Meijer de Hond

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Meijer de Hond (1928)

Meijer de Hond (also Meyer de Hond ) (born August 30, 1882 in Amsterdam ; died July 23, 1943 in Sobibor ) was a Dutch rabbi .

biography

Meijer de Hond was born in Amsterdam in one of the poorest Jewish quarters as the son of Mozes Levie de Hond and Esther van Praag. After graduating from school, he attended the Nederlandsch-Israëlietisch seminarium from 1894 , and had a tense relationship with its director, Chief Rabbi Joseph Hirsch Dünner (1833-1911). In 1901 he took up studies at the Universiteit van Amsterdam , which was compulsory to obtain the highest rabbinical exam, and took lectures in classical philology , philosophy and archeology . On October 26, 1904, he passed his university exam and received the degree of candidate rabbinical ( magid ) at the seminary .

Even during his student days, de Hond gained a reputation as an excellent preacher and speaker. To give him the opportunity to speak more often in front of a large audience, the Touroh Our ( Teaching is Light ) association was founded in 1905 . Between 1908 and 1914 the association published the Hebrew monthly newspaper Lebanon , the sole author of which was de Hond himself. The first Kiekjes appeared in the magazine , little stories about daily life in the Jewish quarter, some of which were later published in book form. Above all, he described the life of the “neat, silent poor” whom he regarded as the bearer of Jewish piety and tradition, with which, according to contemporaries, he glorified and romanticized poverty. He did not believe in social reforms and rejected socialism and Zionism . However, it was popular with the poor Jewish people in Amsterdam and was nicknamed the Volksrebbe .

In 1908, Meijer de Hond condemned articles in Lebanon that, in his opinion, wealthy Jews would circumvent Jewish dietary rules by gazing at food outside of Lent. On the other hand, he called for a loosening of many of the rules that arose through tradition and were not written in the Torah , as they represent a great burden in everyday life for believers. In another article he advocated free prayer instead of prayer formulas, since belief is more a matter of the heart and not of the mind. For these views he was violently attacked by Philip Elte, editor-in-chief of the Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad , who refused to publish de Honds replicas.

In August 1908 de Hond was asked by the Amsterdam Rabbinical Assembly to distance himself clearly from his views and to profess traditional Judaism and the rules of worship. De Hond obeyed, but dropped out (or was denied continuation). With the financial support of Touroh Our it was possible for him to study in Berlin from 1909 to 1911 and to take his Morenu exam there. One of his teachers was Hirsch Hildesheimer . Until 1912 he continued his studies of Semitic languages ​​at various German universities and received his doctorate in 1912 at the Julius Maximilians University in Würzburg on the subject of contributions to the explanation of the legend of Elhiḍr and von Ḳorân, sura 18 59 ff. (Der ḳorānisirte Elhiḍr) . In 1920 he married Betje Kattenburg; the couple had three children, two girls and a boy.

During his studies, de Hond kept in touch with the Jewish community in Amsterdam. In 1911 he published the brochure Een Joodsch hart klopt aan Uw deur! with which he called for the establishment of a home for Jewish invalids, who until then had been housed in the poor house in a separate room for Jews, the Jodenzaaltje . As a result, the De Joodse Invalide association was founded , which in 1912 had raised so much money that it was able to open its own home for the disabled.

After his return from Germany, De Hond remained in the leading circles of Dutch Jewry persona non grata and with no prospect of adequate employment. His rabbinical title was not recognized because the exam was not taken in the Netherlands; The title was only awarded to him in 1942 by Chief Rabbi Lodewijk Hartog Sarlouis , the successor of Dünner, on the occasion of his 60th birthday honoris causa . De Hond, Touroh Our remained as spiritual leader, and over the years his reputation as a public speaker increased; among other things, he preached in the small synagogue ( sjoeltje ) Reisjies Touw . In 1928 he was the first Dutch rabbi to speak on the radio.

Unveiling of the Dr. Meijer de Hondbrug (1966) by Ben Italiaander

Meijer de Hond was not only active as a speaker and publicist, he was also committed to the cultural and social promotion of the Jewish proletariat in Amsterdam. He gave religious instruction , founded a theater association and in 1913 the youth association Jong-Betsalel . For the theater association he wrote pieces and songs for the children's choir De Joodse Stem . The association opened several schools, and de Hond trained the religion teachers. From 1928 to 1935 the association published the youth magazine Betsalel ( Joodsche Jeugd Krant ) with instructive but also entertaining content, the editor-in-chief and most important author of which was de Hond.

After the occupation of the Netherlands by the German Wehrmacht in May 1940 Meijer de Hond and his family were in the on 21 June 1943 Westerbork transit camp deported . When asked on July 20, 1943 in Westerbork who would volunteer for the next transport to the east, he is said to have replied: “Hinne-ni” (“Here see me.”), Abraham's answer to God's command, his son Isaac to sacrifice. He and his entire family were murdered in Auschwitz and Sobibor .

Honor

In 1966, the Amsterdam bridge No. 257, which spans the Niewe Achtergracht and connects the Weesperstraat with the Weesperplein, was named after Meijer de Hond. The nameplate was unveiled by de Hond's friend Ben Italiaander, recipient of a final postcard from de Hond before his deportation.

Web links

Commons : Meijer de Hond  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d rabbijn dr meijer de hond. In: joodsamsterdam.nl. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (Dutch).
  2. ↑ a b c Gezin Meyer de Hond. In: joodsmonument.nl. April 7, 2016, accessed May 26, 2018 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k J. Hagedoorn: Hond, Meyer de (1882-1943). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. November 12, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2018 .
  4. ^ Yiddish Leksikon: Meijer de Hond. In: yleksikon.blogspot.de. July 23, 1943, accessed May 26, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Karin Hofmeester: Jewish Workers and the Labor Movement. Routledge, 2017, ISBN 978-1-351-92530-3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  6. ^ Joodsche Weekblad , September 4, 1942, p. 1.
  7. ↑ Meijer de Hond (t) in 1928. In: gougenvanoost.amsterdam. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (Dutch).
  8. ↑ Nieuwe Achtergracht hoek Weesperplein. In: bruggenvanamsterdam.nl. Retrieved May 26, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Briefkaart uit 1943. In: gehugenvanoost.amsterdam. May 1, 1943, accessed May 27, 2018 (Dutch).
personal data
SURNAME Hond, Meijer de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hond, Meyer de (alternative spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1943
Place of death Sobibor extermination camp