List of West European Jews

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 pogroms 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.

Austria

Belgium

* Chantal Akerman, director-screenwriter
* Saul Akkemay, publicist-journalist
* Paul Ambach ("Boogie Boy"), musician and concert organizer
* Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Chevrolet Corvette (Belgian-born)
* Lt-General Louis Bernheim, WWI General
* Gérard Blitz, Olympic water polo medallist, co-founder of Club Med
* Gustave Cohen, essay writer
* Annie Cordy, singer (Annie Cordmann).
* Fred Erdman, politician
* Leopold Flam, philosopher
* Louis Franck, politician
* Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer
* André Gantman, politician
* Paul Glansdorff, molecular biologist
* Jean Gol, politician
* Robert Goldschmidt, wetenschapper
* Estelle Goldstein, journalist
* Nico Gunzburg, professor
* Camille Gutt, finance minister; head of the IMF
* Paul Hymans, liberal leader; president of the League of Nations
* Nathan Kahane, athlete
* René Kalisky, writer
* George Koltanowski, chess player
* Baron Léon Lambert, banker
* Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist (Belgian-born; atheist of Jewish descent)
* Alfred Lowenstein, financier (Jewish mother)
* Ernest Mandel, marxist theorist
* Arie Mandelbaum, painter
* Stephane Mandelbaum, painter-artist
* Claude Marinower, politician
* Bob Mendes, writer (Jewish father)
* Ralph Miliband, political scientist [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/HISmiliband.htm]
* Chaim Perelman, philosopher (Polish-born)
* Maurits Polak, activist
* Ilya Prigogine, chemist (Russian-born), Nobel Prize (1977)
* Henry Spira, animal rights activist
* Elias M. Stein, mathematician (Belgian-born)
* Edna Stern, pianist (both Belgium and Israeli)
* Gilbert Stork, chemist
* Olivier Strelli, fashion designer
* Guy Lee Thys, film director (Jewish mother)
* Raymond van het Groenewoud, singer-songwriter (Jewish mother)
* Ida Wasserman, actress
* Sandra Wasserman, tennis player

France

Germany

Ireland

* William Annyas, Mayor of Youghal
* Thomas John Barnardo, philanthropist (Jewish father)
* Henri Bergson, philosopher (Anglo-Irish mother)
* Agnes Bernelle, entertainer
* Robert Briscoe, member of the Irish Republican Army during the Anglo-Irish War and Irish Civil War, and twice Lord Mayor of Dublin, in 1956 and 1961
* Ben Briscoe T.D., Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1988 (and son of Robert)
* Daniel Day-Lewis, actor (Jewish mother)
* Gerald Goldberg, lord mayor of Cork
* Chaim Herzog, Israeli president
* Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog first Chief Rabbi of Ireland (and father of Chaim)
* Sir Otto Jaffe, Lord Mayor of Belfast 1899 and 1904
* Immanuel Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of Ireland between 1949 and 1958 and later British Chief Rabbi
* Isaac Leon Kandel
* Louis Lentin, Director - Documentary Films, Television & Theatre
* David Marcus, author, editor, broadcaster and lifelong supporter of Irish-language fiction
* Sam Obernik, singer
* Alan Shatter, Fine Gael politician
* Mervyn Taylor, former Irish Labour Party politician
* Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, founder of Harland and Wolff and MP for East Belfast
* Sinister Pete, Radio Presenter, Phantom FM

Italy

Political figures

* Isacco Artom, politician and diplomat
* Emanuele Fiano, politician
* Vittorio Foa, socialist trade unionist
* Anna Kuliscioff, revolutionary feminist
* Ricardo Franco Levi, member of the political staff of former Prime Minister Prodi (2006-08)
* Rita Levi-Montalcini, scientist and Senator
* Luigi Luzzatti, Italian Prime Minister (1910-1911)
* Daniele Manin, President of the Venetian republic (1848) (Jewish father convert)
* Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani, politician member of the Italian Constituent Assembly
* Elio Morpurgo, mayor of Udine, first elected jew mayor in Italy in 1889.
* Ernesto Nathan, mayor of Rome (1907-1913)
* Alessandro Ruben, MP for PDL (elected in 2008)
* Giuseppe Ottolenghi, general and former Minister of Defense
* Margherita Sarfatti, journalist & mistress of Mussolini
* Sydney Sonnino, Italian Prime Minister (1906 1909-10) (Jewish father)
* Marco Taradash, MP for the Radical Party
* Claudio Treves, politician and writer, grandfather of Carlo Levi
* Umberto Terracini, MP, founder of socialist journal Ordine Nuovo
* Leone Wollemborg, politician and former Minister of Economy

Religious and communal leaders

* Samuel Aboab, prominent rabbi
* Aaron Ben Gershon Abu Al-Rabi or "Aronne Abulrabi" of Catania (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 Pontificate to discuss freely and without censorship about religious subjects and papal perplexities.The Pope Martin V with his swarm of Cardinals welcomed him in Rome. [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=36&letter=A]
* Barbara Aiello, first Italian woman rabbi
* Benjamin Artom, Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain
* Umberto Cassuto, rabbi
* Abraham Isaac Castello, Rabbi
* Renzo Gattegna, president of [http://www.ucei.it Italian Jewish Communities Union]
* Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Rabbi, scholar, mystic
* Amos Luzzatto, writer and former president of the [http://www.ucei.it Italian Jewish Communities Union]
* Raphael Meldola, Rabbi
* David Nieto, rabbi
* Daniele Nahum, president of [http://www.ugei.it Young Italian Jews association]
* Menahen Ben Elhanan Rizzolo, Rabbi at Modena (1643) and Ferrara (1656)
* Riccardo Pacifici, Rabbi
* Leone Paserman, Chief of Rome Jewish Community
* Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno, Rabbi, philosopher
* Elio Toaff, Rabbi and former Chief of Italian Jews Community
* Tobia Zevi, former president of [http://www.ugei.it Young Italian Jews association]
* Tullia Zevi, first woman to be President of [http://www.ucei.it Italian Jewish Communities Union] , journalist and MP of Italian parlamient, wife of Bruno Zevi, grandmother of Tobia Zevi and Nathania Zevi

Academics

* Giorgio Abraham, psychologist
* Alessandro Artom, scientist
* Emilio Artom, mathematician
* pedigree of Azzopardi
* Haim Baharier, Torah scholar, philosopher
* Faraj ben Salim, Sicilian physician and translator from Agrigento
* Mosé Bonavoglia de' Medici (or "Bonavoglio de' Medici"), Sicilian physician from Messina and "Dienchelele" ("Naggid" or "Dayan kelali" = "Universal Judge of Sicilian Jews").His Hebrew name was "Moses Hefez" and he died in 1447. [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1271&letter=B&search=messina]
* Michele Besso, engineer
* Caecilius of Calacte, Sicilian rhetorician from modern Caronìa
* Eugenio Calabi, mathematician
* Riccardo Calimani, historian
* Laura Capón, physicist; married to non-Jew Enrico Fermi
* Guido Castelnuovo, mathematician
* Fabio Cusin, historian
* Federigo Enriques, mathematician
* Gino Fano, mathematician
* Robert Fano, physicist
* Ugo Fano, physicist [ [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v410/n6825/full/410164a0.htmlObituary in "Nature"] "A member of a wealthy Italian Jewish family" Accessed 24 November 2006.]
* Bruno Finzi, mathematician
* Anna Foa, historian
* Guido Fubini, mathematician
* Carlo Ginzburg, historian
* Giorgio Israel, mathematician and science philosopher
* Giovanni Jona-Lasinio, physicist (Jewish father)
* Beppo Levi, mathematician
* Giovanni Levi, historian
* Giuseppe Levi, scientist
* Tullio Levi-Civita, mathematician
* Giorgio Levi della Vida
* Rita Levi-Montalcini, neurologist, Nobel Prize (1986)
* Cesare Lombroso, criminologist
* Salvador Luria, microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1969)
* Gino Luzzatto, economical historian
* Samuel David Luzzatto
* David Meghnagi, psychologist
* Attilio Milano, historian
* Franco Modigliani, economist, Nobel Prize (1985)
* Arnaldo Momigliano, Italian-born historian (Jewish Year Book 1985 p188)
* pedigree of Pontecorvo
** Bruno Pontecorvo, physicist
** Guido Pontecorvo, geneticist
* Giulio Racah, physicist
* Bruno Rossi, astrophysicist
* Asher Salah, Historian
* Beniamino Segre, mathematician
* Cesare Segre, linguistic
* Corrado Segre, mathematician
* Emilio Segrè, physicist, Nobel Prize (1959)
* Vittorio Dan Segre, Historian and former official of 1948 Arab-Israeli War
* pedigree of Sforno
* Piero Sraffa, economist
* Ariel Toaff
* Andrew Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm
* Vito Volterra, mathematician

Musicians

* Mario Ancona, baritone
* Abramo Basevi, composer and musician
* Alvise Bassano, musician [http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/BassanoAlvise.html]
* Anthony Bassano, musician [http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/BassanoAlvise.html]
* Baptista Bassano, musician [http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/BassanoAlvise.html]
* Jeronimo Bassano, musician [http://www.hoasm.org/IVM/BassanoAlvise.html]
* Haim Cipriani, violinist and reform rabbi
* Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, guitar, synagogal music composer
* Giacobbe Cervetto, cellist [Concise Dictionary of National Biography: "an Italian Jew"]
* Lorenzo Da Ponte (b. Emanuele Conegliano), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic)
* Abramino dall'Arpa, harpist
* Aldo Finzi, composer
* Salamone Rossi, baroque composer
* Victor de Sabata, conductor (Jewish mother)
* Liliana Treves Alcalay, musician
* Obadiah the Proselyte (musician) [The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed 2001), art. Obadiah the Proselyte]

Writers

* Giorgina Arian Levi, writer
* Enrico Castelnuovo, father of Guido
* Giorgio Bassani, author
* Angela Bianchini, fiction writer
* Antonella Boralevi, writer
* Lorenzo Da Ponte (b. Emanuele Conegliano), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic)
* Corrado Israel De Benedetti, writer
* Leonardo de Benedetti, physician and writer
* Manuela Dviri, writer
* Alain Elkann, writer and journalist, father of John, Lapo and Ginevra
* Angelo Fortunato Formiggini, publisher (1878-1938)
* Leone Ginzburg, writer (born in Ukraine)
* Natalia Ginzburg (b. Levi), author (Jewish father), wife of Leone and mother of Carlo
* Wlodek Goldkorn, essayist and journalist
* Arrigo Levi, writer, journalist and TV anchorman
* Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
* Lia Levi. writer
* Primo Levi, chemist and author
* Elena Loewenthal, writer and Hebrew-Italian translator
* Carlo Michelstaedter, philosopher
* Lisa Morpurgo Dordoni, writer
* Paolo Mieli, journalist, historian and director of Corriere della Sera
* Paolo Milano, author
* Liana Millu, writer
* Alberto Moravia (b. Pincherle), author (Jewish father)
* Alessandro Piperno, writer
* Umberto Saba, poet (single Jewish mother)
* Clara Sereni, writer
* Italo Svevo (b. Schmitz), author (Jewish mother)
* Shulim Vogelmann, writer and Hebrew-Italian translator
* Humbert Wolfe, poet and civil servant [Concise Dictionary of National Biography: "born Umberto Wolff in Milan of Jewish parentage"]
* Zvi Yanai (b. Sandro Toth), Italian born Israeli writer
* Nathania Zevi writer and journalist (granddaughter of Tullia and Bruno Zevi)

Artists

* Cristiana Capotondi, actress (half Jew)
* Silvia Cohen, actress
* Raz Degan, actor
* Gioele Dix, (b. Emanuele Ottolenghi) actor and comedian
* Ginevra Elkann, film director, sister of John and Lapo
* Arnoldo Foà, actor
* Massimiliano Fuksas, architect
* Alessandro Haber, actor
* Frank Horvat, fashion photographer
* Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
* Gabriele Levy, sculptor, painter and writer
* Leo Lionni
* Emanuele Luzzato, painter
* Amedeo Modigliani, painter and sculptor
* Moni Ovadia, theatre figure
* Gillo Pontecorvo, director
* Xenia Rappoport, actress
* Tobia Ravà, painter
* Bruno Zevi, architect

Business

* Nancy Dell'Olio, lawyer and partner of Sven-Göran Eriksson. [Jewish Chronicle, March 16, 2007 p.36: "Nancy Dell'Olio is the ultimate Jewish princess"]
* the pedigree of Elkann:
** John & Lapo Elkann, Vice Chairman of Fiat (Jewish father).
* Armand, Georges, Maurice & Paul Marciano, founders of GUESS. [http://fashion.soyooz.net/fashion-designers/image/armandmarciano.html]
* Moses Haim Montefiore, financier & philanthropist.
* Adriano Olivetti, son of Camillo, industrialist and social activist.
* Camillo Olivetti, founder of Olivetti typewriters.

Other

* Sara Bennewitz, journalist of La Repubblica
* Eugenio Calò, a Jewish partisan awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour
* Fausto Coen, journalist ofSky TG24
* Leonardo Coen, journalist of La Repubblica
* pedigree of Castelnuovo
* Giuliano Ferrara, Politician, TV anchorman and journalist,founder of Il Foglio
* Leo Finzi
* Mario Finzi, partisan (died in Auschwitz in 1945)
* Gad Lerner, TV anchorman and journalist
* Miriam Mafai, essayist and journalist of La Repubblica
* Renato Mannheimer, pollster, president of IPSO
* Enrico Mentana, journalist and tv anchorman
* Clemente Mimun, journalist and former director of broadcast news of RAI
* Maurizio Molinari, journalist and essayist
* Edgardo Mortara, boy kidnapped by Catholic Papal authorities
* Fiamma Nirenstein, essayist, journalist and MP for PDL (elected in 2008)
* Susanna Nirenstein, journalist of La Repubblica
* David Parenzo, journalist
* pedigree of Rappaport
* Enzo Sereni
* Elisa Springer, holocaust survivor and writer of memoirs
* Shlomo Venezia, holocaust survivor and writer of memoirs
* Angelo Vivante, journalist, activist and public intellectual from Trieste

Luxembourg

* Hugo Gernsback, science-fiction pioneer ("unconfirmed")
* Emil Hirsch, reform rabbi
* Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist (Luxembourg-born)
* Arno Joseph Mayer, historian

Monaco

* Franz Schreker, composer (Jewish father)

Netherlands

Political figures

* Job Cohen, mayor of Amsterdam
* Louis Fles, activist
* Samuel Gompers, labor union leader (Dutch parents)
* Ed van Thijn, former mayor of Amsterdam, senator
* Henri Polak, founder of diamond workers' trade union
* Wim Polak, former mayor of Amsterdam
* Ivo Samkalden, former mayor of Amsterdam (Jewish father)

Academics

* Tobias Michael Carel Asser, jurist, Nobel Peace Prize (1911). [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=2034&letter=A&search=asser Entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia]
* Alfred Ayer, philosopher (Dutch mother)
* Kurt Baschwitz
* Balthazar (Isaac) Orobio de Castro, philosopher
* Samuel Goudsmit, physicist
* Hendrik S. Houthakker, economist [http://www.jinfo.org/Economists.html]
* Rita Kohnstamm
* Izaak Kolthoff, chemist
* Abraham Pais, historian of science
* Bob Pinedo, oncologist
* David Ricardo, economist (British with Dutch parents; rejected Jewish beliefs, became Quaker)
* Samuel Sarphati, physician, city planner
* Baruch Spinoza, philosopher (excommunicated from the Jewish community for apostasy)
* Emanuel Tov, Dutch-born Israeli professor of Bible studies

Rabbis

* Jacob Abendana, rabbi and scholar
* Rabbi Naftali Hertz Ben Ya’acov Elchanon
* Manasseh ben Israel, rabbi and influential scholar

Musicians

* Frieda Belinfante, conductor (Jewish father)
* Bart Berman, pianist (Jewish mother)
* Henriëtte Bosmans, composer (Jewish mother)
* Julia Culp, mezzosoprano
* Lenny Kuhr, singer/composer (converted)
* Bertus van Lier, composer (Jewish father)
* Leo Smit, composer
* Rosa Spier, harpist
* Marjo Tal, composer
* Melvin Reijnoudt, billenmakker

Writers

includes some notable Jews mentioned in their works
"See also List of Dutch Jewish writers and poets"

* Clara Asscher-Pinkhof, children's writer
* Carry van Bruggen, author
* Gerard Durlacher, author
* Jessica Durlacher, author
* Barthold Fles, literary agent, author and editor
* Anne Frank, diarist (de facto Netherlands, de jure stateless, born in Germany)
**Anne Frank mentioned the following who were in hiding with her: Otto Frank, Peter van Pels, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Edith Frank, Fritz Pfeffer, and Margot Frank.
* Arnon Grunberg, author
* Jacob Israël de Haan, poet
* Etty Hillesum, writer
* Harry Mulisch, author (Jewish mother)
* Leon de Winter, author
* Josepha Mendels, author
* Hanny Michaelis, poet
* Marga Minco, author
* Jona Oberski, author

Artists

* Jozef Israëls, painter
* Isaac Israëls, painter
* Monnickendam, painter
* Max Bueno de Mesquita, painter
* Mendes da Costa, sculptor

Actors

* Julia Levy-Boeken, actress (Dutch father, French mother)
* Sarah Bernardt, actress

Business

* Solomon de Medina, Army contractor
* Van den Bergh family, founders of Unilever
* Roel Abraham, obituaries Dutch Jewish Weekly (NIW)

ports people

* Carina Benninga, field hockey player, Olympic flag bearer
* Tom Okker, tennis player (Jewish father)
* Sjaak Swart, Ajax footballer (Jewish father)
* Bennie Muller, Ajax footballer 60s (Jewish father)
*Daniël de Ridder (1984 - ) Celta de Vigo footballer [ [http://www.ajax-usa.com/news/2004-2005/daniel-de-ridder-signs-new-deal-until-summer-2007.html] de Ridder - "he netted a Ajax's only goal in the Champions League game at Maccabi Tel Aviv, which Ajax lost in dramatic fashion. That fixture was a special one for De Ridder, who is Jewish and has an Israeli mother."] (Jewish mother)
* Stella Blits-Agsteribbe, gymnastref|olympics
* Anna Dresden-Polak, gymnastref|olympics
* Lea Kloot-Nordheim, gymnastref|olympics
* Elka de Levie, gymnastref|olympics
* Judikje Themans-Simons, gymnastref|olympics

Portugal

cotland

pain

witzerland

* Maurice Abravanel, conductor
* Jeff Agoos, US soccer international
* Ernest Bloch, composer
* Felix Bloch, physicist, Nobel Prize (1952)
* Alain de Botton, writer
* John M. Brunswick, founder of the Brunswick Corporation
* Albert Cohen, novelist
* Arthur Cohn, film producer
* Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss president (1999)
* Camille & Henry Dreyfus, inventors of Celanese
* Al Dubin, lyricist
* Jean Dunand-Gotscho, sculptor, painter, lacquerer
* Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel Prize (1921)
* Edmond Fischer, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1992) (Jewish father)
* Robert Frank, photographer
* Florence Guggenheim-Grünberg, Yiddish linguist
* Meyer Guggenheim, businessman
* Judith Lewish Herman
* Jeanne Hersch, philosopher
* Mathilde Krim, AIDS researcher (convert)
*Dani Levy (1957 -) film maker, theatrical director and actorcite news | last =Fleishman| first =Jeffrey| coauthors=| title =A farcical attack on Hitler taboos| pages=| publisher =The Los Angeles Times| date =2006-12-17 | url =http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-hitler17dec17,1,6303277.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true| accessdate =2006-12-17 ]
* Meret Oppenheim, surrealist artist
* Rachel, stage actress (Swiss-born)
* Tadeus Reichstein, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950)
* Edmond Safra, banker
* Jean Starobinski, literary critic
* Sigismond Thalberg, pianist, composer
* Regina Ullmann, poet
* Charles Weissmann, biochemist
* Alain & Gerard Wertheimer, owners of Chanel [http://www.lexpansion.com/art/6.0.119250.4.html]

United Kingdom

*List of British Jews
*History of the Jews in Scotland

Notes

Of the 12 members of the 1928 Olympics Dutch Women's Gymnastics Teamndash the first ever women's gymnastics gold medalistsndash 5 were Jewish. All but Levie were murdered in the Holocaust.

ee also

*List of Jews
*List of Belgians
*List of Dutch people
*List of Irish people
*List of Luxembourgeois
*List of Monegasque people
*List of Swiss people

Footnotes