Synagogue Heide Kalmthout – English

The synagogue of Heide Kalmthout is located in the Leopoldstraat 58 .
She is one of the most important witnesses to the presence of a Jewish community in Kalmthout in the pre-war period and also for a time after the war.
Unfortunately at the time of this writing the condition of the building is very bad and the purpose of this website is also to encourage readers to help save the synagogue and to introduce them to the history of the synagogue. vzw Synagogue Heide .
Short history
The Heide district , the southernmost part of the municipality of Kalmthout , was a completely undeveloped heath area until the late 18th century . From the second half of the 19th century, land was sold initially to residents of the municipality, but later also to people outside the municipality who saw a good investment in it.
At the end of the 19th century, the rapidly expanding diamond sector established itself in Antwerp. Many Jewish diamond dealers found Antwerp more attractive than strict Amsterdam . Not much later, some also came to Heide for a country retreat or permanent residence.
In 1911, Heide got the current station and it was very easy for the inhabitants of Antwerp to make a trip to Heide-Kalmthout. Gradually, Heide developed from a center of day tourism to a permanent residential place of residence. The Jewish fellow citizens, often working in the diamond industry, were also charmed by the beautiful forests and the healthy air of Heide. That is why the Jews were also involved in the creation of Heide-Kalmthout.

In addition to the numerous weekend and holiday tourists, there was a coming and going from 1931 to 1942 of approximately 700 registered Jewish residents of Kalmthout of different nationalities.
The synagogue
And so arose the need for a synagogue. In the early days the prayer meetings of the Jewish community in Heide were held in Shaul Wachstock’s house in Thillostraat (diagonally behind Brunner’s pension), but due to the increasing influx of Jewish immigrants – mostly summer tourists – the need for a real synagogue grew.

In the Leopoldstraat, the first side street of the Heidestatiestraat parallel to the railway, a building plot was purchased and it was built in 1927-1928 mainly thanks to Mendel Kornreich.
Architect was Jan Frans Beirens from Kalmthout, contractor Alexander Nagels.
The notarial deed of incorporation lists the 8 names alongside Mendel Kornreich as co-owners of the synagogue: Avigdor Weinman, Jozef Liebermann, Joser Altbauer, Israel Apsel, Jankel Stern, Jankel Liebmann, Samuel Spira and Mendel-Leib Morgenstein.
It is a great credit to Jean Bastiaenssen that he has tracked down and found all the heirs of these 9 persons. ( more than 60 spread all over the world )
After the Second World War, the Jewish community in Heide was -for known reasons- very strongly decimated: a number of people were able to flee in time, but during raids in 1942-1943, 41 Jewish men, women and children who were then still living in Kalmthout were deported to the Dossin barracks in Mechelen.
After many years, the survivors and the heirs of the rightful owners of the synagogue returned to Heide-Kalmthout. They gave new meaning to life around the house of worship, but there was no longer a community like before. The holidays in Heide also generally became more and more out of fashion. In the 1960s there was a second emigration to Israel, America, Switzerland. Many sold their houses so that the Jewish community, which had just revived here, was once again thinned out.
The synagogue of Heide is the only synagogue in Belgium that is not located in a city where Jews of all walks of life came together. It is also the first building to be erected for worship in Heide, before the construction of the parish church, which dates only from 1935. Until about 1995, the synagogue was still used for worship during the summer period and the building was in fairly good condition.
The jesjivah ets chajiem
Also of great significance for the Jewish presence in Heide is the founding of the “yeshivah ets chaim”, the first Talmud Highschool in Belgium (religious school for higher education, including for the training of rabbis), which was opened in August 1929 and was founded by by I. Masel and Burack . Initially housed in Shaul Wachstoch’s house (Thillostraat), she later moved to Heidestatiestraat where the students stayed in Hotel Meyer and then Hotel de la Station. In 1938 the institution had between 120 and 140 pupils. This yeshivah is well known to the vast majority of Jews and was the most important in Belgium at the time.
In order to guarantee the boys an income, they were taught a profession in the diamond industry. In 1936 the college of aldermen of Kalmthout issued a permit for the construction of a large yeshiva building between the Leopoldstraat and the railway. The foundation stone was laid in 1938, but the building was never completed due to the outbreak of war. This yeshiva has been located in Wilrijk (Steytelinckstraat number 22) since 1961.
Structure/View of the synagogue
The Jewish synagogue is located in the Leopoldstraat where many (and almost exclusively) Jewish people lived in the years 30-40.
It is a detached, rectangular building and architecturally it shows Moorish influences. There is a sort of three-part division which refers to the temple of Solomon which can be found in most synagogues. The facade is bell-shaped with a freestanding top, flanked by eight-sided corner towers on pointed corbels with circumferential bands.
On that top there is a rectangular bluestone undescribed facade plate and an ellipsoidal bluestone plate with inscription 1928 in Hebrew script . The undescribed bluestone plate represents the two stone tablets.
In addition, the round-arched windows usually feature original wooden joinery.
The side walls are closed with a wooden cornice and high round-arched windows in the side walls.
The rear facade is pointed with shoulder pieces.
In the center of the rear facade there is a round window with a large multicolored stained-glass window with the Star of David, precisely placed

The interior/inside
As mentioned, the map is three-part:
- In the front hall is the entrance with the vestry room to the right, the stairs to the maiden on the left
- The sacred is a high space that extends below the roof, with a women’s gallery surrounding the second storey on the north, west and south sides.
- the holiest where the ark stands, where the torah scrolls are kept.
The floor consists of wooden planks.
The women’s gallery is supported by simple rectangular concrete pillars with a sober art-deco tinted capital and protected by high, closed wooden parapets.
The six-pointed Star of David in the stained glass window (apse), often associated with Judaism, is an ancient symbol that has only been in common use since the 19th century: it represents the connection of the supernal with the earthly and also includes the four life elements fire, water, air and earth.
Preserved ark (furniture in which the Torah scrolls are kept), loft for the cantor, bima (the fenced stage on which the Law is read and ritual acts are performed), the rabbi’s seat, prayer chairs, cupboard (in which the prayer and textbooks were put away) and tables for the benefit of the students. Wall plates and frames with Hebrew inscriptions are the only decoration. The vans for the mezuzah (fragment from the Old Testament written on a roll of parchment) are still present at the doorposts. A memorial plaque in the entrance hall with Hebrew and Dutch inscriptions commemorates the foundation of this synagogue.

- BASTIAENSEN J., De eigendomsstructuur van de synagoge, in Calmpthoutania, jaargang 56, nummer 1, 2004, p. 40-43.
- Id., Joodse aanwezigheid in en nabij de Leopoldstraat, in Calmpthoutania, jaargang 55, nummer 2, 2003, p. 76-88.
- VAN DEN BRANDE F.L., De joodse aanwezigheid te Heide-Kalmthout. Bloei en herfsttij van een dynamische joodse gemeenschap, onuitgegeven nota.
- VAN LANDEGHEM M., Het joodse verleden van Kalmthout, Kalmthout, 2002.
- PLOMTEUX G., Onroerend Erfgoed, digitaal beschermingsdossier DA002448