GORINCHEM – The Nursery Street in Gorinchem has been a playground for Pieter Floore and Martin Veen of the municipal archaeology working group for over a week. With the help of a few volunteers, they are searching daily for the foundations of an old synagogue.
Excavation of the Kwekelstraat synagogue
The excavation work, which will continue until next Saturday, is not an unqualified success, according to Floore. "In addition to wall remains, cellars and a watercourse, we also found tableware. This concerns tableware from the nineteenth century that was used by the former Jewish community. These items have great scientific value. I myself am also happy with these finds because I am very interested in Judaism." The synagogue in the Nursery Street, located on the site of a parking lot today, was built in 1843. Until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Gorinchem had a thriving Jewish community, Floore: “The deportation of Jews to Germany put an end to that. After 1945, the synagogue fell into disuse, after which it was decided to demolish the building. That happened in 1958, a time when something like that could have happened more easily. Also because people preferred not to think about the terrible consequences of the Holocaust.”
Reading
Incidentally, historian Bert Stamkot will give a lecture in the public library of Gorinchem on Tuesday 29 February. He will do this on behalf of the Sliedrechtse Dijksynagogue FoundationThe lecture, entitled 'Gorcum and the synagogue', is about the history of 'Jewish Gorcum' after 1787. He discusses several historical milestones such as the start of the Jewish community in 1787, the construction of the first synagogue in Gorcum in 1817, the opening of a new synagogue in 1842, the centenary in 1942 and the dissolution of the community in 1946. Beforehand, Ab Groothedde will tell a story about the Dijksynagoge foundation, which strives to preserve the dike synagogue on the border of Sliedrecht with Hardinxveld-Giessendam. The lecture starts at 20 p.m. Admission: Fl. 7,50. Donors to the foundation can enter for five guilders. Incidentally, for people who want to know more about the foundation, an exhibition can be seen in the Hardinxveld museum 'De Koperen Knop' from Thursday.
Gorcumse Courant
February 23, 2000