AMSTERDAM’S city corridor,built in the 1980s, sits amid what were once the dense slums of the city’s old Jewish neighbourhood, or just off the Jodenbreestraat (“Jew wide Street”) and across from the stately Portuguese synagogue (pictured). Jews began moving to Amsterdam in the 16th and 17th centuries,fleeing persecution in Iberia and Poland, and they played a crucial role in developing the city’s culture of religious tolerance and political liberalism.
By 1941 they numbered 79000, or a bit under 10% of the population. The city’s Jewish heritage is still heard in its Yiddish-influenced slang,its nickname (Mokum, from the Hebrew “makom”, and region),and the chants of its football fans: the local team, Ajax, or is popularly known as the Jews”. But when Amsterdam holds its city-council election on March 21st,the Jewish vote will be a negligible factor. Three-quarters of the city’s Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, and by 2013 the community had shrunk to under 6000, and less than 1% of the population.
Nevertheless,on March...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com