In a 1955 report, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the renown American welfare organization for Jewish immigrants, observed how Jewish inhabitants of Antwerp stood out from the rest of the city's population and were perceived as “Jewish”: “Everybody can point at a Jew in Antwerp – unfortunately. They are bearded, they wear a kaftan, they assemble publicly in certain streets, and therefore attract the attention of the Flemish-speaking population.” To this day, Jews in Antwerp remain highly visible and sustain their community as a “minority group” that is considered “different” and is distinguishable from the rest of the city's inhabitants. Many people today view Jews in Antwerp as a “closed community” or even as “a shtetl on the River Scheldt”. Orthodox Jews in Antwerp consider themselves to be “integrated, not assimilated”, meaning that they respect Belgium's constitution, laws, and regulations, while at the same time retaining their distinct cultural and religious profile.

In this article, I seek to illuminate how this Jewish presence in Antwerp materialized during the twentieth century and how it “marked” its presence. By searching for “markers” of Jewishness in the city, everything that is an indicator of Jewish life or that is associated with it can be taken into account. Such markers can be physical or more sociocultural in nature. I will investigate how a number of these demarcations of Jewishness came into being and how permeable (or impermeable) they are. Certain markers can be clearly defined or outlined (the demarcations of the eruv, for example, or official membership of the community), whereas others are less precise (the “Jewish neighborhood”). Some are more “visible” than the latter, and deline - ations of Jewishness can certainly differ for insiders and outsiders. Some markers can be objectively outlined or named, while others are more subjective or intangible. For example, describing the Jewish neighborhoods as a “ghetto” or “shtetl” marks a certain subjective viewpoint of the locale. By reconstructing the evolution of markers of Jewishness, we will see that the perception of Jews changed from a “mostly immigrant minority” to a “religious minority”. An examination of the changing characteristics of Antwerp's Jewish life and its Jewish inhabitants, clarifies how Jews in Antwerp manifested – or “marked” – themselves in the city over the last century. In doing so, I would like to put the idea of a “closed community” in perspective.