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Sep 30, 2024 · Jewish quarter of Antwerp © Michael Day. The last real shtetl in western Europe, Antwerp is known for its Orthodox Jews and its diamonds industry. Barely twenty years ago, approximately 80% of Antwerp’s Jewish population used to make a living from the diamond industry.
Since then, Antwerp’s Jewish community has rebounded to become a major European centre of Haredi (and particularly Hasidic) Orthodox Judaism. Antwerp is now one of only two cities in Europe (together with London) that is home to a considerable Haredi population in the 21st century.
Belgium became independent in 1831 and officially recognized Judaism immediately. Brussels, with a more French-influenced Jewish community, had a higher rate of assimilation, while Antwerp, influenced by Yiddish and Flemish, retained traditional forms of Jewish life, a trend that remains today.
On the eve of the Holocaust, Antwerp was home to 53.8 percent of Belgian Jews, about 29,500 persons. Brussels, by comparison, had a Jewish population of 21,000, 38.5 percent of the total. Thus, Antwerp was the “capital” of Belgian Jewry.
To this day, Jews in Antwerp remain highly visible and sustain their community as a “minority group” that is considered “different” and is distinguishable from the rest of the city's inhabitants.
- Veerle Vanden Daelen
- 2011
Sources from the 14 th century also mention Jewish residents in the cities of Antwerp and Mechelen and in the northern region of Geldern. Between 1347 and 1351, the entire area covering Europe was hit by the plague or Black Death , and this led to a new theme in medieval anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Oct 23, 2024 · Antwerp, city, Flanders region, Belgium, that is one of the world’s major seaports. It gained fame as a centre of the diamond industry and for its legacy of fine arts. Antwerp, Belgium Map showing Antwerp's location in Europe. Antwerp is situated on the Schelde (Scheldt) River, about 55 miles (88 km) from the North Sea.
