Walking Tour 4

Walking Tour 4: Jewish Amsterdam

Start: Waterlooplein.

Finish: The Dockworker statue, on Jonas Daniël Meyerplein.

Time: Allow between 1 1/2 and 3 hours, not including museum and rest stops.

Best Times: Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, when the Waterlooplein flea market is open.

Worst Times: During a street battle on Waterlooplein between the Dutch riot police and demonstrators protesting the construction of the Town Hall and Opera House -- but hey, the Battle of Waterlooplein was decades ago and the tear gas has long since dissipated.

I need to advise you right from the get-go that the Jodenbuurt (Jewish Quarter) has changed almost beyond recognition since World War II. The Holocaust decimated most of the area's Jewish population, and wartime damage followed by post-war redevelopment eliminated much of its physical character. Some of the places you'll encounter on this tour actually no longer exist or are in ruins, others have been put to quite different purposes, and a few may seem like a minor reward for the effort you'll expend in getting to them. But Amsterdam was once renowned as the "Jerusalem of the West," and there remain mementos and memorials of what was a thriving Jewish community.

You can edit the tour to just its highlights by deleting waypoints 7 to 13 -- but if you do this, consider excepting waypoint 10 from that equation, and take the tram from Waterlooplein to visit Hollandsche Schouwburg.

You can walk, or go by Metro train or tram nos. 9 or 14, to Waterlooplein, where from Monday to Saturday you'll be able to take in the:

1. Waterlooplein Flea Market

If you like flea-market shopping, beware: You may need to continue this tour tomorrow. In the middle of the square are the modern Muziektheater and the Amsterdam Stadhuis (Town Hall).

Assess the likelihood of getting your feet wet at the Normaal Amsterdams Peil (Normal Amsterdam Level), a fixed point against which experts measure sea level -- NAP is Europe's standard for altitude measurements. Beside a bronze plaque in the passageway between the Muziektheater and the Town Hall are three acrylic columns filled with water. The first two show the current sea level at Vlissingen and IJmuiden; the third, 4.55m (15 ft.) above your head, shows the high-water mark during the disastrous Zeeland floods of 1953.

Also on Waterlooplein is the:

2. Mozes en Aäronkerk

This started as a secret church for Catholics who were forbidden to worship in public when the Calvinists rose to power in the 16th century.

Continue to the end of the street, then go left on:

3. Jodenbreestraat

"Jewish Broad Street" was once the center of Amsterdam's Jewish life. Now it consists of mostly modern buildings; the street's right side was knocked down in 1965, destroying any distinctive character that might have been left. North of here, across Jodenhuittuinen, a bridge leads to a canal-framed island that, from the 17th century until World War II, was home to many Jewish diamond workshops and other small crafts houses.

At nos. 4-6 is the:

4. Museum Het Rembrandthuis

Rembrandt wasn't Jewish, but because he lived at this house in what was then a primarily Jewish neighborhood, he often painted portraits of his Jewish friends and neighbors.

Keeping the water to your right, walk down to the bridge that leads to Staalstraat, and cross over to:

Take a Break -- Puccini, Staalstraat 17 (tel. 020/427-8341), a delightful place to stop for coffee and homemade desserts (fruit pies, cakes, and luscious pastries), which you can watch prepared before your very eyes.

Go back over the bridge and turn right, to the:

5. Jewish Resistance Fighters Memorial

This is the black marble monument to Jews who tried to resist or escape Nazi oppression and to the people who helped them.

Turn left at the monument and walk toward the Blauwbrug (Blue Bridge), dead ahead. Just before the bridge, look for the outline of:

6. Megadlei Yethomin

This orphanage, established in 1836, was for German and East European Jewish boys. During World War II, the boys were deported to Sobibor concentration camp. After the war, the orphanage reopened, this time as a home for boys who wanted to get to Israel; it successfully placed many orphans in Israel before closing in 1955. Only the building's outline remains today, as a memorial to the orphans and their caretaker who died in Sobibor. The rest was demolished in 1977 to make way for the Metro and later, for the new Town Hall and the Muziektheater.

Continue to the Blauwbrug. Don't cross over, but continue straight ahead, keeping the Amstel River to your right. Go left on Nieuwe Herengracht just before the drawbridge and walk to:

7. Nieuwe Herengracht 33

This was once a Portuguese Jewish home for seniors. There was space for 10 people and they had their own synagogue inside.

Walk to the end of Nieuwe Herengracht and turn right across Vaz Diasbrug. Look back down the canal as you cross the bridge for a picture-perfect view of canal houses and houseboats. Continue along this street, which is now Weesperstraat, until you reach:

8. A small garden

This resting spot contains a monument to the Dutch people who protected their Jewish compatriots during World War II. The memorial, from 1950, is a white limestone altar, and has five reliefs of mourning men, women, and children.

Continue along Weesperstraat to Nieuwe Kerkstraat. Go left to:

9. Nieuwe Kerkstraat 127

Formerly the Metaarhuis, this is where the bodies of people who died at the Nieuwe Keizersgracht hospital were cleansed in accordance with Jewish ritual.

Walk farther along and cross the bridge at the end of Nieuwe Kerkstraat; veer to the left a bit and you'll be on Plantage Kerklaan. Walk down Plantage Kerklaan to the traffic lights and take a left on Plantage Middenlaan. To your left, at Plantage Middenlaan 24, is the:

10. Hollandsche Schouwburg

Only the shell remains of this old theater. Here, Nazis processed many of Amsterdam's Jewish victims before they deported them to concentration camps. Some deportees' children were able to sneak across the street to a kindergarten -- these lucky ones were saved by residents in the attached houses. A plaque on the school building celebrates the children's escape. Opposite the theater, notice the bright primary colors of architect Aldo van Eyck's Moederhuis (1978), a residence for single mothers.

Go back to the traffic lights, turn left, and continue along Plantage Kerklaan. On the right side of the street, you'll soon come to:

11. Plantage Kerklaan 36

A plaque at this address commemorates Jewish resistance fighters who attempted to destroy the city registers to prevent the Nazis from discovering how many Jews were in Amsterdam and where they lived. This brave effort could have kept thousands of Amsterdam Jews from dying in concentration camps. But tragically, the attempt failed and 12 resistance fighters were executed.

The building now houses offices for Artis Zoo.

Stay on Plantage Kerklaan, but cross over to the other side of the street, to the:

12. Verzetsmuseum

The Resistance Museum at no. 61A is quite small; it eerily evokes the dark years of Amsterdam's Nazi occupation and the slow but sure implementation of Hitler's "Final Solution" to rid the world of Jews.

Backtrack to Henri Polaklaan and turn right, to:

13. Henri Polaklaan 6-12

Built in 1916, this is the former Portuguese Jewish Hospital. The pelican on the facade is a symbol of the Portuguese Jewish community.

Go left at the end of Henri Polaklaan, to Plantage Parklaan, and, on the corner of Plantage Middenlaan, go right, into:

14. Wertheim Park

This small park -- really more of a large garden with benches -- is a good place for a rest. At the park's center is a memorial to Auschwitz victims by sculptor Jan Wolkers. Six large broken-seeming mirrors laid flat on the ground reflect a shattered sky and cover a buried urn containing ashes of those who died in the concentration camp. NOOIT MEER AUSCHWITZ (Never Again Auschwitz), reads the dedication. An information board lists in impersonal round numbers some of the Holocaust's gruesome statistics: Of Holland's 140,000 Jews, 107,000 were deported to concentration camps. Just 5,200 returned. Of the 95,000 sent to Auschwitz and Sobibor, fewer than 500 survived. One of those who perished (at Bergen-Belsen) was Anne Frank. At the park's far end, there's a street named after her.

Exit the park through the gate you came in and go right on Plantage Middenlaan. On the other side of the street is Hortus Botanicus, the city's botanical garden. Keep going, across the bridge over Nieuwe Herengracht. At Mr. Visserplein, turn right and walk on until you come to:

15. Rapenburgerstraat 109

Bet Hamidrash Ets Haim (Study House of the Tree of Life) was once a center of Jewish learning where people studied Jewish law and devotionals. The building dates from 1883.

Return to Mr. Visserplein and head to the:

16. Portuguese Synagogue

This will be to your left.

Make a left on Jonas Daniël Meyerplein. On the square, pause to view:

17. The Dockworker

Nazis forced many Jews to wait in this area for deportation to concentration camps. This bronze statue by Mari Andriessen was erected in 1952; it commemorates the 1941 February Strike by Amsterdam workers protesting the Nazis' persecution of Amsterdam's Jews. The strike, one of the biggest collective anti-Nazi actions in all of occupied Europe, was ruthlessly suppressed.

Still on Jonas Daniël Meyerplein, visit the:

18. Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum)

This building (nos. 2-4) once housed four synagogues built by Jewish refugees from Germany and Poland in the 17th and 18th centuries. Across the street from the museum is the Arsenal, which served as a munitions storage space in the 19th century. It's now part of the museum.

Winding Down -- Grand Café Dantzig aan de Amstel, Zwanenburgwal 15 (tel. 020/620-9039), is a large, modern, trendy place built into a corner of the Stadhuis (City Hall) complex. An alfresco terrace beside the Amstel River soaks up sunrays.