Did you know that even today old Amsterdammers call their city Mokum? In Yiddish it means “place.” The influence of the Jewish community, rooted here since the Middle Ages, can be felt everywhere — in language, place names, folklore, science, trade, and a whole philosophy of life.

We’ll stroll through the old Jewish quarter, see monuments, mansions, the market at Waterloo Square, and synagogues — including the famous Portuguese Synagogue (the Esnoga). We’ll learn how people here lived, worked, loved, and traded until the Nazi occupation brought that world to an end.

We’ll talk about tragedy and resistance, about those who survived and the postwar city that received them. We’ll recall how the community slowly came back to life and how, even today, its presence profoundly shapes Amsterdam’s identity.