Search

In ‘Heilige stilte’ gaan verschillende auteurs op zoek naar de rol van publieke religie bij dodenherdenking. Religie speelde vanaf de eerste begrafenissen in 1940 een belangrijke rol in de nationale en lokale herdenkingen van slachtoffers van de lange Tweede Wereldoorlog (1940-1949). Tot op de dag van vandaag dragen geestelijken, religieuze taal en symboliek bij aan de vormgeving van de herdenkingsrituelen. Deze bundel onderzoekt de rol van publieke religie in de Nederlandse herdenkingscultuur door de jaren heen. Het neemt de lezer mee naar grondige historische casestudies die nieuwe, verrassend actuele inzichten in de dynamiek van religie in de Nederlandse samenleving geven. Deze bundel bevat bijdragen van Ewart Bosma, Joep van Gennip, Koos-jan de Jager, Ilse Raaijmakers, Jacob van der Tang, Zohar van Tijn en Bart Wallet.

Antwerpen staat bekend als een van de weinige plaatsen in West-Europa waar het Jiddisch als taal van een joodse gemeenschap nog volop functioneert. Het Jiddisch dat in onderwijs, publicaties en als dagelijkse spreektaal wordt gebruikt is de zogenaamde Oost-Jiddische variant. De wortels van de huidige Jiddisch-sprekers in Antwerpen gaan terug tot het einde van de negentiende eeuw, toen Oost-Europese joden in het kielzog van de felle Russische pogroms in 1881 een heenkomen zochten en vonden in ...

In 1815 the United Kingdom of the Netherlands started, uniting the territories of the former Dutch Republic with the so-called Southern Netherlands. The unification and its political ramifications had huge impact on the Jewish communities in the southern provinces, mainly concentrated in the cities Brussels, Gent, Antwerp, Namur and Liège. During the 15 years within the United Kingdom, up until 1830, these communities witnessed a sharp increase in local Jewish communities and members, mostly because of internal migration of Amsterdam Jews. Moreover, Jewish life in the southern provinces was centralized and brought together with the northern Jewish communities into an overarching central denominational structure. Finally, the new structures were used to install a new sense of Dutch national identity upon the Jewish citizens, especially stressing the values of patriotism, monarchism and the ability to speak the national Dutch tongue. The 1830 Belgian Revolt resulted in a significant set-back for Jewish life in the new Kingdom of Belgium, although it continued on the path set-out in the preceding ‘Dutch era’.

ispartof: Trajecta vol:28 issue:2 pages:299-315 status: published

Sociology played a major role in the reconstruction of European Jewry after 1945. It offered a putatively objective language, enabling Jews of different religious and political leanings to collaborate. With Jewish communities having been devastated by the war, policy makers now sought quantitative data regarding composition, orientation, and the needs of these populations. Through institutions, journals and conferences, American Jewish theories, and models were transferred to Europe, but were channelled for a distinct function. Demographic research and Jewish community centres were developed with the goal of locating and attracting ‘marginal Jews’ so as to reconnect them to community life. Jewish sociology in post-war Europe was part of a major effort towards reconstruction of Jewish communities; this effort was based on scientific methods and aimed at ‘saving’ all remaining Jews for the greater Jewish cause.

In 1965, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands announced the engagement of Princess Beatrix to the German Claus von Amsberg. In the context of a rearticulation of Dutch public morality in terms of the Second World War, and especially the Holocaust, this engagement provoked intense public debate. Each of the groups involved—the Royal House, the government, and the opponents—connected the topic of the engagement to the Shoah and tried to get Dutch Jewry on their side. Internally, this caused fierce debate and even fear of a split in the community. Although the “Jew as legitimation” was an effective argument in public and political debate, Dutch Jews themselves generally objected to such an exploitation of their history, traditions, and existence.

Sinds de middeleeuwen zijn er joden in Nederland. Vanaf die tijd kenden zij een bijzondere en eigen geschiedenis: van de Sefardische rijkdom en het baanbrekende denken van Spinoza tot de armoede van de Amsterdamse jodenbuurt en de verschrikkingen van de Holocaust. Zij namen volop deel aan de bloei van handel en cultuur tijdens de Nederlandse Gouden Eeuw, waren inzet van felle debatten in het tijdperk van Verlichting en Revolutie, zochten en vonden daarna hun eigen weg naar emancipatie en integratie. Na de verwoestingen van de Duitse bezetting, ontstond er voorzichtig een naoorlogs Nederlands joods leven dat zich weer een plaats in de Nederlandse samenleving heeft verworven. Het fascinerende, aangrijpende en soms gruwelijke verhaal van de joden in Nederland, en hun grootse bijdrage aan de geschiedenis van Nederland, wordt als nooit tevoren verteld in het schitterende standaardwerk.

De inwijding van de nieuwe Sjoel Oost laat vier elementen zien die karakteristiek zijn voor de naoorlogse Nederlands-joodse geschiedenis: de dynamiek van de wederopbouw van het joodse gemeenschapsleven; de voortdurende twijfel en ideologische overtuiging dat het joodse leven in Nederland nog slechts korte tijd zou bestaan; de impact van het zionisme en – sinds 1948 – het bestaan van de staat Israël; en ten slotte de verwerking, doorwerking en herinnering aan de fatale oorlogsjaren 1940-1945. Deze parameters bepaalden het karakter van de gedecimeerde gemeenschap die vanaf de dag van de bevrijding werd gereconstrueerd door joden die de onderduik hadden overleefd, die terugkeerden uit de kampen en zij die tijdens de oorlog in het veilige buitenland hadden gewoond. Het joodse gemeenschapsleven dat aldus ontstond, kende naast vormen van continuïteit met de vooroorlogse gemeenschap, ook veel nieuwe kenmerken. Dit hoofdstuk beoogt die transformatie in kaart te brengen en aan te tonen hoe een combinatie van ontwikkelingen in de Nederlandse samenleving en internationaal-joodse processen resulteerde in een aantal grote veranderingen in het leven van Nederlandse joden sinds 1945.

De Reformatie zorgde voor een revolutie tussen joden en protestanten. De protestanten namen het joodse Oude Testament over. Bij al het negatieve wat Luther over de Joden zei, mag ook dát gezegd worden.

This essay is a first exploration of nineteenth-century Dutch Protestant memory culture. Using Reformation commemorations as our case study, we show that the appropriation of Luther and Calvin for group identity purposes underwent a twofold transition in the century between 1817 and 1917. Whereas the unity of Dutch Protestantism was a dominant theme during the first decades of the nineteenth century, the Reformation became increasingly used as an instrument for justifying subgroup identities. Simultaneously, a past-oriented discourse (the Reformation as “origin”) was gradually abandoned in favour of a future-oriented discourse (Reformation “principles” that ought to be obeyed and applied). This, we argue, distinguished Dutch Protestant memory culture both from national commemorative discourse and from Protestant memory cultures abroad.

Veel mensen weten wel iets over de Nederlands-Joodse geschiedenis, maar veelal zijn dat fragmenten: de Portugese Joden van Amsterdam, het Joodse socialisme en de fatale oorlogsjaren. Maar wat is nu de doorgaande lijn? Hoe is het Joden in Nederland vergaan vanaf het eerste moment dat ze zich hier vestigden? Daar geeft deze Joodse canon in honderd vensters antwoord op. Elk venster gaat over een belangrijke gebeurtenis, een plaats, een persoon of een voorwerp. Iedere tekst is gekoppeld aan sprekende, iconische afbeeldingen. De vensters zijn per eeuw gegroepeerd rond een samenbindend thema, waardoor ze samen een lopend verhaal vormen.

In the nineteenth century the language of the Ashkenazi community in the Netherlands rapidly changed as the Dutch vernacular replaced Yiddish. In the first half of the century a coalition composed of government officials and members of the Jewish elite collaborated in matters of language-politics. The goal was the acculturation of the Jewish community by advocating Dutch and combating Yiddish. Controlling Jewish education and encouraging preaching in the vernacular were the most important means employed, and by the second half of the century, Yiddish disappeared as the language of Dutch Jews. The arguments of the proponents of Dutch were centered on social integration and the belief that Yiddish was not a proper language. The advocates of Yiddish defended their language by stressing it as an international means of Jewish communication.

Small Jewish communities began to appear soon after the establishment of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which came into being following the Union of Utrecht in 1588. Most of these were established in the main province of Holland in its major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. The States of Holland, the highest political organ in the province, decided not to formulate a comprehensive policy on the admission and terms of settlement of Jews. The cities were thus free to adopt their own policies. The example of the province of Holland was followed by other provinces to the extent that they all drew up their own policies. Major differences existed within the Dutch Republic, with Amsterdam welcoming Jews, while other cities, such as Utrecht, did not allow them to settle. The first communities were founded by Iberian immigrants, who arrived as “New Christians” but gradually transformed into “New Jews.” Their transnational networks and connections to colonial trade gave them a prominent position in the developing Dutch economy. These Sephardic communities paved the way for Ashkenazim, who settled in the Dutch Republic as refugees fleeing the Thirty Years War in Germany and the Chmielnicki pogroms of 1648–1649. During the 17th century, the Sephardim dominated, but from the 18th century onward the demographic balance shifted in favor of the Ashkenazim. In 1795, the armies of revolutionary France invaded the Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic was subsequently founded. In 1796, Jews were formally emancipated and received full political and civil rights. Research on Dutch Jewry oscillates between a focus on exceptionalism and on a larger, transnational interpretation of both Dutch policies of toleration and the specific character of Dutch Jewish communities. Beginning in the 19th century, most research has concentrated on the Amsterdam Sephardim, mainly in the 17th-century Dutch “Golden Age.” New scholarship since the 1980s also includes, or even concentrates on, the Ashkenazic communities, Jews outside of Amsterdam, and the 18th-century transformation of relations among Jews themselves and between Jews and Christians.

For centuries ritual slaughter had a stable and legitimate place in Dutch society. It was one of the religious rites of the Jewish minority and thus accepted. From the nineteenth century onwards, however, criticism was voiced by animal rights activists, anti-religious organizations and anti-Semites. This criticism – with the exception of the war period – remained until recently marginal. Only in the last decade also mainstream political parties became critical. This essay demonstrates that political changes in the wake of ’9/11’ and the ‘Fortuyn revolt’ led to a new articulation of Dutch identity, which was essentially secular. Religious rites such as Jewish and Islamic ritual slaughter consequently were framed in opposition to the newly expressed Dutch identity. An analysis of the argumentation in the recent political and public debates demonstrates both the continuity with nineteenth-century progressive reasoning, and the impact of recent political changes.

In a critical piece on the French intellectual, Jacques Ellul, the American theology professor George S. Hendry once observed that Ellul was not the first French Protestant who had been trained as a lawyer, but increasingly received acclaim as an author on theological subjects. John Calvin, the University of Paris graduate known as the Reformer of Geneva, had made such a career shift already in the sixteenth century. This book examines how John Calvin was perceived, remembered, represented, constructed, and manipulated by advocates and adversaries alike. It is a study of Calvin representations and the use that was made of them by church leaders, politicians, and popular authors. Likewise, the chapters in this book deliberately focuses on representations of the person John Calvin, as distinguished from the theological tradition, church family, worldview or ethos called Calvinism. Keywords: calvinism; french protestant; John Calvin; sixteenth century; theological tradition

The common Ashkenazi language, Yiddish, was in all western European countries replaced by the vernacular. Yiddish was not only considered to be an uncivilized language, but also an expression of the Jewish nationality. Did Dutch Jews still feel connected to their co-religionists over the borders, or did their newly acquired national identity isolate them from world Jewry? This chapter answers this question from the perspective of the small, acculturated Dutch Jewish elite. These were among the most receptive people to the nationalization offensive, and were also the leaders of the community. The chapter focuses particularly on the highest level of the community's organizational structure in the nineteenth century, the Hoofdcommissie tot de zaken der Israeliten (Supreme Commission for Israelite Affairs). After introducing the Hoofdcommissie, its policy in the Damascus Affair is presented as a test case how national identity and international solidarity were related to each other. Keywords: Ashkenazi language; Damascus Affair; Dutch Jewry; Dutch national identity; Jewish international solidarity