page_title: History of the Jews in Belgium
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Belgium / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Great Synagogue of Europe is the main synagogue in Brussels, Belgium which was dedicated as a focal point for European Jews in 2008.
context_page_description: The history of the Jews in Belgium goes back to the 1st century CE until today. The Jewish community numbered 66,000 on the eve of the Second World War but, after the war and the Holocaust, is now less than half that number.
  Today, Belgium is home to more than 30,000 Jews, of whom two-thirds live in Antwerp.
context_section_description: The first Jews to arrive in the present-day territory of Belgium arrived with the Romans between the years 50 and 60 AD. Jews were mentioned in the Middle Ages in Brabant, and in 1261 Duke Henry III ordered the expulsion of Jews and usurers from the province. The Jewish community suffered further during the Crusades, as many Jews who refused to be baptised were put to death. This early community mostly disappeared after the Black Death persecutions 1348–1350, and finally the Brussels massacre, 1370.
caption: Great Synagogue, Brussels
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