History of The Jews in Sweden - Reactionary Decree of 1838 and Afterwards

Reactionary Decree of 1838 and Afterwards

After 1782 Jews gradually secured more rights from the government, but many Jews, particularly those living in Stockholm, desired even greater opportunity and desired to not be disadvantaged due to their religion. A feeling of indignation arose among the general population against the ambitious Jews of Stockholm, many of whom were prosperous financiers; the population witnessed a different, small, and disadvantaged community of Jews prosper to a greater extent than the general population despite laws that were designed to subjugate the Jewish population relative to the general population. Anger grew at the gap in wealth between Jews and others; such anger reached a height in 1838. After a new ordinance was promulgated which abolished nearly all restrictions upon Jews' civic rights (in this ordinance the Jews were, for the first time, designated Mosaiter, i.e., adherents of the Mosaic faith), a serious uprising took place in the capital; and numerous complaints were presented to the government, denouncing the alleged 'undue preference' shown Jews. On September 21 of the same year the government was compelled to revoke the new ordinance.

During the following years the book-market was deluged by brochures for and against the Mosaiter. This controversy between sympathizers and antagonists of the Jews continued until 1840, when the Commons in the Riksdag petitioned the government to re-establish the ordinance of 1782 in its original form. The friends of the Jews tried to show that the petitioners were actuated by religious intolerance, but their adversaries openly declared the question to be one not of religion, but of race. The anti-Semites in the Riksdag endeavoured to prove that the Jews had greatly abused the rights and privileges granted them in 1782, and that they had done so at the expense and to the detriment of the native Lutheran merchants and tradesmen. The efforts to create anti-Jewish sentiment in the Riksdag were, however, unavailing, and at a later session of that body (1853), when public opinion had turned more in favour of the Jews, they were accorded additional privileges. In 1852, Amalia Assur (1803–1889) became the first female dentist in Sweden.

During the latter half of the 19th century the few remaining disabilities of the Jews were removed. Under the law of October 26, 1860, they were granted the right to acquire real estate in rural communities, whereas they had previously been permitted to own property in the cities only. On January 20, 1863, another ordinance removed the prohibition against intermarriages between Jews and Christians, which were declared to be legal provided they had been attended by due ceremonies. A later ordinance (October 31, 1873) stipulated that the issue of marriages between members of the Swedish state church and Jews should be brought up in the Lutheran faith. If, however, a pact concerning the religion of their future children had been made in writing by the parents before their marriage, and submitted to the clergyman or other authority that performed the marriage ceremony, such agreement should remain valid.

There were, of course, various privileges which the Jews, like any other non-Lutherans, could still not obtain as long as the then current constitution of the Swedish kingdom remained in force. Thus, they could not become members of the cabinet; nor could they, as judges or as members of committees, take part in discussions concerning religious questions. Otherwise they enjoyed the same rights and were subject to the same duties as the Swedish citizens of the Lutheran faith.

During the reign of Gustavus III (1771–1792) the Jews of Stockholm invited Levi Hirsch from Alt-Strelitz, Mecklenburg, to officiate as their rabbi. The first Swedish synagogue was located at Köpmantorget (Merchants' Square), Stockholm, in the Sjöberg house. After a few years this place was found to be too small, and the Jews in the capital selected the old auction chamber at Tyska Brunn (German Well), where they worshiped until 1870, when the large Stockholm Synagogue was inaugurated at Wahrendorfsgatan (Wahrendorf street). In 1905, the Jewish Encyclopedia reported that there were synagogues in all of the larger Swedish cities in which Jews had settled in any considerable number.

According to the statistics of 1890 there were in the entire kingdom of Sweden 3,402 Jews. Since then, however, their number has been considerably augmented, and in 1905 the Jewish Encyclopedia placed the Jewish population by a "conservative estimate" at 4,000.