Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain Blog

From Ton Tielen and David Mendoza:   Ron Gomes Casseres gives a brief history of the Jewish community of the Caribbean island of Curaçao, the longest surviving Jewish community in the Americas. In the early days there were more Jews in Curaçao than in all of the rest of the western hemisphere. Ron will discuss the history of the Curaçao Jewish community, its heritage and traditions. He will show us sites of Jewish interest, as well as the community’s famous archives dating back to the eighteenth century.  Ron Gomes Casseres descends from Sephardic Jews who first landed in Curaçao in 1690. He was born on the Dutch Caribbean island where he is a leader of the historic Mikvé Israel-Emanuel community. Now retired, one of his interests is the history of his Jewish community and its practices. He has been active in numerous organizations and institutions and was awarded decorations by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of Japan. Many th...