their son Hartog married Sara van den Berg in
Brielle. The couple had twelve children.
In 1889, on the occasion of his 80th
birthday, he was presented by the Jewish community with
a silver kiddush cup for his merits. Jelka
Kröger discovered this cup after the Second World War,
amongst retrieved art objects. From the large offspring
of Hartog and Sara we mention the following names:
Their son Philip (1843) was circumcised by the mohel
Salomon Frank. In 1873 he became a member of the
Nederlandse Israëlitische School-commissie and an
active member of the school management in
Oud-Beijerland.
Their son Meijer (1858) became a manufacturer and in
1907 he became one of the parnassim of the
synagogue.
Their son Abraham (1860) became a book keeper and a
securities agent as a correspondent of the
Nederlandsche Bank.
Their grandson Hartog (1889), a son of Meijer, became a
banker. The "Bank of Koopman" became an important
institution in Oud-Beijerland. In 1938 he donated a
stained glass window for the restored city hall, known
as the "Oude
Raadhuis."
Hartog married Helena Hamme, as mentioned above. They
had three children:-Johanna(Hans), Franciska(Frans) and
Meijer.
The Koopman family was very active in Oud-Beijerland.
The children were members of a club, which met in "Ons
Huis."
Mrs. Koopman (Helena Hamme) was a member of the
commission which supervised higher education in
Oud-Beijerland. On 13 December 1940 the municipal
council of Oud Beijerland relieved her from this
position, compelled to do so
by the German
occupation.
Hartog Koopman managed the synagogue as long as
possible. In the city archive of
Rotterdam a few
letters written by him were found.
On 4 November 1940 he wrote the chief rabbi A.B.N.
Davids that all sacred artifacts of the synagogue were
hidden, except a shofar. In a letter from 17
September 1940 the chief rabbi requested to use the
shofar in Gouda, to which request Hartog agreed.
The Koopman family was arrested on 11 August 1942. They
died in a concentration camp in July 1943.
The van
Leeuwen
family
Izaak Benjamin van Leeuwen (Sommelsdijk, 1824) and his
wife, Rosetta Vroom (Rotterdam, 1826) moved in 1865 from
Goeree-Overflakkee to
Oud-Beijerland. They had four children. Their daughter
Antje (Rotterdam 1853) moved to Medemblik. Their son
Benjamin (Oud-Beijerland 1867) died when he was 21 years
old. Their daughters Sara (Sommelsdijk 1856) and Jetje
(Middelharnis 1862) were not married and remained in
Oud-Beijerland. Jetje had a small shop of textiles and
similar articles in the home of her parents.
She was arrested and transported on 29 October 1942.
Nothing has been heard from her since then.
The Rood
family
When the name Rood is mentioned, it is obvious this
refers to Bram
Rood, the butcher on the Molendijk, where he had a
"Rund and Kalfsvlees-houwerij." Now there is a fish
shop.
Abraham (Bram)
Rood (Oud-Beijerland 1894) was the son of Willem Rood,
hailing from Middelharnis (Middelharnis, 1859). His
second wife was Vrouwtje Meijer (Woubrugge 1863). His
father Willem was a butcher and his son Abraham (Bram)
continued the profession of his father.
Abraham married Betje den Hartog (Sliedrecht 1892), a
sister of Abraham den Hartog, who had a butcher shop on
the
West-Voorstraat.
The couple had two children, a son, Elias, and a
daughter, Vrouwtje Sara. Abraham was a known personality
in
Oud-Beijerland.
In August 1942 the family was transported by tramway to
Rotterdam. A photo has been saved of Abraham on the
platform of the tram wagon. According to a family
tradition he said to the onlookers: "We'll meet again."
Via shed 24 in Rotterdam the family was transported to
Auschwitz, where they were murdered on 30 September
1942.
The Rosenberg
family
As far as known no member of the Rosenberg family lived
in Oud-Beijerland. David Rosenberg (Warschau 1883) and
his wife Jeanette Schustirowitz (Rotterdam 1887) lived
in Rotterdam, where David was the manager of a movie
theater. They had two children, both born in Rotterdam,
Jacob (1912) and Rosa (1917).
The name of Jacob Rosenberg however appears on the last
tombstone of the Jewish cemetery in Oud-Beijerland.
Jacob worked in advertising and lived in Rotterdam.
He probably died during the German invasion of Holland
in May 1940. We do not know the exact place and date of
his decease, but his death certificate of 4 May 1943
reads:
"Today the fourth of May
nineteen hundred forty three, the following was enlisted
by me, official of the civil registration of the
community of Rotterdam.
In accordance with article fifty, section two, of the
Burgerlijke Wetboek,
I received an extract of the death register of the
community Nieuw-Beijerland, which states that there on
the fifteenth of May nineteen hundred and forty, at one
o'clock in the afternoon, passed away Rosenberg Jacob,
serving in the Dutch army, at the age of twenty seven
years, advertising artist, born and living in Rotterdam,
not married, son of Rosenberg David, owner of a movie
theatre and Schustirowitz Jeanette, no profession, both
living in Rotterdam."
According to another source Jacob Rosenberg, "soldier
tambour," was killed on 15 May 1940 near Willemstad. A
further source mentions that he was one of the eight
Jewish soldiers, who took their own life after the
capitulation of the Netherlands.
The van Thijn
family
Moses van Thijn (Puttershoek 1874) lived in
Oud-Beijerland with his sister Rijntje (Puttershoek
1869) in the Kerkstraat, near the entrance to the
synagogue. Moses was the shamash and
administrator of the synagogue and the school building.
He also took care of the mikwe, the ritual bath.
Later on Jetje van Leeuwen (see above) came to live with
him.
Moses, Rijntje and Jetje were arrested on 29 October
1942. Moses was murdered in Auschwitz on 2 November
1942. About Rijntje and Jetje we have no further
information.
The Ullman family
Ernst Ullman (Duren, Germany 1904) was one of the
fugitives from Germany, who were admitted to Holland.
Via Utrecht he arrived in Oud-Beijerland in 1936, where
he worked in a flour factory.
In 1938 he married Edith Fleischmann (Ebelsbach,
Duitsland 1912). They had one daughter, Ellen Wilhelmina
(Oud-Beijerland 1939) and one son, Rolf Dirk, born in
camp Westerbork (1942).
"Beijerlandse Berichten," 14th annual, volume
nr. 41, April 2011, printed the following article, by
Wendy Riedijk and Alie van den Berg:
"Memories from the second world war, as told by my
grandmother.
When I ask my grandmother what were her most vivid
memories from the war, she looks for old pictures from
the paper and for books on Oud-Beijerland. My
grandmother, Leny Weeda, lived at the Havendam in
Oud-Beijerland. She was almost eight years old when the
war started. Her father was a market boat skipper, with
his own market boat.
In the office of the cattle fodder factory, where her
father worked, there also worked a Jewish man. They were
good friends.
When the next deportation of Jews was imminent - they
were transported by tram from Oud-Beijerland - her
father decided to help his Jewish friend to escape,
together with his family.
The furniture of this Jewish family was hidden in the
attic of the Weeda's.
The father and the mother were hidden by the Weeda's and
their three year old daughter, Ellen, was hidden by
another Dutch family in Oud-Beijerland, since it was too
dangerous to hide her with her parents. In this way she
also had a better chance of survival.
"My father took Ernst and Edith Ullman with his ship to
Antwerpen. He also took a couple of bikes with him,
because after reaching Antwerpen they should go on and
then they should try to reach England. On their way to
Antwerpen, the ship was searched by the Germans. Gerrit
Weeda had hidden Ernst and Edith in the mast-hole, where
a small place is found when the mast is down.
Fortunately the Germans did not find them and so they
arrived safely in Antwerpen. Then Gerrit Weeda went back
to Oud-Beijerland. But the Ullmans were not able to
leave Ellen behind and therefore they cycled back to
Oud-Beijerland.
Upon their return the Ullman couple was arrested and
transported to Westerbork, where their second child,
Rolf Dirk, was born. Ernst was employed in the camp as a
clerk. Edith, Ellen and the little Rolf Dirk were
murdered in Auschwitz on 8 October 1944. Ernst survived
and after the war he went to Canada. In Canada Ernst he
married Friedel Salomon, with whom he had three
daughters. He died in 1968.
The Jewish professions
Most of the Jews in Oud-Beijerland sold textiles. The
Bank van Koopman, wholly owned by a Jewish family, was a
known enterprise, but 11 from the 49 Jewish citizens in
the year 1901, received support from social security.
A list of names printed in the booklet "the Jewish
community of Oud-Beijerland" also mentions how the
Jews there made their living.
A variety of trades is mentioned: skin salter, butcher,
merchant, tailor, cigar maker, rags seller, tanner,
varnish stoker, caps maker, shopkeeper, wigmaker,
seamstress, manufacturer, cashier, teacher, candle
maker, watchmaker, book binder, milk controller,
religion teacher, goldsmith and other trades.
In Oud-Beijerland were many Jewish butchers. Some of
them only
sold meat, without being slaughterers themselves. Often
they went from one farmer to the other to sell
non-kosher meat, which could not be sold to Jews.
Being a tanner, one of the trades mentioned above, was
obviously not very lucrative, because later on we found
only hide salters, who collected the hides, and salted
them in order to prevent putridity.
The candle makers used animal fat to produce their
candles. This profession was also not lucrative, and
disappeared. These candles could not be used in churches
and in the synagogue wax candles were used. Candle fat
obviously had
a better
selling potential in large towns, than in villages. The
rise in the use of petrol for lighting certainly was of
no help to this industry.
The organisation of Jewish life
The council of the kehilla (Jewish community) had
five members plus a gabbaj tsedaka sjel Eretz
Jisra'el, a fundraiser for the Land of Israel, who,
at the time, was Mr. Levie van den Berg. He passed away
on 16 October 1879. His tombstone can still be seen in
the Jewish graveyard. From 1852 until 1861, one
community member, Mr. Meyer de Vries, had a seat on the
local council.
In 1927 the kehilla had no council anymore and
the Permanente Commissie of the NIK appointed an
administrator.
Even on the High Holydays no more services could be
held.
The synagogue
We grope in the dark about the place where the
congregation assembled in the earliest years. There are
reports from 1802 and 1818 which may indicate that the
community successively used two private houses as a
meeting place.
From the following report in the Rotterdamsche Courant
from 1816 we learn that in 1816 the synagogue was
inaugurated:
"Oud-Beijerland the 27th of April.
The Israëlites of this community spent today and
yesterday in an edifying way, with appropriate
merriment, on occasion of the inauguration of their new
ring synagogue.
The honored Chief Rabbi of the Israëlite main synagogue
in Rotterdam, gave yesterday evening an appropriate
speech in the aforementioned new, for religion
designated building, and today, after the morning
prayers, he delivered a moving sermon.
The presence of the president of this community, of the
magistrate and of the honored preachers of the
Protestant Hervormde gemeente, added luster and
splendor to this solemn ceremony. Notwithstanding the
influx of eyewitnesses from all creeds, deep attention
and silence ruled the whole service."
The (second) house was demolished to make room for a
true synagogue.
The first stone was laid on 1 May 1843 (1 Iyar 5603) by
Meyer de Vries, under auspices of the church council,
consisting of M. de Vries, L. van den Berg, M. Goudsmit
and E. van Win.
One should not wonder about the term “church council”
which has a Christian flavor. It stems from the Royal
Decree of 26 February 1814, which reorganized and
regulated the religious institutions in the Netherlands.
The synagogue stood between de Kerkstraat and the
Nobelstraat and served the community until after the
Second World War.
According to the chief rabbi the building was very
beautiful. The inscription above the entrance was a
quotation from the Book of Psalms, ch.84, verse .2:
“How amiable are thy tabernacles.”
The building also housed
a school and a dwelling for the schoolteacher.
When in 1942 all the Jews were gone, the synagogue was
little by little dismantled and used for other purposes.
After the war the kehilla ceased to exist
and its belongings were transferred to the Jewish
community of Rotterdam, which sold the building in 1947
to the Christian Foundation for the teaching of
domestic economy to girls. This institution had part
of the building stripped, but kept some of the walls
intact and erected on the remnants of the former
synagogue the school it needed. Two memorial stones in
the facade mention the origin of the building.
School and Jewish studies
In 1832 the Minister for Zaken van Eredienst
approved the request of the Jewish community to acquire
a house near the synagogue. The regents of the Jewish
community, Hartog van den Berg, Eliazar Oppenheim and
Meijer de Vries had decided that the community needed a
special building for their activities. The building also
housed a school room for the increasing group of boys
and girls who received Jewish education.
Already three years earlier such an opportunity had
risen, but through the antics
of ten community
members the offer had been refused.
At the time the Jews from
Oud-Beijerland were
very well aware of the difficulties they had to overcome
to express themselves in good Dutch. The correspondence
with the Hoofdcommissie was therefore handed over
to the Jewish religion teacher, Mr. J. Koppels, who held
this position for many years.
The Royal Decree from 6 May 1817 abolished teaching in
degraded Dutch, in order to teach the children in a more
civilized fashion. From now all lessons had to be given
only in Dutch, and not in Hebrew or Jiddish
any more.
There were also Polish Jews in Oud-Beijerland. In a
letter from 1 July 1817 to the Hoofdcommissie, S.
van den Berg from Nieuw-Beijerland complained that a
Polish Israëlite was appointed as a teacher by Messrs.
S. Goudsmit and P. Koopman, without informing the other
members of the synagogue. Later on it turned out that
the pupils did not like the Polish teacher
and within a few months their number decreased. The
teacher was able to express himself in degraded German
only, which was not appreciated by the Jewish community.
Happily he disappeared after a short time. On the
curriculum of the Jewish school in
Oud-Beijerland we have some information, thanks to the
reports of S.J. Mulder, the school inspector from
Amsterdam, who paid several visits to the school.
He was not able to do many inspections, due to the small
travel budget afforded to him and, moreover, he had to
travel all over Holland. Only after three years he was
able to come to Oud-Beijerland again.
The curriculum was quite often changed. In 1857 it was
decided to revise the Jewish lessons in Oud-Beijerland.
Jewish religion was taught daily from nine till twelve
o' clock, and consisted mainly of reading and writing
Hebrew.
The following schedule was adopted.
-
Daily lessons of Rashi, the famous
commentator who lived in France from 1040 till 1105.
-
Daily: Study of a school book written by Mulder,
"Alle delen van de Heilige Schrift"
-
Sunday and Thursday: Basics of Judaïsm.
-
Monday: Rudimenta, first steps in Judaïsm
-
Monday and Wednesday: Mishna
-
Wednesday: History
-
Wednesday: Bible translation
Another book used was: Kort begrip der lsraelietische
Feest- en Vastendagen benevens een korten inhoud der
Tien Geboden; voor eerstbeginnenden, vervaardigd door
Jb. Lopes Cardozo Jr., Rabbinaal-Kandidaat (Moré) en
Hoofd-Onderwijzer.
The book was issued in Amsterdam by D. de Miranda &
Camp. in 5623-1863.
In the preface the author wrote
that "this book, offered to my colleagues, is destined
for children from 7 till 10 years".
Besides religious teaching, social teaching - given from
two till five - was also a part of the curriculum,
comprising the following lessons:
-
Daily:
Reading and writing, arithmetic and language
-
Sunday:
Theory of arithmetic
-
Monday:
History of the Netherlands
-
Thursday: Geography
The study books in use were: Language method, by van
Wees, History
by
Knuivers, Arithmetics by van Hoonaart, Geography by van
Prinsen.
In 1898, a new school building was erected next to the
synagogue. The first stone was laid by the daughters of
the church council members: Saartje Boers, Emma Cohen,
Maria Koopman and Betsie Rood. This building was
demolished in 1954.
The Hevra Kadisha
The Hevra Kadisha, the "Holy Association." This
association takes care of the cemetery and the burials.
In 1832 however, a new synagogue management had been
chosen, which boldly adopted the plan. A special
building for several purposes had become a necessity.
Till then the deceased from outside Oud-Beijerland, who
had to be buried in the cemetery of Oud-Beijerland, had
to be brought to the house of Goudsmit the shamash,
the beadle. In his house there were only two rooms,
the mikve was housed in one room, and the other
room was used for meetings. The body was put down in the
meeting room. This was very undesirable, especially when
somebody had died from a contagious disease. Moreover
the shamash with his wife, with six children
lived in the same house.
The new gabbaim of the synagogue decided to
change this undesirable situation and decided to erect a
new building, which would serve as a school for
religious lessons. In order to accomplish this goal a
new religious foundation, Ets Hajim, the tree of
life, was created. The whole community voted in
favor of the proposal, except the shamash and his
wife. They didn't want to become members of the Hevra
Kadisha, although the weekly contribution was only 5
cents a week.
The cemetery
Till 1790 the Jews of Oud-Beijerland were buried in
Geervliet, on the nearby island of Voorne-Putten. In
that year the Jewish community of
Oud-Beijerland
got
a cemetery of their own, outside the village, on a piece
of land called Ossebil, ox’s rump. But the
village expanded and the cemetery was located inside its
limits, on the Prinses Irenestraat. Until 1940, the Jews
of Oud-Beijerland and the surrounding villages were
buried there. In 1895 the Jewish community of Strijen
obtained a cemetery of their own.
The Oud-Beijerland cemetery had a mortuary with the
inscription: "Heden ik, morgen gij,” meaning: "Me today,
tomorrow you."
The wooden fence around the cemetery underwent changes
in the course of the years. In 1971 it was replaced by a
concrete wall on three sides and with an iron fence at
the front in 1997. The iron fence was made possible
through a fundraising action of the Christian secondary
school “Willem van Oranje”. Together with financial
support of the municipality, a beautiful wrought iron
fence could be erected.
Nowadays the Nederlands Israëlitische Kerkgenootschap
(NIK) is the owner of the cemetery whereas its
maintenance is the responsibility of the municipality.
The small number of 67 tombstones shows that the
cemetery contains more graves and tombstones, hidden
below ground level. Further details may be found in the
website of the “Stenen Archief,” the Archive of Stone.
The circumcision book
Mrs. Alie van den Berg discovered a most important and
interesting document, the circumcision book of
Salomon Franck
or Frank, who lived part of his life in
Oud-Beijerland. He was
the mohel of Oud-Beijerland and surroundings. The
more than 110 entries in this book, stating the names of
the children circumcised by him, cover the period from
1835
till 1864. This information was used by Mrs. van den
Berg for her book on the history of the Jews of
Oud-Beijerland.
Jews in the nearby villages
The ring synagogue of the island De Hoeksche Waard
was in Oud-Beijerland.
During the second half of the 19th century
the villages Buitensluis (Numansdorp), Klaaswaal and
Zuid-Beijerland - with no more than 20 Jews -
possessed a synagogue of their own in Numansdorp.
The "Hof van Moerkerken," the countryseat of the nearby
village of Mijnsheerenland, housed in the thirties of
the previous century a hachsharah group. In the
autmn of 1939 a small group of children from the Youth
Aliya from Germany also lived there.
The village Strijen probably opened a synagogue of their
own in 1862 and a cemetery in 1895. The Jews from
'sGravendeel also belonged to this synagogue.
The dream to build a Jewish state in Palestine became
more real towards the end of the First World War. The
Ottoman Empire, one of the losers of that war, had to
cede a great part of their territory. The province of
Palestine, with
Jerusalem as a capital, became a British mandate.
In 1917 Lord Balfour declared on behalf of the British
government that a "Jewish home" could be founded in
Palestine. The so called "Balfour Declaration" urged
idealistic Jewish youngsters in Europe to become
pioneers, intending to settle the region and reclaim the
country.
To this purpose training centers were established in
several European countries, where they could learn
agriculture or any other craft. Such a training center
was called a hachshara, a preparation center, and
the young pioneers were called haluzim.
These youngsters also learned Hebrew, which would
eventually become the official language of the Jewish
state.
The entry to Palestine was severely controlled by the
British government. Each year only a few thousand visas
were issued. It was difficult to obtain a visa,
sometimes called a Palestina Pass, which would be
granted after the mentioned hachshara period was
finished.
After 1918 several training centers were also
established in Holland. The first of such centers, the
Deventer Vereniging, was founded by Ru Cohen,
The participants worked in several farms and for the
study of agricultural theory and cultural activity, they
congregated in their community house in Deventer, named
Beit Haluz. In 1940 their community had about 250
members.
The religious-Zionistic movement, the Mizrahi,
established in 1933 the Dath Va'aretz - religion
and country subsidiary, which resided in
Beverwijk and Franeker, and were called a kibbuz.
In the same year the orthodox movement Agudat
Jisra'el, also established a preparation center.
This movement was not a proponent of Zionism, but
intended to settle near the Jewish holy places in
Palestine. A large villa in Twekkelo near Enschede was
used, named Haimer's Esch.
In the thirties many German and Polish refugees came to
Holland. For the reception of these prevailingly younger
people, between 18 till 24 years, a Jewish center was
established in the Wieringermeer. The Werkdorp
Wieringermeer
housed about 300 inhabitants.
Some hachshara centers were established for
younger people, less than
18 years old, instigated
by the Youth
Alya. The Pavilioen Loosdrechtse Rade was the
largest one, counting about 50 youngsters, who also were
trained by the surrounding farmers. In 1939 the
Catarinahoeve was used for this purpose, under the
name of Joodse
Jeugdfarm.
In the 40's the activities of the Youth Aliya
in Holland were
directed by the
Joodse Centrale voor Beroepsopleiding.
Refugees
In May 1938 three Jewish refugees from Germany lived in
Oud-Beijerland. The kehilla donated each month a
small amount to the Joodse Vluchtelingencomité in
Amsterdam.
The German occupation
Under the German occupation the Jewish inhabitants from
Oud-Beijerland were compelled to move to Amsterdam. From
there they were transported to Poland. Some
onderduikers, Jews hidden by Dutch families, were
betrayed and arrested. 32 Jews from Oud-Beijerland were
killed in Auschwitz and Sobibor. Only one of them, Ernst
Ullman, a refugee from Germany, survived.
Seven Jews, holders of falsified baptism certificates,
were hidden by Dutch families till the end of the war.
The synagogue was plundered by the Germans and used as a
storage room.
Personal experiences
On 11 August 1942, Hartog Koopman, Abraham Rood and
Moses Frenkel with their family, together with Henriette
Boers - who was then 17 years old - were arrested and
transported to Amsterdam.
On 17 October Jacob van den Berg and his wife followed.
On 29 October Moses van Tijn and his sister were
arrested. On the same date Marcus Hamme with his family
and Jetje van Leeuwen were arrested. Not long afterwards
came the turn of the remaining Jews.
Mrs. Hamme was arrested with her two children in
Amsterdam and interned in the Hollandse Schouwurg. She
just walked out from there with her children and all
three of them survived the war.
David Boers, with wife and son and Pinhas Boers with his
wife and their adopted child, were hidden in Apeldoorn
on 24 October. Elisabeth van den Berg was hidden in
Dordrecht. Pinhas and his family were betrayed.
The others, which were hidden, were saved from the
German blood-thirstiness.
Lest we forget
Here we remember the Jewish inhabitants of
Oud-Beijerland, who were murdered by the Nazis:
Jakob van den Berg, 76 years old. Oud-Beijerland
07-08-1866; Auschwitz, 01-02-1943.
Alida van den Berg- Kleerekoper, 65 years old.
Amsterdam, 11-03-1877; Auschwitz, 01-02-1943.
Pinas Levie Boers, 48 years old. Oud-Beijerland,
21-04-1895; Sobibor, 16-07-1943.
Emilie Boers-Beer, 37 years old. Zablocie (Polen),
16-05-1904; Sobibor, 16-07-1943.
Theodoor Maximiliaan Beer, 9 years old. Eggenberg
(Polen), 12-08-1933; Sobibor, 16-07-1943.
Henriëtte Wilhelmina Boers, 17 years old.
Oud-Beijerland, 27-03-1925; Auschwitz, 30-09-1942.
Hessel Frenkel, 59 years old. Leeuwarden, 06-01-1883;
Auschwitz, 05-11-1942.
Saartje Frenkel-Sanders, 57 years old. Arnhem,
19-05-1885;
Auschwitz, 05-11-1942.
Wolf Frenkel, 26 years old. Rotterdam, 11-03-1917;
Sobibor, 28-05-1943.
Abraham Frenkel, 22 years old. Middelharnis, 09-07-1920;
Auschwitz, 30-09-1942.
Mozes Frenkel, 14 years old. Rotterdam, 20-10-1928;
Auschwitz, 05-11-1942.
Elisabeth Frenkel, 12 years old.
Schiedam, 08-04-1930;
Auschwitz, 05-11-1942.
Aaltje Mug, 16 years old. Rotterdam, 12-09-1926;
Auschwitz, 05-11-1942.
Marcus Hamme, 41 years old. 's-Gravenhage, 24-12-1901;
Sobibor, 16-07-1943.
Abraham den Hartog, 67 years old.
Sliedrecht, 25-10-1875;
Auschwitz, 06-11-1942.
Roosje den Hartog-van Tijn, 64 years old.
Puttershoek, 24-02-1878; Auschwitz, 06-11-1942.
Hartog Koopman, 53 years old.
Oud-Beijerland, 24-11-1889;
Sobibor, 09-07-1943.
Helena Koopman-Hamme, 52 years old. 's-Gravenhage,
06-06-1891; Sobibor, 09-07-1943.
Francisca Koopman, 23 years old. Oud-Beijerland,
07-07-1919;
Sobibor , 09-07-1943.
Johanna Maria Koopman, 21 years old.
Oud-Beijerland, 09-02-1922; Sobibor, 09-07-1943.
Meijer Koopman, 18 years old. Oud-Beijerland,
02-10-1924;
Sobibor, 09-07-1943.
Jetje van Leeuwen, 80 years old.
Middelharnis, 22-01-1862; onbekend.
Abraham Rood, 47years old.
Oud-Beijerland, 28-11-1894;
Auschwitz, 30-09-1942.
Betje Rood-den Hartog, 50 years old.
Sliedrecht , 18-05-1892; Auschwitz, 30-09-1942.
Elias Rood, 19 years old. Oud-Beijerland, 22-02-1923;
Auschwitz, 30-09-1942.
Vrouwtje Sara Rood, 16 years old. Oud-Beijerland,
24-02-1926; Auschwitz, 30-09-1942.
Mozes van Tijn, 68 years old. Puttershoek, 12-09-1974;
Auschwitz, 02-11-1942.
Rijntje van Tijn, 73 years old.
Puttershoek, 31-12-1869; date of death unknown.
Edith Ullman- Fleischmann, 29 years old. Ebelsbach (D),
30-10-1912; Auschwitz, 08-10-1944.
Ellen Ullman, 4 years old. Oud-Beijerland, 15-09-1939;
Auschwitz, 08-10-1944.
Rolf Dirk Ullman, 1 year old, Westerbork, 31-03-1943;
Auschwitz, 08-10-1944.
After the war
In 1947, two years after the war, the Jewish community
of Oud-Beijerland became a part of the community of
Rotterdam. After
the atrocities of the Shoa no Jewish life was
left in Oud-Beijerland.
The monument
On 29 October 1987, a monument, designed by Mrs. Marga
Vogel-Granada from Amsterdam, was unveiled at the
Havendam, near the little harbor of Oud-Beijerland,
commemorating the Jewish inhabitants who were deported
and massacred by the Nazi’s. The monument consists of a
copper made hand, holding a Magen David, placed
on a pedestal bearing a plaque with a verse from Isaiah
(chapter 61 verse 1): “To bind up the brokenhearted,” (לחבש
לנשברי לב)
and the
words: “The people of Israel lives,” (עם
ישראל חי).
Every year, on the 4th of May, a
commemorative ceremony is held there.
The street names
In 1986 the local council of Oud-Beijerland decided that
in the new Spuioever quarter several streets
would be called after Jewish persons and families who
lived in
Oud-Beijerland
before the Second World War. These Jews were deported
during the German occupation and did never return. The
following street names were created:
Van de Bergstraat, after Jakob and Alida van den Berg,
murdered in Auschwitz in 1943.
Boerserf, after the Boers family who was murdered in
Auschwitz and Sobibor in 1942 and 1943.
Frenkelerf, after the Frenkel family, who was murdered
in Auschwitz and Sobibor in 1942 and 1943.
Hammepad, after Marcus Hamme, murdered in Sobibor in
1943.
Den Hartogerf, after Abraham and Roosje den Hartog,
murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.
Koopmanstraat, after the Koopman family, who was
murdered in
Sobibor in 1943.
Van Leeuwenerf, after Jetje van Leeuwen, murdered in a
German concentration camp in 1943.
Roodpad, after the Rood family, who was murdered in
Auschwitz in 1943.
Van Tijnerf, after Mozes and Rijntje van Tijn, murdered
in a German concentration camp in 1942.
Ullmanstraat, named after members of the Ullman family,
whose members were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.
In doing so, the municipality wished to keep alive the
memory of the important role the Jews had played in this
village.
The windows of the old town hall
Built in 1622, renovated in 1938 and 1939, the old town
hall - the Oude Raadhuis - stands proudly in the
heart of the village. In 1977 a new town hall was built.
The new building contains a series of beautiful stained
glass windows. One of these masterpieces was donated by
the Nederlands Israëlitische Gemeente, the Jewish
community of Oud-Beijerland. The window depicts a
menora and a scroll with a Magen David in
red.
Sources
A. and R. van den Berg, De Joodse Gemeenschap van
Oud-Beijerland, Oud-Beijerland 1982, ’s-Gravendeel,
1987.
Jozeph Michman, Hartog Beem, Dan Michman, Pinkas,
Geschiedenis van de Joodse gemeenschap in Nederland,
Amsterdam/Antwerpen, 1999.
Alie van den Berg, Het Joodse verleden van
Oud‑Beijerland, Oud‑Beijerland, 2008.
Daniël Metz, "Joodse militairen" (part 1)
Misjpoge, jaargang 22, 2009-1.
Wendy Riedijk, "De herinneringen aan de tweede
wereldoorlog, verteld door mijn oma." Beijerlandsche
Berichten, jaargang 14, nr. 41,
April 2011.
Websites
Nederlands-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap:
http://www.nik.nl/
“Stenen Archief” (The Archive of Stone):
http://www.stenenarchief.nl/phpr/nik/stenen_archief/nik_list.php?cemetery=Oud-Beijerland
"Joods leven in Oud-Beijerland" (Jewish life in
Oud-Beijerland):
http://www.joodsleven-obland.nl/
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oud-Beijerland
Wikipedia:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bijenkorf_(warenhuis)
Digitaal Monument Joodse Gemeenschap in Nederland:
http://www.joodsmonument.nl/page/552342
Extracted in Dutch from the sources by Jan Sanberg &
Alie van den Berg
Translated into English by Mechel Jamenfeld
Final editing by Ben & Hanneke Noach
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~