Uithoorn
Toward the end of the 18th century, Jews settled in the municipality of Thamen, located on the border of the provinces of North Holland and Utrecht. The small community was comprised mostly of butchers and vendors. In 1803, five Amsterdam Jews purchased the Mennonite Church at Mijdrecht and donated it to the Jews of Thamen. The building was renovated in 1805 and reopened as a synagogue.
In 1818, Thamen was divided into two municipalities, Uithoorn and Mijdrecht. Following the division, separate Jewish communities were formed in both places. In 1821, the Jewish community at Uithoorn was granted independent status as a Ringsynagoge or regional community. At the time, the Jews of Mijdrecht were part of the Ringsynagoge at Maarssen. The Jews of Mijdrecht enjoyed independent status from 1835 to 1906, but Jewish life in Mijdrecht always remained closely connected with that in Uithoorn.
Postcard of Uithoorn with the synagogue (right), ca. 1904
The Uithoorn community was governed by a community council and maintained a board for administering aid to the poor. Local voluntary organizations included a burial society and a society for the maintenance of the synagogue. A single religious teacher provided instruction to Jewish children in both Uithoorn and Mijdrecht. The Uithoorn community did not have a cemetery of its own but buried its dead in the Jewish cemetery at Alphen aan de Rijn.
By 1900, the condition of the Uithoorn synagogue had declined to the point that it was razed and replaced with a new building. The new building fell into disrepair by the 1930s and into disuse by 1938. The contents of the synagogue were sold in 1939. During World War II, the remaining Jews of Uithoorn razed the synagogue with their own hands rather than let it be vandalized and desecrated by the Germans and their Dutch collaborators. The remaining ceremonial objects were taken to Amsterdam. The majority of the Jewish population of Uithoorn were deported to Nazi death camps via the detention camp at Westerbork and murdered. Only five local Jews managed to survive the war in hiding.
The Jewish community at Uithoorn was administratively abolished in 1947 and the locale was placed under the jurisdiction of the Jewish community at Amsterdam.
The Jewish population of Uithoorn and surroundings:
The size of the Jewish community over time
1809
96
1840
99
1869
49
1899
48
1930
29