Bussum
The first Jewish families settled in Bussum at the start of the twentieth century. In 1911, Bussum Jews established the Society for the Advancement of the Interests of the Jews to stimulate local Jewish life. In the same year, synagogue services commenced to be held in a private home and a visiting teacher from the town of Weesp was engaged to provide Jewish religious education.
In 1913, the Society for the Advancement of the Interests of the Jews began to lobby for the recognition of Bussum Jewry as an independent Jewish community. Recognition of the Bussum community was delayed until 1917, in part due to the reluctance of the small Jewish community of the nearby city of Naarden to surrender control and financing.
In 1919, the Bussum community converted a former church building into a synagogue. By 1931, the community outgrew the building and moved its synagogue to a larger structure on the Kromme Englaan.
The Bussum community maintained a synagogue council and a council for aid to the poor, as well as a youth club, women's society, and Zionist youth organization. The Bussum community did not possess a cemetery of its own but used that of the Naarden community, located on the Amersfoortse Straatweg.
During the 1930's, large numbers of German Jewish refugees settled in Bussum and nearby Naarden. In September 1940, following the exclusion of Jewish students from public education, the Bussum community established a Jewish school. Officially, the school functioned until 1943.
In June of 1942, deportation of Jews from Bussum via Amsterdam to Nazi death camps began. More than half of the original Jewish population of Bussum was murdered. The Germans confiscated the furnishings of the synagogue. The synagogue's Torah scrolls and other ceremonial objects, having been hidden in advance, escaped confiscation and were recovered after the war.
During the post-war period, a relatively large Jewish community arose anew in Bussum. The synagogue was enlarged in 1956 and restored in 1983. The community purchased an adjacent building to serve as a cultural center. In 1972, a Jewish old age home was opened in Bussum. It closed its doors in 1996.
The Jewish population of Bussum and surroundings:
The size of the Jewish community over time
1809
9
1840
4
1869
-
1899
20
1930
341
1951
220
1971
206
1998
147