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Since 1970, the Jewish population of Europe has been reduced by 60 percent. The decline was particularly dramatic in the east of the continent, but communities in the west are also getting smaller. Secularization and intermarriage play a decisive role in this.
The Jewish population in Europe has shrunk even more in the last fifty years than previously thought. According to a study by the London-based Jewish Policy Research Institute, there are currently around 1.3 million people on the continent who describe themselves as Jewish. That’s almost 60 percent less than in 1970. The European Jewish Congress, whose estimates served as a benchmark, had previously assumed 1.9 million Jews in Europe.
80 percent of Jews ever lived in Europe
The new figures mean that only 9 percent of the world’s Jewish population lives on our continent, and therefore a smaller proportion than since the Middle Ages, more precisely since the year 1170, when the Jewish traveler Benjamin von Tudela made a count for the first time. had carried out. At that time it was said that there were about a million Jews worldwide. In the following centuries, especially from the end of the 18th century, the communities grew rapidly. Around 1900 there were more than 10 million Jews around the world, more than 80 percent of them living in Europe.
Sergio Della Pergola and Daniel Staetsky emphasize in their extensive study that the demographic situation would be completely different today without the Nazi extermination policy. Six million Jews perished during the Holocaust, and the aftermath of the genocide led to further emigration after World War II, primarily to Israel and the United States. In 1970 there were only 26 percent of all Jews in Europe.
As the study highlights, the population decline continued afterward, and that can only be explained to some extent by the Holocaust. The authors examined developments across the continent, that is, in the 27 EU member states, Great Britain and smaller states in Central and Northern Europe, as well as in the former Soviet republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, in the Balkans, in Cyprus and in Turkey.
Exodus from the Eastern Bloc after 1989
The number of Jews worldwide increased accordingly between 1970 and 2020 from 12.6 to 14.8 million. At the same time, those in Europe fell from 3.2 to 1.3 million. The main reason for this was the heavy emigration from the former Soviet Union after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. 85 percent of the Jewish population has moved from there in the last fifty years. Before World War II, what is now Russia, Poland, and Romania were the religious and cultural centers of Judaism.
Today, the vast majority of European Jews live in the West, especially in France (449,000), Great Britain (295,000), and Germany (118,000). But also in Western Europe the communities have been reduced since 1970; in Great Britain by 25%, in France by 15% and in the 27 EU countries by 16%.
Trend that can hardly be stopped
The reasons for this were varied. The emigration of mostly young Jews to Israel and the growing aging of communities were decisive factors. Zionist motives played a role in the emigration, as did difficult economic conditions and subliminal or even overt anti-Semitism in Europe. Between 2000 and 2020 alone, around 70,000 people from EU countries went to Israel.
However, the increasing secularization and assimilation of the Jews, as well as the increasing number of mixed marriages, played an equally important role. In many EU countries, more than 40 percent of Jewish citizens marry partners of other religions. Since in Judaism membership of a religious community is transferred from mother to children, sons and daughters of Jewish parents who have entered into mixed marriage are not Jewish according to religious law. Wives and children can convert to Judaism, but this occurs relatively rarely.
All of these demographic trends are likely to intensify in the coming years. In their study, Della Pergola and Staetsky conclude that the population decline in Europe can hardly be stopped.
Anti-Semitism and Islamist Violence in France
France has the third largest Jewish community in the world after Israel and the United States. However, since 2000, more than 50,000 French Jews have moved to Israel, significantly more than from other European countries. According to the study, emigrants pointed to the rise of anti-Semitism in France as one of the most important reasons for emigration. In recent years there have been repeated cemeteries desecration and attacks on Jewish citizens in the country. Jews are also concerned about the rise in Islamist violence.
Resuscitation attempts in Germany
Germany, on the other hand, is one of the few countries in which the Jewish population has grown significantly since 1970. In the 1990s, active efforts were made to revive Jewish communities that had been decimated after the Holocaust. Residence permits were generously issued to Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union between 1990 and 2005. As a result, the number of Jews quadrupled.
According to the latest study, the demographic outlook remains bleak. Because most of the newcomers had used their religion as a ticket to Germany without really feeling connected to it. It is highly unlikely that the descendants of the “Russians” will remain in the Jewish communities. The communities are already very old today. About 40 percent of German Jews are over 65 years old.
Relatively stable Swiss municipalities
The exceptions to the negative trend in Western Europe are some countries with a large proportion of ultra-Orthodox, such as Austria, Belgium, Great Britain or Switzerland. Given that Charedian families are relatively large, the communities there should remain reasonably stable, according to demographers.
In Switzerland, where about 20 percent of Jews belong to ultra-Orthodox communities, the population decline in recent years has been less dramatic than in other countries. Reform Jewish communities that maintain a highly inclusive approach to mixed marriage families are also gaining importance. Daniel Gerson, professor of Jewish studies at the University of Bern, explains the relative stability also with prosperity and social security in Switzerland. Furthermore, there is little overt anti-Semitism. According to the expert, strong cohesion also plays a role. Many Jewish communities have had an unbroken tradition since the 19th century because they were saved from the Holocaust.
The Jewish population has declined by 10 percent since 1970. About 18,000 Jews still live in Switzerland. Gerson explains in an interview that around 6,000 Swiss Jews have immigrated to the Jewish state since Israel was founded. In the past, an anti-Semitic discourse on foreign infiltration made immigration difficult. However, as with all religions, Judaism is primarily concerned with secularization. This development is more problematic for a small minority than for large religious communities. Gerson sees the diversity of Jewish communities in Switzerland, from liberal to ultra-Orthodox, but also an opportunity for the future.