History
Winschoten is located in the south-east of the Province of Groningen along the route to Germany. It is an old village and was in the early days the central place of district Reiderland. The population from the village mainly earned their living as merchant, artisan and farmer. The village had a strikingly large number of weavers.
The first Jewish people settled at the end of the 17th century in this village. About 1710 the village counted approximately four Jewish families. This number hardly increased in the first half of the 18th century. Not until the second half of the 18th century there is mention of growth of the number of Jewish inhabitants. In 1773 the village counted eleven Jewish families, and in 1783 34 Jewish people lived in the village, and the same number in the surroundings. The Jewish population increased strongly in the 19th century.
In 1814 the Jewish Congregation Winschoten counted 197 members, 170 of them lived in Winschoten.
In 1773 for the first time there is mention of a board or Parnassim of a Jewish Congregation Winschoten. In that same year by-laws are drawn up, in which the mutual relations between the Winschoter Jews are regulated. Nevertheless, the Jewish Congregation knew a lot of mutual difficulties.
In the 19th century Winschoten developed into the administrative, judicial and social center of Eastern Groningen. In less than a century the population doubled. The Jewish population increased spectacular as well: from 196 in 1809 to 699 in 1899. Predominantly they were occupied as merchant, butcher and cattle trader. A large number of the stores in town were ran by Jewish people.
In 1941 the town counted yet 493 Jewish people. In August and October of 1942 most of them were deported. At the beginning of 1943 the last Jewish people were deported. Only 20 of all Jewish people have survived the war. A monument in memory of those who perished has been placed on the Jewish cemetery.
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