Studia Rosenthaliana - Volume 50, Issue 2, 2024

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) played a significant role in commerce and economic innovation during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Beyond its economic pursuits, the VOC facilitated substantial cultural exchanges, exemplified by those undertaken by Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort, a Hebrew professor. Van Dort’s activities included translating the Qur’ãn and the New Testament into Hebrew, printing Jewish prayer books for the Jews of Cochin, India, and led to the publication of the “Chronicles” of the Jews of Cochin in Europe. Van Dort’s role as a cultural mediator is further underscored by his extension of Ezekiel Rahabi’s network to Tobias Boas in The Hague, facilitating ongoing exchanges between Dutch and Cochin Jews. These initiatives aimed at fostering cultural understanding and strengthening diplomatic and strategic ties between the VOC, the Paradeśi Jews, and surrounding political forces, with the Jews serving as key intermediaries in these negotiations. His collaboration with Ezekiel Rahabi and support from the VOC facilitated these initiatives, illustrating a strategic alliance between the VOC and the Jews of Cochin that extended beyond mere economic transactions. This underscores the VOC’s impact beyond economic influence, highlighting its role in cultural, political, and religious exchanges.

Max Heymans was a Jewish fashion designer, often considered the ‘first Dutch couturier,’ who designed clothing in Amsterdam from the 1940s to the 1990s. His works have long been characterized as ‘timeless’ imitations of ‘French fashion’ by the media and academic literature. This article will re-examine his works, calling into question such characterizations through three folds of examination. First, Heymans’ fashion designs are examined through their physical materiality and representation in film and photography. Second, the personality and background of Heymans are analyzed to better understand his self-identity as a Jewish queer man. Third, the interaction between Heymans’ identity and his designs is reviewed. Through these three lenses of inquiry, it is concluded that Heymans’ designs were not ‘timeless’ but instead developed alongside the trends in fashion. Heymans’ identity as a queer Jewish man minimally influenced his designs. It was rather his Dutch nationality that likely guided his designs.