On Amsterdam and its Jews.

Who in Amsterdam often said "Jerusalem"
And to Jerusalem driven came
He says with a musing voice
"Amsterdam, Amsterdam"

-- Jacob Israël de Haan --

This text and statue is an ode to the Jewish population of Amsterdam. It can be found in the old Jewish neighbourhood of the city (in the eastern part of the center); the neighbourhood itself is still there, but sadly, the Jewish population got severely diminished during WW II: only 20% of the Amsterdam Jews returned to the city after Liberation Day.

Amsterdam has a long history of Jews living in the city. The first Jews arrived as early as in the 16th century; mainly sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal seeked refuge from the Inquisition in the fairly tolerant Amsterdam, but there were also quite some Jews coming in from Germany. Before WW II, not less than 10% of the town's population was Jewish.

As I said, many Jews disappeared from the city during WW II. However, non-Jewish Amsterdam did not accept the prosecution of Jews by the Germans: in February 1941 the people of Amsterdam initiated a collective strike as a means of protest, which was later followed by other cities in The Netherlands.

The Jewish identity of the city is still important for Amsterdam today. It manifests itself in many ways: the supporters of the football team Ajax address themselves as "De Joden" ("The Jews"), often (deliberately?) provoking anti-semitic remarks from the opponents, and the most-used nickname for the city is "Mokum", which in Hebrew ("Makom") means "place" or "city".