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Thehistory of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years.Jews, aSemitic people descending from theJudeans ofJudea in theSouthern Levant,[1][2][3][4] began migrating to Europe just before the rise of theRoman Empire (27 BCE), althoughAlexandrian Jews had already migrated toRome, and someGentiles had undergoneJudaization on a few occasions. A notable early event in thehistory of the Jews in the Roman Empire was the 63 BCEsiege of Jerusalem, wherePompey had interfered in theHasmonean civil war.
Jews have had a significant presence in European cities and countries since the fall of the Roman Empire, includingItaly,Spain,Portugal,France, theNetherlands,Germany,Poland, andRussia. 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 theInquisition to enforce Catholic orthodoxy of converted Jews. These actions shattered Jewish life in Iberia and saw mass migration ofSephardic Jews to escape religious persecution. Many resettled in the Netherlands and re-judaized, starting in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In thereligiously tolerant, ProtestantDutch Republic Amsterdam prospered economically and as a center of Jewish cultural life, the "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 thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), under theStatute 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. TheFrench Revolution removed legal restrictions on Jews, making them full citizens.Napoleon implementedJewish 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 nine million,[5] or 57% of the world's Jewish population.[6] Around six million Jews were killed inthe Holocaust, which was followed by the emigration of much of thesurviving population.[7][8][9]
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.[6] In the 21st century, France has the largest Jewish population in Europe,[6][10] followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.[10] 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.[11]
Hellenistic Judaism, originating fromAlexandria, was present throughout theRoman Empire even before theJewish–Roman wars. Large numbers of Jews lived in Greece (including the Greek isles in the Aegean andCrete) as early as the beginning of the 3rd centuryBCE. The first recorded mention of Judaism in Greece dates from 300 to 250 BCE, on the island ofRhodes.[12] In the wake ofAlexander the Great's conquests, Jews migrated from the Middle East to Greek settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean, spurred on by the opportunities they expected.[13] As early as the middle of the 2nd century BCE, the Jewish author of the third book of theOracula Sibyllina, addressing the "chosen people", says: "Every land is full of thee and every sea." The most diverse witnesses, such asStrabo,Philo,Seneca,Cicero, andJosephus, all mentionJewish populations in the cities of theMediterranean Basin. Most Jewish population centers of this period were, however, still in the Levant, andAlexandria in Egypt was by far the most important of the Jewish communities, with the Jews inPhilo's time inhabiting two of the five sections of the city. Nevertheless, a Jewish community is recorded to have existed in Rome at least since the 1st century BCE, although there may even have been an established community there as early as the second century BCE, for in the year 139 BCE, the praetorHispanus issued a decree expelling all Jews who were not Roman citizens.[14]
At the commencement of the reign ofCaesar Augustus in 27 BCE, there were over 7,000 Jews inRome: this is the number that escorted the envoys who came to demand the deposition ofArchelaus. The Jewish historianJosephus confirms that as early as 90 CE there were twoIsraelite tribes living in Europe, Judah and Benjamin. Thus, he writes in hisAntiquities:[14] " ...there are but two tribes inAsia Minor and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now and are an immense multitude." According toE. Mary Smallwood, the appearance of Jewish settlements in southern Europe during the Roman era was probably mostly a result of migration due to commercial opportunities, writing that "no date or origin can be assigned to the numerous settlements eventually known in the west, and some may have been founded as a result of the dispersal of Judean Jews after the revolts of CE 66–70 and 132–135, but it is reasonable to conjecture that many, such as the settlement inPozzuoli attested in 4 BCE, went back to the late republic or early empire and originated in voluntary emigration and the lure of trade and commerce."[15]
Many Jews migrated to Rome from Alexandria as a result of the close trade relations between the two cities. When the Romanscaptured Jerusalem in 63 BCE, thousands of Jewish prisoners of war were brought from Judea to Rome, where they were sold into slavery. Following thecapture of Jerusalem by the forces ofHerod 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.[16] After the enslaved Jews gained their freedom, they permanently settled in Rome on the right bank of theTiber as traders, and some immigrated north later.[17][18]
TheRoman Empire period presence of Jews in modern-day Croatia dates to the 2nd century, inPannonia to the 3rd to 4th century. A finger ring with amenorah depiction found inAugusta Raurica (Kaiseraugst,Switzerland) in 2001 attests to Jewish presence inGermania Superior.[19] Evidence in towns north of theLoire or in southernGaul date to the 5th century and 6th centuries.[20] By late antiquity, Jewish communities were found in modern-day France and Germany.[21][22] In theTaman Peninsula, modern dayRussia, Jewish presence dates back to the first century. Evidence of Jewish presence inPhanagoria includes tombstones with carved images of themenorah and inscriptions with references to the synagogue.[23]
Persecution of Jews in Europe begins with the presence of Jews in regions that later became known as the lands of Latin Christendom (c. 8th century CE)[24][25] and modern Europe.[26] Not only were Jewish Christianspersecuted according to the New Testament, but also as a matter of historical fact. Anti-Jewishpogroms occurred not only inJerusalem (325 CE),Persia (351 CE),Carthage (250 CE),Alexandria (415), but also in Italy (224 CE),Milan (379 CE) andMenorca (418 CE),Antioch (489),Daphne-Antioch (506),Ravenna (519), amongst other places.Hostility between Christians and Jews grew over the generations underRoman sovereignty and beyond; eventuallyforced conversion, confiscation of propertly, burning of synagogues, expulsion,stake burning, enslavement andoutlawing of Jews—even whole Jewish communities—occurred countless times in the lands of Latin Christendom.[27][28][29]
The early medieval period was a time of flourishing Jewish culture. Jewish and Christian life evolved in "diametrically opposite directions" during the final centuries of Roman Empire. Jewish life became autonomous, decentralized, community-centered. Christian life became a hierarchical system under the supreme authority of the Pope and the Roman Emperor.[30]
Jewish life can be characterized as democratic. Rabbis in the Talmud interpreted Deut. 29:9, "your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel" and "Although I have appointed for you heads, elders, and officers, you are all equal before me" (Tanhuma) to stress political shared power. Shared power entailed responsibilities: "you are all responsible for one another. If there be only one righteous man among you, you will all profit from his merits, and not you alone, but the entire world...But if one of you sins, the whole generation will suffer."[31]
In theEarly Middle Ages, persecution of Jews also continued in the lands ofLatin Christendom. After theVisigoths converted from more tolerantnon-trinitarianArianism to the strictertrinitarianNicene Christianity of Rome, in 612 and again in 642, expulsions of all Jews were decreed in the Visigoth Empire.[32] The CatholicMerovingian dynasty decreedforced conversion for Jews in 582 and 629. Under theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo, multiple persecutions (633, 653, 693) and stake burnings of Jews (638) occurred; theKingdom of Toledo followed up on this tradition in 1368, 1391, 1449, and 1486–1490, including forced conversions and mass murder, and there was rioting and a blood bath against the Jews of Toledo in 1212. Jewish pogroms occurred in theDiocese of Clement (France, 554) and in theDiocese of Uzes (France, 561).[28][29]
European Jews were at first concentrated largely in southern Europe. During theHigh andLate Middle Ages, they migrated north. There is historical evidence of Jewish communities north of theAlps andPyrenees in the 8th and 9th centuries. By the 11th century, Jewish settlers from southern Europe, Jewish immigrants fromBabylon andPersia, andMaghrebi Jewish traders fromNorth Africa were settling in western and central Europe, particularly inFrance and along theRhine River.[33][better source needed][34][better source needed][35][better source needed][36] This Jewish migration was motivated by economic opportunities and often at the invitation of local Christian rulers, who perceived the Jews as having the know-how and capacity to jump-start the economy, improve revenue, and enlarge trade.[37] However,pogroms and expropriation of Jewish financiers was extremely common as themagic fallacy was common wherever Jews made profits without constructing artisan goods.[38]
Persecution of Jews in Europe increased in theHigh Middle Ages in the context of the ChristianCrusades. In theFirst Crusade (1096), flourishing communities on the Rhine and the Danube were utterly destroyed; seeGerman Crusade, 1096. In theSecond Crusade, (1147) the Jews in France were subject to frequent massacres. The Jews were also subjected to attacks by theShepherds' Crusades of 1251 and1320. The Crusades were followed by expulsions, including in 1290 the banishing of all Jews from the Kingdom of England by KingEdward I with theEdict of Expulsion. In 1394, 100,000 Jews wereexpelled from France. Thousands more weredeported from Austria in 1421. Many of the expelled Jews fled to Poland.[39][40][41] Many Jews were alsoexpelled from Spain after theAlhambra Decree in 1492.
In relations with Christian society, they were protected by kings, princes and bishops, because of the crucial services they provided in three areas: finance, administration, and medicine. Christian scholars interested in the Bible would consult with Talmudic rabbis. All of this changed with the reforms and strengthening of the Roman Catholic Church and the rise of competitive middle-class, town dwelling Christians. By 1300, the friars and local priests were using the Passion Plays at Easter time, which depicted Jews, in contemporary dress, killing Christ, to teach the general populace to hate and murder Jews. It was at this point that persecution and exile became endemic. As a result of persecution, expulsions and massacres carried out by the Crusaders, Jews gradually migrated to Central and Eastern Europe, settling in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia, where they found greater security and a renewal of prosperity.[36][42]
In theLate Middle Ages, in the mid-14th century, theBlack Death epidemics devastated Europe, annihilating 30–50 percent of the population.[43] It is an oft-told myth that due to better nutrition and greater cleanliness, Jews were not infected in similar numbers; Jews were indeed infected in numbers similar to their non-Jewish neighbors[44] Yet they were still madescapegoats. Rumors spread that Jews caused the disease by deliberatelypoisoning wells. Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed by violence. AlthoughPope Clement VI tried to protect them with his 6 July 1348papal bull and another papal bull in 1348, several months later, 900 Jews wereburnt alive in Strasbourg, where the plague had not yet reached the city.[45] Christianaccusations of host desecration andblood libels were made against Jews.[46] Pogroms followed, and the destruction of Jewish communities yielded the funds for manyPilgrimage churches or chapels throughout theMiddle Ages (e.g.Saint Werner's Chapels of Bacharach, Oberwesel, Womrath;Deggendorfer Gnad in Bavaria).
Jewish survival in the face of external pressures from the Roman Catholic empire and the Persian Zoroastrian empire is seen as 'enigmatic' by historians.[47]
Salo Wittmayer Baron credits Jewish survival to eight factors:
Outside hostility only helped cement Jewish unity and internal strength and commitment.
The Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain refers to a period of history during theMuslim rule of Iberia in which Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural and economic life blossomed. This "Golden Age" is variously dated from the 8th to 12th centuries.
Al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during theMiddle Ages, producing important scholars and one of the most stable and wealthy Jewish communities. A number of famousJewish philosophers and scholars flourished during this time, most notablyMaimonides.
Theearly modern period was one of considerable transition in European Jewry, with forced expulsions and religious persecution in many Christian kingdoms, but there were significant political and cultural changes that saw more favorable conditions for Jewish populations. One in particular, the ProtestantDutch Republic was founded withreligious tolerance as a core value, such that Jews could practice their religion openly and generally without restriction and there were opportunities for Jewish merchants to compete on an equal basis in a burgeoning world economy. Culturally, there were changes seen in the way that Jews were depicted in art, particularly in the 17th century. Pejorative tropes of Jews in the medieval period did not entirely disappear, but there were now straightforward scenes of Jewish religious worship and everyday life, indicating more tolerant attitudes by larger Western European society.[51][52][53] At the close of period, theFrench Revolution abolished restrictions against Jews and made them full citizens.
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The fall ofKingdom of Granada the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia in 1492 to the conqueringCatholic Monarchs initiated period of religious change in Spain. There had already been considerable pressure for Jews to convert to Christianity and to monitor that their conversions were sincere and orthodox, the Holy Office of theSpanish Inquisition was established in 1478 byFerdinand andIsabella to maintainCatholic orthodoxy. It was not definitively abolished until 1834, during the reign ofIsabel II.TheInquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal, had jurisdiction only over baptizedChristians. Christian converts (conversos orMarranos) came under scrutiny. TheAlhambra Decree of 1492 forced Jews to decide whether to stay and be baptized Christians or to leave immediately, often forfeited considerable economic resources along with severing connections to their relatives who stayed. Some left for theOttoman Empire, where they could continue under Muslim authority and with particular rights that they had exercised in Muslim Iberia. Many more Spanish Jews left for the adjoiningKingdom of Portugal, where there was also a large resident Jewish population. However, in 1496–97, Jews in Portugal were forced to convert to Christianity, but unlike Spain, there was noPortuguese Inquisition and one was not established until 1536.
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When the ProtestantDutch Republic revolted against Catholic Spain in what became theEighty Years' War, Portuguese and Spanish Jews forced to convert to Catholicism (conversos orMarranos) began migrating to the northern provinces of the Netherlands.[54]Religious tolerance, the freedom of conscience to practice one's religion without impediment, was a core Dutch Protestant value. TheseSephardic migrants established a thriving community in Amsterdam, which became known as the"Dutch Jerusalem"[55] Three Sephardic congregations merged and built a huge synagogue, thePortuguese 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".[56] Amsterdam's Portuguese Jewish merchants created a huge trade network in the Americas, with Portuguese Jews emigrating to the Caribbean and to Brazil.[57] 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 expelled its small Jewish population (ca. 2,000) in 1290, but in the seventeenth century, prominent Portuguese Jewish rabbiMenasseh ben Israel petitionOliver 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 wereNew Christians (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 theSephardic Jews of Amsterdam, where they lived openly as Jews in thereligiously tolerantDutch Republic, where merchants prospered in as international trade of theAtlantic world.[58]
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, as well as expulsion fromAustria,Hungary andGermany, stimulated a widespread Jewish migration to the much more tolerant Poland. Indeed, with the expulsion of theJews from Spain, Poland became the recognized haven for exiles from the rest of Europe; and the resulting accession to the ranks ofPolish Jewry made it a cultural and spiritual center of theJewish people in Europe.
The most prosperous period for Polish Jews began following this new influx of Jews with the reign ofSigismund I the Old (r. 1506–1548), who protected the Jews in his realm. His son,Sigismund II Augustus (r. 1548–1572), mainly followed the tolerant policy of his father and also granted autonomy to the Jews in the matter of communal administration, laying the foundation for the power of theQahal, or autonomous Jewish community. This period led to the creation of a proverb about Poland being a "heaven for the Jews". According to some sources, about three-quarters of all the Jews in Europe lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century.[59][60][61] In the middle of the 16th century, Poland welcomed Jewish newcomers fromItaly andTurkey, mostly ofSephardi origin; while some of the immigrants from theOttoman Empire claimed to beMizrahim. Jewish religious life thrived in many Polish communities. In 1503, the Polish monarchy appointed Rabbi Jacob Polak, the official Rabbi of Poland, marking the emergence of the Chief Rabbinate. Around 1550, many Sephardi Jews travelled across Europe to find a haven in Poland. Therefore, the Polish Jews are said to be of many ethnic origins including Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Mizrahi. During the 16th and 17th century Poland had the largest Jewish population in the whole of Europe.
By 1551, Polish Jews were given permission to choose their own Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbinate held power over law and finance, appointing judges and other officials. Other powers were shared with local councils. The Polish government permitted the Rabbinate to grow in power and used it for tax collection purposes. Only 30% of the money raised by the Rabbinate went to the Jewish communities. The rest went to the Crown for protection. In this period Poland-Lithuania became the main center for Ashkenazi Jewry, and itsyeshivot achieved fame from the early 16th century.
Moses Isserles (1520–1572), an eminentTalmudist of the 16th century, established hisyeshiva inKraków. In addition to being a renowned Talmudic andlegal scholar, Isserles was also learned inKabbalah, and studied history, astronomy, and philosophy.
The culture and intellectual output of the Jewish community in Poland had a profound impact on Judaism as a whole. Some Jewish historians have recounted that the word Poland is pronounced asPolania orPolin inHebrew, and astransliterated into Hebrew. These names for Poland were interpreted as "good omens" becausePolania can be broken down into three Hebrew words:po ("here"),lan ("dwells"),ya ("God"), andPolin into two words of:po ("here")lin ("[you should] dwell"). The "message" was that Poland was meant to be a good place for the Jews. During the time from the rule ofSigismund I the Old until theHolocaust, Poland would be at the center of Jewish religious life.
Yeshivot were established, under the direction of the rabbis, in the more prominent communities. Such schools were officially known asgymnasiums, and their rabbi principals asrectors. Importantyeshivot existed in Kraków, Poznań, and other cities. Jewish printing establishments came into existence in the first quarter of the 16th century. In 1530, aHebrewPentateuch (Torah) was printed in Kraków; and at the end of the 16th century the Jewish printing houses of that city andLublin issued a large number of Jewish books, mainly of a religious character. The growth ofTalmudic scholarship in Poland was coincident with the greater prosperity of the Polish Jews; and because of their communal autonomy educational development was wholly one-sided and along Talmudic lines. Exceptions are recorded, however, where Jewish youth sought secular instruction in the European universities. The learned rabbis became not merely expounders of the Law, but also spiritual advisers, teachers, judges, and legislators; and their authority compelled the communal leaders to make themselves familiar with the abstruse questions ofJewish law. Polish Jewry found its views of life shaped by the spirit of Talmudic and rabbinical literature, whose influence was felt in the home, in school, and in the synagogue.
In the first half of the 16th century the seeds of Talmudic learning had been transplanted to Poland fromBohemia, particularly from the school ofJacob Pollak, the creator ofPilpul ("sharp reasoning").Shalom Shachna (c. 1500 – 1558), a pupil of Pollak, is counted among the pioneers of Talmudic learning in Poland. He lived and died inLublin, where he was the head of theyeshivah which produced the rabbinical celebrities of the following century. Shachna's son Israel became rabbi of Lublin on the death of his father, and Shachna's pupilMoses Isserles (known as theReMA) (1520–1572) achieved an international reputation among the Jews as the author of theMappah, which adapted theShulkhan Arukh to meet the needs of the Ashkenazi community. His contemporary and correspondentSolomon Luria (1510–1573) of Lublin also enjoyed widespread popularity among his co-religionists; and the authority of both was recognized by the Jews throughout Europe. Heated religious disputations were common, and Jewish scholars participated in them. At the same time, theKabbalah had become entrenched under the protection ofRabbinism; and such scholars asMordecai Jaffe andYoel Sirkis devoted themselves to its study. This period of great Rabbinical scholarship was interrupted by theKhmelnytsky Uprising and theSwedish Deluge.
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The decade from theCossacks' uprising until after theDeluge period (1648–1658) left a deep and lasting impression not only on the social life of the Polish-Lithuanian Jews, but on their spiritual life as well. The intellectual output of the Jews of Poland was reduced. The Talmudic learning which up to that period had been the common possession of the majority of the people became accessible to a limited number of students only. What religious study there was became overly formalized, some rabbis busied themselves with quibbles concerning religious laws; others wrote commentaries on different parts of the Talmud in which hair-splitting arguments were raised and discussed; and at times these arguments dealt with matters which were of no practical importance. At the same time, many miracle workers made their appearance among the Jews of Poland, culminating in a series of false "Messianic" movements, most famouslySabbateanism andFrankism.
Into this time ofmysticism and overly formal rabbinism came the teachings ofIsrael ben Eliezer, known as theBaal Shem Tov, orBeShT, (1698–1760), which had a profound effect on the Jews ofCentral Europe and Poland in particular.[62][63] His disciples taught and encouraged a new fervent brand ofJudaism based onKabbalah known asHasidism. The rise of Hasidic Judaism within Poland's borders and beyond had a great influence on the rise ofHaredi Judaism all over the world,[63][64] with a continuous influence through its manyHasidic dynasties including those ofChabad-Lubavitch,Aleksander,Bobov,Ger, andNadvorna. More recentrebbes of Polish origin include RabbiYosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (1880–1950), the sixth head of theChabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement, who lived in Warsaw until 1940 when he movedLubavitch from Warsaw to the United States.
As part of the egalitarian principles of theFrench Revolution, Jews became full citizens without restrictions. Napoleon expanded the egalitarian principles in the places his armies conquered. Even in the Netherlands, which had a well-established tradition of religious tolerance, when it came under French sway, Jewish religious leaders no longer could exercise authority in an autonomous community. The so-calledJewish question was active exploration of a potentially new vision of the Jews' place in European states. TheJewish Enlightentment produced an important body of knowledge and speculation on a range of questions regarding Jewish identity. A leading figure was German Jewish philosopherMoses Mendelssohn.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Russia was the European country with the largest Jewish population, following annexation ofPoland.[65] In 1897, according toRussian census of 1897, the total Jewish population of Russia was 5.1 million people, which was 4.13% of the total population. Of this total, the vast majority lived within thePale of Settlement.[66] Jews faced widespread discrimination and oppression. As the Czarist monarchy was openlyantisemitic;[67][68] variouspogroms, which were large-scale violent protests directed at Jews, took place across the western part of the vast empire since late 19th century,[69] leading to several deaths and waves of emigration.[70]
Difficult conditions in Eastern Europe and the possibility of bettering their lot elsewhere triggered Jewish migration to Western Europe, particularly where Jews were already living in conditions ofreligious toleration, such as the Netherlands and England, where there were also more economic opportunities for impoverished Eastern European Jews. In England, the original Sephardic Jewish community of bankers and brokers after England re-opened settlement to Jews, went from a small community in the 18th century, to a prosperous one in the first two-thirds of the 19th century. In the late 19th century up to the outbreak of World War I, English-born Jews, who had integrated well were now, had waves of poorer, more religious Eastern European Jews settle in great numbers.[71] The Netherlands had already experienced migration of Eastern European Jews, mainly from Germany, starting in the 17th century. While the Portuguese-speaking Jews had been economically and culturally dominant in the 17th century, they declined in numbers and economic clout when the poorer Asheknazic population was increasing and remained numerically dominant going forward.
InHungary the early 19th century, in the reform age the progressive nobility set many goals of innovation, such as the emancipation of the Hungarian Jewry. Hungarian Jews were able to play a part in the economy by assuming an important role in industrial and trading development. For example,Izsák Lőwy (1793–1847) founded his leather factory on a previously purchased piece of land in 1835, and created a new, modern town, with independent authority, religious equality and industrial freedom independent from the guilds. The town, which was given the name Újpest (New Pest), soon became a very important settlement. Its first synagogue was built in 1839. (Újpest, the current capital's 4th district is in the northern part of Budapest. During the time of the Holocaust 20,000 Jews were deported from here.) Mór Fischer Farkasházi (1800–1880) founded his world-famous porcelain factory in Herend in 1839, its fine porcelains decorated, among others,Queen Victoria's table.[citation needed]
In thePapal States, which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods calledghettos. Until the 1840s, they were required to regularly attend sermons urging their conversion to Christianity. Only Jews were taxed to support state boarding schools for Jewish converts to Christianity. It was illegal to convert from Christianity to Judaism. Sometimes Jews were baptized involuntarily, and, even when such baptisms were illegal, forced to practice the Christian religion. In many such cases the state separated them from their families. SeeEdgardo Mortara for an account of one of the most widely publicized instances of acrimony between Catholics and Jews in thePapal States in the second half of the 19th century.[citation needed]
Starting in the 19th century after Jewish emancipation, European Jews left the continent in huge numbers, especially for the United States and some other countries, to pursue better opportunity and to escape religious persecution, includingpogroms, and to flee violence. Jews coming to the U.S. in the early to mid-19th century were mostly from central Europe, especiallyBavaria, WesternPrussia, andPosen. They were not the poorest of the poor and a significant number came as families (husband, wife, children). Non-Jewish Germans also immigrated in great numbers at the same time, because of conditions in Europe and the lure of better conditions in the U.S. Although the non-Jewish Germans then began to come in lower numbers, Jewish immigration continued to be robust into the twentieth century, an estimated 250,000.[72] Some Jews emigrated to Palestine controlled by European powers, and, following World War II, the European Jews emigrated to the newly establishedState of Israel.
The movement ofZionism originates in the late 19th century. In 1883,Nathan Birnbaum foundedKadimah, the first Jewish student association in Vienna. In 1884, the first issue ofSelbstemanzipation (SelfEmancipation) appeared, printed by Birnbaum himself.TheDreyfus Affair, which erupted inFrance in 1894, profoundly shocked emancipated Jews. The depth ofantisemitism in a country thought of as the home of enlightenment and liberty led many to question their future security in Europe. Among those who witnessed the Affair was an Austro-Hungarian (born inBudapest, lived inVienna) Jewish journalist,Theodor Herzl, who published his pamphletDer Judenstaat ("The Jewish State") in 1896[73] andAltneuland ("The Old New Land") in 1897.[74] He described the Affair as a personal turning point, Before the Affair, Herzl had beenanti-Zionist; afterwards he became ardently pro-Zionist. In line with the ideas of 19th-century German nationalism Herzl believed in a Jewish state for the Jewish nation. In that way, he argued, the Jews could become a people like all other peoples, and antisemitism would cease to exist.[75]
Herzl infused political Zionism with a new and practical urgency. He brought theWorld Zionist Organization into being and, together with Nathan Birnbaum, planned its First Congress atBasel in 1897.[76] For the first four years, theWorld Zionist Organization (WZO) met every year, then, up to the Second World War, they gathered every second year. Since the war, the Congress has met every four years.
In 1868/69, three major Jewish organizations were founded: the largest group were the more modern congressional or neolog Jews, the very traditional minded joined the orthodox movement, and the conservatives formed the status quo organization. The neologGrand Synagogue had been built earlier, in 1859, in the Dohány Street. The main status quo temple, the nearby Rumbach Street Synagogue was constructed in 1872. The Budapest orthodox synagogue is located on Kazinczy Street, along with the orthodox community's headquarters andmikveh.
In May 1923, in the presence of PresidentMichael Hainisch, theFirst World Congress of Jewish Women was inaugurated at theHofburg inVienna, Austria.[77]
Jewish population in interwar Europe, approximately as of 1933:[78]
| Country | Jewish population | as % of national population | as % of total Jewish population in Europe |
|---|---|---|---|
 Albania | 200 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
 Austria | 191,000 | 2.8 | 2.1 |
 Belgium | 60,300 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
 Bulgaria | 48,500 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
 Czechoslovakia | 357,000 | 2.4 | 3.9 |
 Danzig | 10,000 | 3.6 | 0.1 |
 Denmark | 5,700 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
 Estonia | 4,600 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
 Finland | 1,800 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
 France | 250,000 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
 Germany | 525,000[79] | 0.8 | 5.7 |
 Greece | 73,000 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
 Hungary | 445,000 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
 Iceland | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
 Ireland | 3,600 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
 Italy | 48,000 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
 Latvia | 95,600 | 4.9 | 1.0 |
 Lithuania | 155,000 | 7.6 | 1.7 |
 Luxembourg | 1,200 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
 Monaco | 300 | 1.4 | 0.0 |
 Netherlands | 156,000 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
 Norway | 1,400 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
 Poland | 3,000,000 | 9.5 | 32.7 |
 Portugal | 1,200 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
 Romania | 756,000 | 4.2 | 8.3 |
 Spain | 4,000 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
 Soviet Union[80] | 2,525,000 | 3.4 | 27.6 |
 Sweden | 6,700 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
 Switzerland | 21,000 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
 Turkey[81] | 50,000 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
 United Kingdom | 300,000 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
 Yugoslavia | 68,000 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
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The Holocaust of the Jewish people (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston):holos, "completely" andkaustos, "burnt"), also known asHa-Shoah (Hebrew:השואה), orChurben (Yiddish:חורבן), as described in June 2013 at Auschwitz byAvner Shalev (Director ofYad Vashem) is the term generally used to describe the murder of approximately 6,000,000Jews duringWorld War II, as part of a program of deliberate attempt to annihilate the Jewish people, executed by theNazi regime inNazi Germany led byAdolf Hitler and its accomplices; the result of the Shoah or the Holocaust of the Jewish people was the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities in continental Europe—two out of three Jews of Europe were murdered.
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.[6] In the 21st century,France has the largestJewish population in Europe,[6][10] followed by theUnited Kingdom,Germany,Russia andUkraine.[10]
| Country | Core Jewish population in 2010[82] | Enlarged Jewish population in 2010[82] | Jewish groups | Jewish history | Lists of Jews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | 43 | Albania | South-East European | ||
 Andorra | <100 | Andorra | South European,Iberian | ||
| Austria | 9,000 | 15,000 | Austria | West European Austrian | |
 Belarus | 12,926 (Belarus census (2009)) | 33,000 | Belarus | East European Russia, Ukraine and Belarus | |
| Belgium | 30,300 | 40,000 | Belgium | West European | |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 500 | Sephardi andAshkenazi | Bosnia and Herzegovina | South-East European | |
| Bulgaria | 2,000 | Bulgaria | South-East European | ||
 Croatia | 1,700 | Croatia | South-East European | ||
 Cyprus | 3,500 (2018) | Cyprus | South-East European | ||
| Czech Republic | 30,900 | Czech Republic andCarpathian Ruthenia | East European Czech, Slovak | ||
| Denmark | 2,400 | Denmark | North European | ||
| Estonia | 1,800 | 3,000 | Estonia | North European | |
| Finland | 1,100 | Finland | North European | ||
| France | 483,500 | 580,000 | Ashkenazi andSephardi Jews | France | West European French |
 Georgia | 3,200 | 6,000 | Georgian Jews | Georgia | East European Georgian |
| Germany | 119,000 | 250,000 | Ashkenazi Jews | Germany | West European German |
 Gibraltar | 600 | Sephardi Jews andBritish Jews | Gibraltar | South European,Iberian | |
| Greece | 4,500 | Romaniotes,Sephardi Jews | Greece | South-East European | |
| Hungary | 48,600 | 100,000 | Oberlander Jews,Satmar Hasidic dynasty, andNeolog | Hungary andCarpathian Ruthenia | East European Hungarian |
 Iceland | 10–30 | Radhanites | Iceland | North European | |
| Ireland | 2,600 | 4,476 | Ireland | West European | |
| Italy | 28,400 | 45,000 | Italian Jews | Italy | South European |
 Kosovo | <100 | Kosovo | South-East European | ||
| Latvia | 6,437 (Latvian census of 2011) | 19,000 | Latvia | North European | |
 Liechtenstein | <100 | Liechtenstein | West European | ||
| Lithuania | 3,400[83] (2011 estimate) | 5,000 | Lithuanian Jews | Lithuania | North European |
| Luxembourg | 600 | Luxembourg | West European | ||
 Malta | <100 | Malta | South European | ||
 Moldova | 4,100 | 8,000 | Bessarabian Jews | Moldova | East European |
 Monaco | <100 | Monaco | West European | ||
 Montenegro | 12 | Montenegro | South-East European | ||
| Netherlands | 30,000 | 43,000 | Sephardi andAshkenazi | Netherlands andChuts | West European |
 North Macedonia | 100 | North Macedonian | North Macedonia | South-East European | |
| Norway | 1,200 | Jews in Norway | Norway | North European | |
| Poland | 21,200 | 30,000 | Chronology of Jewish Polish history | Poland | East European Polish |
| Portugal | 500 | Spanish and Portuguese Jews | Portugal | South European,Iberian | |
| Romania | 9,700 | 18,000 | Romania | East European Romanian | |
 Russia | 157,673 (including Asiatic Russia) (Russian Census (2010)) | 400,000 | Ashkenazi Jews andMountain Jews | Russia | East European Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus |
 San Marino | <100 | San Marino | South European | ||
 Serbia | 1,400 | Sephardi andAshkenazi | Serbia | South-East European | |
 Slovakia | 9,600 | Oberlander Jews | Slovakia andCarpathian Ruthenia | East European Czech, Slovak | |
 Slovenia | 100 | Slovenia | South-East European | ||
| Spain | 12,000 | 15,000 | Sephardi Jews, Moroccan Jews, Jews from Latin America | Spain andgolden age | South European,Iberian |
| Sweden | 15,000 | 25,000 | Sweden | North European | |
| Switzerland | 17,600 | 25,000 | Switzerland | West European | |
| Turkey | 17,600 | 21,000 | Turkish Jews | Sephardic[84] | |
 Ukraine | 71,500 | 145,000 | Ashkenazi Jews | Ukraine andCarpathian Ruthenia | East European Russia, Ukraine and Belarus |
| United Kingdom | 292,000 | 350,000 | British Jews | United Kingdom | West European British |
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