How did Amsterdam become the Jerusalem of the West? | History of Jewish Amsterdam (1500-2024)

From the second half of the 16th century, exiled Jews from Iberia, particularly from Portugal, started coming to Amsterdam, an up and coming city that had risen from the marshes in the previous centuries. Since then, Amsterdam has become the booming capital of the Netherlands and its erstwhile global empire. Jews have played an important role in Dutch, but particularly in the history of Amsterdam throughout the centuries. Giving the VOC and the Dutch an advantage over their Portuguese adversaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, allowing for trading opportunities and connections with the Ottoman Empire and other Sephardic Jewish communities across the world, and later became an important part of the fabric of life in the Netherlands.
00:00-01:14 - Intro
01:14-03:18 - Expulsion of Jews From Portugal
03:18-06:40 - Portuguese (Sephardic) Jews in Amsterdam
06:40-8:06 - Baruch Spinoza
08:06-09:50 - Jews and the Portuguese-Dutch Wars
09:50-12:00 - Jews in the Eighteenth Century Netherlands
12:00-13:55 - Ashkenazi Jews in Amsterdam
13:55-15:39 - Jews in the Nineteenth Century Netherlands
15:39-20:35 - The Holocaust in the Netherlands
20:37-23:09 - Jews in the Modern Netherlands
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#netherlands #amsterdam #history

[@gadyariv2456]

Makum Aleph doesn't mean safe place, It means first place, Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew language Hebrew used an alphabetic numeral system, so Aleph is a number and a letter, hence it means either first place or number 1 place.

[@mykelld]

Well that is interesting.

[@victoralcantar960]

Thank you for the correction. I thought that was weird at first, your comment makes more sense to me. Now, this comes from a Spanish native speaker, barely familiar with some foreign words outside of the romance languages.

[@gsalsam]

No its about how you had mokum alef (because the alef for amsterdam) and you had mokum resh, rotterdam

[@gadyariv2456]

@@gsalsamdidn't know that, makes sense why Amsterdam is called that way, considering Hebrew wasn't a spoken language the way Yiddish and ladino were, that they would use Hebrew in such an odd manner.

[@sentient3408]

lol this is a cool idea but it’s wrong Mokum aleph means Mokum-(place/city/safe heaven) Aleph= letter A for Amsterdam. It means A-Safe heaven City there was a similar nickname for Berlin and Rotterdam it’s a Yiddish thing Berlin’s was Beis (the Yiddish pronunciation for bet, בּ) mokum beis Rotterdam was Mokum Reish…

[@edwardloomis887]

Christian dissenters also went to the Netherlands. The Pilgrims who became famous in North America first settled in Leiden because they could find jobs there they couldn't in Amsterdam.

[@jamesvandemark2086]

My Dutch ancestor with a Portuguese wife...... makes for interesting family DNA results, yes? A great thing, those various other connections!

[@AT-rr2xw]

I am assuming that she was also your ancestor?

[@jamesvandemark2086]

Yes- and they evidently prospered in New Amsterdam.@@AT-rr2xw

[@jamesvandemark2086]

Yes, definitely.@@AT-rr2xw

[@FrancisTheBerd]

PORTUGAL CARALHO

[@Mattdewit]

It does not have to do with Amsterdam but as a student at the university of Leiden I would like to add the story Cleveringa. He was a professor at the law facutly that gave a protest speech after the Germans ordered that Jews should be fired from university positions. This speech was circulated among students who decided to strike against this new rule. As a result the Germans closed the university and it was only opened again after the war. The university still organizes a lecture every year about freedom and justice that is named after him. If you want to know more about how much the average person knew in the Netherlands I can recomend ''Wij weten niets van hun lot'' which translates as ''we don't know about their fate'' by professor van der Boom. It examines how much the population knew about the Holocaust.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Thank you for covering this. Although I knew most of this information, it was interesting to hear from the perspective of a Dutchman. Because of the Holocaust, New York City has taken the status of the most important city for Jews outside of Israel from Old Amsterdam, Vilnius, and Thessaloniki

[@FOLIPE]

Holocaust and immigration.

[@user-jl9cg2im5q]

Fun fact. In Yugoslav communist party one of the most important members was Mose Pijade. He was one of the leading ideologues of Yugoslav Socialism and he was one of the first to translate Karl Marx to Serbian/Croatian. He was from the merchant family who originally came from Amsterdam to Balkans.

[@DeEchteZeus]

thats not a fun fact. that's horrific.

[@user-jl9cg2im5q]

@@DeEchteZeus Why?

[@DeEchteZeus]

@@user-jl9cg2im5q do you know who karl marx is?

[@user-jl9cg2im5q]

@@DeEchteZeus I have an entire collection of his and Engels works in Serbian language on my shelf along Lenin and many others. I think I know a thing or two about Marx.

[@victoralcantar960]

I'm glad to say that almost any video from this channel ends up being super interesting for me. I'm not jewish, but I'm really interested in knowing more about these things, how they overcame or adapted to their political environment and I also find fascinating learning the impact they had in several different areas of western culture, as well as the regions they moved into, oftentimes weird ones at first glance, such as Sri Lanka or China.

[@thedemongodvlogs7671]

It's worth noting that Western Ashkenazim are slightly different to Eastern Ashkenazim. For one, we stopped speaking 'Yiddish' in 1700/1800s (it was replaced with Judeo-German/Jüdischdeutch). We also are generally less orthodox and we are colloquially called Yekkes/Jeckes. The Ashkenazi Jews of The Netherlands generally speaking belong to the broad Yekkish region, rather than the Eastern/Central Ashkenazim. The generally area where Yekkes lived is around the Rhine so Alsace, Northern Switzerland, Baden, Rhineland and Netherlands!!

[@sylviamontaez3889]

this video hits home. According to my mother one of our ancestors was chief rabbi of Amsterdam in the 18th century

[@bennruda11]

An american jew, i visited netherlands and was pleasantly surprised how much dutch loved jewish people. I was also surprised to hear about elders of Netherlands would be called Abraham n sarah (more dutch like of course). Kinda nice with the fusion

[@ariebrons7976]

Dutch people also love to impose their religion.

[@jugadorcastriot7796]

There is this old tradition wr have when our parents turn 50 where they become an 'Abraham/sara'. There's even these human sized dolls people buy to celebrate the occasion, if you Google Abraham/Sara poppen you'll see it. It's definitely a thing here. My mother wasn't particularly amused because she did not appreciate being reminded she was getting old lol

[@svenvanwier7196]

I believe this status is being lost looking at the most recent opening of a museum.

[@schepvogelk5971]

Unfortunately a big part of the population hates Jews, the Muslim population is in general very unfriendly, and now and left 'actitivist'.

[@DeEchteZeus]

not with all the arab influx lol

[@mykelld]

Quite an intresting video. Just like all the others, I enjoyed watching it!

[@patrickkelmer6290]

Among my favourite places in Hamburg are the Jewish Cemetery in Altona and the (still used) Jewish Cemetery in Ohlsdorf. The tombstones of the sefardim are so beautiful and unique, and I find it fascinating how the listed birthplaces include Amsterdam, Brazil, Copenhagen, London and Antwerpen.

[@xenamorphwinner7931]

Now do a video about the Northern Jerusalem - Vilnius or Wilno if it’s easier to pronounce (I am a Lithuanian and trust me, when I recommend using Polish name for the city, our language pronunciations are weird even to the Latvians, especially the softener sound, which to mark we use “i”)

[@dutchman7623]

There are more typical Dutch factors that played a role. The municipal administration was excellent, everyone was registered, where they lived, with whom they lived, their family connections and religion. All the way back in time to 1800, and by religious books even back to 1500. So locating and identifying people was easy. The registers became a target for the resistance when they knew how those were abused by the occupation forces. Also the Calvinistic view that all power comes from God, and everything can only happen by His will alone, be it good or bad, kept many from actively resisting the German occupation. Anything 'illegal' is a sin, you have to obey authority, because it's God's hand at work. So a large majority behaved like meek sheep, and resistance started slow.

[@schepvogelk5971]

Dude, we sold out a huge part of the ducth Jews. Buggest number (%) in Europe.

[@micahistory]

interesting video, I didn't know so much about this topic

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Hilbert. Interesting. I was of the generation of kids who watched Blue Peter in UK, when Anne Frank's dad did a famous interview, that gave this some context.

[@colincampbell4261]

Thankyou, very informative.

[@MuZeSiCk77]

Faaaaaaaaking Intressant Hilbert!!! 🤯= MIND BLOWN

[@hans7856]

The Eastern Dutch countryside did a lot to hide the Jews who fled from the cities. The most beautiful walking route in the Netherlands in 2018 passes by many scars of the war, such as bomb craters, several monuments, German trenches, as well as two so-called onderduikersholen, hiding areas for Jews. The route is called Kerkepaden-Tichelroute around the village of Markelo in Twente. It is relatively unknown and therefore calm, and absolutely beautiful. I've taken friends from the West there and they were surprised to find landscapes like that in their own country, along with the density of historical locations and cosy architecture.

[@hans7856]

Also search for Twentse Wallen route, which is a shorter route that passes by the best spots of the longer route.

[@hans7856]

2.bp.blogspot.com/-5TRxSA9CrnA/WmTMklm1SPI/AAAAAAAAQMY/1L_Hk7VydE0gdAgGw-qKyQL7FXPIuwSlgCLcBGAs/s1600/Kaart-Wandeling-11-Markelo-Markeloseberg-vw-.jpg

[@hans7856]

2.bp.blogspot.com/-5TRxSA9CrnA/WmTMklm1SPI/AAAAAAAAQMY/1L_Hk7VydE0gdAgGw-qKyQL7FXPIuwSlgCLcBGAs/s1600/Kaart-Wandeling-11-Markelo-Markeloseberg-vw-.jpg

[@juliancoulden1753]

Fascinating thank you.

[@herbertbruna]

Yiddish also left a large legacy in Dutch. Words like, Mokum, tinnef, temeier, mesjogge, gein, geteisem, slemiel, aggenebbish, bajes, gajes, mazzel, meier, tof, ponem, sjoege, ramsj, smeris, togus and many more.

[@schepvogelk5971]

Unfortunately now it's been taking over by the new 'straaltaal'.

[@tylersmith3139]

​@@schepvogelk5971 Straattaal*(In English, it's called street speak or street slang for slang/vernacular speech in cities) And those words are still used in Straattaal, it's just that new words are also added.

[@jonpon0182]

It's also important to note that the war in the northern Netherlands, including Amsterdam,where most Jews lived, lasted a year longer than most places. A year where a lot of none Jews died from hunger and poor conditions. The Germans knew this of course, and gave money to snitches. When you have to choose between your child, and the neighbour,Jewish or not ,you usually choose yours.

[@gustafbehr3639]

On that same square stands a church built by jews from iberia, the Moses church. Could you make a video about it and the history of conversion of the jews in amsterdam.

[@amitcohen2269]

My brother and his family (from Israel) are some of the new Jews that moved to Amsterdam. I, funnily enough moved to Portugal.

[@hutsuls]

I have market trader friends in Amsterdam who use Yiddish/Amsterdam dialect.I trade in the UK and a lot of Yiddish is in the vocabulary also as well as everyday use .Similarly within the fairground communities this phenomenon exists also.Take cockney rhyming in London slang is heavily used on the markets in UK aswell as by the general public.Have you heard of backslang?

[@Crabby303]

Any gabber who knows their stuff knows about the Mokum :D

[@talideon]

14:22 - the moment of Frisian is not unappreciated!

[@elijahswanson7255]

How interesting

[@copah4537]

7:05 Rule #1 Never outshine your master.

[@fathertreason]

That explains a lot

[@-Faris-]

That would be Brooklyn, sir.

[@FOLIPE]

Many conversos came to the Americas, being disproportionately represented amongst early Spanish and Portuguese settlers.

[@suchisthismystery2814]

Does anyone know if jews with the surname Benjamin who lived in Amsterdam in the 17/18th century were originally from Portugal, or had they come from Germany?

[@GuiFabrizzi]

I am a descendant of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Portugal and Spain, the surnames Coronel, Aboab and Holanda are known in the Netherlands and there are many Sephardic Jews descendant from the Netherlands who still have the same surname today. Abraham Senior Coronel is my 19th grandparent and he has a large familytree that spreads in Netherlands,Spain,Portugal and Americas.

[@oorzuis1419]

In Amsterdam, most know of some kind of "joods verleden" Jewish past but not all understand the significant role they played thanks Hilbert for paying attention to it.

[@jonpon0182]

My great grandfather was part of the communist strike. He lost his job because of it, but he never regretted it.

[@justWorrik]

i think most of us who are Amsterdamic (culturally not Geographically) have Jewish (sephardic and Ashkenazi mostly), Roma blood and more. i really need to do a DNA test to see wat kind of blood i have. (i know i have Roma blood from my paternal Grandma. and Ashkenazi blood form my Maternal great-grandma she was a german jew ore half german jew. who flet Germany in the war' she had a large dislike for her german heritage and refused to speak german)

[@fnansjy456]

Was your paterbal grandma roma or of roma decent?

[@Jobe-13]

The Jewish diaspora is quite amazing

[@DeEchteZeus]

explain?

[@amitcohen2269]

Thank you for not shrinking from the subject of Dutch problematic cooperation with the Natzi machine.

[@daratara5184]

My ancestors are sephardic dutch jews, i can even trace back the line to the 16th century

[@musergio1]

who is your oldest ancestor? it is not problem to ask

[@FOLIPE]

Brazil was "won back by the Portuguese" through a local revolt

[@amigoloco2484]

Pls do video of Jerusalem of the North 😊

[@user-xq5og9lt8p]

During the Holocaust the entire population of Niewlande village decidee between them that every family is to hide at least one jew from the prosecution, despite almost no jew living there prior. So perhaps some of that safe place spirit lived on.

[@Millions1000]

Check de nieuwe "Left laser" podcast. Het is basically een vervolg op dit verhaal.

[@K55365]

Fun fact, half of the Amsterdam's West Indian Company's slave owners were Jewish. They came from Iberia and played a crucial role during the Dutch trans Atlantic slave trade.

[@DabbertjeDouwe]

That's no fun at all... But seriously: this looks intuitively true but I haven't been able to find information about it, specifically regarding the slave trade and plantations in the West (Surinam, Antilles) Any suggestions?

[@K55365]

@DabbertjeDouwe Google this study: Catia Antunes & Filipa Ribeiro da Silva AMSTERDAM MERCHANTS IN THE SLAVE TRADE AND AFRICAN COMMERCE, 1580s-1670s

[@K55365]

@DabbertjeDouwe look up the following on Google 'Amsterdam Merchants in the Slave Trade and African Commerce, 1580s-1670s'

[@K55365]

@@DabbertjeDouwe KZbin keeps deleting my comments to you. But look up Amsterdam Merchants in the Slave Trade and African Commerce, 1580s-1670s.

[@DabbertjeDouwe]

@@K55365 They weren't deleted, they just weren't visible yet. Happens to me too, don't know whether it's a bug or if there's a reasoning behind it but it's very annoying indeed. Especially considering that KZbin *does* delete comments. Ugh. Anyway, thanks a bunch, I'll look into it ☺️

[@Semper_Iratus]

Jews!

[@peterhendriks1602]

Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews are still separate groups. The Sephardic Jews consider themselves upper more upper middle class. They still have their own synagogues.

[@gamiezion]

amstelledamme 🧐

[@micahistory]

It's ironic how most Portuguese Jews ended up in the Netherlands

[@gsalsam]

Why is it ironic?

[@micahistory]

because they're not dutch@@gsalsam

[@gsalsam]

@@micahistory great observation, how is that ironic? What makes it specifically irony?

[@FOLIPE]

"Most" is an exaggeration, most were "converted"

[@JesseJesse97]

I say "De stad waar ik liever niet kom"

[@Mattdewit]

Iemand uit 010 gespot

[@BBWahoo]

Before Amsterdam it was Thessaloniki.

[@abe-danger]

i dont say amsterdam, i say a'dam

[@SunnyRosalia]

Geef mij maar Amsterdam dat is mooier dan Parijs ❌❌❌

[@schepvogelk5971]

Ia dat nog steeds zo? Gaat hard achteruit, Parijs trouwens nog harder.

[@Mabena430]

Just because Paris is full of African immigrants

[@-_YouMayFind_-]

Did you get a phone call? hahah 14:10

[@goblinslaya7328]

Damn you have amsterdam ancestry

[@user-dn3pi9zs3e]

Are you going to do a video? On the terrace attack in Russia

[@sebastiangelbert3637]

ZOG

[@fcassmann]

Judaisme is a religion. Not a race. Not a country. Greetz from Mokum.

[@Enno9]

Jews are a people

[@DeEchteZeus]

what do you think israel is? not a country hmm interesting. and you need a dna test to become citizen of israel

[@skydivingcomrade1648]

The Americas are quite a mixing of jews as well.. as an American, I find this a good thing.

[@Happyfor96]

one thing is for sure, they're not middle eastern

[@mykelld]

@@Happyfor96 Wait a minute, where did they originally come from then?

[@glorytoamerica6332]

As an American you are a fool

[@abcdefg91111]

​@@mykellddepends on what you consider as the middle east. Does this include Egypt?

[@AsscherMazzelaar]

@@Happyfor96 ?

[@redflame21]

You should collaborate with GeneaVlogger to do a Jewish Dutch video

[@JordanReifer]

Ann frank my favorite

[@DeEchteZeus]

fake

[@ariebrons7976]

I thought the Hague was the capital. Also, please keep in mind that: Most Germans are not Nazi's. And most Nazi's are not German. Kindly refrain from using "German" and "Nazi" interchangeably. It's a common mistake so, no hard feelings, but please remember.

[@ecurewitz]

During WWII, most Germans worked on behalf NSDAP whether they wanted to or not

[@ariebrons7976]

@@ecurewitz Does that mean we can go around using the two interchangeably?

[@Weda01]

​@@ariebrons7976 If it is in accordance to the time period, I don't see why we shouldn't use it interchangeably.

[@ariebrons7976]

@@Weda01 But what if people confuse the two?

[@Elora445]

I agree that if one is an academic, as Hilbert is, one should be very careful of how one uses words. One can have been of German nationality but not a member of the Nazi party. They are not necessarily the same thing. In my opinion, one should never use those words interchangeably, but anyhow.

[@Garret141076]

Immigration also plays a role the last decades.

[@schepvogelk5971]

That's un understatement.

[@PeleSahota]

Aleph looks semitic or Arabic to me. I don't think it's yiddish

[@DabbertjeDouwe]

Yiddish uses the hebrew alphabet. Or is that not what you meant?

[@az694]

So our Jewish ancestors lived in Amsterdam and were heavily active in Dutch trading… just like the slave trade… so that makes the claims that Jews were heavily involved the Trans Atlantic slave trade credible knowing that our ancestors also enslaved Christians in Spain and Portugal and were instructed by Muslims to castrate Christian men to serve as eunuchs in Islamic courts since Muslims would be prohibited to castrate men in regions they conquered and controlled in their House of Islam. That explains why Christians did not trust us…since we chose to help and side with Muslims that used us for many wicked deeds. It is not wrong to think that we made Jew hatred possible by siding with Muslims and enslave Christian women and children on mass and castrate many men, although mankind is intrinsically sinful and full of hate towards others for whatever reason. Is it wise that we are more critical towards our own history and not align ourselves to a narrative where we do/did nothing wrong throughout all the ages?! Or have we fallen so deep into victimhood culture that we can’t do this and turn our history as a tool and weapon to silence, attack, demonitize, censor and villainies critical people?!

[@FOLIPE]

Jews served under Christians and under Muslims both, though. As you say, they participated in the slave trade of Africans towards the Americas and towards the Arab world. I don't see why that should antagonize European Christians

[@Elora445]

That in combination with the Bible could very well have been used to fuel hatred against Jews, sad as that is.

[@ibrahimmohammedibrahim9273]

Sarajevo is Jerusalem of Europe

[@atharvatoskar1633]

Israel Defence forces ⚔ always no.1✊

[@Munthasir123]

Indian profile picture. Shocker LOL

[@DeEchteZeus]

@@Munthasir123 lol

[@larshaas2658]

More reasons to flood Amsterdam!

[@mykelld]

what

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Here you see anti-semitic pathology at full display. They're willing to destroy Amsterdam just to destroy traces of Jews

[@walangchahangyelingden8252]

Yes.

[@gsalsam]

What

[@jackiecooper9439]

Zios should have colonised Netherlands instead.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Why wouldn't we return to our homeland? Anywhere else would be a colony

[@jackiecooper9439]

@@ronmaximilian6953 Bcoz that isn't your homeland. Which country are your great-grandparents from?

[@zvidanyatvetski8081]

Yo mama

[@jackiecooper9439]

@@ronmaximilian6953 Fun fact: Zios initially wanted to colonise Argentina. Palestine wasn't even considered for a long time.

[@achilles7607]

Zion IS Israel🤦 Jews come from Judea. Not the Netherlands. Israel and Judah are our ancestral homeland. We have no other land even if our land is on fire. 🕎🇮🇱✡️

[@fodge5395]

This channel has been a little Jew heavy lately

[@JediSimpson]

Not really.

[@YuliaHadassahK]

It hasn't, but even if it was, I'm sure you can find the button to unsubscribe if this channel doesn't align with your world view.

[@Daydy377]

(Rubs hands)

[@walangchahangyelingden8252]

🤥

[@guthrum6085]

Getting bored of the seemingly constant vids about jews, arabs or immigrants.

[@AT-rr2xw]

I am sure that Hilbert's next video will be about communities where no one has left or moved to and there was absolutely no interaction with outsiders for thousands of years.

[@mykelld]

I think they are quite fun. They are intresting subjects! Plus it is not one after the other.

[@abcdefg91111]

"immigrants" lmao

[@talideon]

You could stop watching, you know...

[@FOLIPE]

They are all literally videos about the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. Jeez

[@aliim.s.p4151]

Free Palestine 🇵🇸❤️❤️❤️🇵🇸❤️❤️🇵🇸

[@achilles7607]

Free Israel✡️🇮🇱🕊️🇮🇱🕊️🇮🇱🕎

[@user-pp3xr2po4h]

🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱❤️❤️❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@rw3899]

Free Palestine from Hamas

[@gameminer2646]

Free Palpatine

[@walangchahangyelingden8252]

​@@achilles7607 From Zionists.

[@oilchange6542]

GROSS

[@zvidanyatvetski8081]

Yo mama iz a joo

[@Michael194]

Couldn't find other nations to attach themselves to, almost sounds like a parasite

[@zvidanyatvetski8081]

Poopoo peepee

[@mykelld]

I think you missed the exit to 4chan.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Jews made the Netherlands rather rich. We are market dominant minorities

[@Supergau-tu3yg]

Yeah, like in OT when they came to Egypt during a hunger crisis. Later they became 'victims' >> they had to WORK there... 😂

[@Michael194]

@@ronmaximilian6953 Jews only enriched themselves

[@kriskisbulck786]

I am a European from Antwerp wkth a life in asia and the us andi want to reply to this video. I am tired of both muslims as well as jews cllaiming our history. This will end up badly for both parties as it always does. It is much more sane to understand European ulture and not try to import ghe third world middle eastern things into it.

[@FOLIPE]

These jews are Europeans like you though, how is it more your history than theirs lmao