History
To enable bringing the peatmoor lands of Drenthe under cultivation a start was made digging the Stadskanaal. As of 1787 the village Stadskanaal came into existence along this canal. The elongated village was part of the town Onstwedde, and a smaller part was part of the towns Wildervank and Nieuwe Pekela.
Predominantly the population existed of peat laborers, boatmen, and farmers. As of 1830 the first Jewish people settled in the village.
As Stadskanaal was part of multiple towns it is hard to indicate how many Jewish people the village knew. It is commonly accepted that about 1840 the number of Jewish people was eleven, in 1899 the village counted about 200 Jewish people, and in 1940 130 Jewish people lived there.
Cattle trade and meat sales formed the most important resources of income for the Jewish people.
The Jewish people in Stadskanaal belonged to the Jewish Congregation Veendam. The closest synagogues were in Veendam or Pekela, a distance of about 15 kilometer. Because of this relatively large distance synagogue sermons were held in a room of a house at the Boerendiep.
As of 1848 it was attempted to achieve the foundation of a Jewish Congregation Stadskanaal. Despite opposition from Veendam it was achieved to obtain the status of a so-called Branch Church in 1850. In 1877 there is talk of a Jewish Congregation Stadskanaal, but it is unknown when this status was obtained.
In August and November 1942 the Jewish people were deported. Only two of them survived the extermination camps, and 44 were able to dive under.
In April 1986 a monument was unveiled at the Navolaan in memory of those who perished. In 1988 the Jewish Congregation Stadskanaal has been dissolved, and joined with the one in Groningen.
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