Were there Portuguese Jews on Bonaire?
A mystery! Bonaire is close to both St. Eustatius and Curacao, so it is not impossible there were Portuguese Jews living in Bonaire, but we have no evidence.
Information on Jews and Bonaire
- Bonaire is a small Dutch island near Curacao, off the coast of Venezuela. Today it is part of the BES (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba).
- The Spanish probably visited the island in 1499, and appointed a governor for the area in 1526.
- The island was conquered by the Dutch in March 1636.
- Fort Oranje was built in 1639.
- While Curacao was a centre of the slave trade, Bonaire was largely used as a plantation.
- There is reported to be Jewish cemetery dating from 1563, which is improbable. I wonder if the author meant 1663 or 1763.
- In the Second World War there was an internment camp for German prisoners on the island. The Hotel Zeebad held both Jews and Nazis. One source says the hotel is now called the Flamingo Hotel.
- In September 1942, the Maduro and Cohen Henriques families petition the Dutch government in exile to exchange German prisoners for their sons in the Netherlands, but this didn’t happen.
Research on Bonaire
- Archive Bonaire
- Also check archives in The Netherlands and Curacao
- Wuiven vanaf de waranda – de interneringskampen op Bonaire en Curacao tijdens WO II by J.E. Sint Jago (Dutch book about wartime internment in the Hotel Zeebad)
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