Early Danish Zionism and the ethnification of the Danish Jews

ABSTRACT

From 1897 to 1914, a small group of Danish Zionists presented the Danish Jewish community with a variety of Zionist objectives. In contrast to existing research, I argue that this activism played an important role in the communal change that took place among the Danish Jews before the outbreak of WWI. I identify how the salience of East European immigrants in Copenhagen compelled the self-conceived “ethnically” Danish Jews to reconsider and alter their boundaries of groupness in a significantly different way that resonated with the framework of Jewish groupness invoked earlier by the Zionists.

KEYWORDS:

• Early Zionism
• ethnification
• Danish Jews
• relief work

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their excellent and encouraging comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Before the start of Eastern European immigration, the Danish Jewish population numbered around 3,350. Historian Morten Thing assesses that between 1904 and 1914 approximately 10,000–12,000 Russian Jews resided in Copenhagen, while around 3,000 ended up staying in Denmark permanently, see Thing, De russiske jøder, 26–33.

2. Protocol, January 22, 1905, file 523, “Hjælpekomitè for russiske jøder,” Mosaisk Troessamfund Papers, Rigsarkivet (RA), Denmark. All translations from Danish are my own unless otherwise stated.

3. Rothenberg, “Forfatning og Forvaltning,” 133–158; Svenstrup and Helk, “Det Mosaiske Troessamfund,” 13; and Nørgård, “Beskyt de værdige fattige!,” 99–100.

4. The Danish word used is aandelig and can also be translated as spiritual.

5. Annual Report, “Aarsberetning fra Danmark Logens Toynbee Hall, 1912/13,” file 27–28, Frænkel’s Papers, RA.

6. In this regard, I am inspired by Noam Pianko’s study of the calibration of Zionist assumptions into the mainstream of American Jewish self-perception, see Pianko, Zionism and the Roads; and Jewish Peoplehood. While the two cases differ significantly, I show here that Pianko’s analytical lens and part of his theoretical terminology are relevant and instructive for the Danish case as well.

7. Brubaker, Loveman, and Stamatov, “Ethnicity as Cognition,” 35–36; and Brubaker,”Ethnicity without Groups.”

8. Brubaker, Loveman, and Stamatov, “Ethnicity as Cognition,” 44.

9. Brubaker, “Ethnicity without Groups,” 166. For studies with a similar approach to Jewish and Zionist groupness and collectivity, see e.g., Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism; Pianko, Zionism and the roads. To clarify, this is not a clear constructivist argument for the invented or imaginary nature of Jews as a nation or community. Seeing how events and situations elicit and reify certain national or ethnic understandings and interpretations of collective identity does not disown the necessity of specific historical, cultural, and/or social “raw materials” or building blocks to be present for the invoked groupness to make sense and be activated. For a critical discussion of the main theoretical approaches to Jewish ethnicity and nationhood, see Smith, “Zionism and Diaspora Nationalism.”

10. Brubaker, “Ethnicity, Race, and Nationalism,” 27–28.

11. See Pianko, Zionism and the roads; Pianko, Jewish Peoplehood; and Presner, Muscular Judaism.

12. Such accounts can be seen in Arnheim, Truet Minoritet; Thing, De russiske jøder, 312–326; Borchsenius, Historien om. For the only systematic study of early Danish Zionism, and see Zuckerman, “Broadening Home.”

13. Brubaker, “Ethnicity without Groups,” 166; original italics.

14. See Berkowitz, Zionist Culture; and Berkowitz, “Introduction,” 3–5.

15. See especially Tatjana Lichtenstein’s illuminating study of interwar Czechoslovakian Zionism, Zionists in the Interwar. She argues that “Zionism was in its most basic sense a movement for ethnic pride, an assertion of Jews’ dignity and equality. [..] Zionists succeeded in creating visibility for Jewish nationhood in political life, in urban neighborhoods, and in social scientific discourse, a visibility that allowed Jewish and non-Jews alike to imagine a Jewish nation. They succeeded in creating new Jewish spaces, such as youth groups, sports clubs, and cultural and educational associations, which allowed Jews to build community on the basis of a Jewish ethnic rather than religious identity. Yet, only a minority of the country’s Jews signed up in Zionist organizations.” (Zionists in the Interwar, 9–10). While the Czech and Danish Jewish and Zionist contexts differed in significant ways, such as in demography and political history, my analysis resonates closely with Lichtenstein’s. For a broader overview of early Western Zionism, see Berkowitz, Zionist Culture. see also Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism.

16. See e.g., Buckser, After the Rescue, 39–40; Arnheim, Truet Minoritet, 208. True to my epistemological approach, I do not claim or assess here whether the Jews “really” belonged in Denmark, or if all Danish Jews experienced a full membership of the Danish people. What several sources testify to is that almost all Danish Jews expressed themselves by 1900 as being unapologetically Danish and strove to act accordingly.

17. Blüdnikow, “Jews in Denmark,” 26–28.

18. Smith, “Stucture and Persistence of Ethnie,” 27.

19. Wagner, “Jødernes ligestilling.”

20. Thing, De russiske jøder, 31–34. According to the national census of 1901, 88% (3065) of all Jews in Denmark lived in Copenhagen. Among the employed part of the Jewish population, 70% were working in commerce, 16% in the liberal professions, and 12% were menial workers. This census predates the drastic demographic changes following the Jewish immigration from 1904 onwards. see also Trap, Jøderne i København, 156–97.

21. Glückstadt served as chairman of the Board from 1887 until his death in 1910. On Glückstadt and his role as bank director of the Landmandsbanken, see Mørch, Det store bankkrak.

22. For a more complex approach to this divide, see Kaplan, The Making of, 10–11.

23. Pedersen, En Rettens Tjener, 130. Henriques was appointed Board member in 1905 and Chairman of the Board in 1930, a position he held until 1946. From the quote, it may seem that Henriques was distancing himself from the other Board members – describing them as “they” rather than “we,” however, he in fact affirmed, a page later in the interview, his full sympathy and understanding with this kind of reasoning. Moreover, Henriques’ characteristic of these representatives was perfectly fitting for himself: he was of an old and respected Danish Jewish lineage and he had just been appointed Supreme Court Attorney when he got elected to the Board. Ibid., 130–131.

24. Edelmann, “David Simonsen”; and Jansson, “En rabbiner.”

25. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman repeatedly argues and provide examples of this point, see Bauman, Wasted Lives; and “Modernity and ambivalence.”

26. See e.g., Borchsenius, Historien om; Goldstein, Til Et Folk. For criticism of the “symbiosis” approach, see Wagner, “Fællesskabet”s nationalisering”; and Bludnikow, “Jews in Denmark.”

27. Berkowitz, Zionist Culture, 7.

28. Arnheim, En Truet Minoritet, 208.

29. For an overview of some of these studies, see Myers, “Is there still”; and Myers, “Rethinking Sovereignty and Autonomy.”

30. Zuckerman, “Broadening Home,” 65–103; and Cohen, “The First Anglo-Jewish.”

31. “The children of Israel went onward in all their journeys.” King James Bible, Exodus 40:37.

32. Louis Frænkel to David Simonsen, letter, March 8, 1897, David Simonsen Papers, The Royal Library, Copenhagen.

33. See Cohen-Hattab “Zionism, Tourism”; and Kelner, Tours that Bind, 24–29.

34. The few historical accounts that mention Danish Zionism all agree that Frænkel should be seen as the center of early Danish Zionism prior to World War I. With the exception of Zuckerman, “Broadening Home,” all of these studies see Frænkel and Danish Zionism in a strictly organizational manner and limited to a Danish or Scandinavian regional context. For a critical discussion of this perspectives, see Zuckerman, “Broadening Home.” See also, Dubnov, “Zionism On the Diasporic.”

35. Letter, Louis Frænkel to Bellamine Frænkel, April 16, 1897, file 19–20, Frænkel Papers, RA.

36. For the Frænkel family genealogy and history, Frænkel and Frænkel, Forgotten Fragments; and Frænkel, Min Far.

37. See their correspondence in the Frænkel Papers, RA and the Simonsen Papers, the Royal Danish Library.

38. Morton Narrowe, Zionism in Sweden, 26.

39. I am not referring here to explicit forms of cultural Zionism in the sense of Zionist youth movements, sports association, or reading clubs, as shown in Presner, Muscular Judaism, but activities that did not have any overt affiliation with the political Zionist movement. For a similar approach, see Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism; and Lichtenstein, Zionists in Interwar Czechoslovakia.

40. Laqueur, A History of Zionism, 106–108.

41. Nachemsohn’s papers have unfortunately been lost or are, at least, still undiscovered and his exact role and perspective on Zionism thus remain blurry.

42. From Lothar Stark to John Frænkel, letter, March 13, 1936, file 18, Frænkel Papers, RA.

43. See Zuckerman, “I lysbilledets nærvær.”

44. See the different lecture notes for “En Palæstina-rejse,” file 19–20, Frænkel Papers, RA.

45. The admission to lectures was often open to everyone who had purchased or gained a ticket and ads for the events appeared in the general Copenhagen press. Still, “the we” in the lectures was markedly Jewish, speaking to those of the audience who could identify accordingly.

46. See Zuckerman, “Forging a New Foundation.”

47. Brenner, Marketing Identities.

48. Isak Glückstadt to Louis Frænkel, April 25, 1907, file 27, Frænkel Papers, RA.

49. See Zuckerman, Broadening Home, 181–221; and Thing, De russiske jøder.

50. Penslar, “Shylock’s children,” 175.

51. Svenstrup and Helk, “Det Mosaiske Troessamfund,” 13; and Nørgaard, “Beskyt de værdige fattige,” 99–100.

52. Protocol, November 22, 1904, file 523, Hjælpekomitè for russiske jøder, Mosaisk Troessamfund (MT), RA.

53. The focus in this section as in the rest of the article is chiefly on the forms of groupness that the native Danish Jews enacted and not the initiatives and perceptions of the immigrants themselves, which present an entirely different account. For the best account of the latter, see Thing, De russiske jøder.

54. Protocol, January 22, 1905, file 523, Hjælpekomitè for russiske jøder, Mosaisk Troessamfund, RA.

55. Printed pamphlet, November 22, 1904, the Royal Danish Library. See the call from 1904 brought in 16.781 DKK, and a 1906 call from a joint Jewish and non-Jewish committee in 21.005 DKK. Already by the end of 1906 had all the money been allocated, see Thing, De russiske jøder, 66–72. See the various calls for donations, file 523, Hjælpekomitè for russiske jøder, Mosaisk Troessamfund, RA.

56. Thing, De russiske jøder, 70.

57. On the changes of Scandinavian and transatlantic migration routes, see Sebak, “Constraints and Possibilities”; Sebak, “Russian-Jewish Transmigration”. see also Thing, De russiske jøder, 66.

58. As the committee’s money ran out, the established congregational poor relief office gradually took over the expenses and thus, from approximately 1909, the immigrants needed to show up at this office to receive help. See Thing, De russiske jøder, 70–2.

59. File 18, Frænkel Papers, RA.

60. This echoes Michael Berkowitz’ characterization of early Western Zionism as a form of “vicarious nationalism,” in which Zionists attemped to solve what they considered the Jewish problem of others. That is, Western Jews acting on behalf and upon Eastern Jews by trying to turn them into good Jewish national constituents rather than themselves, see Berkowitz Zionist Culture, 7.

61. Welner, Fra Polsk jøde, 45.

62. Presner, Muscular Judaism, 2–4; and Penslar, Shylock’s Children, 187–189.

63. Penslar, Shylock’s children, 188.

64. See e.g., the journal of Bar Kochba (the German Jewish Gymnastics Association) “Die jüdische Turnzeitung” from May 1909: “The Jewish Gymnastics associations do not want to create muscles of steel, sharpen mental presence, and increase courage and self-confidence for the sake of the individual. They are fighting for an idea [..] The Jewish gymnastics movement will serve Judaism in its entirety [..] and, therefore, carries a national-Jewish character,” quoted in Presner, Muscular Judaism,107.

65. Jødisk Tidsskrift, July 26, 1907.

66. See Frykman and Löfgren, Culture Builders; and Kaplan, The Making of.

67. Max Schornstein was born in Bohemia in 1870 and studied at the Jüdisch-Theologisches Seminar in Breslau where he graduated as Dr.Phil and rabbi in 1893. He was appointed “Assistant priest” to Chief Rabbi Lewenstein in 1906 and became himself the Chief Rabbi from 1910–1919.

68. For the creation of non-religious Jewish spaces in Eastern Europe, see Veidlinger, Jewish Public Culture, 24–113; and Shanes, Diaspora Nationalism, 177–180. On how Zionists created, “conquered,” and converted Jewish spaces, see Lichtenstein, Zionists in Interwar Czechoslovakia.

69. See e.g., the newspapers Politiken, February 19, 1907; Berlingske, February 19, 1907; Dannebrog, February 20, 1907.

70. Wilhelm, The Independent Orders; and Moore, B’nai B’rith.

71. Moore, B’nai B’rith, 6–7.

72. By 1913, the number had risen to 135, see Annual Report, “Aarsberetning,” 7, file 27–28, Frænkel’s Papers, RA.

73. Already prior to World War I, Danmark Logen began supporting a Jewish preschool for immigrant children. The Folkebørnehave for Russiske Emigranters Børn (Public Kindergarten for Children of Russian Emigrants) became the largest preschool in Copenhagen before the First World War with more than 100 Jewish children. See Margolinsky, Danmark Loge, 39; and Zuckerman, “Broadening Home,” 211–214.

74. Zuckerman, “Broadening Home,” 202–209.

75. See Lausten, Jews and Christians in Denmark, 222–225.

76. Schornstein in Margolinsky, Danmark Loge, 24.

77. Annual Report, “Aarsberetning,” file 27–28, Frænkel’s Papers, RA.

78. Inspection reports, 1912–1913, file 37, Danmark Loge, MT, RA.

79. For the space and opportunities which association and relief work made available for German Jewish women, see Kaplan, The Making of, 192–227.

80. See note 77 above.

81. Speech, “Gæster Assisterende og Brødre,” 1912, file 27–8, Frænkel Papers, RA, n.p.

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Maja Gildin Zuckerman

Maja Gildin Zuckerman is the Jim Joseph Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Concentrate of Education and Jewish Studies at Stanford University. With a background in anthropology, sociology, and Jewish cultural history, she has explored questions of Jewish identification and in/exclusion in Europe and Israel/Palestine in modern and contemporary time. She is currently conducting multi-sited research on European Jewish youth’ perceptions and experience of contemporary antisemitism.