Jewish cemetary
inaugurated.
Strijen
-
Mayor M.
Peereboom of Strijen and Kim, the granddaughter of Simon Zwarenstein
(wrong info - Mylène) who one hundred years ago was the first to
be buried here, have unveiled a plaque on the restaurated (?) Jewish
cemetery. The unveiling and other ceremonies on the cemetery were
after a stylish gathering in the Salvatori building, with hundreds of
invited guests and interested people.
The sober, but impressive ceremony in
the Salvatori building and
afterwards at the cemetery was attended by a great number of invited
and interested people. Amongst which were the descendants of the
deceased whom are buried at the restaurated cemetery, representatives
of the Jewish community of Rotterdam, the town of Strijen, the
contractor and a large number of communities of Strijen. This made
clear that there was a lot of sympathy from the community for
restaurating the cemetery. This sympathy was also found with the people
doing the actual work because, mentioned mayor Peereboom in her speech,
the contractor did a lot more than was mentioned. "There was so much we
desired, but had no money for". Despite the limited funds, the mayor
was very satisfied with the result: "We wanted to maintain the
character
of the cemetery and that we accomplished well.".
The secretary of the Jewish
Remembrancemonument foundation, mr. W.B.
v.d. Hoek, thanked all people involved for their contribution in
restoring the cemetery: "Our believe it is, that the dead will one day
relive. That's why it is a duty to keep the cemetary undamaged. That is
very hard when there is no Jewish community any more. Then we have to
out our trust in our good neighbors. The Town and its inhabitants have
taken care, that it all remains well taken care of."
Van de Hoek also answered a question.
"The first funeral took place in
1896. Probably there was no Jewish life before that time. Research in
the funeral documents made clear, that the Jewish inhabitants of
Strijen
were buried on the Israeli cemetery of Oud-Beijerland". Aart den Ouden
(piano) and Patricia Hogenboezem (?) played a few times a musical
intermezzo.
(the rest will follow)