Synagogues which once served a flourishing Jewish community of 140,000 persons in Holland are today being used for a variety of purposes such as churches, factory and warehouse buildings, public baths and museums. The postwar Jewish population of the Netherlands is 22,000.
By contrast with this situation, the Jews of Rotterdam have just consecrated their new synagogue, the first to be built in Holland since the Nazi invasion. Prewar Rotterdam had two synagogues serving some 11,000 Jews. The Nazis destroyed both synagogues and annihilated 10,200 of the Jews.
Consecration services for the new temple were conducted by Chief Rabbi Justus Tal of Amsterdam. Burgomaster G. W. Van Walselm, who spoke at the ceremony, spoke of the support and interest of the non-Jews of Rotterdam for the Jews. He announced that Queen Juliana had just knighted Hendrik Van Daelen, honorary treasurer of the new synagogue.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
