The city of Vlissingen in the Netherlands has returned two Jewish cemeteries to the Jewish community in the region. The municipality had taken over the cemeteries after the Holocaust.
JTA and the web site of the NIK, or umbrella group of Jewish communities in the Netherlands, report that the transfer to the Jewish community in Zeeland took place last week. There was an official ceremony attended by the mayor of Vlissingen, the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands and Jewish representatives.
The Jewish community in Zeeland has grown considerable over the past 20 years, and the cemeteries are to become active burial places again as the Jewish cemetery in nearby Middelburg is almost full.
The Middelburg synagogue, a red brick building with arched windows originally built in 1705, is the oldest synagogue in the Netherlands outside of Amsterdam. During World War II the German occupiers used it as a warehouse for confiscated radio equipment. It was badly damaged by a British shell during the liberation and fell into further disrepair after the war. By 1987 it was a ruin. A foundation was set up for its reconstruction, and the building was restored in 1994. It is currently used again as a synagogue.