Content deleted Content added
Tag: Reverted |
Citation bot (talk | contribs) Added date. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Andrevan | #UCB_toolbar |
||
| (29 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Redirect|European Judaism|the academic journal|European Judaism (journal){{!}}''European Judaism'' (journal)}}
[[Image:Europe orthographic Caucasus Urals boundary (with borders).svg|thumb|The location of modern-day [[Europe]] (dark green)]]
Line 5:
{{Antisemitism}}
{{Holocaust sidebar |Holocaust}}
The '''history of the Jews in Europe''' spans a period of over two thousand years. [[Jews]],
Jews have had a significant presence in European cities and countries since the fall of the Roman Empire, including [[History of the Jews in Italy|Italy]], [[History of the Jews in Spain|Spain]], [[History of the Jews in Portugal|Portugal]], [[History of the Jews in France|France]], [[History of the Jews in the Netherlands|the Netherlands]], [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]], [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]], and [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russia]]. In Spain and Portugal in the late fifteenth century, the monarchies forced Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave and they established offices of the [[Inquisition]] to enforce Catholic orthodoxy of converted Jews. These actions shattered Jewish life in Iberia and saw mass migration of [[Sephardic Jews]] to escape religious persecution. Many resettled in the Netherlands and re-judaized, starting in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In the [[religious tolerance|religiously tolerant]], Protestant [[Dutch Republic]] Amsterdam prospered economically and as a center of Jewish cultural life, the [[Jerusalem of the West|"Dutch Jerusalem"]]. [[Ashkenazi Jews]] lived in communities under continuous rabbinic authority. In Europe Jewish communities were largely self-governing autonomous under Christian rulers, usually with restrictions on residence and economic activities. In Poland, from 1264 (from 1569 also in Lithuania as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), under the [[Statute of Kalisz]] until the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Jews were guaranteed legal rights and privileges. The law in Poland after 1264 (in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in consequence) toward Jews was one of the most inclusive in Europe. The [[French Revolution]] removed legal restrictions on Jews, making them full citizens. [[Napoleon and the Jews|Napoleon]] implemented [[Jewish emancipation]] as his armies conquered much of Europe. Emancipation often brought more opportunities for Jews and many integrated into larger European society and became more secular rather than remaining in cohesive Jewish communities.
The pre-[[World War II]] Jewish population of Europe is estimated to have been close to 9 million,<ref>[http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/givennames/dbdespop.htm] Jewish Gen – The Given Names Data Base, 2013.</ref> or 57% of the world's Jewish population.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/09/europes-jewish-population/|title=Europe's Jewish population|date=9 February 2015 }}</ref> Around 6 million Jews were killed in the [[Holocaust]], which was followed by the emigration of much of the [[Holocaust survivors|surviving population]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/killedtable.html | title=Estimated Number of Jews Killed in the Final Solution}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/40-questions-40-answers/basic-questions-about-the-holocaust.html|title=Holocaust | Basic questions about the Holocaust|website=www.projetaladin.org|access-date=2015-04-07|archive-date=2019-09-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917041541/http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/40-questions-40-answers/basic-questions-about-the-holocaust.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[[Lucy Dawidowicz|Dawidowicz, Lucy]]. ''The War Against the Jews'', Bantam, 1986. p. 403</ref>
The Jewish population of Europe in 2010 was estimated to be approximately 1.4 million (0.2% of the European population), or 10% of the world's Jewish population.<ref name="auto1"/> In the 21st century, France has the largest Jewish population in Europe,<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-jew/|title=Jews|work=Pew Research Center|date=December 18, 2012}}</ref> followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.<ref name="auto"/> Prior to the Holocaust, Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe, as a percentage of its population. This was followed by Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia and Romania.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-population-of-europe-in-1933-population-data-by-country |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=Holocaust Encyclopaedia |language=}}</ref>
Line 17:
[[File:Jewishdiaspora.png|thumb|right|Routes of Jewish ancient expulsion and deportation]]
[[Hellenistic Judaism]], originating from [[Alexandria]], was present throughout the [[Roman Empire]] even before the [[Jewish–Roman wars]]. Large numbers of Jews lived in Greece (including the Greek isles in the Aegean and [[Crete]]) as early as the beginning of the 3rd century [[BCE]]. The first recorded mention of Judaism in Greece dates from 300 to 250 BCE, on the island of [[Rhodes]].<ref name="SephardicStudies3">The Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, p. 3</ref> In the wake of [[Alexander the Great]]'s conquests, Jews migrated from the Middle East to Greek settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean, spurred on by the opportunities they expected.<ref>Gruen, Erich S: [https://books.google.com/books?id=7tgXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 The Construct of Identity in Hellenistic Judaism: Essays on Early Jewish Literature and History] (2016), p. 284. [[Walter de Gruyter]] GmbH & Co KG</ref> As early as the middle of the 2nd century BCE, the Jewish author of the third book of the [[Sibylline oracles|Oracula Sibyllina]], addressing the "[[chosen people]]", says: "Every land is full of thee and every sea." The most diverse witnesses, such as [[Strabo]], [[Philo]], [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], [[Cicero]], and [[Josephus]], all mention [[Jewish diaspora|Jewish populations]] in the cities of the [[Mediterranean Basin]]. Most Jewish population centers of this period were, however, still in the
At the commencement of the reign of [[Caesar Augustus]] in 27 BCE, there were over 7,000 Jews in [[Rome]]: this is the number that escorted the envoys who came to demand the deposition of [[Herod Archelaus|Archelaus]]. The Jewish historian [[Josephus]] confirms that as early as 90 CE there
Many Jews migrated to Rome from Alexandria as a result of the close trade relations between the two cities. When the Roman Empire [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|captured Jerusalem]] in 63 BCE, thousands of Jewish prisoners of war were brought from Judea to Rome, where they were sold into slavery. Following the [[Siege of Jerusalem (37 BC)|capture of Jerusalem]] by the forces of [[Herod the Great]] with assistance from Roman forces in 37 BCE, it is likely that Jews were again taken to Rome as slaves. It is known that Jewish war captives were sold into slavery after the suppression of a minor Jewish revolt in 53 BCE, and some were probably taken to southern Europe.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jSYbpitEjggC&pg=PA131 The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian and they lived in most countries in Europe : a Study in Political Relations], p. 131</ref> After the enslaved Jews gained their freedom, they permanently settled in Rome on the right bank of the [[Tiber]] as traders, and some immigrated north later.<ref>Jacobs, Joseph and Schulim, Oscher: [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12816-rome Rome] – Jewish Encyclopedia</ref><ref>Davies, William David; Finkelstein, Louis; Horbury, William; Sturdy, John; Katz, Steven T.; Hart, Mitchell Bryan; Michels, Tony; Karp, Jonathan; Sutcliffe, Adam; Chazan, Robert: [https://books.google.com/books?id=AW2BuWcalXIC&pg=PA168 The Cambridge History of Judaism: The early Roman period], p. 168 (1984), [[Cambridge University Press]]</ref>
Line 89:
When the Protestant [[Dutch Republic]] revolted against Catholic Spain in what became the [[Eighty Years' War]], Portuguese and Spanish Jews forced to convert to Catholicism (''[[converso]]s'' or ''[[Marrano]]s'') began migrating to the northern provinces of the Netherlands.<ref>Swetschinski, Daniel M. ''Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The Portuguese Jews of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam''. London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization 2000, 54-101</ref> [[Religious tolerance]], the freedom of conscience to practice one's religion without impediment, was a core Dutch Protestant value. These [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic migrants]] established a thriving community in Amsterdam, which became known as the [[Jerusalem of the West|"Dutch Jerusalem"]]<ref>Ridley Haim Herschell. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ghcFAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22jerusalem+of+the+west%22&pg=PA27 The Voice of Israel], 1845. pg. 27.</ref> Three Sephardic congregations merged and built a huge synagogue, the [[Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)|Portuguese Synagogue]], opening in 1675. Prosperous Jewish merchants built opulent houses among successful non-Jewish merchants, since there was no restriction of Jews to particular residential quarters. The Iberian Jews strongly identified both as Jews and as ethnically Portuguese, calling themselves "Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation".<ref>Bodian, Miriam. ''Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam''. Bloomington: Indiana University 1997</ref> Amsterdam's Portuguese Jewish merchants created a huge trade network in the Americas, with Portuguese Jews emigrating to the Caribbean and to Brazil.<ref>Swetschinski, Daniel M. ''Reluctant Cosmopolitans'', 102-164</ref> Ashkenazi Jews settled in Amsterdam as well but were generally poorer than the Sephardim and dependent of their charity. However, Amsterdam's prosperity faltered in the late seventeenth century, as did the fortunes and number of Sephardic Jews, while the Ashkenazi Jews' numbers continued to rise and have dominated the Netherlands ever since.
===England
{{Main|History of the Jews in England}}
England expelled its small Jewish population (ca. 2,000) in 1290, but in the seventeenth century, prominent Portuguese Jewish rabbi [[Menasseh ben Israel]] petition [[Oliver Cromwell]] to permit Jews to live and work in England. The modern Jewish presence in England dates from 1656. In the 16th century some merchants were ''[[New Christian]]s'' (converted Jews), but only in the 17th c. were the English receptive to the idea of Jewish resettlement. Those who migrated to England were from the [[Sephardic]] Jews of Amsterdam, where they lived openly as Jews in the [[religious toleration|religiously tolerant]] [[Dutch Republic]], where merchants prospered in as international trade of the [[Atlantic world]].<ref>Endelman, Todd M. ''The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 2002, 15-40</ref>
Line 158:
In May 1923, in the presence of President [[Michael Hainisch]], the [[First World Congress of Jewish Women]] was inaugurated at the [[Hofburg]] in [[Vienna]], Austria.<ref name="Ben-GavriêlBen-Gavrîʾēl1999">{{cite book|last1=Ben-Gavriêl|first1=Moshe Yaacov|last2=Ben-Gavrîʾēl|first2=Moše Yaʿaqov|last3=Wallas|first3=Armin A.|title=Tagebücher 1915 bis 1927|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_LwUNv72jQC&pg=PA473|year=1999|publisher=Böhlau Verlag Wien|isbn=978-3-205-99137-3|pages=473–}}</ref>
===Demographics===
Jewish population in interwar Europe, approximately as of 1933:<ref>''[https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-population-of-europe-in-1933-population-data-by-country Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country]'', [in:] ''Holocaust Encyclopedia''</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Country !! Jewish population !! as % of national<br /> population !! as % of total Jewish<br /> population in Europe
|-
| {{flag|Albania}} || 200 || 0.0 || 0.0
|-
| {{flag|Austria}} ||191,000 || 2.8 || 2.1
|-
| {{flag|Belgium}} ||60,300 || 0.7|| 0.7
|-
| {{flag|Bulgaria}} || 48,500 || 0.8|| 0.5
|-
| {{flag|Czechoslovakia}} ||357,000 || 2.4|| 3.9
|-
| {{flag|Danzig}} ||10,000 || 3.6|| 0.1
|-
| {{flag|Denmark}} || 5,700|| 0.1|| 0.1
|-
| {{flag|Estonia}} ||4,600 || 0.4|| 0.1
|-
| {{flag|Finland}} ||1,800 || 0.1|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|France}} ||250,000 || 0.6|| 2.8
|-
| {{flag|Germany}} ||525,000 || 0.8|| 5.7
|-
| {{flag|Greece}} ||73,000 || 1.2|| 0.8
|-
| {{flag|Hungary}} ||445,000 || 5.1|| 4.9
|-
| {{Flag|Kingdom of Iceland|name=Iceland}} ||10 || 0.0|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|Ireland}} ||3,600 || 0.1|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|Italy}} ||48,000 || 0.1|| 0.5
|-
| {{flag|Latvia}} || 95,600 || 4.9|| 1.0
|-
| {{flag|Lithuania}} ||155,000 || 7.6|| 1.7
|-
| {{Flag|Luxembourg|name=Luxembourg}} ||1,200 || 0.4|| 0.0
|-
| {{Flag|Monaco|size=23px}} ||300 || 1.4|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|Netherlands}} ||156,000 || 1.8|| 1.7
|-
| {{flag|Norway}} ||1,400 || 0.1|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|Poland}} ||3,000,000 ||9.5|| 32.7
|-
| {{flag|Portugal}} ||1,200 || 0.0|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|Romania}} ||756,000 || 4.2|| 8.3
|-
| {{flag|Spain}} || 4,000 || 0.0|| 0.0
|-
| {{flag|USSR}}<ref>European part only</ref> ||2,525,000 || 3.4|| 27.6
|-
| {{flag|Sweden}} ||6,700 || 0.1|| 0.1
|-
| {{flag|Switzerland}} ||21,000 || 0.5|| 0.2
|-
| {{flag|Turkey}}<ref>European part only</ref> ||50,000 || 0.7|| 0.5
|-
| {{flag|United Kingdom}} ||300,000 || 0.7|| 3.3
|-
| {{Flag|Kingdom of Yugoslavia|name=Yugoslavia}} ||68,000 || 0.5|| 0.7
|}
==World War II and the Holocaust==
Line 191 ⟶ 262:
| {{flag|Cyprus}} || data-sort-value="0" |3,500 (2018)|| || || [[History of the Jews in Cyprus|Cyprus]] || [[List of South-East European Jews|South-East European]]
|-
| {{flag|Czech Republic}} ||
|-
| {{flag|Denmark}} ||
|-
| {{flag|Estonia}} ||1,800 || 3,000 || || [[History of the Jews in Estonia|Estonia]] || [[List of North European Jews|North European]]
Line 201 ⟶ 272:
| {{flag|France}} ||483,500 || 580,000 || [[Ashkenazi Jews]] || [[History of the Jews in France|France]] || [[List of French Jews|French]]
|-
| {{flag|Georgia}} || 3,200 || 6,000 || [[Georgian Jews]] || [[History of the Jews in Georgia (country)|Georgia]] || [[
|-
| {{flag|Germany}} ||119,000 || 250,000 || [[Ashkenazi Jews]] || [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]] || [[List of German Jews|German]]
Line 241 ⟶ 312:
| {{flag|Norway}} ||1,200 || || [[Jews in Norway]] || [[History of the Jews in Norway|Norway]] || [[List of North European Jews|North European]]
|-
| {{flag|Poland}} ||
|-
| {{flag|Portugal}} ||500 || || [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews]] || [[History of the Jews in Portugal|Portugal]] || [[List of Iberian Jews|Iberian]]
Line 253 ⟶ 324:
| {{flag|Serbia}} ||1,400 || || [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]] and [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]]|| [[History of the Jews in Serbia|Serbia]] || [[List of South-East European Jews|South-East European]]
|-
| {{flag|Slovakia}} ||
|-
| {{flag|Slovenia}} || 100 || || || [[History of the Jews in Slovenia|Slovenia]] || [[List of South-East European Jews|South-East European]]
Line 284 ⟶ 355:
==See also==
*[[Statute of Kalisz]]
*[[History of Europe]]
*[[Jewish culture]]
*[[Jewish diaspora]]
*[[Jewish history]]
*''[[The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe]]''
Line 317 ⟶ 381:
[[Category:History of the Jews in Europe| ]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Europe]]
| |||