Zuiderhofje

The Zuiderhofje is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands.

The hofje was founded in 1640 by Jacques van Damme and his wife Elisabeth Blinckvliedt, and is owned by the Mennonite church of Haarlem. The couple gave an order to Michael Slaghreegen on the 25th of February 1640, to purchase a house on the Zuiderstraat and build a few houses there for elderly women of the Vlaemsche Block, the largest branch of Mennonites in Haarlem at that time. This branch was primarily Flemish in origin, and their church De Olijblock was located on the Klein Heiligland street, near their orphanage, Het Doopsgezinde Weeshuis. The orphanage archives date back to 1634, and its location adjoined the former hofje Blokshofje, that can still be seen, but was sold by the Mennonite church in 1970. A commemorative plaque on the front explains the history of that house.

This hofje is one of four Mennonite hofjes in Haarlem; the others are the Wijnbergshofje in the Barrevoetestraat, the Bruiningshofje on the Botermarkt, and the Blokshofje on the Klein Heiligland sold in 1970. This is not counting the Teylers Hofje, though its founder was Mennonite and its former location had also been a Mennonite hofje. Considering the fact that the Mennonite community was never more than 5% of the Haarlem population, it is unusual that they have always been in the majority among the regents of Haarlem hofjes. The reason is that the Mennonites in Haarlem ran a quarter of all charity work for centuries in Haarlem, until government control slowly took over in the 20th century. The Haarlem archives mention the followers of Zwingli as far back as 1530. The Frisian preacher Menno Simons was not the founder of this faith, but a later leader. This is why the Dutch Mennonites don't call themselves Mennonites, but Doopsgezind, or Anabaptist. Each Doopsgezind group is autonomous. The main rules of the faith in 1640 were:

Many Haarlem Mennonites were Flemish immigrants from Menen, in Belgium, who came for the linen trade, but there was also a large group who came from Friesland, and friction between these groups was common. Since most men of influence in Haarlem at that time were members of the schutterij, the only way for influential men of the Mennonite community to advance themselves socially was through social work and cultural donations.

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