News Americas, PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Tues. July 1, 2025: Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo, is a UNESCO World Heritage site – and also the home of an extensive digital archive that saves centuries of Jewish history. Paper documents have been digitized, made accessible, and protected against climate, decay, and disaster. The Dutch team led by Dr Rosa de Jong has collected over 600 gigabytes of documents. One hard drive is to be donated to the National Archives of Suriname for their digital collections. 

The Neveh Shalom Synagogue in Paramaribo, Suriname. One of the few synagogues in the world located immediately next door to a mosque.

Jewish roots in Suriname

Jewish settlers arrived from Brazil and Europe in the 1600s. They founded agricultural communities, with Jodensavanne becoming a plantation centre along the Suriname River. Around 1700, about 500 Jewish planters owned nearly 9,000 enslaved people. The community later relocated to Paramaribo, and by the mid-1700s, there were two synagogues: Neveh Shalom and Tzedek ve-Shalom.

Personal narratives

The digital archive holds personal testimonies of World War II. Letters from Dutch Jewish refugees tell of survival and refuge in Suriname. In 1942, over 100 refugees fled the Holocaust and arrived in Paramaribo. Liny Pajgin Yollick described hearing the Dutch National Anthem when they arrived, writing that it was “very emotional” having thought they would never hear it again (per The Times of Israel). Teroenga, a magazine published for Jewish people in Suriname, ran a “Bevrijding” (“Liberation”) headline when the Netherlands was free from Nazi occupation. The archive includes a copy of every Teroenga issue.

Collaboration

De Jong was assisted in large part by Lilly Duijm, a 78-year-old who had kept physical documents of the archive for over 20 years. Duijm was born in Suriname and moved to the Netherlands at 14. She returned to Suriname in 1973 shortly before its independence. She said that even after her death, the archive will keep alive the history of her people.

Religious, social traditions, and heritage

Suriname’s Jewish community was once among the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The early settlers established synagogues, schools, and their own judicial systems. The community’s synagogues were places for worship, education, and social gatherings. They celebrated with unique customs, mixing Surinamese, Ashkenazi, and Sephardic influences, during holidays like Passover and Hanukkah. This tradition of blending cultural elements is seen in contemporary Judaica like the artistic menorahs featured at www.nadavart.com. 

Simon Goldstone, PhD candidate, researched Suriname Jews for a piece entitled “The Lost Jews of Suriname”, published at the UF Liberal Arts and Sciences website. Goldstone wrote that Jewish migrants arrived in the Caribbean from Iberia in the 17th century. They found a chance to reclaim their religious and cultural heritage in Suriname’s Dutch colony, having been forced to live as Christians during the Inquisition. 

As Goldstone notes, the Cassipora Creek and Jodensavanne colonies are the first examples of early modern Jews who had the freedom to construct their own communities on a new landscape. There were hundreds of Jewish families who lived here, but there were also thousands of indigenous Surinamese and enslaved Africans who brought their own cultural and religious practices. Goldstone writes that the convergence of these cultures led to a unique society and new religious forms.

Today, the headstones of Cassipora Creek’s cemetery are the only visible remains of the community. They’re managed by local Redi Doti villagers and the Jodensavanne Foundation. Goldstone and fellow researchers aimed to establish a plan for future research at the Cassipora Creek site.

Legacy in the digital age

Such efforts preserve Jewish history in the digital world – not only for scholars, but future generations seeking to understand colonialism, faith, and resilience.