List of West European Jews explained

Apart from France, established Jewish populations exist in the Netherlands, Belgium, 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 murdered in the Holocaust, and much of the modern Jewish population of these countries (as well as of Switzerland) derives from post-Holocaust arrivals from other parts of Europe. Here is a list of some prominent Jews in western Europe, arranged by country of origin.

Austria

See main article: List of Austrian Jews.

Belgium

• Natanel Yatziv, number one athlete in Belgium (Belgian born)
• Charles Trau (born 2 August 2002)
• Sacha Fogel, (Founder of Luminol)
• Chantal Akerman (6 June 1950 – 5 October 2015), director-screenwriter
• Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Chevrolet Corvette (Belgian-born)
• Gérard Blitz, Olympic water polo medallist, co-founder of Club Med
• Gérard Blitz, Olympic swimming and water polo medalist
• Maurice Blitz, Olympic water polo medalist
• Henri Cohen, Olympic water polo medallist^[1]
• François Englert, Nobel Prize laureate in theoretical physics
• Leopold Flam, philosopher
• Louis Frank, politician
• Diane von Fürstenberg, fashion designer
• Jean Gol, politician
• Nico Gunzburg, professor
• Asriel Günzig, rabbi
• Camille Gutt, finance minister; head of the International Monetary Fund
• Paul Hymans, liberal leader; president of the League of Nations
• René Kalisky, writer
• Julien Klener, linguist
• George Koltanowski, chess player
• Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist (Belgian-born; atheist of Jewish descent)
• Alfred Loewenstein, financier (Jewish mother)
• Ernest Mandel, marxist theorist
• Bob Mendes, writer (Jewish father)
• Ralph Miliband, political scientist^[2]
• Jacques Ochs, Olympic fencing medalist^[1]
• Chaïm Perelman, philosopher (Polish-born)
• Ilya Prigogine, chemist (Russian-born), Nobel Prize (1977)
• Gaston Salmon, Olympic fencing medalist^[1]
• Henry Spira, animal rights activist
• Elias M. Stein, mathematician (Belgian-born)
• Marc Schlomo Jizchak Stern, Orthodox rabbi, cantor (de)
• Gilbert Stork, chemist
• Olivier Strelli, fashion designer
• Samy Szlingerbaum, film director, writer, and actor^[3]
• Guy Lee Thys, film director (Jewish mother)
• Raymond van het Groenewoud, singer-songwriter (Jewish mother)
• Sandra Wasserman, tennis player

France

See main article: List of French Jews.

Ireland

See main article: List of Irish Jews.

Italy

Political figures

• Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), Senator and mayor of Pisa (1906–1907)
• Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (1829–1907), linguist and Senator (1886–1890)
• Luca Barbareschi (born in 1956), actor, director and former member of the Chamber of Deputies (2008–2013)
• Emanuele Fiano (born 1963), member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006
• Giovanni Cantoni (1818–1897), physicist, member of the Chamber of Deputies (1867–1874) and Senator (1876–1880)
• Furio Colombo (born in 1931), journalist, member of the Chamber of Deputies (1996–2001, 2008–2013) and Senator (2006–2008)
• Luigi Cremona (1830–1903), mathematician, Senator (1879–1903) and Minister of Public Education (1898–1899)
• Giuliano Ferrara, (born in 1952), Minister for Parliamentary Relations (1994–1995), member of European Parliament (1989–1994), journalist and founder of Il Foglio
• Aldo Finzi (1891–1944), fascist member of the Chamber of Deputies (1921–1929)
• Giuseppe Finzi (1815–1886), patriot and Senator (1860–1886)
• Vittorio Foa (1910–2008), socialist trade unionist
• Alessandro Fortis (1842–1909), Italian Prime Minister (1905–1906)
• Augusto Graziani (1933–2014), economist and Senator (1992–1994)
• Yoram Gutgeld (born 1959), economist and former member of Chamber of Deputies (2013–2018)
• Anna Kuliscioff (1857–1925), Russian-born revolutionary feminist
• Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012), scientist and Senator (2001–2012)
• David Levi (1816–1898), poet, patriot and Senator (1861–1880)
• Luigi Luzzatti (1841–1927), Italian Prime Minister (1910–1911)
• Ernesto Nathan (1848–1921), mayor of Rome (1907–1913)
• Margherita Sarfatti (1880–1961), journalist and mistress of Benito Mussolini
• Liliana Segre (born 1930), holocaust survivor and Senator for life since 2018
• Sidney Sonnino (1847–1922), Italian prime minister (1906, 1909–1910)
• Umberto Terracini (1895–1983), President of the Constituent Assembly of Italy (1946–1948), Senator (1948–1983)
• Claudio Treves (1869–1933), politician and writer, grandfather of Carlo Levi
• Leone Wollemborg (1859–1932), politician and former Minister of Economy

Religious and communal leaders

• Samuel Aboab (1610–1694), prominent rabbi
• Aaron ben Gershon abu Al-Rabi or Aronne Abulrabi of Catania (ca. 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; Pope Martin V welcomed him in Rome^[4]
• Barbara Aiello, American-born rabbi active in Italy
• Benjamin Artom (1835–1879), Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain
• Umberto Cassuto (1883–1951), rabbi
• Abraham Isaac Castello (1726–1789), rabbi
• Leone Ebreo (1465–1523), Neoplatonic philosopher
• Amos Luzzatto (1928–2020), writer and former president of the Italian Jewish Communities Union^[5]
• Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746), rabbi, scholar, mystic, also known as Ramchal
• Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), important rabbi and scholar, also known as Shadal
• Raphael Meldola (1754–1828), rabbi
• David Nieto (1654–1728), rabbi
• Riccardo Pacifici (1904–1943), rabbi, murdered in Auschwitz
• Joseph Pardo (1561–1619), rabbi
• Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno (1475–1550), rabbi, philosopher
• Elio Toaff (1915–2015), rabbi and former Chief of Italian Jews Community
• Isaiah di Trani (ca. 1180–1250), talmudist, rabbi, also known as RID
• Moses David Vali (circa 1697 – December 17, 1776) biblical commentator, physician, scholar, and Kabbalist from Padua.

Academics

• Pedigree of Azzopardi
• Faraj ben Salim, Sicilian physician and translator from Agrigento
• Mosé Bonavoglia de' Medici, or Bonavoglio de' Medici (died 1447), Sicilian physician from Messina and Dienchelele (Naggid or Dayan kelali = Universal Judge of Sicilian Jews); his Hebrew name was Moses Hefez^[6]
• Michele Besso (1873–1955), Swiss-born engineer
• Caecilius of Calacte, Sicilian rhetorician from modern Caronìa
• Laura Capón (1907–1977), physicist
• Enrico Castelnuovo, art historian and medievalist
• Gino Fano (1871–1952), mathematician
• Robert Fano (1917–2016), physicist
• Ugo Fano (1912–2001), physicist^[7]
• Carlo Ginzburg (born 1939), historian
• Giovanni Jona-Lasinio (born 1932), physicist (Jewish father)
• Alberto Jori (born 1965), philosopher (Jewish mother)
• Giorgio Levi Della Vida (1886–1961), linguist specialized in Semitic languages
• Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012), neurologist, Nobel Prize (1986)
• Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), criminologist
• Salvador Luria (1912–1991), microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1969)
• Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), scholar and poet
• Franco Modigliani (1918–2003), economist, Nobel Prize (1985)
• Arnaldo Momigliano (1908–1987), Italian-born historian^[8]
• Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), physicist
• Guido Pontecorvo (1907–1999), geneticist
• Giulio Racah (1909–1965), physicist
• Bruno Rossi (1905–1993), astrophysicist
• Asher Salah (born 1967), historian
• Cesare Segre (1928–2014), linguistics, semiotics
• Emilio Segrè (1905–1989), physicist, Nobel Prize (1959)
• pedigree of Sforno
• Piero Sraffa (1898–1983), economist
• Manfredo Tafuri (1935–1994), architectural historian, critic and theorist
• Ariel Toaff (born 1942), historian
• Andrew Viterbi (born 1935), inventor of the Viterbi algorithm
• Bruno Zevi (1918–2000), architectural critic and historian

Mathematicians

• Emilio Artom (1888–1952), mathematician
• Eugenio Calabi (1923–2023), mathematician
• Guido Castelnuovo (1865–1952), mathematician
• Federigo Enriques (1871–1946), mathematician
• Gino Fano (1871–1952), mathematician
• Guido Fubini (1879–1943), mathematician
• Beppo Levi (1875–1961), mathematician
• Tullio Levi-Civita (1873–1941), mathematician
• Beniamino Segre (1903–1977), mathematician
• Corrado Segre (1863–1924), mathematician
• Vito Volterra (1860–1940), mathematician

Musicians

• Mario Ancona (1860–1931), baritone
• Abramo Basevi (1818–1885), composer and musician
• Alvise Bassano, musician^[9]
• Anthony Bassano, musician^[9]
• Baptista Bassano, musician^[9]
• Jeronimo Bassano, musician^[9]
• Haim Cipriani (born 1961), violinist and reform rabbi
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968), guitar, classical and synagogal music composer
• Giacobbe Cervetto (1680–1783), cellist^[10] and composer
• Lorenzo Da Ponte (born Emanuele Conegliano, 1749–1838), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic)
• Abramo dall'Arpa (died 1566), harpist
• Abramino dall'Arpa (fl ca. 1577–1593), harpist
• Aldo Finzi (1897–1945), composer
• Obadiah the Proselyte, musician^[11]
• Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570–1630), baroque composer
• Victor de Sabata (1892–1967), conductor (Jewish mother)
• Leone Sinigaglia (1868–1944), composer

Writers

• Devorà Ascarelli, poet and translator
• Giorgio Bassani, author
• Angela Bianchini, fiction writer
• Riccardo Calimani, fiction writer and historian
• Enrico Castelnuovo, father of Guido
• Moses Chayyim Catalan, poet
• Lorenzo Da Ponte (born Emanuele Conegliano), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic)
• Leonardo de Benedetti, physician and writer
• Manuela Dviri, writer
• Alain Elkann, writer and journalist, father of John, Lapo and Ginevra
• Carlo Ginzburg, historian, writer, essayist and pioneer of microhistory
• Leone Ginzburg, writer (born in Ukraine)
• Natalia Ginzburg (born Levi), author (Jewish father), wife of Leone and mother of Carlo
• Arrigo Levi, writer, journalist and TV anchorman
• Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
• Primo Levi, chemist and author
• Carlo Michelstaedter, philosopher
• Lisa Morpurgo Dordoni, writer, astrologer
• Paolo Mieli, journalist, historian and director of Corriere della Sera
• Liana Millu, writer
• Alberto Moravia (born Pincherle), author (Jewish father)
• Laura Orvieto, writer
• Alessandro Piperno, writer
• Umberto Saba, poet (Jewish mother)
• Donato Sacerdote, poet
• Rubino Romeo Salmonì, writer
• Roberto Saviano, writer, journalist (Jewish mother)
• Clara Sereni, writer
• Italo Svevo (born Schmitz), author
• Humbert Wolfe, poet and civil servant^[12]
• Aldo Zargani, writer
• Guido Bedarida, writer

Artists

• Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, actress
• Vito D'Ancona, painter
• Cristiana Capotondi, actress (half Jewish)
• Gioele Dix (b. Davide Ottolenghi), actor and comedian
• Ginevra Elkann, film director, sister of John and Lapo
• Arnoldo Foà, actor
• Massimiliano Fuksas, architect (Jewish father)
• Vittorio Gassman, actor (Jewish mother)
• Alessandro Haber, actor
• Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
• Leo Lionni
• Emanuele Luzzati, painter
• Anna Magnani, actress (Jewish mother)
• Amedeo Modigliani, painter and sculptor
• Ernesto Nathan Rogers, architect, critic and editor
• Moni Ovadia, theatre figure
• Gillo Pontecorvo, director
• Xenia Rappoport, actress
• Bruno Zevi, architect

Business

• Carlo De Benedetti (born 1934), industrialist, ex-CEO of FIAT, Olivetti, CIR Group, ex-deputy chairman of Banco Ambrosiano and ex-president of Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
• John (born 1976) and Lapo Elkann (born 1977), Vice Chairman of Fiat (Jewish father)
• Adriano Goldschmied (born 1944), fashion designer known as the "godfather of denim" who created Diesel, Replay, and AG Adriano Goldschmied; currently directing Goldsign and men's Citizens of Humanity
• Moses Haim Montefiore (1784–1885), financier and philanthropist
• Adriano Olivetti (1901–1960), son of Camillo, industrialist and social activist
• Camillo Olivetti (1868–1943), founder of Olivetti typewriters
• Guy Spier (born 1966), author and investor

Other

• Eugenio Calò (1906–1944), Jewish partisan awarded the gold medal for military valour, murdered by the Nazis
• Angelo Donati (1885–1960), banker who protected Jews in Southern France during Italian occupation in 1942–43
• Mario Finzi (1913–1945), partisan (murdered in Auschwitz in 1945)
• Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player
• Riccardo Ehrman (1929–2021), journalist
• Gad Lerner (born 1954), TV anchorman and journalist
• Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker
• Giorgio Liuzzi (1895–1983), Chief of the Staff of the Italian Army from 1954 to 1959
• Renato Mannheimer (born 1947), pollster, president of IPSO
• Maurizio Molinari (born 1964), journalist and essayist
• Edgardo Mortara (1851–1940), boy kidnapped by Catholic Papal authorities
• Fiamma Nirenstein (born 1945), essayist, journalist and MP for PDL (elected in 2008)
• Enzo Sereni (1905–1944), Zionist and partisan, executed in Dachau concentration camp

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

See main article: List of Dutch Jews.

Scotland

See main article: List of Scottish Jews.

Spain and Portugal

See main article: List of Iberian Jews.

Switzerland

• Maurice Abravanel, conductor
• Jeff Agoos, US soccer international
• Ernest Bloch, composer
• Felix Bloch, physicist, Nobel Prize (1952)
• Alain de Botton, writer
• Albert Cohen, novelist
• Arthur Cohn, film producer
• Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss president (1999)
• Camille and Henri 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
• Meyer Guggenheim, businessman
• Jeanne Hersch, philosopher
• Frank Key, writer
• Mathilde Krim, AIDS researcher (convert)
• Dani Levy (born 1957), filmmaker, theatrical director and actor^[13]
• Rolf Liebermann, Swiss music administrator and composer
• Méret Oppenheim, surrealist artist
• Rachel, stage actress (Swiss-born)
• Tadeusz Reichstein, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950)
• Tibor Rosenbaum, rabbi and businessman
• Edmond Safra, banker
• Jean Starobinski, literary critic
• Sigismond Thalberg, pianist and composer
• Regina Ullmann, poet
• Charles Weissmann, biochemist
• Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, owners of Chanel^[14]

United Kingdom

See main article: List of British Jews.

See main article: History of the Jews in Scotland.

Politicians

• John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons
• Leon Brittan, Conservative Member of Parliament and Home Secretary
• Benjamin Disraeli, British Conservative Prime Minister; converted to Anglicanism at age 12
• Greville Janner, Labour Member of Parliament
• Tim Judah, journalist and historian
• Peter Mandelson, Labour Member of Parliament
• David Miliband, politician, Labour Party (UK)
• Ed Miliband (2005–present), Labour MP for Doncaster North and former Leader of the Labour party
• Charlotte Nichols (2019–present) Labour MP for Warrington North
• Andrew Percy (2010–present), Conservative MP for Brigg and Goole
• Lucy Frazer (2015–present), Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire
• Ruth Smeeth (2015–2019), Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North
  • Alex Sobel (2017–present), Labour MP for Leeds North West Nicola Richards (2019–present), Conservative MP for West Bromwich East
• Ian Levy (2019–present), Conservative MP for Blyth Valley
• Dominic Raab (2010–present) Conservative MP for Esher and Walton

Actors

• Tamsin Greig, actress and comedian
• Tom Rosenthal, actor, comedian and writer
• Georgia Slowe, actress
• Sophie Okonedo, actress and singer
• Paul Kaye, actor and comedian
• Jason Isaacs, actor
• Helena Bonham Carter, actress
• David Baddiel, actor, comedian, writer and novelist
• Rachel Weisz, actress
• Matt Lucas, actor, comedian and writer
• James Callis, actor
• Sacha Baron Cohen, actor, comedian, writer, director and film producer
• Edward Skrein, actor, rapper, film director and screenwriter
• Daniel Radcliffe, actor and producer
• Julian Morris, actor
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson, actor and screenwriter
• Gregg Sulkin, actor
• Isobel Powley, actress

Religious and communal leaders

• Elyakim Schlesinger, rabbi
• Danny Rich, Liberal rabbi
• Alexandra Wright, Liberal rabbi
• Isidor Grunfeld, Orthodox rabbi
• Miriam Berger, Reform rabbi

Other

• Jacob Rothschild, banker

See also

• Lists of Jews
• List of Dutch people
• List of Irish people
• List of Luxembourgers
• List of Swiss people
• List of Iberian Jews
• List of British Jews
• History of the Jews in Scotland
• List of Scottish Jews
• List of Dutch Jews
• List of French Jews
• List of Austrian Jews
• List of Irish Jews

Notes

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Jews in Sports: Jewish Olympic Medalists (1896 - Present). Jewish Virtual Library.
2. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/HISmiliband.htm Ralph Miliband biography
3. Web site: Brussels Transit . 4 December 2021 .
4. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=36&letter=A Aaron ben Gershon Abu Al-Rabi biography
5. http://www.ucei.it Italian Jewish Communities Union
6. Web site: BONAVOGLIO (ḤEFEZ), MOSES, OF MESSINA - JewishEncyclopedia.com . 2024-04-28 . www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
7. Clark . Charles W. . 2001 . Ugo Fano (1912–2001) . Nature . 410 . 6825 . 164 . 10.1038/35065786 . 26743870 . A member of a wealthy Italian Jewish family. free .
8. Jewish Year Book 1985 p.188
9. Web site: HOASM: Alvise Bassano.
10. [Concise Dictionary of National Biography]
11. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed 2001), art. Obadiah the Proselyte
12. Concise Dictionary of National Biography: "born Umberto Wolff in Milan of Jewish parentage"
13. News: Fleishman . Jeffrey . A farcical attack on Hitler taboos . The Los Angeles Times. 1 December 2006. https://archive.today/20090821003323/http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-hitler17dec17,1,6303277.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true . dead . 21 August 2009 . 17 December 2006 .
14. https://archive.today/20071011103820/http://www.lexpansion.com/art/6.0.119250.4.html L'ENTREPRISE PRÉFÉRÉE DU GRAND PUBLIC. Chanel, le luxe et le secret