Amsterdam's deeply-rooted Jewish history is revealed in the city's popular nickname, Mokum. The word is a corruption of the Hebrew word makom, which means simply 'place'. Jews began settling in the city from the end of the 16th century, and despite the ravages of the holocaust there is still much to be seen of the Jewish presence in Amsterdam. By Michael Blass & Klaas den Tek.

The Jewish Historical Museum in collaboration with the Amsterdam City Archive and bike rental company MacBike have mapped out a special cycle route leading visitors through the "Hidden Treasures of Jewish Amsterdam".

Waterlooplein in Amsterdam is now dominated by the Stopera, a building that houses both the town hall and the Muziektheater. Only a line of stones set into the ground marks the place where the Jewish orphanage stood. It was once the district of Vlooienburg, home to 80 percent of Amsterdam's Jews.
"This used to be the heart of the Jewish neighbourhood,"
explains Daniël Bouw.

"The conditions were extremely bad, so many people chose to move to the Transvaal neighbourhood. But this still a very important district, because of its strong connections with the Jewish past."

Amsterdammers
Since the end of the 16th century Amsterdam has had a significant Jewish population. The first Jews came from Spain and Portugal, fleeing persecution by the Spanish Inquisition. They were welcomed for their trade links and their knowledge of culture and science. In 1595 the first Jew was registered as a citizen of Amsterdam.

"From then on Jews here have been Amsterdammers," says Daniël Bouw.
"In the 17th century Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe also settled here. They were less successful than the Portuguese Jews. They were often snubbed by the Portuguese Jews because they were afraid of the competition. If a Portuguese Jew married a German Jew, people even called it a mixed marriage. But fortunately these differences disappeared long ago."

Gabber
The Jewish presence in Amsterdam still has a clear voice in the city's everyday slang. Words with Jewish origins include mazzel (meaning good luck, but also used as a farewell), gabber (mate or pal - but in recent years also the name of a house music subculture), bajes (jail), and the nickname for Amsterdam itself, Mokum.

Jewish history is also evident in the city's buildings and monuments. Coats of arms belonging to wealthy Portuguese Jewish families can be seen set into facades of buildings in the former Jewish area. A building that now serves as a nursery bears a plaque showing a pelican feeding its young with blood, the symbol of Portuguese Jewry in the Netherlands.

"Most people associate Amsterdam with the red light district, the main shopping streets and Dam Square," says Daniël Bouw. He wants to introduce people to a lesser-known side of the city.
"No tourists ever come to these places, although there's plenty to see. We want to reveal the hidden treasures on a cycle tour."

Wound
The tour also exposes all too clearly the fate of the majority of Amsterdam's Jews during the Second World War. Monuments such as the Dockworker on the Jonas Daniël Meijerplein and the Auschwitz memorial in the Wertheimpark commemorate the deportations. Before the war, Amsterdam was home to 80,000 Jews. Now there are 20,000.

"They were a completely integrated community,"
says Daniël Bouw.

"They spoke Dutch, paid taxes, had contact with their Dutch neighbours. Suddenly they didn't belong any more and they were eventually transported en masse to concentration camps. This created a deep wound in the Jewish community. We feel this pain, but we also have to look to the future. There was Jewish life before the Second World War. And there is still Jewish life in Amsterdam."

Photos (c) Klaas den Tek/RNW

[Copyright Radio Netherlands 2008]