Total population | |
---|---|
30,000-42,000 [1] [2] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Antwerp, Brussels | |
Languages | |
Dutch, French, Hebrew, Yiddish or other languages | |
Religion | |
Judaism and Irreligious | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews [3] |
The history of the Jews in Belgium goes back to the 1st century CE until today. The Jewish community numbered 66,000 on the eve of the Second World War [4] but after the war and the Holocaust, now is less than half that number.
Today, Belgium is home to more than 42,000 Jews, [2] of whom two-thirds live in Antwerp.
The first Jews to arrive in the present-day territory of Belgium arrived with the Romans between the years 50 and 60 AD. Jews were mentioned in the Middle Ages in Brabant, and in 1261 Duke Henry III ordered the expulsion of Jews and usurers from the province. The Jewish community suffered further during the Crusades, as many Jews who refused to be baptised were put to death. This early community mostly disappeared after the Black Death persecutions 1348–1350, and finally the Brussels massacre, 1370. [6]
In the 16th century, many Sephardic Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal settled in Belgium and the Netherlands. In addition, many Marranos (crypto-Jews who outwardly professed Christianity) settled in Antwerp at the end of the 15th century.
Austrian (Habsburg) rule in Belgium started in 1713. Particularly under Emperor Joseph II, Jews acquired more rights, such as those to practice crafts, own land, and operate their own cemeteries. A number of Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to the area in that period. The status of Jews in Belgium improved further under French and Dutch rule.
Shortly following Belgian independence, in 1831, Judaism was recognized as an official religion (besides Roman Catholicism, the country's majority faith, and Protestantism). On 17 March 1832 the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium was founded as the official representative of the Jewish religion to the Belgian authorities. The Great Synagogue of Brussels was built in 1876–1877.
Around the turn of the century, the focal point of the world's diamond trade shifted from Amsterdam to Antwerp, bringing many Jewish diamond traders and polishers to the city. During World War I, many fled to the neutral Netherlands, but they returned after the war. Many Polish and Romanian Jews immigrated during the 1920s while Nazi persecutions brought waves of German and Austrian Jews in the 1930s.
Prior to the Second World War, and its peak, the Jewish community of Belgium consisted of roughly 70,000 Jews (35,000 resided in Antwerp and 25,000 in Brussels). About 22,000 Jews at that time were German Jewish refugees. Only 6% of the Jewish population were of Belgian nationality. Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany between May 1940 and September 1944, and anti-Semitic policies were adopted throughout Belgium, even though popular resistance in some cities hindered their full application. Belgian local police rounded up Jews, on three occasions in Antwerp, assisting the German in fulfilling their murderous policy towards the Jews. Approximately 45% of the Belgian Jews (25.484 people) were deported to concentration camps from Dossin Barracks in Mechelen, primarily to Auschwitz. Only 1,200 of the deportees survived the war. The Committee for Jewish Defence, which worked with the national resistance movement Front de l'Indépendance, was the largest Jewish defence movement in Belgium during the war. Some Belgian Jews who fled Belgium in 1940 were deported on transports from Drancy, France. A total of 28,900 Belgian Jews perished between 1942 and 1945. Belgium was the only occupied country in which a transport (Train XX) was halted to give deportees a chance to escape.
The National Monument to the Jewish Martyrs of Belgium is in Brussels. More than twenty thousand names of Belgian Jewish victims are inscribed on the walls of the Monument, some of whom were killed on Belgian territory, but many of whom were shipped off to the death camps and executed in the East.
Today,[ when? ] there are around 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (about 20,000 people) is one of the largest single communities in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is its primary language (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hassidic communities in New York, London and Israel). In addition a very high percentage (95%) of Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education. In contemporary Belgium, five Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues exist, 30 of which are in Antwerp.
According to JTA [7] report, the number of antisemitic incidents in 2012 was the highest since 2009. 80 antisemitic incidents were reported throughout Belgium in 2012, a 23% increase from 2011 and an overall increase of 34% since 2000. Five of the incidents involved physical attacks, three of which occurred in Antwerp. [8]
In October 2013, Isi Leibler, the former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, reported on the alarming increase in the levels of antisemitism in Belgium. Leibler described a wide use of antisemitic caricatures in the media including a caricature on the official central Flanders educational website, comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. In addition, he described an increase of 30% in the number of antisemitic incidents including physical assaults and vandalism of Jewish institutions. [9] Furthermore, according to a survey conducted among eight Jewish communities in eight European Union countries, 88% of Belgian Jews feel that in the course of recent years, antisemitism has intensified in their country. 10% of the Belgian survey respondents reported suffering from incidents of physical violence or threats due to their Jewish affiliation since 2008. Most of the victims did not report the incidents to the police. [10]
The increased frequency of antisemitic attacks started in May 2014, when a Franco-Algerian from Roubaix killed four people in a shooting at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels. [11] Two days later, a young Muslim man entered the CCU (Jewish Cultural Center) while an event was taking place and shouted racist slurs. [12] A month later, a school bus in Antwerp, that was driving 5-year-old Jewish children was stoned by a group of Muslim teens. [13] Towards the end of August 2014, a 75-year-old Jewish woman was hit and pushed to the ground because of her Jewish-sounding surname. [14] The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism reported six racist incidents, three of which tool place as a part of different demonstrations against Operation Protective Edge in Gaza (July–August 2014). Those demonstrations included antisemitic slurs such as "slaughter the Jews" and "Death to the Jews." [15]
In 2009, UNESCO added the annual Carnival of Aalst to its extended Intangible Cultural Heritage List. [16] In March 2019, a float showcasing Jewish stereotypes was displayed at the carnival. The float was widely condemned by major European Jewish groups and Belgium's Jewish community. [17] [18] In a report to UNESCO following a complaint by the Forum der Joodse Organisaties , Unia, the country's watchdog on racism, said the float was of a clearly antisemitic kind, but that no laws were breached.
After the city's mayor refused to ban a repeat of such displays, he asked UNESCO through a statement to regional TV Oost [19] to strip the Aalst carnival of World Heritage status, which UNESCO did in December 2019, "over recurring repetition of racist and antisemitic representations".
A review study published in 2015 by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) revealed that in a survey conducted in Brussels, more than half of the Muslim origin respondents agreed with antisemitic statements, such as: "Jews want to dominate everything" and "Jews incite to war and blame others". The review, which analysed a few studies regarding antisemitism in Europe, found that the level of antisemitic attitudes is significantly higher among Muslims than among non-Muslims. [20]
An ADL (Anti-Defamation League) audit published in June 2015 revealed an increase in level of concern about violence against Jews in Belgium. In addition, 7% of the participants claimed that the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust has been greatly exaggerated by history. In a follow-up survey 53% of the respondents agreed with the statement: "Violence against Jews is a symptom of deep anti-Jewish feelings among some people in my country". The ADL also conducted a research of anti-Jewish attitudes inside the Muslim population of Belgium. The results showed that 82% of Muslim Belgium agreed with the state "Jews have too much power in the business world", compared to 36% of the national population who agreed with it. In all eleven categories included in the research, the Muslim population reached higher levels of agreement with anti-Jewish stereotypes. [21]
On 2015 the Fundamental Rights Agency published its annual overview of data on antisemitism available in the European Union. The finding of the file presents a persistent increase in the number of antisemitic incidents in Belgium through the last ten years. Data of the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities displayed in the file, shows that 130 Complaints of antisemitism were received during 2014, compared to 85 complaints in 2013. Furthermore, the number of incidents in each category has increased in 2014, compared with 2013. [22]
The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) published on 2016 an update for their "ADL Global 100", [23] that contained an update of the antisemitic attitudes toward Jews in Belgium. The findings showed a decrease in the percentage of the population harboring antisemitic attitudes (21% in 2015, compare to 27% in 2014). In addition, the survey shows that 46% of the respondents agree with the phrase "Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country", and that 39% of the respondents agree with the phrase "Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust". [24]
The history of Jews in Sweden can be traced from the 17th century, when their presence is verified in the baptism records of the Stockholm Cathedral. Several Jewish families were baptised into the Lutheran Church, a requirement for permission to settle in Sweden. In 1681, for example, 28 members of the families of Israel Mandel and Moses Jacob were baptised in the Stockholm German Church in the presence of King Charles XI of Sweden, the dowager queen Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, and several other high state officials.
This is a list of countries where antisemitic sentiment has been experienced.
The history of the Jews in Argentina goes back to the early sixteenth century, following the expulsion of Jews from Spain. Sephardic Jews fleeing persecution immigrated with explorers and colonists to settle in what is now Argentina, in spite of being forbidden from travelling to the American colonies. In addition, many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata were Jewish. An organized Jewish community, however, did not develop until after Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1816. By mid-century, Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe, fleeing the social and economic disruptions of revolutions, began to settle in Argentina. Argentines of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic heritage have left their mark on all aspects of Argentine culture, including in areas such as cuisine.
Historians continue to study and debate the extent of antisemitism in American history and how American antisemitism has similarities and distinctions with its European counterpart.
Antisemitism, the prejudice or discrimination against Jews, has had a long history since the ancient times. While antisemitism had already been prevalent in ancient Greece and Roman Empire, its institutionalization in European Christianity after the destruction of the ancient Jewish cultural center in Jerusalem caused two millennia of segregation, expulsions, persecutions, pogroms, genocides of Jews, which culminated in the 20th-century Holocaust in Nazi German-occupied European states, where 67% European Jews were murdered.
Antisemitism has long existed in the United States. Most Jewish community relations agencies in the United States draw distinctions between antisemitism, which is measured in terms of attitudes and behaviors, and the security and status of American Jews, which are both measured by the occurrence of specific incidents. FBI data shows that in every year since 1991, Jews were the most frequent victims of religiously motivated hate crimes. The number of hate crimes against Jews may be underreported, as in the case for many other targeted groups.
Antisemitic incidents escalated worldwide in frequency and intensity during the Gaza War, and were widely considered to be a wave of reprisal attacks in response to the conflict.
Antisemitism in Canada is the manifestation of hatred, hostility, harm, prejudice or discrimination against the Canadian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. Some of the first Jewish settlers in Canada arrived in Montreal in the 1760s, among them was Aaron Hart who is considered the father of Canadian Jewry. His son Ezekiel Hart experience one of the first well documented cases of antisemitism in Canada. Hart was repeatedly stopped from taking his seat in the Quebec legislature due to his Jewish faith, as members claimed he could not take the oath of office, which included the phrase "on the true faith of a Christian".
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is a New York-based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism, as well as other forms of bigotry and discrimination. ADL is also known for its pro-Israel advocacy. Its current CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States including a Government Relations Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe. In its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of $92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants. Its total operating revenue is reported at $80.9 million.
The Jewish community in Sweden has been prevalent since the 18th century. Today Sweden has a Jewish community of around 20,000, which makes it the 7th largest in the European Union. Antisemitism in historical Sweden primarily manifested as the confiscation of property, restrictions on movement and employment, and forced conversion to Christianity. Antisemitism in present-day Sweden is mainly perpetrated by far-right politicians, neo-Nazis, and Islamists.
Antisemitism in France has become heightened since the late 20th century and into the 21st century. In the early 21st century, most Jews in France, like most Muslims in France, are of North African origin. France has the largest population of Jews in the diaspora after the United States—an estimated 500,000–600,000 persons. Paris has the highest population, followed by Marseille, which has 70,000 Jews. Expressions of antisemitism were seen to rise during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the French anti-Zionist campaign of the 1970s and 1980s. Following the electoral successes achieved by the extreme right-wing National Front and an increasing denial of the Holocaust among some persons in the 1990s, surveys showed an increase in stereotypical antisemitic beliefs among the general French population.
Since World War II, antisemitic prejudice in Italy has seldom taken on aggressive forms.
Antisemitism in contemporary Hungary principally takes the form of negative stereotypes relating to Jews, although historically it manifested itself more violently. Studies show antisemitism has become more prevalent since the fall of Communism, particularly among the younger generations. Surveys performed from 2009 and beyond have consistently found high levels of antisemitic feelings amongst the general population.
British Jews have experienced antisemitism – discrimination and persecution as Jews – since a Jewish community was first established in England in 1070. They experienced a series of massacres in the Medieval period, which culminated in their expulsion from England in 1290. They were readmitted by Oliver Cromwell in 1655. By the 1800s, an increasing toleration of religious minorities gradually helped to eliminate legal restrictions on public employment and political representation. However, Jewish financiers were seen by some as holding disproportionate influence on British government policy, particularly concerning the British Empire and foreign affairs.
Antisemitism in Greece manifests itself in religious, political and media discourse. The 2009–2018 Greek government-debt crisis has facilitated the rise of far right groups in Greece, most notably the formerly obscure Golden Dawn.
Antisemitism in Spain is the expression through words or actions of an ideology of hatred towards Jews on Spanish soil.
Evidence for the presence of Jewish communities in the geographical area today covered by Austria can be traced back to the 12th century. In 1848 Jews were granted civil rights and the right to establish an autonomous religious community, but full citizenship rights were given only in 1867. In an atmosphere of economic, religious and social freedom, the Jewish population grew from 6,000 in 1860 to almost 185,000 in 1938. In March 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany and thousands of Austrians and Austrian Jews who opposed Nazi rule were sent to concentration camps. Of the 65,000 Viennese Jews deported to concentration camps, only about 2,000 survived, while around 800 survived World War II in hiding.
Antisemitism in Venezuela has occurred throughout the history of the Jews in Venezuela. However, under the presidencies of both Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, allegations of antisemitism grew following actions and statements by the Venezuelan government, while also occurring in public incidents. The Bolivarian government would also use the words of "Jewish" and "Zionist" interchangeably in order to avoid accusations of antisemitism.
Belgium is a European country with a Jewish population of approximately 35,000 out of a total population of about 11.4 million. It is among the countries experiencing an increase in both antisemitic attitudes and in physical attacks on Jews.
Antisemitism is a growing problem in 21st-century Germany.
[Oz's] mother was Flemish, his father Dutch, and he spent the first five years of his life in Belgium
Oz's parents — Dutch-Jewish woodworker and puppeteer Isidore "Mike" Oznowicz and Flemish-Catholic couturier/costumer Frances Oznowicz