"Making researching your Jewish roots --- e a s i e r "

 
 
 
 
 

 

 
   

 

Find Your Ancestors In History

HOLLAND

     (Netherlands - Dutch, Holland)





Amsterdam Synagogue

 

 

Many Dutch Jews can trace their roots back to the time of the Inquisition. The contemporary Dutch Jewry begins at the end of the 16th century. Others may be able to find ancestors who came from other Eastern European countries.  In any case, their is a very active Jewish community and is continually building up their resources. General birth, marriage and death records, in Holland, do go back to the 1500s. Jews were granted freedom of worship early in the 17th century and were able to practice Judaism openly. 

Prior to WW II, there were approximately 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands, but by war's end, over 100,000 Dutch Jews had been murdered ... most by the Nazis ... but some by Dutch collaborators.  Seventy five percent of Dutch Jews perished during the Holocaust, the highest percentage in any country in Nazi-occupied Europe, except for Poland  Among the 18,000 Righteous Gentiles officially recognized by Yad Vashem, 4,000 are Dutch, by far the largest national contingent in Europe. Today the Dutch Jewish population numbers about 30,000 in a general population of almost 16,000,000.  The name "Netherlands" is derived from the Dutch word "neder" meaning "low".  The term Low Countries is used collectively for Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, a reference to the low-lying nature of the land.


Books

Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com. 

"The Coffee Trader" - a novel authored by David Liss and published by Random House.  A story about a Portuguese Jews who arrives in Amsterdam in 1659.  He goes to the Ma'amad (council), an organization of Portuguese Jews who teach him about Judaism.  Gives an insight into the life and time of a 'secret' Jew.


"History Of The Jews Of The Netherland Antilles" - authored by Isaac S. Emmanuel and Susan A. Emmanuel
http://www.bnvillage.co.uk/1386535-post9.html


"In Memoriam" a story about 40 Jewish boys and girls who lived in a Kibbutz in Hummelo en Keppel in Holland during the years 1941-43 and their fate.  ISBN 9012091785.  

A list of these names can be found at
http://www.jewishgen.org
and then click on the JewishGen archives link of 12/18/99 on page 7.

Another location for the "In Memoriam" book that lists the names, dates of birth and death and place of death of all of the Dutch Jews that were killed during the WW II is
http://www.jhm.nl/

www.hollandscheschouwburg.nl


"Trouwen In Mokum" - two volumes that is organized by date and by bride, groom's parents' and witnesses' first and last names and towns of origins, plus a Sephardic section.  It is available through inter-library loan or for sale at the Municipal Archive of Amsterdam.


General
Dutch
Genealogy
Information

 

Jewish Manuscript

 

 

A valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc.
http://www.webhelp.com/home
 
and
type in the name of any country you wish to research. This service is free.

Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of  2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town.  A tab separated list is available for each country. 
www.calle.com/world/
 

I found some interesting information at a family web site: "

History Spanjaard

Salomon Jacob Spanjaard, a young German Jew, lived in Zwolle (eastern part of the Netherlands) at the end of the 18th century. Zwolle -even more so than Amsterdam at that moment- was a city where Jews lived in relative freedom and were not being haunted. He originally came from Bodendorf near Remagen, close to the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz. He was born  13 December 1783 as a son from  Dorothea Simons and Jacob. As many Jews at that time he tried to make a living as a merchant, selling form city to city. At one of his travels, while he probably was bearing his merchandise on his back, he passed Borne.  Somewhat outside that village lived David van Gelder, merchant in a variety of things, but mainly  furs, and Berendina Menko. In 1811 Salomon married their daughter Sara. A year later when everybody was forced to have a surname by the French regime, Salomon let himself be registered as Salomon Jacob Spanjaard. How he got to the name 'Spanjaard' is not known. A plausible theory is that ‘Spanjaard’ signifies a small, dark personality, possibly an offspring from the Spanish occupation some two centuries before. Because of a bad eye he was also known as ‘Sallie Eenoog’, 'Sally One eye'." This interesting site can be found at www.berithsalom.nl  

and can be read in both Dutch and English.


Amsterdam 

There was a large Jewish presence here before WW II.  Amsterdam has been an important center for the world's diamond trade since the 16th century.
http://www.amsterdam.info/jewish/

http://www.planetware.com/amsterdam/jewish-quarter-nl-nh-jode.htm

One of the most important sites to see in this city is the Anne Frank house.
http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=1&lid=2


Archives - State Archives - in The Hague

http://www.archief.nl 

Gemeentelijke Archiefdienst Rotterdam (City)
Robert Fruinstraat 52
Postbox 25082
3001 HB Rotterdam
Phone: +31 10 4775166

Gemeentearchief Rotterdam
Hofdijk 651
3032 CG Rotterdam

Municipal Archive of Amsterdam - according to an e-mail from Shoshannah van Amerongen of Amsterdam, this is a valuable resource for genealogical research and they specialize in helping people trace their Jewish roots.  The site is in Dutch language.  There is also a second site that Shoshannah mentions in which it gives more information about Jewish families in Amsterdam.
http://gemeentearchief.amsterdam.nl/

http://gemeentearchief.amsterdam.nl/archieven/index.nl.html

Rijksarchief In Zuid-Holland (Province)
Pr. Willem Alexanderhof 20
2509 LM 's Gravenhage
Telephone: +31 70 3315400


Ashkenazi Dutch Jews

Research and information on the immigrant Dutch Ashkenazi community in mid nineteenth century London including Downloads of Census extracts (Spitalfields) and library of relevant archival documents and quite a bit more developed by Aubrey Jacobus - E-mail zen28027@zen.co.uk
Web Site
http://www.zen28027.zen.co.uk/


Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP)

http://www.orthohelp.com/geneal/sefardim.htm


Cemeteries 

Ouderkerk aan de Amstel is located near Amsterdam.  A book is
mentioned in ETSI.  The article can be found in the Winter issue
of ETSI (Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Review of 1999
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1321/


Compensation for the post-war restoration of securities rights and the Puttkammer List in the Netherlands - The Central Jewish board in the Netherlands and the Israel Platform of former Dutchman in Israel have established a foundation to award war claims.  More information can be obtained by contacting: Stichting Individuele Effectenaanspraken Sjoa, Postbus 94200 (1C24) 1090 GE Amsterdam The Netherlands
http://www.claimscon.org/index.asp?url=netherlands


Digital Resources in the Netherlands, including passenger lists http://home.wxs.nl/~hjdewit/links_en.html


Dutch and Belgian Jews were sometimes called Black Dutch in America because they spoke Dutch or Flemish and were darker than the other Dutch and Flemish. They had only recently moved to the Netherlands and Belgium (then Spanish Netherlands) from Iberia (Portugal and Spain). When Spain annexed Portugal for a while, many Portuguese Jews fled to Spanish Flanders to escape the Inquisition 
http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/flanders.htm

for Flanders as part of Spanish Netherlands). Most, like the famous philosopher Baruch Spinoza, crossed into Protestant Netherlands for greater freedom of expression and religion for more on Spinoza
http://users.erols.com/jyselman/
 
 

These Sephardic Jews were, on the average, darker than the Ashkenazic Jews of northern Europe, so an explanation like Black Dutch suited them well.


Dutch Database (in Dutch)

www.genlias.nl


Dutch Forced Labor

http://www.up.ac.za/dspace/handle/2263/4627

There was a Jewish work camp Twilhaar, near Nijverdal in the province of Overijssel in the Netherlands according to a posting by Alex Alferink on JewishGen.  The following web site about Twilhaar, is in Dutch but does have photos
www.geocities.com/twilhaar/index.html


Dutch Jewish Genealogy

Dutch Jewish Genealogy Society Home Page
http://www.nljewgen.org/


Dutch Jewish Genealogical Data Base -

Links include Family Tree Collection; Inventory of Ashkenazi-Jewish Inhabitants of Amsterdam in the Eight Century; Links to Personal Home Pages with Genealogical information and more
http://www.nljewgen.org/

Dutch Jews who died in the Holocaust searchable database
http://www.jgsh.org/

The following page is in Dutch
http://dutchjewry.huji.ac.il/


Dutch Jewry on the Internet

Center for Research on Dutch Jewry
Ben Zion Dinur Institute for Jewish History
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Givat Ram Campus
91904 Jerusalem
Israel

Tel: 00972 2 6584889
Fax: 6584506
Email dutchjew@cc.huji.ac.il 

http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2005/11/disappearing-dutch-jew.html

Tracing Our Dutch Ancestors
www.jgsgb.org.uk/


Dutch Telephone Phone Book Search Engine

Type in a name and you can find names and phone numbers in all of Holland. I even found a Margulis in Amsterdam complete with address and phone number 
http://www.nationaletelefoongids.nl/


Enschede

This town had 1,310 Jewish inhabitants in 1941


Europages

Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds
http://www.europages.net


Frank, Anne

Who betrayed her to the Nazis?  According to a recent study,  Two theories suggest the betrayer of the teenager, whose diary has become a standard of Holocaust studies, was either a business associate of Frank's father or a cleaning woman.

Miep Gies and The Diary of Anne Frank
http://www.auschwitz.dk/Miepgies.htm

http://teacher.scholastic.com/frank/miep.htm

http://www.annefrank.org/


Genealogical Research in the Netherlands and Germany

http://www.oord.org


Groenlo

There was a Jewish presence here in the 1800s.
http://www.jhm.nl/netherlands.aspx?ID=71


Groningen

Three hundred year old Jewish cemetery exists here. Rene de Vries is the Chair of the Jewish Community of Groningen
http://www.jodeningroningen.nl/en/jewishcommunities/groningen/history/


HAL Shipping Line - many immigrants left Holland via this line and the line's records are available at

Gemeentearchief Rotterdam
Hofdijk 651
3032 CG Rotterdam


Holocaust Victims at Sobibor Camp Database
http://www.snunit.k12.il/sachlav/dutch/maineng/search.html

http://snunit.k12.il/sachlav/dutch/maineng/search.html

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/Sobibor.html

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/Sobibortoc.html

Index on Birth Registers of Zwollerkerspel 1811 - 1912 online at The Municipal Archives of Zwolle 
http://www.obd.nl/gaz.htm


Jewish Communities
Organization of Dutch Jewish communities
Amsterdam 1081 BT, Netherlands
http://www.nik.nl/Frames_eng.asp

Jewish Social Services
Amsterdam 1075 HJ, Netherlands
http://www.jewishhistoryamsterdam.com/jewish-history-amsterdam.html


Jewish Historical Museum - located in Amsterdam
www.channels.nl/amsterdam/joods.html  


Nazi Concentration Camps in the Netherlands
http://www.cympm.com/concentration.html


Netherlands Society for Jewish Genealogy (Nederlandse Kring voor Joodse Genealogie) - includes sources and archives in the Netherlands on the subject of Jewish genealogy, publications by the society and by individual members. You can order "Adoption of Surnames in Amsterdam" from the Society.
http://www.nljewgen.org/
 


Rotterdam - the city of Rotterdam has been officially in existence since 1328, when Count Willem III granted 'city rights' for the town that had been growing around a dam in the river Rotte.  The story of the city, including history, facts and figures in a virtual tour is located at  
http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/rtd_facts.html


Sephardic Resources in Holland
http://orthohelp.com/geneal/sefardim.htm

http://www.jewishgen.org/sephardicsig/


A free service to trace surnames in the Netherlands is offered by Sefan Pinkus.  He has established a network of Jewish genealogists, both amateur (like himself) and professional, in different countries.  Their e-mail addresses are included in the Dutch Jewish Genealogy Homepage 
http://www.inter.nl.net/users/DJGH


The Israeli Circle for Dutch Genealogy of the Center for Research on Dutch Jewry - Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  e-mail dutchjew@huji.ac.il or bnnch@zahav.net.il 
http://www.isragen.org.il/ROS/ARCHIVES/archive-DutchJ-2.html


Utrecht - there was a Jewish presence here before WW II
http://www.jhm.nl/netherlands.aspx?ID=162


Translating

Many translating programs
http://www.worldlanguage.com

Translating Services - Click Here

TravLang is another commercial site that offers a number of translating services - some for free 
http://www.dictionaries.travlang.com/

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department.  They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English.  A nominal fee is usually charged.


Yizkor Books

Pinkas hakehillot, Holland
(Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities in Netherlands)
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Pinkas_netherlands/pinkas_netherlands.html


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