The Jews living in Finland are part of the Jewish people , one of the national minorities of Finland . The total number of Jews in Finland is about 1.5 thousand people [1] [2] , for the most part they live in the three largest cities of the country - Helsinki (the number of members of the Jewish community of Helsinki is more than a thousand people [2] ), Turku and Tampere .
Historical Information
Most of the Jews living in Finland today are descendants of the servicemen of the tsarist army who served in the Grand Duchy of Finland and remained here after retirement, since other categories of Jews were forbidden to move to Finland [1] . In 1870 there were 500 Jews in Finland [3] .
In Sweden, full civil rights were granted to Jews in 1870. In Finland, they did not immediately respond to this act of liberalism, but in 1872 in the Finnish Diet the question was raised as to whether Jews should be equal in rights with the rest of the population. The chairman of the bourgeois class, Leo Mechelin, proposed a draft law on the full equalization of Jews in rights with Finnish citizens, but met stubborn resistance and his proposal was not adopted during the final discussion. Only in 1917 (the law was confirmed in 1918), Finland, one of the last among European states, granted full rights to Jews living in the country.
The Jewish community in Helsinki originated in 1906 [1] when the first synagogue opened in Helsinki [4] .
During the Second World War, Finnish Jews, despite the flourishing of anti-Semitism, were not subjected to mass persecution, despite the pressure on this issue that Germany, allied to Germany , exerted on Finland. The exception was the deportation to Germany . So the issuance by the Finnish police to Germany of 8 political emigrants from Austria of Jewish origin, which caused a national scandal, and this practice was immediately stopped. A recent study by Sarah Beyzir showed that between 500 and 600 Soviet Jewish soldiers were in captivity in Finland, of whom at least seventy were transferred to the Gestapo. Among them were a 24-year-old hairdresser Zalman Kuznetsov, a professor of Marxism-Leninism named Alexander Malkis, and a tailor Haim Osherovich Lev.
Jews, along with other citizens of Finland, served in the army and participated in hostilities in the years 1939-1945 [1] . Two Finnish officers of Jewish descent - Major Leo Skurnik and Captain Salomon Klass [5] - were introduced to the German Order of the Iron Cross , but refused the award [6] .
- See also the relevant section in the article “Judaism in Finland” .
Strength
The number of the Jewish population of Finland in 1872 was 700. In 1985, the Jewish population of Finland was estimated at about 1,300 people [7] , in 2011 the approximate number of Jews in Finland was 1,500 [1] .
Jews in modern Finland
As of the end of 2011, there is one Jewish school in Finland - it is located on the territory of the Jewish community center in Helsinki . The curriculum is common to all schools in Finland, but there are additional classes in Hebrew , Jewish tradition and history. The school has 90 people. The school is subsidized by the state [1] .
One of the most famous representatives of the Finnish Jewish community - Ben Berl Zyskovich (other variants of Russian spelling of the name - Ziskovich, Tsjuskovits), a Finnish politician, since 1979 - a deputy of the Finnish Parliament from the National Coalition Party , the first Finnish Jew to become a member of parliament [8 ] . From April 27 to June 23, 2011, Zyskovich served as Speaker of the Finnish Parliament.
Another well-known representative of the Finnish Jewish community is hockey player Kim Hirshovits (born 1982), a graduate of the HIFC club, a player of the Swedish club Luleå .
After the attack of terrorists in Paris on the editorial office of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the supermarket of kosher products in January 2015, security measures were tightened at the Helsinki synagogue . In February, the Finnish government further allocated 100,000 euros to the security community of Helsinki for security purposes. According to the head of the Jewish community of Helsinki Yaron Nadtornik, Jews should not give in to fear, although it is necessary to prepare for threats from extremists [2] .
See also
- Judaism in Finland
- Deportations of Jews from Finland
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Berg R. Hot Finnish Jews . Global Jewish on-line center Jewish.ru (November 14, 2011). The appeal date is November 13, 2012. Archived November 13, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Finnish Jews are not surprised by the attack on the synagogue in Copenhagen // © Yle Uutiset = Yle news service. = Site of the Yleisradio Oy TV and Radio Company (yle.fi) February 15, 2015. (Verified February 21, 2015)
- ↑ http://static.iea.ras.ru/neotlozhka/Shlygina_221_2010.pdf p. 32
- ↑ Schusterman S. The Finnish synagogue exchanged hundreds (inaccessible link) . Global Jewish on-line center Jewish.ru (September 4, 2006). The appeal date is November 13, 2012. Archived March 4, 2016.
- ↑ Finnish Forces - Jewish captain Salomon Klass
- ↑ The original German Order of the Second World War period, the Iron Cross of 1939, 2nd class. Stamp 55, Germany Third Reich
- ↑ Suomen juutalainen vähemmistö // Oulun Lyseon lukio. (Fin.) (Retrieved November 13, 2012)
- ↑ Dan Kantor. The Virtual Jewish History Tour. Finland // Jewish Virtual Library. A Division of American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (eng.) (checked November 13, 2012)
Links
- Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jewish people of Finland (“Jews of Finland”)
- In Tel Aviv is presented the "History of Finnish Jews" . Global Jewish on-line center Jewish.ru (October 1, 2009). The appeal date is November 13, 2012. Archived November 13, 2012.