History of the Jews in Denmark
In 1814, when Norway gained independence from Denmark, the general ban against Jews entering the country was "continued" in new Norwegian Constitution.
Medieval Danish art contains depictions of Jews—visibly wearing pointed hats—but there is no evidence that any Jews actually lived in Denmark during that time.
[8] This dispensation was extended to a few other Jews, and in 1628, their status was formalized by being promised protection, the right to hold private religious services, and maintain their own cemetery.
Albert Dionis gained special status within the Danish royal court, apparently as a source of credit for ambitious projects.
Gabriel Gomez, who also attained status, persuaded Frederik III to allow Sephardic Jews to reside in Denmark while conducting trade.
[8] Following the costly Thirty Years' War, which created a fiscal crisis for the Danish crown, Frederik III proclaimed absolute monarchy in Denmark.
[citation needed] By 1780, there were approximately 1,600 Jews in Denmark, though all were admitted by special permission granted only on the basis of personal wealth.
A number of Jewish cultural personalities (or persons of Jewish ancestry who did not necessarily regard themselves as Jews), among them the art benefactor and editor Mendel Levin Nathanson, the writer Meir Aron Goldschmidt, and founder of Politiken, Edvard Brandes, his brother literary critic Georg Brandes (who had a strong influence on Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen), Henri Nathansen, and others rose to prominence.
In the early twentieth century, events such as the Kishinev pogrom in 1903, the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, and the series of Russian revolutions, led to an influx of approximately 3,000 Jewish refugees into Denmark.
Christian X also became the subject of a persistent urban legend according to which, during Nazi occupation, he donned the Star of David in solidarity with the Danish Jews.
In 1943, the situation came to a head when Werner Best, the German plenipotentiary in Denmark, ordered the arrest and deportation of all Danish Jews, scheduled to commence on October 1, which coincided with Rosh Hashanah.
Compared to 1997, this number indicates a significant decrease in membership, which the Jewish community has explained partly by increasing antisemitic incidents.
Prior to this event, school officials advised parents not to allow their children to wear Jewish religious symbols in public as a result of rising reports of antisemitic harassment in Denmark.
[27] In September 2014, a Danish imam, Mohamad Al-Khaled Samha, at a mosque run by The Islamic Society in Denmark, said in a filmed lecture that the Jews are the "offspring of apes and pigs".
Don’t spare a single one of them.”[29] On 15 February 2015, a shooting occurred outside the main synagogue in Copenhagen, and killed a Jewish man (who had been providing security during a bat mitzvah) and injured two police officers.
[30] Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt laid flowers at the synagogue, and stated "Our thoughts go to the whole of the Jewish community today.
"[31][32] The synagogue's Rabbi, Jair Melchior, stated, "Terror is not a reason to move to Israel... Hopefully the [police] should do what they do, but our lives have to continue naturally.
[citation needed] A review study published in 2015 by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy revealed that in a survey conducted in Denmark, the number of antisemitic stereotypes among immigrants of Turkish, Pakistani, Somali, and Palestinian origin were significantly more common (up to 75 percent) than among ethnic Danes (up to 20 percent).
The survey, managed by the Institute for Political Science at Aarhus University, consisted of interviews with 1,503 immigrants and 300 ethnic Danes.
[35] In September 2017, soldiers from the Royal Danish Army were deployed to guard synagogues in Copenhagen to relieve the Police of Denmark, which was increasingly occupied with gang-related shootings in the city.
