AMSTERDAM — In April, a fire wreaked havoc on historic structures in Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo, highlighting potential risks to the nearby Neveh Shalom Synagogue, but this was not the sole challenge it faced. As firefighters tirelessly defended Paramaribo’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed city center, dedicated volunteers at the synagogue embarked on a mission of equally vital importance—digitizing a vast collection of archival documents chronicling the Jewish history in Suriname dating back to the 1700s.
Though the fire was successfully halted before it could threaten the synagogue, the incident underscored the vulnerability of approximately 100,000 historic documents, housed in filing cabinets for many decades, to various dangers like the tropical climate, pests, and the relentless passage of time. This realization served as a stark reminder of the importance of the ongoing preservation initiative.
Overseeing the ambitious effort to digitize these invaluable records—comprising birth certificates, land transactions, and myriad correspondences—is Dutch scholar Rosa de Jong. Her previous scholarly work, a PhD project focused on Jewish refugees’ migration to the Caribbean during World War II, had heavily leaned on this archive.
“I felt that my work comes with an obligation to preserve the past that I’m building my career on,” De Jong remarked, reflecting on her motivation. Upon concluding her research last year at the University of Amsterdam, she seized the chance to return to Suriname to safeguard the very documents pivotal to her studies.
By securing funding for photography equipment, storage solutions, and travel, De Jong was able to journey back to Suriname and execute a project that resulted in meticulous scans of the hundreds of historic records kept by the synagogue. This endeavor produced over 600 gigabytes of digital data now stored on several hard drives, one of which is set to be entrusted to the National Archives of Suriname for inclusion in their digital databases.
The preserved documents testify to Paramaribo’s significant role as an epicenter of Jewish life across the Americas. Initially settled by the British in 1639, the Jews in Suriname were granted religious and political autonomy enabling them to manage plantations. Upon the transition to Dutch colonial control, these privileges were upheld. Consequently, many Jews, displaced from other American regions, found refuge in Suriname.
The poignant history includes accounts such as that of Liny Pajgin Yollick, who, at 18, was among over a hundred Dutch Jewish refugees that found sanctuary in Paramaribo from the Holocaust on Christmas Eve 1942. In an oral history project, she vividly recalled the profound emotions stirred by hearing the Dutch National Anthem upon arrival. “It was very emotional when we heard that because many of us never thought we would ever hear it again,” she reflected.
When the Netherlands was liberated from Nazi rule in 1945, “Teroenga,” the magazine published for Suriname’s Jewish community, boldly announced this liberation. The archive at Neveh Shalom preserves every issue of this publication, highlighting its historical significance.
Critical to the success of De Jong’s preservation efforts is Lilly Duijm, a 78-year-old steward of the archive for more than twenty years. Having moved to the Netherlands as a teenager, Duijm returned to Suriname in 1973, shortly before its independence, making the country’s capital her family’s home.
Emotionally attached to the archives, Duijm shared, “I told the congregation, as long as the archive is still here, I will not die. Even if I live to be 200 years old. This is keeping the history of my people.” Her dedication ensures that this precious link to the past remains safeguarded for future generations.