The area now known as The Netherlands was once part of the Spanish empire, but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence.
Religious tolerance was effectively an important constitutional element of the newly independent state. This attracted the attention of Jews who were religiously oppressed in many parts of the world.
The newly independent Dutch provinces provided an ideal opportunity for Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews to re-establish themselves and practise their religion openly, and they migrated, most notably to Amsterdam. Collectively they brought trading influence to the city as they established themselves in Amsterdam.
Many Ashkenazim came as the result of persecution in Eastern Europe. In general they settled in rural areas where they subsisted typically as pedlars and hawkers. The result was that a large number of small Jewish communities existed throughout the Dutch provinces.
In 1939 there were some 140,000 Dutch Jews living in the Netherlands. In 1941 the majority of Dutch Jews were living in Amsterdam.
One of the best-known Holocaust victims in the Netherlands is Anne Frank, whose diary records her years of hiding during the German occupation of Holland in the Second World War.
At present there are approximately 41,000 – 45,000 Jewish people in the Netherlands. Some 44% of all Dutch Jews live in Amsterdam, which is considered the centre of Jewish life in the Netherlands.
