Jewish Historical Museum

▪ museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Dutch  Joods Historisch Museum 

      museum in Amsterdam that displays artifacts, artwork, and other items associated with Jewish history, religion, and culture.

      The objects on view at the Jewish Historical Museum demonstrate the Jewish spiritual, cultural, and historical experience in The Netherlands and worldwide. The museum opened in 1932 and by 1937 had amassed a collection of 630 objects. The original collection was confiscated, and many of the objects were destroyed during World War II. Only a few of the original items made their way back to the collection. The JHM reopened in 1955 and began its collection anew, emphasizing the history and culture of Dutch Jews.

      The museum initially occupied only the top floor of the historical Waag (Weigh House) but grew to encompass the entire building. In 1987 the collection moved to a complex of restored synagogues located in Amsterdam's former Jewish quarter. The oldest building in this complex is the Great Synagogue (Grote Synagoge), established by the city's Ashkenazi Jews and consecrated in 1671, or, by the Jewish calendar, 5431. Jewish tradition and religion, as well as the early history of Jews in the Netherlands, are the featured subjects of the displays in this part of the museum. Soon after the Great Synagogue was completed, it became clear that a larger gallery space was necessary, and construction of the Obbene (“Upper”) Shul was completed in 1686. It now contains a children's museum. The Dritt (“Third”) Shul (dedicated 1778) replaced two houses that had served as additional synagogue space since about 1700. Since its renovation as part of the JHM, this building holds museum offices and is not open to the public. The continued growth of the Jewish community prompted the building of a fourth structure, the New Synagogue (Nieuwe Synagoge), dedicated in 1752. The first floor houses the museum's temporary exhibits, while the second contains a permanent exhibit on Jews in the 20th century.

      Today the museum contains more than 30,000 objects, documents, and photos and more than 11,000 ceremonial artifacts and artworks. Highlights of the collection include more than 1,300 gouaches from the painting series Life? or Theatre? by the German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon (1917–43). The museum also displays a number of items, such as diaries, letters, portraits, and personal belongings, that document the personal, individualized experience of the Dutch Jews. Its resource centre, which is open to the public, contains a vast collection of documents, magazines, microfiches, photographs, and audio and video material pertinent to Jewish culture (primarily that of The Netherlands).

* * *