The Jewish cemetery on Sparrendreef, two Stolpersteine on Voorstraat and the former synagogue at no. 6 Bakkersstraat: these are the still visible remains of Jewish Vianen.
The first Jews, mainly High Germans, probably settled in Vianen in the early 18th Century. At first, the Jews had a bad reputation. Documents from 1711 report that two Jewish men murdered a very elderly woman. The men were executed and, several months later, all Jews who were not citizens were told to leave the town within two weeks.
Despite this incident, a Jewish community continues to exis…
The Jewish cemetery on Sparrendreef, two Stolpersteine on Voorstraat and the former synagogue at no. 6 Bakkersstraat: these are the still visible remains of Jewish Vianen.
The first Jews, mainly High Germans, probably settled in Vianen in the early 18th Century. At first, the Jews had a bad reputation. Documents from 1711 report that two Jewish men murdered a very elderly woman. The men were executed and, several months later, all Jews who were not citizens were told to leave the town within two weeks.
Despite this incident, a Jewish community continues to exist in Vianen. For example, a cemetery was soon opened and around 1756 the synagogue on Bakkersstraat was constructed. While the Jewish community in Vianen remains small, it does fulfil a regional function as a ring synagogue. This means that many Jews from the area attend the synagogue in Vianen and are also buried in Vianen. Around 1900, there were still 68 Jews living in Vianen. In the following years, this number quickly declined and numbered only 8 by 1930. In 1924, the synagogue was sold to the Dutch Protestant Association. During World War II, the remaining Jews in Vianen were deported. The two Stolpersteine on Voorstraat are memorials to Mozes Salomon and Alberdina van Zwanenberg, who were gassed at Auschwitz in 1943.
Further reading: Vianen town centre, Sparrendreef General Cemetery.
