Jewish history returns to tiny historical village

By Rachel Levy Aug 2, 2007, 10:06 GMT

Amsterdam - The foundation that runs the tiny historical Dutch village of Bourtange announced it received an extraordinary 17th-century Dutch translation of Antiquities of the Jews by 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37-100 AD).

The work, which like the Bible begins with God's creation of the world, covers Jewish history up to the time the Romans conquered ancient Judea and expelled the inhabitants from their homeland, marking the beginning of the Jewish diaspora.

'We think there are only two other copies of this Dutch translation,' explains Margriet van Klinken of the Bourtange Foundation.

'The book is dated 1636 and written in old, pre-modern Dutch. We do not know yet who translated the text from the Greek original.'

'It is a beautiful book,' Van Klinken continues, 'it has a beautiful yellow leather cover. The pages are made of very thick, white paper and the text is written in Gothic print, with black ink.'

Interestingly, the book not only contains text but many engravings.

'Black-and-white pictures of various scenes described in the text surrounding the engravings. Some are quite big, comprising more than half the page,' Van Klinken says enthusiastically.

How the item came to Bourtange was just as interesting.

Bourtange, a star-shaped former fort with some 300 inhabitants located in the north-east of the Netherlands, has since the 1970s been an open air museum.

The town was originally built as a fort in the late 16th century by Prince William I (the Silent) during the Eighty Years' War for Dutch independence from Spain.

Being a normal village in 1851, Bourtange saw hard times in the 1960s when it was decided that the village show be rebuild to its 1742 condition.

In its current form, the village is a living monument of pre- modern life in the northern Netherlands, hosting re-enactment groups on weekends, with people dressed in 17th-century style.

It was to this attraction that an elderly couple from Oldenburg, German came on a Thursday in late July, carrying the old book in a white plastic bag.

'It took us by surprise,' Van Klinken says. 'They asked for the museum staff and handed over the bag.'

'The couple, who want to remain anonymous, are private people who bought the book from an antique shop many years ago. They told us they had been looking for a place to look after this unique historical work. Their children were not interested in having it,' she says.

But in a previous visit to Bourtange, they saw that museum town's small synagogue already had an 18th-century copy of Josephus' work on display.

'They immediately decided their own copy belonged here too.'

With their 'newer' copy of the same work by Josephus, the museum staff understood right away the couple was donating something extraordinary.

'We still need to assess the exact value of this book,' Van Klinken says. 'Several experts will look at it. We want to know more about it. We also need to know how to preserve the book, and whether we can put it on display.'

'Next year, the Netherlands celebrate the Year of Religious Heritage. Ideally we would like to put it on display then, in the synagogue.'

Van Klinken says that even if not on display for the wider public, the work will be definitely be kept in the town's synagogue, a tiny Jewish prayer house dating from the early 19th century.

Like many rural villages in the northern and eastern Netherlands, Bourtange boasted a thriving Jewish community until World War II when then Nazis murdered all but two Jews.

Today, the building serves as a synagogue only three times per year, during Jewish holidays. For the remainder of the year it is part of the Bourtange Fortress Museum.