In use from 1714-1914 with an estimated 100,000+ burials. After 1914, burials occurred at the Nederlands-Israëlitische Begraafplaats in Diemen.

Only a small part of the southern portion has been cleared and restored; the rest of the cemetery is virtually inaccessible due to its heavily wooded state.

The area of Amsterdam once known as Zeeburg no longer exists, but was once a thriving area and a rapidly-expanding part of Amsterdam.

In about 1714, the Ashkenazim consecrated a new cemetery at Zeeburg, realizing their older cemetery at Muiderberg was not going to keep pace with Amsterdam's growing population. They also intended to provide a place where poor Jews who couldn't afford the price of a grave could be buried with dignity.

Access to the Muiderberg cemetery (and also the Sephardic cemetery), was only by water. Not only did the family have to pay the cost of the grave and ceremony for their loved one, but one or more barges had to be hired to transport everyone to the cemetery.

Apart from the expense, the time involved in such a burial created problems for those who happened to die on a Friday, during a Festival, or a High Holy Day.

The Joodse Begraafplaats at Zeeburg was not only closer to the city, but was accessible by land as well, which made it a popular choice. The cemetery operated until about 1942--the height of the deportation raids in World War II. During that time, it became the final resting place for about 100,000 Jews.

After the War, the cemetery fell into disrepair. When the Amsterdam Municipality decided to build a roadway through it, the Jewish community sold a portion of it for that purpose. Many of the burials were transported to the Jewish Cemetery at Diemen, but a large part of Zeeburg Cemetery remained.

In 2013, thanks to years of effort by local Jewish and Moroccan youths, the partly-restored cemetery was opened once again to the public.