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A
Bit of History
 In Europe, much of
Jewish settlement began with the Roman conquests. Jews followed the path of the Roman legions
in Belgium in the years 53-57 A.D.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, Jews settled in Belgium after
having been expelled from England and France.
Another wave of immigration to Belgium came in
the 15th century when the Jews were expelled from
Spain and Portugal.
Educated and sometimes
quite wealthy, Jews scattered throughout Europe,
settling in the seventeen provinces of the Lowlands,
today's Belgium and the Netherlands. Marranos
who settled in Antwerp at the end of the 15th
and the beginning of the 16th century played an
important economic and financial role there. Between
1650 and 1694 a secret synagogue conducted services
in Antwerp.
The Jewish population
in Belgium grew slowly in the 18th and 19th centuries,
emigrating mainly from France, Germany and Holland.
After 1880, Jews also emigrated from Eastern Europe.
In fact Belgium, and especially Antwerp, was seen
as a stop to the "Goldene Mediene." Sephardic Jews came also from the Ottoman Empire
before the turn of the 19th century.
With the arrival
of German refugees in the 1930s, the Jewish population
in Belgium reached its peak. By 1939, it has been
estimated that 65,000 Jews lived in Belgium-25,000
in Antwerp, 30,000 in Brussels, 5,000 in Liege,
3,000 in Charleroi, with smaller settlements in
Gent, Oostende, Namur and Arlon.
By August 1942, the
Nazis began transporting Belgian Jews to Auschwitz.
By the end of the war approximately 40,000 Belgian
Jews had died. After World War II,
rebuilding the Jewish communities was the first
and main goal of those who survived the Holocaust.
These communities consisted of those who hid successfully
during the war and the 1,207 who returned from
the camps. Other concentration camp survivors
and displaced people, who never had lived in Belgium
before, joined them.
Today the majority
of Belgian Jews belongs to the middle class and
is active in the fur, textile, leather
and diamond industries. The total
Jewish population in Belgium is approximately
42,000. About 20,000 Jews live in Brussels, and
15,000 in Antwerp. Small Jewish communities
exist in Charleroi, Oostende, Gent, Liege, Mons,
Arlon and Knokke.
In comparison with
other occupied countries, a high percentage of
Jews were saved by Belgians who went to great
lengths hiding children and adults whenever and
wherever possible.
Belgium is the 4th largest Jewish
Community in Europe
Brussels
(Today Brussels has over 20,000 Jewish inhabitants)
Museums & Synagogues
| Jewish
organizations
Museums
and Synagogues |
The Belgian Jewish Museum
The Museum is located in a 19th Century town house with a beautiful collection of Jewish art, Jewish religious objects and documents. |
The
Great Synagogue
32
Rue de la Regence
B - 1000 Brussels
This magnificent Synagogue was built 1878,
it has not been destroyed during the Holocaust. |
Liberal Synagogue (Reform)
96 Avenue de Kersbeek
B - 1190 Brussels
Many Americans attend services here. It's a 20-minute taxi ride from downtown Brussels. |
Synagogue Simon and Lina Haim
47 Rue du Pavillon
B - 1030 Brussels
Elegant modern Sephardic Synagogue built in 1970.
Memorial for Jews deported from Rhodes, Greece. |
The National Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium
It is an impressive monument located at Rue Emile Carpentier and Rue de Goujons (B - 1070 Brussels) in the district of Anderlecht. The square is called 'Square of the Jewish Martyrs'. 23,838 names are inscribed on the wall. A small museum is also located here.
Pictures & Information |
Jewish
Organizations |
Jewish Community Center
52 Rue Hotel des Monnaies
B - 1060 Brussels
Tel (322) 543-0270
Provides conferences, concerts, a bar, Jewish holiday dinners and children activities. |
Cercle Ben Gourion
89 Chaussee de Vleurgat
B - 1050 Brussels
Tel (322) 648-1859
Provides conferences, concerts, a bar, Jewish holiday dinners and children activities |
International Jewish Center The Center organizes cultural and religious activities in English for all its members and covering all ages. Services and Sunday School. |
Other
Jewish Sights and Jewish Communities in Belgium
Other Jewish Sights |
Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance
The museum is housed in a wing of the former "Dossin de Saint Georges Barracks" at Mechelen. This historic site is also a
place of remembrance. It was here, halfway
between Brussels and Antwerp, that the Nazis
set up the 'SS-Sammellager Mechelen', which
served as the assembly point for Jews about
to be deported from Belgium. Roughly 25,000
persons including 5,430 children were deported
from these barracks to Auschwitz.
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Breendonk Fort National Memorial
The visitor to the "Breendonk Fort National
Memorial" is confronted with the most
striking and best- preserved historical record
of the Nazi terror in West Europe. The tour takes the visitor on a walk around
the fort to give an idea of the immense excavation
works carried out by the prisoners and ultimately
leads the visitor to the execution ground. |
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