Jewish District Tour

The tour of the Jewish ditrict started at the Jewish museum, but we didn't go inside. The story is on the the streets in the area.

The building is the Prortuguese synagogue. It was the largest in Amsterdam. The Dutch were very tolerant and they welcomed jews from other countries where they were being persecuted, notably Spain and Portugal.

The statue is called "The Dock Worker".  It commemorates a Communist party demonstration which occurred in the square in front of the synagogue. The Nazis had taken power and had begun enforcing restrictions on the Jewish population. The protest resulted in many arrests and the disturbance was blamed on the Jews. The area was cordoned off and the Jews were kept inside. Soon after, letters were delivered to all jews between sixteen and 35 years of age. They were commanded to report for deportation. In fear for their families, 120,000 people reported.

As I mentioned in a previous post, many buildings in Amsterdam are tilted. Some are leaning over the streets. In some cases this was intentional. These buildings have hooks at the top centre. With very narrow staircase, large items to be delivered can be hoisted to an upper floor. The tilt makes this easier.

The letters above are in hebrew and they mean "In Memoriam". Of the 120,000 people who were deported, only 5,000 returned from the extermination camps. 

From above, the shiny silver shapes spell out "In Memmoriam".

The names of all the missing people are inscribed on the bricks.

Dam Square

Royal Palace

Again we found ourselves at the Anne Frank House. Anne Frank's sister was one of those who were commanded to report for deportation, so their father immediately made a plan to hide. This is the place they hid for two years.

In the end, the were captured and were sent to extermination camps. The father was the only one to survive. You really must read "The Diary of Anne Frank for a more complete story.

After our tour we went back to Pancakes Amsterdam for lunch. We both ordered savoury dutch pancakes. Dutch Pancakes are quite thin and quite large. They can be sweet or savoury. Deb had hers with goat cheese, spinach and mushrooms. I had mine with spinach, bacon, and an egg. Dutch will happily eat a pancake for breakfast, lunch or dinner.