The Jodenbuurt - ( Jewish Quarter )
The Jodenbuurt, also sometimes known as the Jodenheok (Jewish Corner), was once a lively, colourful and proud neighbourhood, poor but hard-working. Those days have gone for ever. During World War II, the Jewish community in Amsterdam, which had numbered 80.000, was reduced to only 5.000. Neglected and decrepit, the Jodenbuurt became a virtual ghost town. Jewish street life disappeared.
Since then it has been a victim again, this time of demolition for property development, road-build and Metro lines – look for the demolition ball inside Waterlooplein Metro station, a reminder of the destruction, and a typically Dutch indulgence in self-mortification.
Stand at the broad junction of Mr. Visserplein and look at the dull concrete embankments flanking Jodenbreestraat to the north, the gaping underpass which leads traffic from Weesperstraat north towards the IJ tunnel, and the great square hulk of the Town Hall overlooking Waterlooplein, and you could be forgiven for thinking that Amsterdam is just another modern city.
The former Jewish quarter extends from the Houtkoopersburgwal in the north to the Binnen-Amstel in the south. The first Jewish refugees came to Amsterdam at the end of the 16th C. and settled in the area around the Waterlooplein (Jodenbreestraat, Valkenburgerstraat, Oude Schans).
In the 1960s the building of an expressway drastically changed the face of the quarter, then a cutting was made for the building of the Metro, leaving only a row of houses on the Amstel, until those too were demolished in 1976. The Waterlooplein has made a comeback, however. Today it is the site of Amsterdam's opera house, "Het Muziektheater", which shares its building with the new town hall, and the Jewish past is recalled in the Joods Historisch Museum.
Yet the Jodenbuurt and the neighbouring Plantage have a powerful story to tell, and some element of the indomitable Jewish spirit remains. There are enough places of interest to visit to occupy a full day and, if you are interested in Amsterdam’s Jewish past, careful exploration is rewarded.
