Cancelled Jewish exhibition back on table after mayor steps in

Amersfoort Mayor Lucas Bolsius has said he wants a cancelled Jewish exhibition at the Amsersfoort Museum to go ahead, and the museum has now agreed to look at how it can be staged. The museum announced earlier this week that it was cancelling the exhibition due to the situation in the Middle East and rising global tensions.

The exhibition, “300 Years Amersfoort Shul”, has been years in the making, and its last-minute cancellation has caused outrage in the Jewish community.

“Apparently, many struggle to distinguish between Jewish identity and Israel. The reflex to cancel performances in situations like this is becoming increasingly common across the cultural sector,” Alexander van Dijkhuizen, chairman of the Jewish Community of Amersfoort, is reported as saying in US Jewish newspaper The Algemeiner.

“It is essential not only to reflect on the past, but also to acknowledge the difficult circumstances facing the Jewish community today.”

Hard to manage

When museum director Paul Baltus cancelled the exhibition, he said possible reactions to it were hard to manage.

“As a small and vulnerable organisation, I do not want to expose my staff to that kind of pressure,” he told the AD. “While security guards can be hired and cameras installed, the reality is that our volunteers would still have to deal with a range of possible reactions.”

But the mayor said he wasn’t informed about that decision, and he met with the museum and Amersfoort’s Jewish community on Thursday to discuss how the exhibition can go ahead.

“I am enormously saddened,” the mayor told the city council on Wednesday. “Jewish history and present-day life belong to our city. That must get the attention it deserves.” He said it was painful that the community was being made to feel it is not permitted to exist.

After Thursday’s meeting, the city said in a statement that the city, the museum and the Jewish community would look together at how 300 years of Jewish life in Amersfoort could be shown in an exhibition. “It was a good and intensive conversation,” Bolsius said. “We jointly concluded that we consider it important that there is an exhibition telling the story of 300 years of Jewish culture in Amersfoort.”

The Amersfoort Synagogue dates back to 1727 and is the oldest functioning Ashkenazi synagogue in Western Europe. The Jewish community has planned a wide-ranging programme of concerts and performances to mark the synagogue’s 300th anniversary.

Earlier this week, a Jewish student association lecture at Maastricht University was cancelled less than an hour before it was due to start, with the university saying it couldn’t guarantee participants’ safety.