Suriname's Jewish beginning
The first colonists of Suriname were sephardic Jews who came from other English and Dutch colonies. For reasons unknown they chose to settle more than 50 kilometres from the current capital Paramaribo in a seemingly inhospitable location that is now called the Jodensavanne (Jew's savanna). For over 200 years there was a thriving Jewish community in what was for all intents and purposes the capital of Suriname.
Not much is left of this tropical kehillah. The only stone building was the synagogue, set on the highest point of the settlement and modelled after the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. The gravestones, too, have survived the pasing of time and one can still read the Dutch, Spanish and Hebrew inscriptions.
The first colonists of Suriname were sephardic Jews who came from other English and Dutch colonies. For reasons unknown they chose to settle more than 50 kilometres from the current capital Paramaribo in a seemingly inhospitable location that is now called the Jodensavanne (Jew's savanna). For over 200 years there was a thriving Jewish community in what was for all intents and purposes the capital of Suriname.
Not much is left of this tropical kehillah. The only stone building was the synagogue, set on the highest point of the settlement and modelled after the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. The gravestones, too, have survived the pasing of time and one can still read the Dutch, Spanish and Hebrew inscriptions.
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