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Antwerp World Diamond
Center
In Paris there is a metro stop called Louvre; in
Antwerp there is a tram stop called Diamant. The
city’s long-standing advertising campaign declaring
Antwerp ‘a gem of a city’ is still true today;
Antwerp remains the most important diamond
trade center in the world. More than 85% of the
world’s rough diamonds are traded in the handsome
Belgian city. The unique structure of the diamond
district, on Hoveniersstraat, Schupstraat,
Rijfstraat, and Pelikanstraat, located near Central
Station, is contained within an area no larger than
one square mile and is comprised of 1,500 diamond
companies and four separate diamond exchanges.
As early as the sixteenth century several Jewish
families from Portugal had settled in the city, and
were active in the diamond trade. Then, towards the
end of the nineteenth century, East European Jews
swelled the community considerably. They played a
vital role in the founding of the Beurs voor
Diamanthandel, one of the city’s four bourses. The
post-war revival of the city’s diamond industry was
also largely the work of the Jewish community,
despite during the war years, having the city’s
Jewish population reduced by over 30,000.
The Israelite Portuguese Synagogue is situated in
Hoveniersstraat, the main diamond district, and
immediately next door to the Diamond High Council,
the administrative body which oversees the trade.
Today there are some 25 synagogues in Antwerp; the
majority of them situated within one square mile.
There are twelve different Hasidic sects in the city
– some 4,000 members of the community, which is
almost a quarter of the city’s Jewish population.
American Jews are often very happy in Antwerp; it’s
one of the few cities in the world where they can
get around speaking Yiddish, which is enjoying a
revival.
For more information about Antwerp click here.
http://www.hrd.be/.
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