Dutch Israelism

Dutch Israelism is the belief the Dutch people, or people of the Netherlands, particularly the Frisians of the province Friesland, descend from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

History

Early Sources

Adriaan van der Schrieck (1560–1621) a Flemish language researcher in 1614 first made this identification:

"...the Netherlanders with the Gauls and Germans together in the earliest times were called: Celts, who are come out of the Hebrews."

Dutch Israelism can also be traced back to the 17th century historian Matthew Smallegange (1624–1710) who wrote the Frisians descended from the ancient Hebrews in his Cronyk van Zeeland ("Chronicle of Zeeland").^[1]

Helene Koppejan

The only key work on Dutch Israelism to date is Strange Parallel: Zubulun -The Netherlands A Tribe of Israel (1984) by Helene Koppejan, which has been printed in English with a written foreword by British Israelite E. Raymond Capt. Helene Koppejan in her book Strange Parallel, notes that the early proponent of British Israelism, John Wilson in 1837 had identified the Israelite Tribe of Zebulun with the Dutch people.^[2] Several modern Israelite-Identity organisations continue to follow this identification.^[3]^[4] Helene's work attempts to further this identification through history, semiology and philology.

Organisations

Dutch Israelite organisations were set up in the early 20th century. Nederlandsche Israël-Kring, a Netherlands-based organisation teaching Dutch Israelism, was closed down by the Nazis. After the war, in the 1950s, Bond Netherlands Israel was set up with the aim of promoting the identity notion that the Israelite tribe of Zebulun are the Dutch people of the Netherlands, particularly the Frisians of the province Friesland.^[5] The organisation since 1958 has published the "Een Nieuw Geluid" paper, which attempts to establish this identity through revising historical links.^[6]

References