Begraafplaats, Ouddiemerlaan 146

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

CEMETERY GROUNDS, principal component of the complex of the Dutch-Israelite Cemetery in Diemen. The cemetery was laid out on behalf of the Dutch-Israelite congregation of Amsterdam in 1913-1914 after a design by architect E.M. Rood and was inaugurated on 3 May 1914. The grounds coincide with the boundaries of the complex. In 1925 the cemetery was divided into a western and eastern section. A strip of land was expropriated by the state for the construction of the ring railway around Amsterdam. In 1928 the planned railway viaduct was completed. In 1928 the eastern section was also opened as a cemetery. From 1914 to 1940 approximately 500 people per year were buried at the Diemen cemetery. These were predominantly Jews from the lower population groups. Deceased children have their own field. In 1942 the main entrance was relocated from the Ouddiemerweg to the northern boundary.

Most exceptionally present is an urn field containing the mortal remains of Jews who died during the Second World War in camp Westerbork and were cremated there contrary to custom. After 1945 the cemetery remained in use. In the years 1956-1957 approximately 28,000 graves including surrounding land (regarded as property of the deceased) were transferred from the Zeeburg cemetery (municipality of Amsterdam) to Diemen. To the present day a few burials take place each year.

Access originally lay at the Ouddiemerlaan but is now located at the northern boundary near the residence.

Description

The cemetery grounds have an elongated, west-east oriented floor plan, which in the east begins in a point and curves somewhat following the old plot division of the Ouddiemerpolder. The grounds consist of a western and an eastern section, both of which have access on the west side. Both sections are surrounded by boundary ditches and a row of trees. The western section comprises the grave fields A with children's field. The eastern section comprises the grave fields B, C, D, U and Zeeburg.

Western section.

Field A is laid out by man-high hedges with passages between them. The main path runs along the southern boundary of the grounds, with a notice at the entrance gate requesting the Kohanim to keep to the far right (the priest stayed as much as possible at a distance from the graves). The northwestern corner of the grounds near the storage shed contains the children's field (rows 1-54). There are a few graves of children who died during the Second World War.

The graves of field A date from the period 1914-1927 and stand in parallel and adjoining rows. The upright gravestones are executed in a type of hardstone or in concrete mortar with wire reinforcement, exceptionally in marble. They are more or less uniform in shape and size and contain in almost all cases text only, in Hebrew, Dutch or both languages. A few gravestones contain a symbolic image such as two hands held up together or a pouring jug. The field has fencing along the paths. Very remarkable is that about twenty wooden grave markers have been preserved at the cemetery. This simplest form of grave marking, which in earlier times was frequently used for the poorer population, has virtually disappeared elsewhere. The grave markers are wooden planks that have been stuck into the ground with their point like a spade. They contain text carved into the wood in Hebrew (sometimes) or Dutch (usually). The wooden grave markers date from the period 1915-1927. The children's field also contains some wooden grave markers.

(On the back of the grounds a birch wood has grown on the grave field, which is not original and contrary to the original practice of avoiding trees in a Jewish cemetery.)

The eastern section: comprises field B with the metaherhouse and after a cross ditch fields C, D, U and Zeeburg and after another cross ditch the remainder of field Zeeburg. Field B lies north of the access path which runs straight to the metaherhouse and via a bridge with built-up parapets and iron railings as the central path provides access to the other fields.

Field B contains graves with upright stones arranged in 83 parallel rows. The earliest datable grave is from 1928. The stones (a type of hardstone, exceptionally marble) are more or less uniform in shape and size and contain in almost all cases text only, in Hebrew, Dutch or both languages. A few gravestones match the design of those of the metaherhouse. The field has fencing along the paths. Field C forms the chronological continuation of field B and follows its layout and the design of the gravestones. The field has fencing along the paths. Field D is the continuation of field C, separated from it by a path perpendicular to the central path and lies north of field U. It has fencing along the path. This small field has space for new graves and remains in use to the present day.

Field U lies north of the central path behind field C. This smallest grave field has fencing along the paths. Closely packed together, approximately 400 urns of Amsterdam Jews are buried here out of a total of 529 Jews who died during the Second World War between 1943 and 1945 in the transit camp Westerbork and were cremated there. During and after the war these were brought to Diemen and buried at a grave marker.

Field Zeeburg contains approximately 28,000 graves. It actually consists of three fields: the largest south of the central path, the smallest north of it behind fields D and U and a field on the back grounds, north of the central path beyond the last row of trees. A natural stone commemorative plaque records in Hebrew and Dutch the history of these graves: '(Hebrew text; followed in capitals:) Here rest/ mortal remains/ which since the year 5474 (= 1714)/ had been buried/ at the Zeeburg cemetery/ and from there in the year 5718 (= 1957/1958)/ have been brought here/ The transfer was undertaken/ with the permission of the chief rabbi/ of the Neth. Israeli Main Synagogue, Amsterdam, and with compliance/ with his regulations/ May this resting place remain undisturbed'. Along the central path there are further on the three fields some smaller stones with the inscription: 'Field full of graves/ transferred/ from the/ Zeeburg/ cemetery'. The ground level of these three fields, which have also received the soil around the old graves at Zeeburg, lies higher than the rest of the grounds. The fields can be reached via steps. On the fields there are only a few scattered marble and hardstone upright gravestones present dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, sometimes with the symbolic image such as a felled tree. The southern field contains the largest group of stones in the southeast, the northern field contains stones against the eastern row of trees, the back grounds contain a few stones in the north.

Valuation

The cemetery grounds are of general importance from a cultural-historical and architectural-historical perspective as a well-preserved and exceptional example of a twentieth-century Jewish cemetery on which older (transferred) graves are also found.

It is also of general importance from a cultural-historical and architectural-historical perspective because of the layout, because of the uniformity in graves and because of the grave fields with special history.

The grounds are of general importance as a historically-functional principal component of the complex of the Dutch-Israelite Cemetery in Diemen.