Commemoration of Jewish UvA professor Juda Palache
On December 7, the first Jewish UvA professor of Jewish Studies, Juda Palache (1886-1944) will be commemorated in the Portuguese Synagogue on Waterlooplein. The occasion is the laying of eight stumble stones for Palache, his wife and family members. The commemoration will take place tomorrow with a symposium. Six questions to the organizer and professor of Jewish studies Bart Wallet.
Who was Juda Palache?
“Juda Lion Palache was the first Jewish UvA professor of Jewish Studies. He was born the son of the Amsterdam Chief Rabbi of the Portuguese-Israelite Congregation. Palache and his family were Portuguese Jews through and through. Juda Palache followed the trail of scholarship. In Leiden, he studied with Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, a big name in the world of Semitic languages and cultures. In 1924, Palache returned to Amsterdam and was appointed Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages and Cultures at the University of Amsterdam. This was preceded by a huge affair at the theological faculty and in Amsterdam's city council.The UvA was then still a city university. Because Palache was Jewish and active in the Jewish community, the appointment meant, in part, that he would train the pastors of Protestants. Until then, only Protestants had trained Protestants. In the end, the city council and the UvA went ahead anyway.”
Why did Palache eventually get the chair after all?
“The idea was that a university is about academic quality. Palache was simply the very best candidate. And the future Protestant pastors could learn something from him. In the end, he was appointed, making him the first Jew to sit on a chair of Hebrew and Jewish studies in the Netherlands. We think that is very logical now, but at the time it was quite revolutionary.
What did Palache mean to the Jewish community?
“Palache was not only a leader in his field but was also very active in the Jewish community and a member of the Jewish Council during the war. He was a well-known public intellectual, traveling all over the country lecturing on Jewish subjects and Judaism to a wide audience, from the bakers' association to the theosophical society. Before we ever began talking about valorization and impact at the university, Juda Palache was already doing it. He was truly a pioneer.”
He communicated scientifically, writing complex articles in German and English for his field, but also for a wider audience. One booklet that continued to be very widely used even after World War II is Introduction to the Talmud. The Dutch public hardly knew what the Talmud was. So that little book became incredibly important. It was also intended as a counter-reaction to all the anti-Semitic books appearing at that time that painted a negative picture of the Talmud. Palache gives a scientifically correct picture of the Talmud for a wide audience.
Does he discuss his religion or developments in the field?
“He discusses both. Nor does he avoid topical themes such as anti-Semitism. Especially in the thirties, more and more attention was being paid to the fate of German Jews. Palache also attended all kinds of demonstrations and events to protest against anti-Semitism and the Nazis. That gave him an increasingly political profile.”
What was Palache's fate in World War II?
“Palache shared the fate of all Jews. As a Jew, in 1940 he was removed from office and then dismissed in 1941. In 1944, he and his wife were murdered in Auschwitz. He considered himself to be very Dutch and was very patriotic. The story goes that he sang the Dutch national anthem on the deportation train. That's how Dutch he felt.”
What makes this commemoration so important to the UvA?
“Juda Palache can be seen as the beginning of our field of Jewish Studies at the university. He has been very important not only for our field but also for the Jewish community. We want to revive the memory of him with this symposium, which is the least we can do. At the same time, we are still following in the footsteps of Juda Palache. Together with Emile Schrijver, I am the co-promoter of Ronit Palache, the great-granddaughter of Juda Palache. Together with her and her family, we organized this symposium. So the circle is now complete.”
The symposium will take place from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Afterwards, stumble stones will be laid at the addresses Nieuwe Prinsengracht 23 where Juda Palache lived and at the addresses of his family members at Schubertstraat 52 and Merwedeplein 53. Visitors are asked to register in advance at ronit@palachnikov.nl.
