The story of Hindeloopen Synagogue
Hindeloopen is a small town in Friesland, now part of the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân. Its Jewish history grew out of that of neighbouring Workum. In the later seventeenth century Workum skippers traded with Portuguese-Jewish merchants in Amsterdam, around 1660 two Jews leased the local lending bank, and in 1661 a Jewish cemetery was laid out at the Séburch lock between Workum and Hindeloopen, considered the first in Friesland. In 1715 a Jewish merchant and distiller bought a house in Hindeloopen itself, and a small community formed around him and later arrivals. It never became a fully independent congregation for long: according to the Jewish Cultural Quarter's community encyclopedia it was a branch of the Jewish community of Bolsward. The community had its own synagogue on the street called the Bueren (today spelled Buren), and buried its dead at Séburch. The congregation shrank sharply in the nineteenth century, from 42 Jews in 1809 to 29 in 1840 and only two in 1869. It was formally dissolved in 1862 and absorbed into Bolsward, and the synagogue building was demolished in 1870. Its site has never been built on again.
Where it stood
Historic: synagogue on the Bueren, Hindeloopen, Friesland; house number unknown. Today: an empty plot (the 'Jodenerf') on Buren, 8713 Hindeloopen, Súdwest-Fryslân; pin at the midpoint of the street (approximate).
Open larger map →The Jewish community
The first Jewish presence in the area was in Workum rather than Hindeloopen. The community encyclopedia of the Jewish Cultural Quarter records that Workum seafarers had business contacts with Portuguese-Jewish merchants in Amsterdam in the second half of the seventeenth century, and that around 1660 two Jews leased the Bank van Lening, the town's pawnbroking bank. A year later the Jewish cemetery at the Séburch lock was founded; its oldest surviving stone dates from 1676. Settlement in Hindeloopen itself is documented from 1715, when a Jewish merchant and distiller bought a house there. A small community followed, which functioned as a branch of the larger congregation in Bolsward. Population figures for Jews in Hindeloopen and its surroundings are 42 in 1809, 29 in 1840 and 2 in 1869. Bolsward itself had 114 Jews in 1840 and became, under the national church organisation of 1821, a ring synagogue under the main synagogue of Leeuwarden. The names of Hindeloopen's Jewish families, its lay leaders and any teachers or cantors who served it are unknown from the sources read.
Architecture and design
No description, plan or picture of the Hindeloopen synagogue was found. The only facts recorded are that it stood on the Bueren, one of the old streets of the town centre, and that it was demolished in 1870. Its date of construction or adaptation is unknown, as is whether it was purpose-built or a converted house. Given that the community never numbered much more than forty people, including those living in the surrounding area, the building was almost certainly a small prayer house rather than a monumental synagogue; this is an inference from the population figures, not a documented fact. The architect, builder, materials, seating capacity and interior arrangement, including the position of the ark and the bimah and any women's gallery, are all unknown. No surviving fragment of the building is recorded, and no ritual objects from it have been identified in museum collections in the sources consulted.
Life inside the synagogue
Almost nothing is recorded about religious life in the Hindeloopen synagogue. As a branch of the Bolsward congregation, the community would have depended on Bolsward for many communal functions; the sources read do not say whether Hindeloopen ever had its own rabbi, teacher, cantor or ritual slaughterer, or how often a prayer quorum of ten men could be gathered. With 42 Jews in the town and its surroundings in 1809, regular services were possible, but by 1840 the number had fallen to 29, and by the 1860s the community had become too small to sustain itself. The dead were buried in the cemetery at the Séburch lock near Workum. Bolsward offered religious instruction from the late eighteenth century, and children from Hindeloopen may have been taught there, but no source read says so. No records of the congregation's own administration were found.
Destruction
The synagogue was not destroyed by war or violence. Its congregation had dwindled during the nineteenth century, and in 1862 the Jewish community of Hindeloopen was formally dissolved and merged into that of Bolsward. By 1869 only two Jews were counted in Hindeloopen and its surroundings, so the building can have had little or no use in its last years. The community encyclopedia of the Jewish Cultural Quarter states simply that the synagogue was demolished in 1870. Who owned the building at that time, whether it was sold by the Bolsward congregation before demolition, who carried out the demolition and why are not recorded in any source read. Nor is it known whether the building had fallen into disrepair. What is recorded is that the plot was never built on again: it remained an open piece of ground, which local people continue to call the 'Jodenerf', the Jews' yard.
The community’s fate
The Jewish community of Hindeloopen did not end in the Holocaust but faded away long before it, through emigration to larger towns. Its decline is visible in the census figures: 42 Jews in 1809, 29 in 1840 and only two in 1869. The congregation was dissolved in 1862 and its remaining members were attached to Bolsward. Bolsward's own community declined in turn, from 114 Jews in 1840 to 32 in 1899 and a single Jew in 1930; it merged into the congregation of Sneek in 1911, when the Bolsward synagogue was sold. Where the Jewish families of Hindeloopen went, and whether any of their descendants were among the Dutch Jews murdered during the Nazi occupation of 1940 to 1945, cannot be traced from the sources read. The cemetery at the Séburch lock, where Hindeloopen's Jews were buried, survives and is maintained by the local municipality.
The site today
The plot on the Buren where the synagogue stood has remained unbuilt since the demolition of 1870 and is known locally as the 'Jodenerf'. The exact plot has not been identified in any source consulted, so the map pin marks the middle of the Buren street in the centre of Hindeloopen rather than the site itself. The Jewish cemetery at the Séburch lock between Hindeloopen and Workum, the community's burial ground from 1661, still exists and is cared for by the municipality.
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