The Jews were first allowed to settle in Denmark in 1622, earlier than any other Scandinavian country. The community began to grow, mainly from immigration from Germany. In 1684, the Danish king allowed the foundation of the unified Jewish community of Copenhagen, and in 1849, The Jews were granted full citizenship, earlier than in many other European countries.
In The Early 1900's, many refugess arrived from Eastern Europe. Denmark also welcomed refugees from Nazi Germany. When The Germans conquered Denmark and ordered The Jews to be handed over, in 1943, the Danish resistance managed to save about 90% of the Jewish population, by arranging boats to take them to safety in neutral Sweden. All together, 5,191 Jews, 1,301 people of part Jewish parentage, and 686 Christians married to Jews were secretly transported to Sweden. However, some 472 Jews were captured and deported to the transit ghetto of Theresienstadt, and 49 lost their lives there. After the war, most of The Jews returned and the Jewish community was reconstituted.
In 1968, 2,500 refugees from Poland, victims of a Communist Party witch hunt, settled in the Copenhagen area. There are currently 8,000 Jews in Denmark. Most Jews reside in Copenhagen. There are also small communities in Odense and Aarhus.
The great majority of Danish Jews are Ashkenazim with roots in Central and Eastern Europe. Although intermarriage has taken its toll, Jewish life has been bolstered by the arrival of Jewish immigrants, particularly from Israel and from other European countries. Moreover, in recent years, children of some of the refugees from Poland, with tenuous Jewish links, have begun to take an active part in communal life. Since 1948, 1,320 Danish Jews have emigrated to Israel.
The central body is Det Mosaiske Troessamfund i Kobenhavn (The Mosaic Congregation in Copenhagen). Most of the Jewish organizations and institutions have their offices in The Jewish Community Center. Det Dansk Zionistforbund (The Danish Zionist Federation) is the leading Zionist body. B'nai B'rith and WIZO have chapters in the community, as does Bnei Akiva. There are three homes for the aged, run in cooperation with The Copenhagen Municipality.
The Caroline Jewish Day School, founded in 1805, has an enrollment of some 300 pupils, about half the Jewish children in the 6 to 16 year old age group. There are also two Talmud Torahs and three kindergartens. Since 1989 strong cultural ties have been established with the Jewish communities of the Baltic states.
A Jewish newspaper, Jodisk Orientering is published in Copenhagen and a quarterly, Israel, is published by Det Dansk Zionistforbund. Other publications cater to the needs of youth. The royal library in Copenhagen is an important repository of Judaica and houses the famous Biblotheca Simonseniana, as well as a Jewish department.
The Great Synagogue in Copenhagen was completed in 1833. It was designed by one of Denmark's most famous architects, Gustav Friedrich Hechst. It is an important site and the seat of The Chief Rabbinate. There is also another Orthodox synagogue which maintains a mikveh. The city has a burial ground dating back to 1693 and another, consecrated in 1886, that is the site of a monument to the 49 Danish Jews who perished in Theresienstadt. In The Liberty Museum, there is a special section devoted to the resistance movement and a section dealing with the persecution of The Jews.
Kosher food is readily available, and Denmark exports kosher meat to Sweden and Norway, where shechita is not permitted. There is a kosher hotel in Hornbaek.
Topic: Danish Jewish History (Read 2548 times)