Portugiesisch-Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg
Item
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Country
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DE
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Name of institution (English)
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Hamburg State Archive
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Language of name of institution
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deu
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Contact information: postal address
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Kattunbleiche 19, 22041 Hamburg
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Contact information: phone number
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0049 (0)40 428313200
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Contact information: email
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office-staatsarchiv@hamburg.de
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Reference number
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522-1
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Portuguese-Jewish Congregation in Hamburg
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Title (official language of the state)
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Portugiesisch-Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg
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Language of title
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deu
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Creator / accumulator
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Portugiesisch-Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg
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Date(s)
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1652/1937
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Language(s)
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deu
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heb
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por
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spa
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yid
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Extent
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70.90 linear metres
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Physical condition
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Good
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Scope and content
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The Portugiesisch-Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg (Portuguese-Jewish Congregation in Hamburg) fonds is divided into three sub-fonds.
The first sub-fonds, Organisation und Allgemeine Verwaltung (Organisation and general administration) (1641-1937), contains the protocol books of the Portuguese Jewish congregation from 1652 to 1937 (993, five volumes), which recorded the resolution of the Mahamad, the governing body of the congregation. This sub-fonds also includes:
993b: agreements between the Portuguese and the German Jewish communities. It includes the "New Decree for the Jewish Population of Hamburg Both the Portuguese and the High German Nation", from September 7, 1710, which is described in the digital collection Key Documents of German-Jewish History (see below).
993c: Alfonso Cassuto's translation of the oldest minute book of the congregation
1000b: an agreement of the Portuguese community with the High German municipalities on the fees for Jewish butchers, 1787.
994 and 994b: 19th-century correspondence and contracts.
999: records related to the cemetery in Altona, and the Altona and Glückstadt communities from 1641 to 1885.
998: statutes of charity societies from 1826-1828.
1002: documents related to the synagogue building.
997, 1003, 1004, 1005: records on legacies and wills of members of the community, such as Isaac Cassuto, Isaac Pimentel (alias Afonso Dias Pimentel), Eljasib Meldola, Leon Cassuto. 19th-20th centuries.
The second sub-fonds, Personenstand (civil status), contains record books of births (1749-1900), marriages and marriage contracts (1696-1932), and deaths (1815-1865), and transcripts of personal papers and ascabot books, including genealogical records by Alfonso Cassuto (995e)
The third sub-fonds, Begräbniswesen (Burials), contains burial records (1675-1760) and lists of gravestones (1884 and 1902) of Altona cemetery; Alfonso Cassuto's transcripts of gravestones in the cemeteries of Hamburg, Altona, and Glückstadt, and correspondence about the cemetery in Ohlsdorf dating from 1880.
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Key Documents of German-Jewish History
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Archival history
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The Portugiesische Judengemeinde in Altona fonds is part of the Jüdische Gemeinden (Jewish communities) collection, which brings together the records of the Jewish congregations of Hamburg, Altona and Wandsbek.
In December 1937, the Jewish congregations of Hamburg and Altona were forcibly merged into a unified congregation, the Jüdischen Religionsverband Hamburg (Jewish Religious Association of Hamburg). This was incorporated into the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (Reich Association of Jews in Germany) in 1942.
In 1959, as a result of a settlement between Hamburg and the Jewish Trust Corporation for Germany, the collections of the Jewish congregations of Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek were divided between the Staatsachiv and The Jewish Historical General Archives in Jerusalem. Each archive owns about half of the documents in the original, the other half as microfilm copies.
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(source: 522-1 Jüdische Gemeinden, 1641-1945)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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In the last third of the 16th century, Hamburg was a refuge for the so-called New Christians (conversos) from the Iberian Peninsula. These Portuguese were the first Jews to settle in Hamburg. In 1595, seven Portuguese families were already resident in Hamburg; in 1609, there were 98 people. After the end of the ceasefire between Spain and the Netherlands, other Portuguese moved their residence from Amsterdam to Hamburg and Glückstadt. The Portuguese who settled in Hamburg came as Catholics since they or their ancestors had been forced to convert; some of them returned to Judaism once they arrived in Hamburg. In 1612, the Hamburg Council concluded a contract with the "Portuguese nation": provided that the Portuguese acted obediently and fulfilled financial obligations, they were granted a residence permit but remained "strangers".
The top executive of the congregation was the Mahamad, which was made up of wealthy families, especially people with a large fortune or a diplomatic status who were used as mediators with the Hamburg authorities. Increasing anti-Jewish sentiment and a revival of the Dutch Iberian trade led to an exodus of poorer members of the congregation in particular. At the end of the 17th century, a restrictive taxation policy led to a significant emigration to Amsterdam of the community that resided in Hamburg. In addition, internal quarrels resulted in the establishment of a congregation in Altona, which remained dependent on the congregation in Hamburg.
In the early 19th century, the congregation experienced immigration from the Ottoman Empire, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Portugal, as well as South America and North Africa. However, the congregation’s influence diminished as members died, married Ashkenazi spouses, or abandoned the congregation. The remaining members tried to compensate for their weakened position with a reserved attitude towards the German Jews, the so-called "tudescos", and maintained contacts with other Sephardic congregations, especially in Amsterdam and Curaçao. The congregation was abolished at the end of the 19th century.
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System of arrangement
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The material is arranged in thematic order.
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Existence and location of copies
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A photocopy of the Livro da Nação of the Portuguese Jewish Community in Hamburg for the years 5412–5442 (1652–1681) is in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem for the years 5412–5442 (1652–1681).
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Bibliography
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Israel, Jonathan. 1990. Empires and Entrepots: The Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy, and the Jews, 1585-1713. London; Roncevert: Hambledon Press.
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Israel, Jonathan. 2002. Diasporas within a Diaspora: Jews, Crypto-Jews, and the World of Maritime Empires (1540-1740). Brill’s Series in Jewish Studies, v. 30. Boston, MA: Brill.
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Kaplan, Yosef. 2008. ‘Amsterdam, The Forbidden Lands, and the Dynamics of the Sephardi Diaspora’. In The Dutch Intersection: The Jews and the Netherlands in Modern History, Yosef Kaplan, 33–62. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
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Martins, Hugo. 2019. “Assistência Social e Instituições Caritativas Na Nação Portuguesa de Hamburgo (1652–1682) – a Análise de Um Caso Particular.” InterDISCIPLINARY Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies 8: 189–218.
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Martins, Hugo. 2019. “Os Rabinos Da Comunidade Judaico-Portuguesa de Hamburgo Entre 1652 e 1682.” Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas 20: 205–27.
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Martins, Hugo. 2020. “Social assistance and charitable institutions in the Portuguese Nation of Hamburg (1652-1682). Analysis of a particular case.” In As Diásporas dos Judeus e Cristãos‑Novos de Origem Ibérica entre o Mar Mediterrâneo e o Oceano Atlântico. Estudos, edited by José Alberto R. Silva Tavim, Hugo Martins, Ana Pereira Ferreira, Ângela Sofia Benoliel Coutinho, and Miguel Andrade, 121. Lisbon: Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa.
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Frade, Florbela Veiga. 2013. “A Importância Do Português Na ‘Nação Portuguesa de Hamburgo’ e a Gramática Hebraica (1633) de Moshe Gideon Abudiente.” Webmosaica 5 (2): 82–95. https://www.academia.edu/6057298/A_Import%C3%A2ncia_do_Portugu%C3%AAs_na_Na%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Portuguesa_de_Hamburgo_e_a_Gram%C3%A1tica_Hebraica_1633_de_Moshe_Gideon_Abudiente.
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Studemund-Halévy, Michael. 2015. “From the Archives. Hamburg’s Sephardim between Welfare and Poverty.” Jewish Culture and History 16 (1): 96–104.
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Published primary sources
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Martins, Hugo Filipe Castilho Cabrita. 2018. “A Comunidade Judaico-Portuguesa de Hamburgo Entre 1652 e 1682.” PhD dissertation, Lisbon: University of Lisbon. http://hdl.handle.net/10451/36365.
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Martins, Hugo. 2021. Os Judeus Portugueses de Hamburgo: A História de Uma Comunidade Mercantil No Século XVII. Florence: Firenze University Press.
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New Decree for the Jewish Population of Hamburg/ Both the Portuguese and the High German Nation, from the Date 7 September in the Year 1710. Hamburg (the so-called Judenreglement) [Excerpt] (translated by Richard S. Levy), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History [May 07, 2023].
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Ornan Pinkus, B. Z. 1987. “The Portuguese Community of Hamburg in the Seventeenth Century.” In East and Maghreb: Researches in the History of the Jews in the Orient and North Africa, Ariel Toaff, 7–51. Bar-Ilan University Press.
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Ornan Pinkus, B. Z. 1994. “Die Portugiesische Gemeinde in Hamburg Und Ihre Führung Im 17. Jahrhundert.” In Die Sefarden in Hamburg. Zur Geschichte Einer Minderheit, M. Studemund-Halévy and P. Koj, 3–36. Hamburg: Buske.
