This database is a project by Wil Brassé in cooperation with Euregionaal Historisch Centrum Sittard-Geleen. At this time (July 2011) it contains about 9000 names, many from the area around Sittard and the south of the Dutch province of Limburg, but also related people from a wider area. Not everyone listed here is Jewish by descendance or religion. Some are non-Jewish spouses, parents-in-law, converted Jews or descendants thereof. Also, the family name is not necessarily a clue: many last names occur in Jewish as well as none-Jewish families.
If someone encounters his or her own data here and has objections to that, please contact me by email and they will be removed. Corrections and additions to this database are also welcome. Comments and questions are welcome in Dutch, German or English.
All comments in the database itself are in Dutch. For further info in Dutch (background information, references to books and websites and some photo's) see also this webpage.
Personal explanation to this database:
This database is meant for several purposes. It is a memorial in a form that I -as genealogist- am best at, for the Jewish people who have lived in and near my home town, and who were largely massacred over 60 years ago.
I do a lot of genealogical research of the catholic people -my ancestors- who have lived here in South-Limburg for centuries, seldom coming across the Jewish families that lived in their midst. Even though few Catholics and Jews have intermarried, and none are in my ancestor table, a genealogist with a true interest in his ancestors and the places where they lived should not ignore the "other" peoples that lived among them.Jews and Gypsies were the ethnic minorities for ages here, coming and going, several times being expelled by the ruling elite or chased away by the common people. In the Spanish-ruled areas non-Catholics were not allowed in the 17th and 18th century. The Dutch Republic and Gulik areas were more tolerant and had Catholic, Protestant and Jewish inhabitants. Although not equal in rights they mostly lived in peace alongside each other. As I have read they attended each other's weddings and funerals in the 19th century (despite disapproval from the church), and Jews were active participants in the Carnival of Sittard in the early 20th century. This is not to claim that there were no frictions, harrasments or anti-Jewish sentiments in this area. The French Revolution and the subsequent conquest of our country promised equal rights for all. However, it did not do away with discrimination and anti-Semitism, often stirred up by church officials and newspapers, and climaxing in the Nazi crimes.
Also with this database I hope to be of service to Jewish genealogists and other researchers with interest in their history. It is a rather difficult people to research, with the changes of names and of places where they lived, the scarcity of early sources, and the fact that many had to flee their ancestor's homes or were murdered in the dark times past, so that very few remain here to do the research.
Wil Brassé, Sittard 2005-2011.
