Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Ce8bYAdWsAAk8a3
I Amsterdam sign in rainbow colors to celebrate the 15th anniversary of marriage equality in the Netherlands, 1 Apr 2016 (Photo: @iamsterdam/Twitter) - Credit: I Amsterdam sign in rainbow colors to celebrate the 15th anniversary of marriage equality in the Netherlands, 1 Apr 2016 (Photo: @iamsterdam/Twitter)
Amsterdam
construction
Esnoga
history
Jerzy Gawronski
Jewish Ghetto
Valkenburgerstraat
Monday, 25 April 2016 - 13:00
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Jewish ghetto dating to 17th century discovered in Amsterdam

The remnants of a 17th century Jewish ghetto was unearthed during excavations in Amsterdam earlier this month. The discovery was made by a construction crew digging a foundation for a housing complex and hotel on Valkenburgerstraat, just north of an Esnoga. According to municipal archaeologist Jerzy Gawronski, this was a "spectacular find". "I'm here with my feet in a century old street." Gawronski said to local broadcaster AT5. The streets, or "corridors", in the Jewish slum were only about a meter wide. "It was a bad place to be, sometimes ten people in one small house. It was damp, no windows and not many survived here", the archaeologist said. The area was initially destined to be an island port for the construction of inland vessels in 1594. It was turned into ghetto dwellings for poor Jewish people when the ship construction was moved to Kattenburg and Wittenburg. The ghetto was cleaned up in 1930, yet very little is left to find. With good reason, according to Garonski. "The people were so poor, they hardly had any waste." The discovery was documented in photographs before the ghetto was covered p again in preparation for construction to continue.

In de Valkenburgerstraat zijn de restanten van een eeuwenoude Joodse sloppenwijk gevonden https://t.co/vIa0Ol9meN pic.twitter.com/TgAxmOXeb1

— AT5 (@AT5) April 11, 2016

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Philips restructuring: Massive layoffs and recall of sleep apnea devices
  • Police officer injured after being dragged more than 300 meters by car
  • Extinction Rebellion protest: 768 arrests made and 725 activists released
  • League leaders Feyenoord drop points away to FC Twente
  • Hundreds of people attend Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam
  • Housing corporations want more direction from de Jonge to help solve housing crisis

Top stories

  • Dutch royal family under fire for “caricature insensitivity”
  • Prime Minister Mark Rutte will speak at Holocaust commemoration
  • A12 open again after Extinction Rebellion protest, more than 500 people arrested
  • Police intervenes Extinction Rebellion protest on A12; Dozens of people arrested
  • Rutte lashes out at left wing parties in election campaign interview
  • Netherlands and the US agree on export restriction of ASML chip machines

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content