Location & background
Our base is on a former farm which is located near the village Hooghalen in the North-eastern part of the Netherlands. This is an historical spot because the former transitcamp of Westerbork is only 500 metres near. During WWII 107.000 Jews have been deported from there to the extermination camps in eastern (Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia).
As a result from that, thousands of Jews have passed our farm on their ways to camp Westerbork. And from there (again) on their way to the extermination camps (Bergen Belsen, Sobibor, Auschwitz, Theresienstadt, Mauthausen).
In the forest behind the property of the farm a railway has been built in 1942. Decided was that the Netherlands (-like other countries invaded by the Germans-) had to ‘get rid of’ their Jewish inhabitants; they had to be exterminated. From on 1942 the deportation of Jews began. Less than 5,000 of them survived. The captives were misleaded by false hope. There was even a theatre in the camp. It was a gate of death of over 100,000 Jews.
We, from Petach Tikvah, believe that God has turned this location into a place of Hope. From there our name Petach Tikvah, which is Hebrew for “Door of Hope”, based on Hosea 2:14 “I turn the valley of Achor into a door of hope.” We believe that God heart is to turn false hope into real hope. Deceit into truth and death into life.
A large part of our activities and work takes place in the Netherlands. Besides that we also cooperate with ministries and organisations in Israel.
Farm
In the farm Petach Tikvah has its foundation. In here house-gatherings began. Later on, gatherings took place in the meeting room and ‘t Praethuys. (loosely translated as “the house where people talk to each other”). ‘t Praethuys is an accommodation with multiple possibilities, such as gatherings, meetings, weekends for youth as wel as a guesthouse.
Beside this purpose we rent it as a facility for ministries, communities an individuals. Nearby ´t Praethuys is our campsite Camping Tikvah which -besides camping- is also used for conferences and other events during spring and summer.
