Judaica
Item
Country
CW
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
46 Schottegatweg Oost, Willemstad, Curaçao
Contact information: phone number
005999 737 5119
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
info@madurolibrary.org
Title (official language of the state)
Judaica
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Joshua M.L. Maduro
Date note
17th century/21st century
Language(s)
dut
eng
heb
por
spa
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
The Judaica collection contains books, periodicals and documentation relating to Judaism in general and Jewish history, culture, customs and practices. A large part of the collection reflects the history of the Sephardic Jews from Spain, Portugal and Amsterdam who settled in The Dutch Caribbean islands (especially Curaçao) and gives a glimpse of the history of the Sephardic Jews in the Caribbean region and Latin America.
Archival history
Judaica and Antilliana are the original collections of the Mongui Maduro Library. The acquisition of new publications is constant so that the Mongui Maduro Library collections remain an authoritative source on the evolution of the political, social and cultural history of Curaçao in particular and the Dutch Caribbean and Caribbean region in general. Besides books, the collection also contains periodicals published in Curaçao or relating to Curaçao history and Jewish history in Curaçao.
Administrative / Biographical history
Joshua Moses Levy Maduro was born in Curaçao on October 12, 1891. He was the third of five children and the second son of Moses Salomon Levy Maduro and Adela Naar. Although Moses Salomon was the son of the founder of the family business S.E.L. Maduro & Sons, he started his own business, Palais Royal, in Willemstad and soon acquired several trading interests in Coro, Venezuela.
Moses Salomon valued a good education. He sent his sons to primary school and, for their religious education, to the Hebrew School in Curaçao. Joshua, called Jossy, proved averse to discipline and was expelled from school. However, his father arranged for Jossy to become fluent in Dutch, Spanish and English. Jossy increased his language skills by mastering French and Portuguese proficiency.
Moses Salomon died in 1911, and Jossy had to continue his father's business. Jossy married his niece Rebecca Deborah Levy Maduro (Beca) on May 15, 1915. Two children were born from this marriage: George Joshua (Curaçao, 1916 - Dachau, 1945) and Sybil Lois (Curaçao, 1917 - Paris, 1995).
Joshua M.L. Maduro was appointed procurator at the firm S.E.L. Maduro & Sons in 1916 and held the same position from 1921 at Maduro's Bank, of which he was co-founder and shareholder. He passed through all ranks in the army and ended up as first lieutenant. He was appointed Koloniale Raad (Colonial Council) member by the Royal Decree of February 21, 1931/33, and served as delegate of Curaçao to the Dutch Delegation Committee to the 1939-1941 World Exhibition in New York. He became curator of the Curaçao Museum in 1948 and was consul of Guatemala and Sweden for a long time.
Jossy Maduro was interested in history from an early age. The collection of books, genealogies and documents he left behind reflect his broad historical interest. Jossy Maduro was a member of the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Genootschap voor Geslacht- en Wapenkunde De Nederlandsche Leeuw (Royal Dutch Society for Genealogy and Heraldry) in The Hague. He immersed himself not only in the history of his native island but also in the entire Caribbean region and the history of the Jews who settled there. His frequent stays in the Netherlands and Europe since 1928 enabled him to visit archives and make countless notes. His interest in his own family's origins was closely intertwined with that past. This interest culminated in the genealogy of the Maduro family, as contained in A.J.C. Krafft's Historie en oude families van de Nederlandse Antillen; het Antilliaans patriciaat ('s-Gravenhage 1951). His Jewish descent and upbringing brought him into close contact with the Portuguese-Jewish Congregation Mikvé Israel in Curaçao, in which he held various board positions. In 1928, the Mikvé Israel board requested Jossy Maduro to write a booklet on the history of the Jews of Curaçao on the approaching celebration of the synagogue's 200th anniversary in 1932. Jossy Maduro turned to the librarian of Ets Haim in Amsterdam, Jacob S. da Silva Rosa, with a request to assist him with the writing, but the book never materialized.
During World War II, Jossy and his wife tried to get George out of the occupied Netherlands but could not avoid his deportation and death. After the war, they provided financial support in establishing the miniature city of Madurodam in The Hague to leave a tangible memory of their son. Madurodam opened its gates on July 2, 1952.
Jossy Maduro died suddenly in Curaçao on May 27, 1964.
Moses Salomon valued a good education. He sent his sons to primary school and, for their religious education, to the Hebrew School in Curaçao. Joshua, called Jossy, proved averse to discipline and was expelled from school. However, his father arranged for Jossy to become fluent in Dutch, Spanish and English. Jossy increased his language skills by mastering French and Portuguese proficiency.
Moses Salomon died in 1911, and Jossy had to continue his father's business. Jossy married his niece Rebecca Deborah Levy Maduro (Beca) on May 15, 1915. Two children were born from this marriage: George Joshua (Curaçao, 1916 - Dachau, 1945) and Sybil Lois (Curaçao, 1917 - Paris, 1995).
Joshua M.L. Maduro was appointed procurator at the firm S.E.L. Maduro & Sons in 1916 and held the same position from 1921 at Maduro's Bank, of which he was co-founder and shareholder. He passed through all ranks in the army and ended up as first lieutenant. He was appointed Koloniale Raad (Colonial Council) member by the Royal Decree of February 21, 1931/33, and served as delegate of Curaçao to the Dutch Delegation Committee to the 1939-1941 World Exhibition in New York. He became curator of the Curaçao Museum in 1948 and was consul of Guatemala and Sweden for a long time.
Jossy Maduro was interested in history from an early age. The collection of books, genealogies and documents he left behind reflect his broad historical interest. Jossy Maduro was a member of the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Genootschap voor Geslacht- en Wapenkunde De Nederlandsche Leeuw (Royal Dutch Society for Genealogy and Heraldry) in The Hague. He immersed himself not only in the history of his native island but also in the entire Caribbean region and the history of the Jews who settled there. His frequent stays in the Netherlands and Europe since 1928 enabled him to visit archives and make countless notes. His interest in his own family's origins was closely intertwined with that past. This interest culminated in the genealogy of the Maduro family, as contained in A.J.C. Krafft's Historie en oude families van de Nederlandse Antillen; het Antilliaans patriciaat ('s-Gravenhage 1951). His Jewish descent and upbringing brought him into close contact with the Portuguese-Jewish Congregation Mikvé Israel in Curaçao, in which he held various board positions. In 1928, the Mikvé Israel board requested Jossy Maduro to write a booklet on the history of the Jews of Curaçao on the approaching celebration of the synagogue's 200th anniversary in 1932. Jossy Maduro turned to the librarian of Ets Haim in Amsterdam, Jacob S. da Silva Rosa, with a request to assist him with the writing, but the book never materialized.
During World War II, Jossy and his wife tried to get George out of the occupied Netherlands but could not avoid his deportation and death. After the war, they provided financial support in establishing the miniature city of Madurodam in The Hague to leave a tangible memory of their son. Madurodam opened its gates on July 2, 1952.
Jossy Maduro died suddenly in Curaçao on May 27, 1964.
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Access points: subject terms
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
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