While clearing out their late mother’s home in Amsterdam, my father-in-law and his sisters stumbled upon an intriguing old document — a certificate, written in Dutch, that appeared to relate to a parcel of land in what was then Palestine.

The front of the certificate contains mostly typed text, while the reverse side features handwritten notes and a small drawing.

Front of the certificate:

And the Back:

Now Follows the Transcription
First in the original Dutch, followed by the English translation:

Certificaat vertegenwoordigende een stuk gronds groot 83000 dunam op de kaart van Palestina, dewelke zich bevindt in het Beth-Am van `Hatsair`.
Datum van aankoop:[hard to read character] 19 April	Staande t.a.v.Sellav. Straten	Ligging van het gekochte gebied:[hard to read, but maybe correctly deciphered as →]  Greta

Verso

The reverse side of the document is entirely handwritten:

1936 Met beste wenschenvan heelen Sjoek שלום  [drawing of frontage of a house with a big flag and drawn exclamation] (written with a pencil) 17

The Translation

Below is the English translation of the text.

Certificate representing a large piece of land 83,000 dunam on the map of Palestine, which is located in the Beth-Am of `Hatsair`.
Date of acquisition:[hard to read character] 19 April	Standing AttnSellav. Straten	Location of the purchased area:[hard to read, but maybe correctly deciphered as →]  Greta

Verso (completely handwritten):

1936 With best wishes from the whole Sjoek שלום  [drawing of frontage of a house with a big flag and drawn exclamation] (written with a pencil) 17

After Analyzing the Certificate, I Concluded That:

• The certificate was issued on 18 April 1936 (this date appears on the document).
  At the time, Sella was 19 years and 3 days old, having been born on 15 April 1917.
• Based on my findings, “Beth-Am van ‘Hatsair’” refers to an organization known as Hatsair, which operated from a communal space called Beth Am (see below for more context).
• “Beth Am” was a folk house or community venue that could be used by various groups—typically ones with a Zionist orientation—for meetings and events.
• Hatsair was likely one of these Zionist organizations, possibly a youth movement, and they were the ones who issued the certificate to Sella.
• “Sjoek” (or Shuk, as it would be spelled in English) is the transliterated Hebrew word for market. Originally Arabic in origin, shuk in this context referred to a fancy fair or bazaar, held in support of the Zionist effort in what was then still Palestine.
• If my interpretation so far is correct, and we take another look at the certificate, we can now read it in a new light:
  It seems that Sella received “land on the map”—a symbolic plot shown on a map hung on the wall of the Hatsair organization inside Beth Am.
• If this is indeed the case, then sadly, it means that my father-in-law and his sisters don’t actually own those 83,000 dunams today (for context, 1 dunam equals 1,000 square meters or approximately 10,764 square feet).

Evidence Supporting My Conclusions

Now, let me present the evidence upon which I based my conclusions:

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1. The Date

The certificate was issued on 18 April 1936 — this date is clearly stated on the document itself:

Beth Am: A Network of Community Houses

There were several “Beth Am” houses in existence, including ones in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other cities. Some existed before the war, others were established afterward.

What remains unclear to me is who exactly oversaw these Beth Am houses. Was it a single overarching organization, similar to what today might fall under the responsibility of the Jewish Agency? Or were these houses independent initiatives run locally?

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Historical References to Beth Am Houses

To shed some light on this, here are a few newspaper clippings that relate to the Beth Am houses, showing that several of them indeed existed in the past.

The first example is an announcement published in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 21 March 1924 (Year 59, No. 44, page 1), in the section covering town news about the Beth Am in Amsterdam. (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872473:mpeg21:a0016):

From the NIW of 25 January 1924 (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872465:mpeg21:a0013):

From the NIW of 9 November 1923
(Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872455:mpeg21:a0076):

From the NIW of 8 May 1925:

An announcement from the NIW of 27 February 1948 (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872030:mpeg21:a0041):

Here is an announcement about an initiative to establish a Beth Am in Rotterdam under the leadership of Zionist and Mizrachi groups. This notice appeared in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 1 August 1924.

You can view the original source here: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872492:mpeg21:a0081):

It appears that this initiative indeed came to fruition, as indicated by the following announcement in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) dated 21 November 1924, which reports on the festive opening of the Beth Am in Rotterdam.(Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872515:mpeg21:a0078):

According to the Jewish Canon of Amsterdam (online version) it seems that:

…at number 24 Johannes Vermeerstraat there was a “Beth Am” — a folk house intended to serve as a welcoming home for all Jews in Amsterdam.

This space was open to all associations and organizations to hold their activities. For example:

• The Dutch Zionist Student Organization conducted courses in Jewish history and held meetings there.
• The socialist Poale Zion movement organized May Day celebrations.

Interestingly, both the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, and the Socialist International were sung with equal enthusiasm.

Source:: http://joodsecanon.nl/f4z/1945-Johannes-Vermeerstraat-(1945-circa-1995)

Hatzair

There is one more newspaper clipping I want to share regarding an organization operating within the Beth Am house in Amsterdam. This announcement appeared in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 19 April 1940. (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010874620:mpeg21:a0156):

I suspect there is a typo in this announcement, and that “Hatstair” should actually read “Hatsair”. As far as I know, Hatstair has no meaning, whereas Hatzair does—read on to understand why.

Another note: This announcement dates from 1940, only four years after Sella received her certificate. Could her Beth Am have been at the same address, i.e., on the Pieter Aertzstraat?

Initially, I considered that “Hatsair” on the certificate might be a shortened reference to Hashomer Hatzair. Hashomer Hatzair is a socialist Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia (Austria-Hungary)—long before Sella received her certificate.

However, I’m unsure whether the organization that issued Sella’s certificate is the same as Hashomer Hatzair, since the Dutch chapter of Hashomer Hatzair was only established in 1958. Nevertheless, I still consider it possible that they may have had some kind of alliance or connection with Hashomer Hatzair at the time.

As we can see in the NIW of 12 June 1959, Hashomer Hatzair got only established in 1958 in the Netherlands (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010873722:mpeg21:a0009):

Hashomer Hatzair was managed, among others, by Bennie Rosen and his successor Eli Netcer. (Source:NIW from 1 November 1963 (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010874472:mpeg21:a0053):

Sjoek

Sjoek is the Dutch transliteration of the Hebrew word שוק (market). In our context, a Sjoek was often a market organized to support the Zionist endeavor in Palestine, typically held around Purim time.

The following newspaper clippings provide evidence of this tradition.

For example, here is an announcement published in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 5 February 1965, advertising a Sjoek organized by the Haboniem youth group on 14 February 1965 in The Hague.(Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872240:mpeg21:a0063):

Another relevant clipping, published in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 3 March 1961, announces the cancellation of that week’s meeting and includes a call to collect “many presents” for the upcoming Sjoek. (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010873033:mpeg21:a0111):

The following two newspaper clippings, published in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 24 March 1933, report on a Shuk held in Amsterdam by an organization called De Vereeniging Practisch Palestinawerk. (Source: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010874822:mpeg21:a0106):

Conclusion:
Now that we have analyzed everything, primarily using the online archive of the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW), we can confidently say that we have a solid understanding of what Beth Am, Hatzair, Shuk, and the like were.

When I consulted Dr. B. W. from VU University Amsterdam, a specialist in the history of Dutch Jewry, he confirmed that my interpretation of the certificate’s value was likely correct. He also explained that there were many youth movements at the time, each with its own name, and Hatzair could very well have been one of these groups.

Our Next Steps

In my opinion, the following actions would help deepen our understanding and uncover more about this fascinating piece of history:

• We need to investigate whether an archive still exists for the Beth-Am that Sella attended. Since organizations that used the Beth Am likely kept records, this is a promising lead. The following article, published in the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad (NIW) on 12 April 1946, supports this belief: http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010872192:mpeg21:a0029):

  

  
  In that article, the Beth-Am board announced that, thanks to generous donations, a building had been purchased at Johan Vermeerstraat 26. They also listed the members of the management and invited organizations interested in using the new hall to submit their names, addresses, and details about their activities.
• We also need to determine whether Hatzair was affiliated with the international Hashomer Hatzair movement, or if the Hatzair that Sella belonged to was a separate organization altogether.

If you happen to have any additional information that could help advance this research—whether about the certificate, the youth group Hatzair, the Shuk, the Beth Am, or related topics—please feel free to share it by commenting below or by contacting me directly via this link. I would be very grateful for any valuable insights or leads.