GORINCHEM – On the side wall of the building next door, you can still see where the steps of the synagogue used to be. The wall looks as if the demolished building was still standing a year ago. It forms the backdrop for an absurd archaeological dig on the Nursery Street in Gorinchem.
Remains of the synagogue are still visible on the side facade
Deeply sunk in the mud, archaeologist Sjeng Dautzenberg and Martin Veen of the municipal archaeological working group search for tangible remains of the synagogue. Veen sees the absurdity in it. Archaeologists do not search for the twentieth century. Yet that is the case in Gorinchem. In 1958 – only 42 years ago, for an archaeologist that is no longer ago than the day before yesterday – mayor From Rappard demolish the synagogue. The three Jewish families who returned after the Second World War could no longer maintain the building.
In 1958, film and photography were as common as they are now, but nothing was recorded before the demolition came. In the city archives there are a handful of photos and the building specifications, nothing more. How the synagogue was built, what the layout was, nobody knows. Of the interior, only one photo is known; the picture in which Germans or NSB members have smashed the place to pieces.
The found watercourse and well synagogue Kwekelstraat
The archaeologists have two weeks (read: the money) to reconstruct the floor plan of the synagogue. After a week, Dautzenberg and the volunteers of the working group have not had much success. "No Stars of David or seven-armed candlesticks or anything like that. "Unfortunately," says Veen. A few buckets full of shards and glassware have emerged from the old sewer pipe. "Everywhere in the city where you put a spade in the ground, you find it." Dautzenberg lets a symbolic find turn in his fingers: A German 8-millimetre bullet casing, type 1935. During the war, that type of bullet was still in full use. "Well, who knows," mumbles Dautzenberg.
The municipality finances the excavation. It was also a municipal decision at the time - devoid of any historical awareness - to demolish the synagogue. The hope is that something tangible will come out of the ground, or that the layout can be traced. With the demolition of the synagogue, the history of the Jews in Gorinchem was literally shattered.
So far, hardly anything has been discovered. Only the indoor water well and the sewerage that ran under the building have been found. Underneath that, the foundations of three small houses from earlier centuries have been found. The archaeologists will continue their search until the end of this week.
Rivierenland Daily Newspaper
February 22, 2000