Introduction Cemetery Leek

The Jewish cemetery at Leek lies outside the village, on the Roomsterweg, along the Diepswal, near lock number 3, in the direction of Zevenhuizen and Haulerwijk.

Even before August 1783, a "raised hillock" is used by a number of Jewish families to bury their dead at a site of their own, with the consent of the owner, the squire of Nienoord. In 1783 ownership is transferred to the squires of Huis ter Heijl, but they accord the Jewish community the right to use the plot "in perpetuity" for one Carolus guilder per year.
Yet for many years to come, the hillock's situation among ditches and moors - in those days - will be the cause of collapse problems due to subsidence. On the map, this oldest section is marked with the Roman numeral I.

After 1800, the Jewish congregation at Leek is founded; between 1809 and 1849, the population doubles from 43 to 84 souls, and from 1849 to 1899 it grows to 153 souls, making extension of the cemetery necessary. These extensions (still with users' rights only, and a yearly rent of one guilder) take place in 1844, 1874 and 1877, marked II, III and IV on the map. It is not until 1882 that the Jewish congregation obtains ownership of all of this. The acquisition of the 1874 extension was required in order to build the metaheer house. By 1936, large sections had collapsed again, and the surrounding hedge had fallen into disrepair, necessitating a complete restoration, including the construction of a new entrance, with a raised approach leading to the entrance gate, in the style of the later Amsterdam School. Today, in 2004, all of this is still in good repair.

After the Second World War, in 1949 the municipality of Leek undertakes to pay for the cost of maintenance. In 1956 the gate is locked to prevent vandalism (key with the neighbour), and in 1975 the metaheer was repaired.

Till 1879, Leek functioned as a centre for all the surrounding villages, like Roden, Peize and Nietap, as well as for Grijpskerk together with Noord- and Zuidhorn, Garnwerd, Oldehove, Niezijl, Visvliet, Ezinge and Aduard. In that year, i.e. 1879, Grijpskerk acquired a cemetery of its own, for itself and the villages it headed - a cemetery still in existence in 2004, with 20 tombstones. But till 1917, burials from Aduard still took place at Leek, probably for tradition's sake, or because relatives lay buried there.

The two oldest tombstones still present date from 1852 (to be found at site numbers 200204 and 200503). The most recent burial at Leek took place in 1941.