List of West European Jews
Encyclopedia
Apart from France
, established Jewish populations exist in the Netherlands
, Belgium
, Germany
, Italy
and Switzerland
. With the original medieval populations wiped out by the Black Death
and the pogrom
s that followed it, the current Dutch and Belgian communities originate in the Jewish expulsion
from Spain
and Portugal
, while a Swiss community was only established after emancipation in 1874. However, the vast majority of the population in the Netherlands and a large proportion of the one in Belgium were killed in the Holocaust
, and much of the modern Jewish population of these countries (as well as of Germany and Switzerland) derives from post-Holocaust arrivals from Eastern Europe
, Germany with an estimated Jewish population of around 200 000, 100 000 of which are officially affiliated with orthodox synagogues, 20 000 with "liberal Judaism", and the rest unaffiliated, is, due to recent immigration from Russia, now the fastest growing Jewish community in the world besides the State of Israel. Here is a list of some prominent West European Jews, arranged by country of origin.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, established Jewish populations exist in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. With the original medieval populations wiped out by the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
and the pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s that followed it, the current Dutch and Belgian communities originate in the Jewish expulsion
Alhambra decree
The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.The edict was formally revoked on 16 December 1968, following the Second...
from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, while a Swiss community was only established after emancipation in 1874. However, the vast majority of the population in the Netherlands and a large proportion of the one in Belgium were killed in the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, and much of the modern Jewish population of these countries (as well as of Germany and Switzerland) derives from post-Holocaust arrivals from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, Germany with an estimated Jewish population of around 200 000, 100 000 of which are officially affiliated with orthodox synagogues, 20 000 with "liberal Judaism", and the rest unaffiliated, is, due to recent immigration from Russia, now the fastest growing Jewish community in the world besides the State of Israel. Here is a list of some prominent West European Jews, arranged by country of origin.
Belgium
- Chantal AkermanChantal AkermanChantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
, director-screenwriter - Saul AkkemaySaul AkkemaySaul Akkemay , better known by the pen name Panbello, is a Belgian-born freelance publicist and columnist, of German-Jewish paternal descent....
, publicist-journalist - Zora Arkus-DuntovZora Arkus-DuntovZora Arkus-Duntov was a Belgian-born American engineer. His work on the Chevrolet Corvette earned him the nickname "Father of the Corvette."- Early life :Zora was born Zachary Arkus in Belgium on Christmas Day, 1909...
, father of the Chevrolet CorvetteChevrolet CorvetteThe Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car by the Chevrolet division of General Motors that has been produced in six generations. The first model, a convertible, was designed by Harley Earl and introduced at the GM Motorama in 1953 as a concept show car. Myron Scott is credited for naming the car after...
(Belgian-born) - Gérard BlitzGérard Blitz (entrepreneur)Gérard Blitz was a Belgian water polo player and Yogi.Born in Antwerp, he was the son of Maurice Blitz and nephew of Gérard Blitz, both members of the Belgian water polo national team who won Olympic medals....
, Olympic water polo medallist, co-founder of Club MedClub MedClub Méditerranée , commonly known as Club Med, is a French corporation of vacation resorts found in many parts of the world, usually in exotic locations. It is considered the original all-inclusive resort.-Foundation:... - Annie CordyAnnie CordyLéonie Cooreman known under the stage name Annie Cordy is a Belgian film actress and singer. She has appeared in 50 films since 1954. She has staged many memorable appearances at Bruno Coquatrix' famous Paris Olympia...
, singer (Annie Cordmann). - Leopold FlamLeopold FlamLeopold Flam was a Belgian philosopher. Together with Alphonse Dewaelhens, Chaïm Perelman and Rudolf Boehm, he was one of leading philosophers of Belgium from the sixties until the eighties....
, philosopher - Louis FranckLouis FranckThis article is about Louis Franck the lawyer and not about Louis Franck the frontman of Esthetic Education.Louis Marie François Franck was a Belgian lawyer, liberal politician and statesman.-Education:...
, politician - Diane von FurstenbergDiane von FürstenbergDiane von Fürstenberg, formerly Princess Diane of Fürstenberg , is a Belgian-American fashion designer best known for her iconic wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg...
, fashion designer - Jean GolJean GolJean Gol was a Belgian politician for the liberal party Parti Réformateur Libéral and a freemason...
, politician - Nico GunzburgNico GunzburgNico Gunzburg was a Belgian lawyer and criminologist. In 1885, his parents fled from Latvia and settled in Antwerp, Belgium.-Education:...
, professor - Camille GuttCamille GuttCamille Gutt , born Camille Guttenstein, was a Belgian economist, politician, and industrialist. He served as the first Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 6 May 1946 to 5 May 1951...
, finance minister; head of the International Monetary FundInternational Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world... - Paul HymansPaul HymansPaul Louis Adrien Henri Hymans , was a Belgian politician associated with the Liberal Party. He was the first President of the League of Nations, and served again as its president in 1932-33....
, liberal leader; president of the League of NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace... - René KaliskyRené KaliskyRené Kalisky was a Belgian writer of Polish descent who is best known for the plays he wrote in the last 12 years of his life....
, writer - George KoltanowskiGeorge KoltanowskiGeorge Koltanowski was a Belgian-born American chess player, promoter, and writer. He was informally known as "Kolty". Koltanowski set the world's blindfold record on 20 September 1937, in Edinburgh, by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded, making headline news around the world...
, chess player - Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
, anthropologist (Belgian-born; atheist of Jewish descent) - Alfred LowensteinAlfred LowensteinAlfred Lowenstein , CB, was a Belgian soldier, aviator, sportsman, and one of the most powerful businessmen during the early decades of the 20th century.-Early life and business career:...
, financier (Jewish mother) - Ernest MandelErnest MandelErnest Ezra Mandel, also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter , was a revolutionary Marxist theorist.-Life:...
, marxist theorist - Bob MendesBob MendesDavid Mendes pseudonym Bob Mendes is a Belgian accountant and writer of detective stories. He graduated in accountancy, fiscal duties and business administration and started his professional career as an accountant....
, writer (Jewish father) - Ralph MilibandRalph MilibandRalph Miliband , born Adolphe Miliband, was a Belgian-born British sociologist known as a prominent Marxist thinker...
, political scientist - Chaim PerelmanChaim PerelmanChaïm Perelman was a Polish-born philosopher of law, who studied, taught, and lived most of his life in Brussels. He was among the most important argumentation theorists of the twentieth century...
, philosopher (Polish-born) - Ilya PrigogineIlya PrigogineIlya, Viscount Prigogine was a Russian-born naturalized Belgian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility.-Biography :...
, chemist (Russian-born), Nobel Prize (1977) - Henry SpiraHenry SpiraHenry Spira is widely regarded as one of the most effective animal rights activists of the 20th century....
, animal rights activist - Elias M. SteinElias M. SteinElias Menachem Stein is a mathematician and a leading figure in the field of harmonic analysis. He is the Albert Baldwin Dod Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University.-Biography:...
, mathematician (Belgian-born) - Marc Schlomo Jizchak Stern, Orthodox rabbi, cantor (de)
- Gilbert StorkGilbert StorkGilbert Stork is a U.S. organic chemist. He is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Columbia University. The Stork enamine synthesis is named in his honor.-Education:...
, chemist - Olivier StrelliOlivier StrelliOlivier Strelli born Nissim Israel is a Belgian fashion designer, who put Belgium on the fashion map. His name is now synonymous with a chain of male and female clothing and accessory boutiques in Belgium, Switzerland, France and China...
, fashion designer - Guy Lee ThysGuy Lee ThysGuy Lee Thys : is a Belgian film producer, director, and screenwriter.In 1981 Guy Lee Thys, whose nickname in the Belgian media is "enfant terrible of Flemish Cinema", established Skyline Films, renamed Fact & Fiction in 1992. The small production company produces moderate budget feature-length...
, film director (Jewish mother) - Raymond van het GroenewoudRaymond van het GroenewoudRaymond van het Groenewoud is one of the most popular Belgian music artists. He is of Dutch and Jewish descent and sings mostly in Flemish. His career started in 1973 and he has since scored many hits in Flanders and the Netherlands, in many different styles...
, singer-songwriter (Jewish mother) - Sandra WassermanSandra WassermanSandra Wasserman is a former professional Belgian tennis player from Antwerp. She is most famous for being the youngest Belgian Fed Cup player.-Fed Cup:...
, tennis player
Ireland
- William AnnyasWilliam AnnyasIn 1555 William Annyas became the Mayor of Youghal in County Cork, he was the first person of the Jewish religion to hold such an elected position in Ireland or Britain.William Annyas was the grandson of Gil Anes of Belmonte, Portugal...
, Mayor of YoughalYoughalYoughal is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Sitting on the estuary of the River Blackwater, in the past it was militarily and economically important. Being built on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a distinctive long and narrow layout... - Thomas John BarnardoThomas John BarnardoThomas John Barnardo was a philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor children, born in Dublin. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1870 to the date of Barnardo’s death, nearly 100,000 children had been rescued, trained and given a better life.- Early life :Barnardo...
, philanthropist (Jewish father) - Henri BergsonHenri BergsonHenri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
, philosopher (Anglo-Irish mother) - Agnes BernelleAgnes BernelleAgnes Bernelle was an actress and singer, long-based in the UK for much of her career, although she later settled in Ireland. Her family had fled Berlin in 1936...
, entertainer - Robert BriscoeRobert Briscoe (politician)Robert Briscoe , known as Bob Briscoe was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Teachta Dála in the Oireachtas from 1927 to 1965.- Family :...
, member of the Irish Republican ArmyIrish Republican ArmyThe Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
during the Anglo-Irish War and Irish Civil WarIrish Civil WarThe Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
, and twice Lord Mayor of DublinLord Mayor of DublinThe Lord Mayor of Dublin is the honorific title of the Chairman of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent is Labour Party Councillor Andrew Montague. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the...
, in 1956 and 1961 - Ben BriscoeBen BriscoeBen Briscoe is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician.-Member of Dáil Éireann:He was a Teachta Dála for 37 years, representing a series of constituencies in Dublin....
T.D.Teachta DálaA Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...
, Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1988 (and son of Robert) - Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Day-LewisDaniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
, actor (Jewish mother) - Gerald GoldbergGerald GoldbergGerald Yael Goldberg was a lawyer and politician who in 1977 became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Cork...
, Lord Mayor of CorkLord Mayor of CorkThe Lord Mayor of Cork is the honorific title of the Chairman of Cork City Council which is the local government body for the city of Cork in Ireland. The incumbent is Terry Shannon of Fianna Fáil. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the Council.-History of office:In 1199 there... - Chaim HerzogChaim HerzogChaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
, Israeli president - Yitzhak HaLevi HerzogYitzhak HaLevi HerzogRabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog , also known as Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, his term lasting from 1921 to 1936...
first Chief RabbiChief RabbiChief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Ireland (and father of Chaim) - Sir Otto JaffeOtto JaffeSir Otto Jaffe, JP was a German-born British Jewish businessman and twice elected Lord Mayor of Belfast.-Family:...
, Lord Mayor of BelfastLord Mayor of BelfastThe Lord Mayor of Belfast is the leader and chairman of Belfast City Council, elected annually from and by the City's 51 councillors.The Lord Mayor is Niall Ó Donnghaile of Sinn Féin, while the Deputy Lord Mayor is Ruth Patterson of the Democratic Unionist Party, who were elected in May 2011.The...
1899 and 1904 - Immanuel JakobovitsImmanuel JakobovitsImmanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits, Kt was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1967 to 1991. His successor is the present Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.-Biography:...
, Chief Rabbi of Ireland between 1949 and 1958 and later British Chief Rabbi - Isaac Leon KandelIsaac Leon KandelIsaac Leon Kandel, M.A., Ph.D. was an American educator born in Romania. He studied at Manchester, England, Columbia University, and the University of Jena,...
- Louis LentinLouis LentinLouis Lentin is a theatre, film and television director. He was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1933 and has worked for over forty years in the arts in Ireland. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts....
, Director - Documentary Films, Television & Theatre - David MarcusDavid MarcusDavid Marcus was an Irish Jewish editor and writer who was a lifelong advocate and editor of Irish fiction.- Life and times :...
, author, editor, broadcaster and lifelong supporter of Irish-language fiction - Alan ShatterAlan ShatterAlan Joseph Shatter is an Irish Fine Gael politician. He is a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South constituency and has been the Minister for Justice and Equality and Minister for Defence since March 2011.-Background and early life:...
, Fine GaelFine GaelFine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
politician - Mervyn TaylorMervyn TaylorMervyn Taylor is a former Irish Labour Party politician and government minister.He was born to a Jewish family in Dublin. He was educated at Zion School, Wesley College Dublin and at Trinity College Dublin where he qualified as a solicitor.He worked for Herman Good Solicitors alongside Herman Good...
, former Irish Labour Party politician - Gustav Wilhelm WolffGustav Wilhelm WolffGustav Wilhelm Wolff was a British shipbuilder and politician. Born in Hamburg, he moved to Liverpool in 1849 to live with his uncle, Gustav Christian Schwabe...
, founder of Harland and WolffHarland and WolffHarland and Wolff Heavy Industries is a Northern Irish heavy industrial company, specialising in shipbuilding and offshore construction, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
and MP for East Belfast
Political figures
- Emanuele FianoEmanuele FianoEmanuele Fiano is a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the centre-left Partito Democratico...
, politician - Vittorio FoaVittorio FoaVittorio Foa was an Italian politician, trade unionist, journalist and writer.-Biography:Foa was born in Turin in 1910 into a middle-class Jewish family....
, socialist trade unionist - Sansone D'Ancona, Senator
- Alessandro D'AnconaAlessandro d'AnconaAlessandro D'Ancona was an Italian critic and writer.He was born at Pisa, of a wealthy Jewish family, and educated in Florence; at the age of eighteen he published his essay on the life and work of the philosopher Tommaso Campanella.In 1855 Ancona went to Turin, nominally to study law, but in...
, 1904 Senator and 1906 mayor of Pisa - Anna KuliscioffAnna KuliscioffAnna Kuliscioff was a Jewish Russian revolutionary, a prominent feminist, an anarchist influenced by Mikhail Bakunin, and eventually a Marxist socialist militant; she was mainly active in Italy, where she was one of the first women graduated in Medicine.Persecuted by the Imperial...
, revolutionary feminist - Rita Levi-MontalciniRita Levi-MontalciniRita Levi-Montalcini , Knight Grand Cross is an Italian neurologist who, together with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of nerve growth factor...
, scientist and Senator - Luigi LuzzattiLuigi LuzzattiLuigi Luzzatti was an Italian political figure and served as the 31st Prime Minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911...
, Italian Prime Minister (1910–1911) - Ernesto NathanErnesto NathanErnesto Nathan was an English-Italian Jewish politician, and mayor of Rome, Italy from November 1907 to December 1913.-Biography:...
, mayor of RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(1907–1913) - Margherita SarfattiMargherita SarfattiMargherita Sarfatti was a Jewish Italian journalist, art critic, patron, collector, socialite, and one of Benito Mussolini's mistresses.-Biography:...
, journalist & mistress of Benito MussoliniBenito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism.... - Claudio TrevesClaudio TrevesClaudio Treves was an Italian politician and journalist.-Youth:Claudio Treves was born in Turin into a well off assimilated Jewish family...
, politician and writer, grandfather of Carlo LeviCarlo LeviDr. Carlo Levi was an Italian-Jewish painter, writer, activist, anti-fascist, and doctor.He is best known for his book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli , published in 1945, a memoir of his time spent in exile in Lucania, Italy, after being arrested in connection with his political activism... - Leone WollemborgLeone WollemborgLeone Wollemborg was an Italian economist and politician. He made significant contributions to the spread of cooperative enterprises, specifically rural credit unions and agricultural cooperative banks....
, politician and former Minister of Economy
Religious and communal leaders
- Samuel AboabSamuel AboabSamuel Aboab , son of Abraham Aboab, was a very prominent rabbi of the seventeenth century.He was born at Venice, and began the study of rabbinical literature at an early age. When thirteen years old, he became the pupil of David Franco. From him Aboab received the intellectual tendency which he...
, prominent rabbi - Aaron ben Gershon Abu Al-RabiAaron ben Gershon Abu Al-RabiAaron ben Gershon Abu Al-Rabi of Catania was a Sicilian scholar, cabalist, and astrologer of the 15th century.-Life:...
or Aronne Abulrabi of CataniaCataniaCatania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
(1400–1450), rabbinic scholar, cabalist and astrologer.Called also Aldabi or Alrabi, Aaron was the First Jew in the history to be invited during a PontificatePontiffA pontiff was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the principal college of priests . The term "pontiff" was later applied to any high or chief priest and, in ecclesiastical usage, to a bishop and more particularly to the Bishop of Rome, the Pope or "Roman Pontiff".-Etymology:The English term derives...
to discuss freely and without censorship about religious subjects and papal perplexities.The PopePopeThe Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
Martin V with his swarm of Cardinals welcomed him in Rome. - Barbara AielloBarbara AielloRabbi Barbara Aiello was the first Rabbi of Synagogue Lev Chadash in Milan, Italy. Aiello is the first female Rabbi in Italy and has served as the head of Italy's first Reform synagogue.- Early life :...
, American rabbi with an interest in Italy - Benjamin ArtomBenjamin ArtomRabbi Benjamin Artom was the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain. He was born in Asti, Piedmont, Italy.He was the first person to hold the post of rabbi of Naples...
, Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain - Umberto CassutoUmberto CassutoUmberto Cassuto, also known as Moshe David Cassuto, , was a rabbi and Biblical scholar born in Florence, Italy. -Early life and career:...
, rabbi - Abraham Isaac CastelloAbraham Isaac CastelloAbraham Isaac Castello was a rabbi, preacher, and poet. At the age of thirteen he arrived, poor and destitute, in Leghorn, where, although he had previously intended to become a mechanic, his agreeable voice induced him to prepare himself to become a cantor...
, Rabbi - Moshe Chaim LuzzattoMoshe Chaim LuzzattoMoshe Chaim Luzzatto , also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL , was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher.-Padua:Born in Padua at night, he received classical Jewish and Italian educations, showing a...
, Rabbi, scholar, mystic, also known as RAMCHAL - Amos LuzzattoAmos LuzzattoAmos Luzzatto is an Italian writer and essayist of Jewish descent, born in a family of ancient tradition Amos Luzzatto (born Rome, June 3, 1928) is an Italian writer and essayist of Jewish descent, born in a family of ancient tradition Amos Luzzatto (born Rome, June 3, 1928) is an Italian writer...
, writer and former president of the Italian Jewish Communities Union - Raphael MeldolaRaphael Meldola (Sephardic Rabbi)Raphael Meldola, English Rabbi. Born in Leghorn 1754; died in London June 1, 1828.One of the most prominent members of the Meldola family. He received a thorough university training, both in theological and in secular branches, and displayed such remarkable talents that when only fifteen years old...
, Rabbi - David NietoDavid NietoDavid Nieto was the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in London, later succeeded in this capacity by his son, Isaac Nieto....
, rabbi - Riccardo PacificiRiccardo PacificiRiccardo Reuven Pacifici was a rabbi from an Italian Jewish family of ancient Sephardic origins, with roots in the Jewish Spanish and rabbinical traditions.-Life:...
, Rabbi - Obadiah ben Jacob SfornoObadiah ben Jacob SfornoObadiah ben Jacob Sforno was an Italian rabbi, Biblical commentator, philosopher and physician. He was born at Cesena about 1475 and died at Bologna in 1550....
, Rabbi, philosopher - Elio ToaffElio ToaffElio Toaff is the former Chief Rabbi of Rome. On 13 April 1986, he greeted and prayed with Pope John Paul II during an unannounced visit to the Synagogue of Rome....
, Rabbi and former Chief of Italian Jews Community - Samuel David LuzzattoSamuel David LuzzattoSamuel David Luzzatto was an Italian Jewish scholar, poet, and a member of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. He is also known by his Hebrew acronym, Shadal ....
important Rabbi and scholar, also known as SHADAL - Isaiah di TraniIsaiah di TraniIsaiah di Trani ben Mali , better known as the RID, was a prominent Italian Talmudist.- Biography:...
, talmudist, Rabbi, also known as RID
Academics
- Emilio ArtomEmilio ArtomEmilio Artom was a Jewish Italian mathematician at the start of the twentieth century. Artom was born and died in Torino.- Sources :*...
, mathematician - pedigree of AzzopardiAzzopardiAzzopardi is a Maltese surname presumed to be derived from the word Safardi. "Sephardi" refers to the Sephardic Jews, who are a subgroup of Jews that originated in modern-day Spain and Portugal and parts of North Africa. The Azzopardi families of Malta probably have their origin in Spain...
- Faraj ben SalimFaraj ben SalimFaraj ben Sālim , also known as Farragut of Girgenti, Moses Farachi of Dirgent, Ferrarius, or Franchinus, was a Sicilian-Jewish physician and translator who flourished in the second half of the thirteenth century. He was engaged by Charles I of Naples as translator of medical works from Arabic into...
, Sicilian physician and translator from AgrigentoAgrigentoAgrigento , is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy, and capital of the province of Agrigento. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas , one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden... - Mosé Bonavoglia de' Medici, or Bonavoglio de' Medici, (d. 1447). Sicilian physician from Messina and Dienchelele (Naggid or Dayan kelali = Universal Judge of Sicilian Jews).His Hebrew name was Moses Hefez.
- Michele BessoMichele BessoMichele Angelo Besso was a Swiss/Italian engineer of Jewish Italian descent. He was a close friend of Albert Einstein during his years at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, today the ETH Zurich, and then at the patent office in Bern...
, engineer - Caecilius of CalacteCaecilius of CalacteFor others of this name see Archagathus Caecilius, of Calacte in Sicily, Greek rhetorician, flourished at Rome during the reign of Augustus....
, Sicilian rhetorician from modern CaronìaCaroniaCaronia is a town and comune on the north coast of Sicily, in the province of Messina, about half way between Tyndaris and Cephaloedium... - Eugenio CalabiEugenio CalabiEugenio Calabi is a Italian American mathematician and professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in differential geometry, partial differential equations and their applications....
, mathematician - Dario Calimani, Anglicist
- Laura Capón, physicist; married to non-Jew Enrico Fermi
- Guido CastelnuovoGuido CastelnuovoGuido Castelnuovo was an Italian mathematician. His father, Enrico Castelnuovo, was a novelist and campaigner for the unification of Italy...
, mathematician - Alessandro D'AnconaAlessandro d'AnconaAlessandro D'Ancona was an Italian critic and writer.He was born at Pisa, of a wealthy Jewish family, and educated in Florence; at the age of eighteen he published his essay on the life and work of the philosopher Tommaso Campanella.In 1855 Ancona went to Turin, nominally to study law, but in...
, literature - Federigo EnriquesFederigo EnriquesFederigo Enriques was an Italian mathematician, now known principally as the first to give a classification of algebraic surfaces in birational geometry, and other contributions in algebraic geometry....
, mathematician - Gino FanoGino FanoGino Fano was an Italian mathematician. He was born in Mantua, Italy and died in Verona, Italy.Fano worked on projective and algebraic geometry; the Fano plane, Fano fibration, Fano surface, and Fano varieties are named for him....
, mathematician - Robert FanoRobert FanoRobert Mario Fano is an Italian-American computer scientist, currently professor emeritus of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fano is known principally for his work on information theory, inventing Shannon-Fano coding...
, physicist - Ugo FanoUgo FanoUgo Fano was an Italian American physicist, a leader in theoretical physics in the 20th century.- Biography :Ugo Fano was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Turin, Italy...
, physicist - Guido FubiniGuido FubiniGuido Fubini was an Italian mathematician, known for Fubini's theorem and the Fubini–Study metric.Born in Venice, he was steered towards mathematics at an early age by his teachers and his father, who was himself a teacher of mathematics...
, mathematician - Carlo GinzburgCarlo GinzburgCarlo Ginzburg is a noted historian and proponent of the field of microhistory. He is best known for his Il formaggio e I vermi which examined the beliefs of an Italian heretic, Menocchio, from Montereale Valcellina.- Biography :The son of Natalia Ginzburg and Leone Ginzburg, he was born...
, historian - Giovanni Jona-LasinioGiovanni Jona-LasinioGiovanni Jona-Lasinio , sometimes called Gianni Jona, is an influential Italian theoretical physicist, best known for his works on quantum field theory and statistical mechanics. He pioneered research concerning spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model is named after him...
, physicist (Jewish father) - Beppo LeviBeppo LeviBeppo Levi was an Italian mathematician. He published high-level academic articles and books not only in mathematics, but also in physics, history, philosophy, and pedagogy. Levi was a member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences and of the Accademia dei Lincei.- Early years :Beppo Levi was born on...
, mathematician - Tullio Levi-CivitaTullio Levi-CivitaTullio Levi-Civita, FRS was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made significant contributions in other areas. He was a pupil of Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, the inventor of tensor calculus...
, mathematician - Ezio Levi D'Ancona, philologist
- Mirella Levi D'Ancona, art historian
- Giorgio Levi della VidaGiorgio Levi Della VidaGiorgio Levi Della Vida was an Italian Jewish linguist whose expertise lay in Hebrew, Arabic, and other Semitic languages, as well as on the history and culture of the Near East.-Biography:...
- Rita Levi-MontalciniRita Levi-MontalciniRita Levi-Montalcini , Knight Grand Cross is an Italian neurologist who, together with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of nerve growth factor...
, neurologist, Nobel Prize (1986) - Cesare LombrosoCesare LombrosoCesare Lombroso, born Ezechia Marco Lombroso was an Italian criminologist and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the established Classical School, which held that crime was a characteristic trait of human nature...
, criminologist - Salvador Luria, microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1969)
- Samuel David LuzzattoSamuel David LuzzattoSamuel David Luzzatto was an Italian Jewish scholar, poet, and a member of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. He is also known by his Hebrew acronym, Shadal ....
- Franco ModiglianiFranco ModiglianiFranco Modigliani was an Italian economist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and MIT Department of Economics, and winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1985.-Life and career:...
, economist, Nobel Prize (1985) - Arnaldo MomiglianoArnaldo MomiglianoArnaldo Dante Momigliano KBE was an Italian historian known for his work in historiography, characterized by Donald Kagan as the "world’s leading student of the writing of history in the ancient world." He became Professor of Roman history at the University of Turin in 1936, but as a Jew soon lost...
, Italian-born historian (Jewish Year BookJewish Year BookThe Jewish Year Book is an almanac targeted at the Jewish community in the United Kingdom. It has been published every year since 1896 and is currently published by Vallentine Mitchell in association with The Jewish Chronicle and is edited by Stephen W...
1985 p188) - Bruno PontecorvoBruno PontecorvoBruno Pontecorvo was an Italian-born nuclear physicist, an early assistant of Enrico Fermi and then the author of numerous studies in high energy physics, especially on neutrinos. According to Oleg Gordievsky and Pavel Sudoplatov , Pontecorvo was also a Soviet agent...
, physicist - Guido PontecorvoGuido PontecorvoGuido Pontecorvo ForMemRS was an Italian-born geneticist.-Career:He fled to Britain in 1938.* Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh, 1938-40 and 1944-45...
, geneticist - Giulio Racah, physicist
- Bruno RossiBruno RossiBruno Benedetto Rossi was a leading Italian-American experimental physicist. He made major contributions to cosmic ray and particle physics from 1930 through the 1950s, and pioneered X-ray astronomy and space plasma physics in the 1960s.-Biography:Rossi was born in Venice, Italy...
, astrophysicist - Asher SalahAsher SalahAsher Salah is an Israeli historian. He is one of the leading specialists in Italian Hebrew literature and a translator of Hebrew literature...
, Historian - Beniamino SegreBeniamino SegreBeniamino Segre was an Italian mathematician who is remembered today as a major contributor to algebraic geometry and one of the founders of combinatorial geometry....
, mathematician - Cesare SegreCesare SegreCesare Segre is an Italian philologist, semiotician and literary critic of Jewish descent, currently the Director of the Texts and Textual Traditions Research Centre of the Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia .He lived and studied in Turin, where he was awarded his degree in 1950, a pupil of...
, linguistics, semiotics - Corrado SegreCorrado SegreCorrado Segre was an Italian mathematician who is remembered today as a major contributor to the early development of algebraic geometry....
, mathematician - Emilio Segrè, physicist, Nobel Prize (1959)
- pedigree of SfornoSfornoSforno is the name of a prominent Jewish Italian family, many members of which distinguished themselves as rabbis and scholars. The most prominent of these were the following:- Hananeel ben Jacob Sforno :Scholar of Talmud...
- Piero SraffaPiero SraffaPiero Sraffa was an influential Italian economist whose book Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities is taken as founding the Neo-Ricardian school of Economics.- Early life :...
, economist - Ariel ToaffAriel ToaffAriel Toaff is a professor of Medieval and Renaissance History at Bar Ilan University. He is the son of Elio Toaff, former Chief Rabbi of Rome....
, Historian - Andrew ViterbiAndrew ViterbiAndrew James Viterbi, Ph.D. is an Italian-American electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc....
, inventor of the Viterbi algorithmViterbi algorithmThe Viterbi algorithm is a dynamic programming algorithm for finding the most likely sequence of hidden states – called the Viterbi path – that results in a sequence of observed events, especially in the context of Markov information sources, and more generally, hidden Markov models... - Vito VolterraVito VolterraVito Volterra was an Italian mathematician and physicist, known for his contributions to mathematical biology and integral equations....
, mathematician
Musicians
- Mario AnconaMario AnconaMario Ancona , was a leading Italian baritone and master of bel canto singing. He appeared at some of the most important opera houses in Europe and America during what is commonly referred to as the "Golden Age of Opera".-Career:Ancona was born into a middle-class Jewish family at Livorno, Tuscany,...
, baritone - Abramo BaseviAbramo BaseviAbramo Basevi was an Italian musicologist and composer.Basevi was born in Livorno. He began as a physician in Florence but then devoted himself exclusively to music...
, composer and musician - Alvise Bassano, musician
- Anthony BassanoAnthony BassanoAnthony Bassano was a 16th century Italian musician.Bassano, born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, was one of six sons of Jeronimo Bassano who moved from Venice to England to the household of Henry VIII to serve the court, probably in 1540...
, musician - Baptista Bassano, musician
- Jeronimo BassanoJeronimo BassanoJeronimo Bassano was an Italian musician who is noteworthy for having been head of a family of musicians — Anthony Bassano, Jacomo, Alvise, Jasper, John and Baptista — who moved from Venice to England and the household of Henry VIII to serve the court...
, musician - Haim Cipriani, violinist and reform rabbi
- Mario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an Italian composer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he migrated to the United States and became a film composer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next...
, guitar,classical and synagogal music composer - Giacobbe CervettoGiacobbe CervettoGiacobbe Cervetto was an important cellist and composer of music for cello in 18th century England.Giacobbe Bassevi il Cervetto was born into a Jewish family in Livorno in 1682. He moved to London in 1739 and was a leading musical figure there for decades, an excellent cellist, and a dealer in...
, cellist - Lorenzo Da PonteLorenzo Da PonteLorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....
(b. Emanuele Conegliano), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic) - Abramino dall'ArpaAbramino dall'ArpaAbramino dall'Arpa was an Italian harpist and the likely grandson of Abramo dall'Arpa. He was one of the few Jewish musicians in Mantua in the late 16th century. In 1587, he accompanied and comforted the dying Guglielmo I Gonzaga on a trip to Goito.-References:*Hárran, Don. "Abramino dall’Arpa". ...
, harpist - Aldo FinziAldo Finzi (composer)Aldo Finzi was an Italian classical music composer.-External links:* Aldo Finzi's official website.*...
, composer - Salamone RossiSalamone RossiSalamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Italian Renaissance period and early Baroque.-Life:...
, baroque composer - Victor de SabataVictor de SabataVictor de Sabata was an Italian conductor and composer. He is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished operatic conductors of the twentieth century, especially for his Verdi, Puccini and Wagner. He is also acclaimed for his interpretations of orchestral music...
, conductor (Jewish mother) - Leone SinigagliaLeone SinigagliaLeone Sinigaglia was an Italian composer and mountaineer.- Biography :Born in Turin into an upper middle class family, Sinigaglia knew the leading figures of thought, arts and science that lived in the city at the time, such as Galileo Ferraris, Cesare Lombroso, and Leonardo Bistolfi...
, composer - Obadiah the Proselyte (musician)
Writers
- Enrico CastelnuovoEnrico Castelnuovo----Enrico Castelnuovo was an Italian writer who had an active role in the Italian unification movement.He was the father of Guido Castelnuovo.- Literary works :* Il quaderno della zia, 1872...
, father of Guido - Giorgio BassaniGiorgio BassaniGiorgio Bassani was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual.-Biography:Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood with his mother Dora, father Enrico , brother Paolo, and sister Jenny...
, author - Angela BianchiniAngela BianchiniAngela Bianchini is an Italian fiction writer and literary critic of Jewish descent. She grew up there and emigrated to the United States in 1941, after Mussolini's openly anti-Semitic racial laws were enacted.-Education and early career:...
, fiction writer - Riccardo CalimaniRiccardo CalimaniRiccardo Calimani is a renowned writer and historian, specialised on Italian and European Judaism and Jewish history....
, fiction writer and historian - Lorenzo Da PonteLorenzo Da PonteLorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....
(b. Emanuele Conegliano), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic) - Leonardo de BenedettiLeonardo de BenedettiLeonardo de Benedetti was an Italian Jew and physician who was interned in the Auschwitz concentration camp from February 1944 until its liberation in January 1945. After the end of the Second World War he and fellow inmate Primo Levi wrote Auschwitz Report, a factual report of conditions inside...
, physician and writer - Manuela DviriManuela DviriManuela Dviri Vitali Norsa was born in Padua, Italy in 1949 and currently lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.She moved to Israel in 1968 after her marriage with a young Israeli...
, writer - Alain ElkannAlain ElkannAlain Elkann is an Italian novelist, intellectual, and journalist. Currently, Elkann is the conductor of cultural programs on Italian television. A recurring theme in his books is the history of the Jews in Italy, their centrality to Italian history, and the relation between the Jewish faith and...
, writer and journalist, father of JohnJohn ElkannJohn Philip Jacob Elkann is an Italian industrialist. He was the chosen heir of Gianni Agnelli, his grandfather, and controls the family's automaker Fiat...
, LapoLapo ElkannLapo Elkann is a New York-born Italian industrialist, former marketing manager. He is currently the manager of brand promotion at Fiat Automobiles. He is a "global ambassador" of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer....
and GinevraGinevra ElkannGinevra Elkann is an Italian apprentice film director, and, as granddaughter of Gianni Agnelli, is among the heirs to the Agnelli family fortune. She is the daughter of Margherita Agnelli and the French-Italian writer Alain Elkann; her brother, the industrialist John Elkann, is Chairman of the... - Carlo GinzburgCarlo GinzburgCarlo Ginzburg is a noted historian and proponent of the field of microhistory. He is best known for his Il formaggio e I vermi which examined the beliefs of an Italian heretic, Menocchio, from Montereale Valcellina.- Biography :The son of Natalia Ginzburg and Leone Ginzburg, he was born...
, historian, writer, essayst and pioneer of microhistoryMicrohistoryMicrohistory is the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research... - Leone GinzburgLeone GinzburgLeone Ginzburg was an Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement...
, writer (born in Ukraine) - Natalia GinzburgNatalia GinzburgNatalia Ginzburg née Levi was an award-winning Italian author whose work explored family relationships, politics during and after the Fascist years and World War II, and philosophy. She wrote novels, short stories and essays, for which she received the Strega Prize and Bagutta Prize...
(b. Levi), author (Jewish father), wife of LeoneLeone GinzburgLeone Ginzburg was an Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement...
and mother of CarloCarlo GinzburgCarlo Ginzburg is a noted historian and proponent of the field of microhistory. He is best known for his Il formaggio e I vermi which examined the beliefs of an Italian heretic, Menocchio, from Montereale Valcellina.- Biography :The son of Natalia Ginzburg and Leone Ginzburg, he was born... - Arrigo LeviArrigo LeviArrigo Levi is an Italian journalist, essayist and TV anchorman.-Exile to Argentina:From a family of Jewish descent , in 1938, when he was twelve he moved to Argentina with his family in order to escape Fascist persecution...
, writer, journalist and TV anchorman - Carlo LeviCarlo LeviDr. Carlo Levi was an Italian-Jewish painter, writer, activist, anti-fascist, and doctor.He is best known for his book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli , published in 1945, a memoir of his time spent in exile in Lucania, Italy, after being arrested in connection with his political activism...
, writer, painter and physician - Primo LeviPrimo LeviPrimo Michele Levi was an Italian Jewish chemist and writer. He was the author of two novels and several collections of short stories, essays, and poems, but is best known for If This Is a Man, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland...
, chemist and author - Carlo MichelstaedterCarlo MichelstaedterCarlo Michelstaedter was an Italian writer, philosopher, and man of letters.- Life :Carlo Michelstaedter was born in Gorizia, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian County of Gorizia and Gradisca, as the youngest of four children of Albert and Emma Michelstaedter Coen Luzzatto: Gino , Elda , Paula ...
, philosopher - Lisa Morpurgo DordoniLisa MorpurgoLisa Morpurgo Dordoni was a writer and astrologer.Lisa gained a degree in literature at the Università Statale di Milano....
, writer, astrologer - Paolo MieliPaolo MieliPaolo Mieli is an Italian journalist who has been director of Italy's leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera.Born in Milan, Mieli debuted as journalist at 18 for L'Espresso, where he remained for some 20 years. As a member of Potere Operaio he initially adhered to far-left positions...
, journalist, historian and director of Corriere della SeraCorriere della SeraThe Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :... - Liana MilluLiana MilluLiana Millu was a Jewish-Italian journalist, resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor, best known for her autobiography "Smoke over Birkenau".-Bio:...
, writer - Alberto MoraviaAlberto MoraviaAlberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
(b. Pincherle), author (Jewish father) - Alessandro PipernoAlessandro PipernoAlessandro Piperno is an Italian writer and literary critic of Jewish descent, having a Jewish father and a Catholic mother.He graduated in French Literature at the University of Rome, where he currently teaches and researches...
, writer - Umberto SabaUmberto SabaUmberto Poli was an Italian poet and novelist, born in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean port of Trieste when it was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Poli assumed the nom de plume "Saba" in 1910, and his name was officially changed to Umberto Saba in 1928. From 1919 he was the...
, poet (Jewish mother) - Roberto SavianoRoberto SavianoRoberto Saviano is an Italian writer and journalist.In his writings, articles, television programs, and books he employs prose and news-reporting style to narrate the story of the Camorra , exposing its territory and business connections.Since 2006, following the publication of his bestselling...
, writer, journalist (Jewish mother) - Alessandro Schwed,writer
- Clara SereniClara SereniClara Sereni is an Italian writer. Of Jewish descent, born and married in Rome, she remained in the capital city until 1991, then she moved to Perugia, where she still lives....
, writer - Italo SvevoItalo SvevoAron Ettore Schmitz , better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo, was an Italian writer and businessman, author of novels, plays, and short stories.- Biography :...
(b. Schmitz), author - Humbert WolfeHumbert WolfeHumbert Wolfe CB CBE , was an Italian-born English poet, man of letters and civil servant, from a Jewish family background, his father, Martin Wolff of German descent and his mother, Consuela, née Terraccini, Italian...
, poet and civil servant
Artists
- Vito D'AnconaVito D'AnconaVito D'Ancona was an Italian artist of the Macchiaioli group.He was born in Pesaro to a wealthy Jewish family. He began his artistic training in Florence, and in 1844 was admitted to the Accademia di Belle Arti, where he studied under Giuseppe Bezzuoli. He became friends with Serafino De Tivoli,...
, painter - Cristiana CapotondiCristiana Capotondi- Biography :Capotondi was born in Rome to an Italian family of Italian Jewish descent. She graduated from the Università La Sapienza in Rome with a degree in communication sciences....
, actress (half Jewish) - Gioele DixGioele DixGioele Dix, a pseudonym of his name David Ottolenghi is an Italian actor and comedian of Jewish descent.- Life :Gioele Dix began his theatrical career at the end of the 70s, promoting and animating the Milan stage company Teatro degli Eguali...
, (b. Davide OttolenghiGioele DixGioele Dix, a pseudonym of his name David Ottolenghi is an Italian actor and comedian of Jewish descent.- Life :Gioele Dix began his theatrical career at the end of the 70s, promoting and animating the Milan stage company Teatro degli Eguali...
) actor and comedian - Ginevra ElkannGinevra ElkannGinevra Elkann is an Italian apprentice film director, and, as granddaughter of Gianni Agnelli, is among the heirs to the Agnelli family fortune. She is the daughter of Margherita Agnelli and the French-Italian writer Alain Elkann; her brother, the industrialist John Elkann, is Chairman of the...
, film director, sister of JohnJohn ElkannJohn Philip Jacob Elkann is an Italian industrialist. He was the chosen heir of Gianni Agnelli, his grandfather, and controls the family's automaker Fiat...
and LapoLapo ElkannLapo Elkann is a New York-born Italian industrialist, former marketing manager. He is currently the manager of brand promotion at Fiat Automobiles. He is a "global ambassador" of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.... - Arnoldo FoàArnoldo FoàArnoldo Foà is an Italian film actor. He has appeared in over 130 films since 1938. He was born in Ferrara, Italy.-Selected filmography:* Un giorno nella vita * Bellezze in bicicletta...
, actor - Massimiliano FuksasMassimiliano FuksasMassimiliano Fuksas is an Italian architect, born in Rome in 1944 to an Jewish Lithuanian father and Italian Catholic mother. He received his degree in architecture from the La Sapienza University in 1969 in Rome, where he opened his first office. Subsequent offices were opened in Paris and Vienna...
, architect - Itamar Harari, architect and designer
- Alessandro HaberAlessandro HaberAlessandro Haber is an Italian actor, film director and singer.Haber was born in Bologna in a Jewish family of mixed ancestry and spent his childhood in Israel. His movie debut was in 1967 with La Cina è vicina by Marco Bellocchio...
, actor - Carlo LeviCarlo LeviDr. Carlo Levi was an Italian-Jewish painter, writer, activist, anti-fascist, and doctor.He is best known for his book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli , published in 1945, a memoir of his time spent in exile in Lucania, Italy, after being arrested in connection with his political activism...
, writer, painter and physician - Leo LionniLeo LionniLeo Lionni was an author and illustrator of children's books. Born in Holland, he moved to Italy and lived there before moving to the United States in 1939, where he worked as an art director for several advertising agencies, and then for Fortune magazine. He returned to Italy in 1962 and started...
- Nicolo Cottarelli, (b. Nicolo Weisbaum), baritone and cultural critic
- Emanuele LuzzatiEmanuele LuzzatiEmanuele Luzzati was an Italian painter, production designer, illustrator, film director and animator. He was nominated for Academy Awards for two of his short films, La gazza ladra and Pulcinella .He was born in Genoa and turned to drawing in 1938 when, as a Jew, his academic studies were...
, painter - Gabriele LevyGabriele LevyGabriele Levy is an Italian sculptor, writer, web master.Levy's work is entirely dedicated to the letters of the hebrew alphabet, which are made in various materials.-External links:*...
, sculptor - Anna MagnaniAnna MagnaniAnna Magnani was an Italian stage and film actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with four other international awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo....
, actress (Jewish mother) - Amedeo ModiglianiAmedeo ModiglianiAmedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
, painter and sculptor - Moni OvadiaMoni OvadiaMoni Ovadia is an Italian actor, musician, singer and theatrical author. "Moni" is short for "Salomone" .-Career:Ovadia was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1946 to a Jewish family who moved to Milan in Ovadia's early childhood...
, theatre figure - Gillo PontecorvoGillo PontecorvoGillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He worked as a film director for more than a decade before his best known film La battaglia di Algeri was released...
, director - Xenia Rappoport, actress
- Bruno ZeviBruno ZeviBruno Zevi was an Italian architect, historian, professor, curator, author and editor. Zevi was a vocal critic of 'classicising' modern architecture and postmodernism.-University years:...
, architect
Business
- JohnJohn ElkannJohn Philip Jacob Elkann is an Italian industrialist. He was the chosen heir of Gianni Agnelli, his grandfather, and controls the family's automaker Fiat...
& Lapo ElkannLapo ElkannLapo Elkann is a New York-born Italian industrialist, former marketing manager. He is currently the manager of brand promotion at Fiat Automobiles. He is a "global ambassador" of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer....
, Vice Chairman of FiatFiatFIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
(Jewish father). - Armand, Georges, Maurice & Paul MarcianoPaul MarcianoPaul Marciano is a Moroccan fashion designer and co-founder of Guess? Inc. He is the mastermind behind the Guess? image and his sensual black-and-white advertisements have won numerous Clio awards...
, founders of GUESS. - Moses Haim Montefiore, financier & philanthropist.
- Adriano OlivettiAdriano OlivettiAdriano Olivetti was an Italian entrepreneur, the son of the founder of Olivetti, Camillo Olivetti....
, son of Camillo, industrialist and social activist. - Camillo OlivettiCamillo OlivettiCamillo Olivetti was an Italian electrical engineer and founder of Olivetti & Co., SpA., the Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.-References and notes:...
, founder of OlivettiOlivettiOlivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.- Founding :The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti...
typewriters. - Carlo De BenedettiCarlo De BenedettiCarlo De Benedetti is an Italian industrialist, engineer and publisher. He is both an Italian and naturalized Swiss citizen....
, industrialist, ex-CEO of FIATFiatFIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
, OlivettiOlivettiOlivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.- Founding :The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti...
, CIR GroupCIR GroupCIR Group is the industrial holding company of the De Benedetti Group, controlled by COFIDE — Gruppo De Benedetti, the financial holding company of the De Benedetti family....
, ex-deputy chairman of Banco AmbrosianoBanco AmbrosianoBanco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due...
and ex president of Gruppo Editoriale L'EspressoGruppo Editoriale L'EspressoGruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A. is an Italian Media conglomerate, founded in 1955 and based in Rome, Italy and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange.- Shareholding :* CIR Group - 50,852%* Carlo Caracciolo - 10,008%...
. - Chaim Bracha, One of the founders of Jaffa Oranges
Other
- Eugenio CalòEugenio CalòEugenio Calò is a national hero of Italy. Born in Pisa to an old Sephardi family, he was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour, Italy's highest honor for heroism. Eugenio Calò was an Italian partisan, second in command of the Pio Borri partisan division that fought the Germans in...
, a Jewish partisan awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour - Angelo DonatiAngelo DonatiAngelo Donati was a Jewish Italian banker and philanthropist, and a diplomat of San Marino Republic in Paris.- Biography :Donati was born in Modena...
, banker who protected Jews in Southern France during Italian occupation in 1942-43 - Mario FinziMario FinziMario Finzi was born in Bologna, Italy, from an Italian Jewish family: both his father Amerigo Finzi, and his mother, Ebe Castelfranchi, were teachers....
, partisan (died in Auschwitz in 1945) - Gad LernerGad LernerGad Lerner is an Italian journalist and writer.-Career:A member of the Jewish community, he began his news career in 1976, writing for the ultra-leftist daily Lotta Continua, belonging to the eponymous political entity, becoming its deputy director...
, TV anchorman and journalist - Renato MannheimerRenato MannheimerRenato Mannheimer is an Italian pollster and professor of sociology at the Universita' degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca.He has published in academic journals and is a consultant to the daily Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and to the Italian public service broadcaster RAI.He is most famous for...
, pollster, president of IPSOIPSOIPSO may refer to:* International Programme on the State of the Ocean IPSO* Les Intellectuels pour la souveraineté — a group of intellectuals studying and promoting Quebec independence.... - Maurizio MolinariMaurizio MolinariMaurizio Molinari is a journalist in the employ of the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa, for which he serves as United States correspondent and for which he previously worked as European Union correspondent in Brussels and as diplomatic correspondent in Rome.Before arriving at La Stampa in 1997,...
, journalist and essayist - Edgardo MortaraEdgardo MortaraEdgardo Levi Mortara was a Roman Catholic priest who was born and raised Jewish. Fr. Mortara became the center of an international controversy when he was removed from his Jewish parents by authorities of the Papal States and raised as a Catholic...
, boy kidnapped by Catholic Papal authorities - Fiamma NirensteinFiamma NirensteinFiamma Nirenstein is an Italian politician, journalist and author. She is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition government and is Vice-president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies...
, essayist, journalist and MP for PDLThe People of FreedomThe People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....
(elected in 2008) - Enzo SereniEnzo SereniEnzo Sereni was an Italian Zionist, co-founder of kibbutz Givat Brenner, scholar, advocate of Jewish-Arab co-existence and a resistance fighter who was parachuted into Nazi-occupied Italy in World War II, captured by the Germans and executed in Dachau concentration camp.Sereni was born in Rome....
Luxembourg
- Hugo GernsbackHugo GernsbackHugo Gernsback , born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourgian American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H. G...
, science-fiction pioneer (unconfirmed) - Emil HirschEmil HirschEmil Gustav Hirsch was a major Reform movement rabbi in the United States.-Biography:Hirsch was born in Luxembourg, a son of the rabbi and philosopher Samuel Hirsch on May 22, 1851. He later married the daughter of Rabbi David Einhorn. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1872...
, reform rabbi - Gabriel LippmannGabriel LippmannJonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference....
, French physicist (Luxembourg-born) - Arno Joseph Mayer, historian
Switzerland
- Maurice AbravanelMaurice AbravanelMaurice Abravanel was aSwiss-American Jewish conductor of classical music. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years.-Life:...
, conductor - Jeff AgoosJeff AgoosJeffrey Alan "Jeff" Agoos is a retired American soccer defender, and one of the all-time appearance leaders for the United States national team....
, US soccer international - Ernest BlochErnest BlochErnest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
, composer - Felix BlochFelix BlochFelix Bloch was a Swiss physicist, working mainly in the U.S.-Life and work:Bloch was born in Zürich, Switzerland to Jewish parents Gustav and Agnes Bloch. He was educated there and at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, also in Zürich. Initially studying engineering he soon changed to physics...
, physicist, Nobel Prize (1952) - Alain de BottonAlain de BottonAlain de Botton is a Swiss writer, television presenter, and entrepreneur, resident in the UK.His books and television programs discuss various contemporary subjects and themes in a philosophical style, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. In August 2008, he was a founding member...
, writer - Albert CohenAlbert CohenAlbert Cohen was a Greek-born Romaniote Jewish Swiss novelist who wrote in French. He worked as a civil servant for various international organizations, such as the International Labour Organization...
, novelist - Arthur CohnArthur CohnArthur Cohn is a film producer.Six of his films have won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and he was awarded the Guardian of Zion Award in 2004...
, film producer - Ruth DreifussRuth DreifussRuth Dreifuss is a Swiss politician affiliated with the Social Democratic Party. She was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1993 to 2002, representing the Canton of Geneva)....
, Swiss president (1999) - Camille & Henry Dreyfus, inventors of CelaneseCelaneseCelanese Corporation is a Fortune 500 global technology and specialty materials company with its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The company is a leading producer of acetyl products, which are intermediate chemicals for nearly all major industries, and is the world's largest producer of vinyl...
- Nissim Cahn, music critic
- Al DubinAl DubinAlexander "Al" Dubin was an American lyricist. He became known through his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren.-Life and works:...
, lyricist - Jean DunandJean DunandJean Dunand was a Swiss lacquer, sculptor, dinandier and interior designer.He is considered the greatest lacquer artist of the Art Deco period.-Biography:...
-Gotscho, sculptor, painter, lacquerer - Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, physicist, Nobel Prize (1921) - Edmond Fischer, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1992) (Jewish father)
- Robert FrankRobert FrankRobert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
, photographer - Meyer GuggenheimMeyer GuggenheimMeyer Guggenheim was the patriarch of what became known as the Guggenheim family. He was born in Lengnau, Aargau, Switzerland, was of German Jewish ancestry and emigrated to the United States in 1847...
, businessman - Jeanne HerschJeanne HerschJeanne Hersch was a Swiss philosopher of Polish origin, whose works dealt with the concept of freedom.She studied under the existentialist Karl Jaspers in Germany in the early 1930s...
, philosopher - Mathilde KrimMathilde KrimMathilde Krim, Ph.D. is the founding chairman of amfAR, an association for AIDS research.-Biography:Krim received her Ph.D. from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1953...
, AIDS researcher (convert) - Dani LevyDani LevyDani Levy is a film maker, theatrical director and actor.-Work:Dani Levy's films include RobbyKallePaul, I Was on Mars, Meschugge, Du mich auch and Väter. Väter starred Christiane Paul...
(1957 -) film maker, theatrical director and actor - Meret OppenheimMéret Oppenheim-External links:**** http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/man_ray.html...
, surrealist artist - RachelRachel (actress)Elisabeth "Eliza, or Élisa" Rachel Félix , better known only as Mademoiselle Rachel , was a French actress....
, stage actress (Swiss-born) - Tadeus ReichsteinTadeus ReichsteinTadeusz Reichstein was a Polish-born Swiss chemist and Nobel laureate.Reichstein was born into a Jewish family at Włocławek, Congress Poland, and spent his early childhood at Kiev, where his father was an engineer...
, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950) - Edmond SafraEdmond SafraEdmond J. Safra was a Jewish Brazilian-naturalized, Lebanese banker who continued the family tradition of banking in Lebanon, Brazil and Switzerland. He married Lily Watkins. He died in a fire that attracted wide media interest and was judicially determined to be due to arson.-Life of Edmond...
, banker - Jean StarobinskiJean StarobinskiJean Starobinski is a Swiss literary critic.-Biography:Jean Starobinski studied classical literature, and then medicine at the University of Geneva, and graduated from that school with a doctorate in letters and in medicine...
, literary critic - Sigismond ThalbergSigismond ThalbergSigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...
, pianist, composer - Regina UllmannRegina UllmannRegina "Rega" Ullmann was a Swiss female poet.- Works :Lyrics:* Von der Erde des Lebens, 1910* Die Landstrasse, 1921* Die Barokkirche, 1925* Vom Brot der Stillen, 2 Bände, 1932...
, poet - Charles WeissmannCharles WeissmannCharles Weissmann is a Hungarian-born Swiss molecular biologist.Weissmann went to Zurich University and obtained his MD in 1956 and Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry in 1961. Weissmann was director of the Institute for Molecular Biology in Zurich, President of the Roche Research Foundation and...
, biochemist - AlainAlain WertheimerAlain Wertheimer is a Jewish French businessman based in France who, with his brother Gerard own the controlling interest in the House of Chanel. The son of Jacques Wertheimer and Eliane Fischer, it was his grandfather Pierre who co-founded the Chanel business...
& Gerard WertheimerGerard WertheimerGerard Wertheimer is a Jewish French businessman based in France who owns and controls the House of Chanel perfume company in partnership with his brother, Alain....
, owners of ChanelChanelChanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
United Kingdom
- Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister
- John BercowJohn BercowJohn Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....
, Speaker of the House of Commons - Tim JudahTim JudahTim Judah is a front line reporter for The Economist and author. A graduate of the London School of Economics and of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University he worked for the BBC before becoming the Balkans correspondent for The Times and The Economist. During the Kosovo war he...
, Journalist and historian - List of British Jews
- History of the Jews in ScotlandHistory of the Jews in ScotlandThe earliest date at which Jews arrived in Scotland is not known. It is possible that some arrived, or at least visited, as a result of the Roman Empire's conquest of southern Great Britain, but there is no direct evidence for this...
See also
- List of Jews
- List of Belgians
- List of Dutch people
- List of Irish people
- List of Luxembourgeois
- List of Swiss people