Amsterdam (15,000) is the focus of the Netherlands' Jewish community. There are medium-size communities in Rotterdam and The Hague, and small ones in Amersfoort, Arnhem, Bussum, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Haarlem, Hilversum, Leeuwarden, Leiden, Utrecht, and Zwolle. Contemporary Dutch Jewry is overwhelmingly Ashkenazi. Prior to the Holocaust, 140,000 Jews were living in the Netherlands. The Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam is located in the very heart of the Dutch capital. Since the early 17th century until the beginning of World War II, it was one of the world’s major centers of Jewish life and culture. By 1940, more than 10 percent of Amsterdam’s residents were Jews. Their influence on Dutch society was palpable. Until today, the Dutch call their capital ‘Mokum’, a term that derives from the Yiddish word for ‘place’. During the Middle Ages, even though Dutch Jews were socially, economically and professionally restricted, they enjoyed religious freedom to a great extent. This enabled them to build the imposing Portuguese Synagogue in 1675 (pictured). It still stands there in its authentic state. In November 2011, Queen Beatrix reinaugurated the compound following two years of renovation. Today it is possibile to see the Ets Haim Jewish Library and to visit the underground treasure chambers. There, a collection of unique Jewish objects is exposed which surprisingly survived the war, although some of them were confiscated by the Nazi’s and taken to the Institute for Study of the Jewish Question in Frankfurt, Germany.