AMSTERDAM Holland — It’s a lovely, well run place. The Dutch may be more German than the Germans. Or at least close cousins. Order is clear. Trains and trams are clean and on time. Perhaps within a minute or two. Buildings we’ve seen are spruced well, with gold and fresh paint on statues and other fancy fixtures. Lots of tourists, even in the early part of September. American English was the language of conversation in our hotel breakfast room.
There is also a Jewish element of the place. Its history, with claims to both having saved many in hiding, and having turned many to the Germans. Varda’s family has examples of both: an uncle who left Germany, spent time in Palestine, didn’t like it and went for refuge in the Netherlands and later was turned over to the German occupiers and had his life ended in the east; and a distant cousin who spent her childhood being protected by a family to whom she was given by her parents, shortly before they began their own final trip eastward.
We visited the Portuguese synagogue, with its huge and empty hall, and the nearby Jewish Center and Holocaust sites, cutting our visit short amidst stories of refuge, success, and then destruction. Currently Amsterdam is a favorite site for Israeli tourists, but there aren’t more than 30,000 or so Jews resident in the country. There are more in Mexico and Ukraine.
The Jewish sites, like the El Al flight line at the airport, have more than the normal security. Jewish places have double doors, with the second not opening until you are in the first and being inspected. El Al has armed police surrounding the check-in.
There may be 15-22,000 Jews living in Amsterdam. There had been 80,000 in the early days of the German occupation.
We’ve seen a few stolpersteiner, the markings in the sidewalks to commemorate Jews sent to their deaths, one right outside our hotel. But not the numbers seen in Germany. That may reflect, in part, lesser concern to remember the unpleasant past, when the occupation was foreign.
We heard lots of Hebrew on the streets, mostly of people who looked like us, as tourists. And one store clerk answered us in Hebrew, and then explained that she had been living in Amsterdam for several months.
Now freedom is a prominent theme. Marijuana and sex are there for purchase. The entire country is flat, and bicycles are everywhere, with no helmets on the riders. They’re usually on their own paths, and stored in their thousands alongside railroad stations and elsewhere. The population is mostly blond, but there is an ethnic mixture of colors and language.
Freedom seems to come without strife, at least in the neighborhoods and towns we visited. We saw few patrolling police, much different from every other European place we have been.
There are large churches of different denominations, but they seem empty of worshipers. Some have become community centers or shops.
Separate towns and cities offer their own charms. We visited Harlem, Hoorn, Delft, Utrecht, and Zaanse Schans. Each, along with various interests in Amsterdam provide lots of museums for those in search of culture. We satisfied ourselves with the Rijksmuseum and the nearby Van Gogh Museum, as well as Amsterdam’s Jewish collection.
Freedom now, but plenty of violence in the country’s history. There are not a few portrayals of fighting ships and soldiers in the paintings of the Rijksmuseum, and lots of darker faces and Indonesian restaurants reflecting past years of colonial rule.
It’s a small country, flat, on the sea, and open to invaders from several sources.
The Netherlands remains a trading place, with money made from industry, and a distinguished place in the world. A lot of goods may be made in China, but with a Dutch brand name.
In Hoorn we watched as students prepared sailing ships for an outing at sea. Delft and Utrecht won our prize for ancient streets and buildings. Utrecht also has a statue of Anne Frank outside one of its churches. We didn’t get to visit the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Reservations required a month or two in advance. But we know her story.
Amsterdam has lovely parks, scattered throughout the urban area, with trees of ancient heritage, and the pervasive canals. Great to walk and occasionally sit to watch the bike riders and to contemplate the future, and how a once troubled country got to where it is.
Train trips impressed us with the flatness of the country, the totality of green, with cows and sheep sleeping or standing in the fields. Cities were filled with bike riders, with rules of the road not always apparent to us tourists.
Green, the colors of water, and that of brick are prominent memories. Israel was brown in contrast, with little water apparent in the countryside. Except for that sprinkled on the fields, most likely retread from urban wastes. It’s hard to walk for more than two blocks in the cities we visited in the Netherlands without having to cross a canal. It’s called the Venice of the north, but I’d change Venice’s name to Holland of the south. Just as many canals in Holland, and not limited to one city or village. With lots of boats tied up alongside, cruise boats and working boats competing for space. That and the bike riders, as well as the old architecture, will remain in the memory of this visit.
It wasn’t easy picking a time for our Dutch visit. It couldn’t be during the crowds of summer, and September provided Israel’s second election of the year, and the holidays. So we settled on ten days at the beginning of September. It was after the bloom of Holland’s flowers, but we couldn’t have everything.
And with some note-worthy commotion likely after the election, it isn’t clear when I’ll publish this.
Currently it looks like a tie score, with negotiations likely to continue with lots of mud being hurled in both directions. It’ll take a while to settle this, perhaps with yet another election.
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Ira Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com