“But as far as Beth Haim is concerned, Elieser is just another Jewish person who’s buried here.”, By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org, Sergio Berrenstein stands next to the statue of Elieser at the entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, the Netherlands, Nov. 20, 2020. in sermons and poems on the Jews’ perceived complicity in the slave trade. © 2021 jewish telegraphic agency all rights reserved. ) The Dutch conquered the enti… OUDERKERK AAN DE AMSTEL, Netherlands (JTA) — Each year on the last Wednesday of June, dozens of people arrive by boat at the Jewish cemetery of this picturesque town near Amsterdam to commemorate their ancestors. Named “Elieser Day” in his memory, the new pilgrimage is centered around the former slave’s gravestone inside the 406-year-old Beth Haim cemetery, a 10-acre swath of swampy meadow. According to Drescher, Jews controlled about 17% of the Caribbean trade in Dutch colonies. Dutch settlers laid the foundation for cities that still exist today. The Dutch regained the town in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War but it was returned to Great Britain the next year under the Treaty of Westminster. [14], The New Castle Court House, the Green, and the Sheriff's House are parts of First State National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park System. Hoarkill, New Amstel, and Upland The start of the Third Anglo-Dutch War resulted in the recapture of New Netherland by the Dutch in August 1673. The 16-mile (26 km) portage between the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay saved a 400-mile (640 km) trip around the Delmarva Peninsula, so this brought passengers, goods, and business to New Castle's port. In 2012, Jacques Coronel, the late leader of the Dutch Portuguese Jewish community, focused on the shared heritage of Blacks and Jews in the Netherlands during a speech that he delivered on Elieser Day. For the past decade they’ve been coming to Beth Haim, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands, because of the discovery here in 2002 of Holland’s earliest known grave of a former slave. About 26,000 headstones and human remains lie submerged under the mud – an unfortunate result of how Sephardic headstones, which are traditionally placed horizontally, have fared over the centuries in the soft Dutch soil. We can never forget this but we’ve learned to forgive,” Abrewa, Coronel in front of reporters. This marked the end of the Swedish colony in Delaware as an official entity, but it remained a semi-autonomous unit within the New Netherland colony and the cultural, social, and religious influence of the Swedish settlers remained strong. In June, amid a debate on racism following the slaying of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Elieser came to the Netherlands in 1610 as a slave to the family of Paulo de Pina. Notable sites the historic district include: The Bellanca Airfield, located outside of the Historic District, is the site of the former Bellanca Aircraft Corporation factory (1928–1960) which built over 3,000 airplanes. (Du Plessis, a notoriously cruel 18th century slave owner, was not Jewish but of French Huguenot ancestry.). 4 … Many smaller houses were torn down and replaced in this era. New Sweden (Swedish: Nya Sverige; Finnish: Uusi Ruotsi; Latin: Nova Svecia) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in America from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. 1657 - Having acquired the area south of the Christina River from the Dutch West India Company, the City of Amsterdam establishes its own colony, called New Amstel, at present New Castle. including in the so-called Jewish Savannah. This helped the New Castle economy to further boom; however, by 1840, rail lines were in place between Philadelphia and Baltimore, which had a stop in Wilmington, thus leaving New Castle to deal with a substantial decline in traffic and revenue. The New Castle Historic District is an area approximately 4 by 5 blocks square in the center of town with about 500 historic buildings that date from c. 1700 to 1940. Elieser’s owners did not come from South America but straight from Portugal, from where they and thousands of other Jews fled in the 16th century to escape the Inquisition for the more tolerant Netherlands. Area 's European population grew rapidly 13/US 40 of tours of historical homes, churches and! Is buried alongside his owner, but Susanna du Plessis cut off both breasts the! Is buried alongside them in a prestigious plot became their center for fur trading with Native Americans and colony., actually, no, ” she recalled at the time that his grave is an important for. 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