Dutch Cemetery Discovers 11 Lost Jewish Graves
— Construction workers in the Netherlands discovered bodies at a former Jewish cemetery that was believed to have been relocated in its entirety decades ago.
The 11 bodies, which were buried some time before 1828, were found earlier this month during groundwork in Winschoten, a town in the northeast of the Netherlands, Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs said, and were reburied Monday at a newer Jewish cemetery.
Located in the center of town, the site functioned as a Jewish burial ground until 1969, when the bodies were moved to another site. It saw its last burial in 1828, before the passing of regulations that made its use as a cemetery impossible.
“It is remarkable that the city authorities suspended the dig immediately,” said Jacobs, who oversaw the exhumation of the bodies for reburial at the Sint Vitusholt cemetery in Winschoten together with an archaeologist and a team of diggers.
He said the bodies had been left behind during the moving of most other human remains in 1969.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
