History of the Jews in Belgium

Judaism has a long history in Belgium, from the 1st century CE until today. The Jewish community numbered 66,000 on the eve of the Second World War^[2] but, after the war and the Holocaust, is now less than half that number.

History

Early history

The first Jews to arrive in the present-day territory of Belgium arrived with the Romans between the years 50 and 60 AD Jews were mentioned as early as 1200 in Brabant (and in 1261, Duke Henry III ordered the expulsion of Jews and usurers from the province). The Jewish community suffered further during the Crusades, as many Jews who refused to be baptised were put to death. This early community mostly disappeared after the Black Death persecutions 1348-1350, and finally the Brussels massacre, 1370.^[3]

Sephardim

In the 16th century, many Sephardic Jews who had been expelled from Spain settled in Belgium and the Netherlands. In addition, many Marranos (crypto-Jews who outwardly professed Christianity) settled in Antwerp at the end of the 15th century.

Later history

Austrian (Habsburg) rule in Belgium started in 1713. Particularly under Emperor Joseph II, Jews acquired more rights, such as those to practice crafts, own land, and operate their own cemeteries. A number of Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to the area in that period. The status of Jews in Belgium improved further under French and Dutch rule.

Shortly following Belgian independence in 1830, Judaism was given the status of an officially recognized religion (besides Roman Catholicism, the majority faith of the country, and Protestantism). On 17 March 1832 the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium was founded as the official representative of the Jewish religion to the Belgian authorities. The Great Synagogue of Brussels was built in 1876-1877.

Around the turn of the century, the focal point of the world's diamond trade shifted from Amsterdam to Antwerp, bringing many Jewish diamond traders and polishers to the city. During World War I, many fled to the neutral Netherlands, but they returned after the war. Many Polish and Romanian Jews immigrated during the 1920s: Nazi persecutions brought waves of German and Austrian Jews in the 1930s.

Holocaust

National Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium, in Brussels.

Prior to the Second World War, and its peak, the Jewish community of Belgium consisted of roughly 70,000 Jews (35,000 resided in Antwerp and 25,000 in Brussels). About 22,000 Jews at that time were German Jewish refugees. Only 6% of the Jewish population were of Belgian nationality. Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany between May 1940 and September 1944, and anti-Semitic policies were adopted throughout Belgium, even though popular resistance in some cities hindered their full application. Belgian local police rounded up Jews, on three occasions in Antwerp, assisting the German in fulfilling their murderous policy towards the Jews. Approximately 45% of the Belgian Jews (25.484 people) were deported to concentration camps from Dossin Barracks in Mechelen, primarily to Auschwitz. Only 1,200 of the deportees survived the war. The Committee for Jewish Defence, which worked with the national resistance movement Front de l'Indépendance, was the largest Jewish defence movement in Belgium during the war. Some Belgium Jews who fled Belgium in 1940 were deported on transports from Drancy, France. A total of 28,900 Belgian Jews perished between 1942 and 1945. Belgium was the only occupied country in which a transport (Train XX) was halted to give deportees a chance to escape.

The National Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium is in Brussels. More than twenty thousand names of Belgian Jewish victims are inscribed on the walls of the Monument, some of whom were killed on Belgian territory, but many of whom were shipped off to the death camps and executed in the East.

Today

Today, there are around 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (about 20,000 people) is one of the largest single communities in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is its primary language (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hassidic communities in New York and Israel). In addition a very high percentage (95%) of Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education. In contemporary Belgium, five Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues exist, 30 of which are in Antwerp.

Antisemitic incidents

A number of antisemitic incidents have occurred in Belgium in recent years:

• On 18 November 2012, during an anti-Israel rally in Antwerp, Muslim demonstrators chanted "Hamas, Hamas, all Jews to the gas."
• On 9 October 2012, two unidentified male perpetrators spray-painted “death to the Jews” and “boom” on the wall of the Beth Hillel synagogue in Brussels.^[4] These antisemitism acts have, in turn, led to increased immigration to Israel.^[5]

According to JTA report, the number of antisemitic incidents in 2012 was the highest since 2009. 80 antisemitic incidents were reported throughout Belgium in 2012, a 23% increase from 2011 and an overall increase of 34% since 2000. Five of the incidents involved physical attacks, three of which occurred in Antwerp.^[6]

• On October 2013, Isi Leibler, the former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, reported on the alarming increase in the levels of anti-Semitism in Belgium. Leibler described a wide use of anti-Semitic caricatures in the media including a caricature on the official central Flanders educational website, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. In addition, he described an increase of 30% in the number of anti-Semitic incidents including physical assaults and vandalism of Jewish institutions.^[7] Furthermore, according to a survey conducted among eight Jewish communities in eight European Union countries, 88% of Belgium Jews feel that in the course of recent years, antisemitism has intensified in their country. 10% of the Belgian survey respondents reported suffering from incidents of physical violence or threats due to their Jewish affiliation since 2008. Most of the victims did not report the incidents to the police.^[8]

The increased frequency of antisemitic attacks started in May 2014, when four people were killed in a shooting at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels.^[9] Two days later, a young Muslim man entered the CCU (Jewish Cultural Center) while an event was taking place and shouted racist slurs.^[10] A month later, a school bus in Antwerp, that was driving 5-year-old Jewish children was stoned by a group of Muslim teens.^[11] Towards the end of August 2014, a 75-year-old Jewish woman was hit and pushed to the ground because of her Jewish-sounding surname.^[12]

Since the beginning of operation Protective Edge in Gaza (July–August 2014), an increase in the frequency of antisemitic attacks occurred. The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism reported six racist incidents, three of which tool place as a part of different demonstrations against the operation. Those demonstrations included antisemitic slurs such as "slaughter the Jews", "Death to the Jews", etc.^[13] During one of the above-mentioned demonstrations, a young couple who were suspected of being Jewish was physically injured.^[14] During that time, two local businesses in Belgium refused to serve Jewish customers: A shop owner was quoted saying: "we currently don't sell to Jews" ^[15] and a ‘No Jews allowed’ sign was hanged outside a cafe at Saint-Nicolas.^[16]

• A physician in Antwerp reported refusing to treat a Jewish woman, telling her "... to visit Gaza for a few hours in order to get rid of her pain".^[17]
• A couple of weeks later, a man in the metro of Jette blamed the government of Belgium in the situation in Iraq, by declaring that it (the Belgian government) is controlled by Jews.^[18]

• At the end of September that year, an antisemitic "Death to the Jews" graffiti was found in Marche-en-Famenne.^[19]

• In December 2014, a violent antisemitic attack occurred, when a young Jewish orthodox man was stabbed in his neck on his way to a synagogue in the city center of Antwerp.^[20]

• Also in December 2014, a group of youngsters were caught burning a large Star of David they made out of wood.^[21]
• In January 2015, the "memorial cobblestones" in Brussels were desecrated, when vandals covered it with red concrete.^[22]

• In early 2015, an organisation monitoring antisemitic incidents in Belgium reported that there was a 60% increase in the number of antisemitic acts in Belgium during 2014, compared to 2013. In total, 102 antisemitic incidents were reported.^[23]

• In May 2015 the Jewish MP, Viviane Teitelbaum, received antisemitic threats in a letter sent to her mailbox.^[24]

Data and Analysis

A review study published in 2015 by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) revealed that in a survey conducted in Brussels, more than half of the Muslim origin respondents agreed with antisemitic statements, such as: "Jews want to dominate everything" and “Jews incite to war and blame others”. The review, which analysed a few studies regarding antisemitism in Europe, found that the level of antisemitic attitudes is significantly higher among Muslims than among non-Muslims.^[25]

An ADL (Anti-Defamation League) audit published in June 2015 revealed an increase in level of concern about violence against Jews in Belgium. In addition, 7% of the participants claimed that the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust has been greatly exaggerated by history. In a follow-up survey 53% of the respondents agreed with the state: "Violence against Jews is a symptom of deep anti-Jewish feelings among some people in my country". The ADL also conducted a research of anti-Jewish attitudes inside the Muslim population of Belgium. The results showed that 82% of Muslim Belgium agreed with the state "Jews have too much power in the business world", compared to 36% of the national population who agreed with it. In all eleven categories included in the research, the Muslim population reached higher levels of agreement with anti-Jewish stereotypes.^[26]

On 2015 the Fundamental Rights Agency published its annual overview of data on antisemitism available in the European Union. The finding of the file presents a persistent increase in the number of antisemitic incidents in Belgium through the last ten years. Data of the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities displayed in the file, shows that 130 Complaints of antisemitism were received during 2014, compared to 85 complaints in 2013. Furthermore, the number of incidents in each category has increased in 2014, compared with 2013.^[27]

See also

• Chaim Kreiswirth, the former Chief Rabbi of Antwerp
• Jewish Community of Antwerp
• Eisenman Synagogue

References

Further reading

• Moore, Bob. "Jewish Self-Help and Rescue in the Netherlands during the Holocaust in Comparative Perspective," Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis (2011) 124#4 pp 492–505, a comparison with Belgium
• Rogeau, Olivier; Royen, Marie-Cécile (28 January 2011). "Juifs de Belgique" (PDF). Le Vif (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven). Retrieved 27 September 2013. 

External links

• Jewish Belgium
• Chabad-Lubavitch centers in Belgium
• The Virtual Jewish History Tour - Belgium at Jewish Virtual Library
• visitbelgium.com/jewish, Jewish sites in Belgium
• Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance This museum in Mechelen traces the story of the many Jews who were deported during the occupation. The archives are accessible to those seeking information on the fate of family members.