Remains of synagogue emerge

GORINCHEM – Anyone who has seen the Nursery Street in the city center, could see volunteers from the Gorcum Archaeology working group at work. Under the leadership of archaeologist Pieter Floore, they dug for the remains of the Jewish synagogue, which stood there until 1958.

That year, the building was demolished as part of the urban redevelopment. It had not been used as a place of worship for several years, because there were only a few Jews left in Gorinchem after the Second World War.

The area where the synagogue stood has served as a parking lot for a long time, but will soon be built on. So the time had come to once again search the ground for tangible memories of Jewish life in Gorinchem. Very little of that has been preserved.

The synagogue was built in 1841 with financial support from the municipality, province and state. It was inaugurated in 1842. The building had 90 seats and was sober in design and execution. The members of the Dutch Israelite Community in Gorinchem could not afford excessive expenses.

They had bought the plot where the synagogue was built in 1836 from the relatives of Jacob de Groot, who was a 'city teacher of youth' in life. At that time, the plot consisted of a house with a large garden. The synagogue was built in that garden, against the side wall of the house next door. On the wall of this house, which still exists today, the remains of the roof edge of the synagogue were found. The floor in the building, where the women's gallery was located, can also still be seen here.

Watercourse

The foundations of the synagogue were exposed during the excavations. Also important is the discovery of a brick watercourse underneath, which must have been used by the Jews as a waste pit. This provides a lot of information about their way of life. For example, it has become clear that they must have eaten a lot of fish and, based on the remains of 18^e-century tableware, it can be concluded that the users belonged to the middle class. The house that was bought from Jacob de Groot was converted into a school in 1854, with accommodation above it: for the teacher and a ritual bathhouse (mikveh) behind it. Hardly anything was known about this. The bath has now been found. It appears to have the same shape and dimensions as the mikveh at the synagogue in LeerdamThere were red tiles on the floor and the walls were not tiled.

15^e Century

Remains of previous buildings dating back to the 15th century have also been found under the foundations of the synagogue and the annex building.^e century. That there had been buildings here before the synagogue was built was already partly known from the archives.

Jacob de Groot had laid out his garden on a site where a barn stood when he bought it in 1818. This barn, which was demolished that year, had previously served as a coach house. Older deeds always refer to a coach house, or barn and a stable with yard. At the end of the 18^e century there must also have been a shed with pig sheds.
The plot on which the outbuilding stood was also already built at the end of the 6th century. According to archival documents, there were initially a few small houses here, which were rented out by the owners. In the course of the 18^e century, these must have been replaced by two warehouses, one of which was converted into or replaced by a residential house around 1780. This house was purchased by Jacob de Groot in 1811 and sold to the Jewish community by his relatives in 1836.

No relevant archive documents have been preserved from before 1584. The excavations have now shown that the site was already in use in the 15^e century. This has lifted another corner of the veil on the earlier residential history of Gorinchem.

Info Gorinchem
March 14, 2000
Francis van den Berg