List of North European Jews

Before the Holocaust, Jews were a significant part of the population in Lithuania where they numbered around 240,000, including approximately 100,000 in Vilnius, or about 45% of that city's pre-World War II population (Vilnius was also once known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania"). A large Jewish community also existed in Latvia. In comparison, Estonia and the Nordic countries have had much smaller communities, concentrated mostly in Denmark and Sweden. The following is a list of prominent North European Jews, arranged by country of origin:

Denmark

• Mogens Ballin, painter
• Victor Bendix, composer, conductor and pianist
• Susanne Bier, film director
• Kim Bodnia, actor
• Harald Bohr, mathematician and footballer (Jewish mother)
• Niels Bohr, physicist, Nobel Prize (1922) (Jewish mother)
• Victor Borge, entertainer
• Edvard Brandes, politician, critic and author, minister of finance from 1909 to 1910
• Ernst Brandes, economist and editor
• Georg Brandes, author and critic, father of Danish naturalism
• Marcus Choleva, chief executive officer of KFI
• Dagmar Cohn, illustrator
• Esther Gehlin, painter
• Meïr Aron Goldschmidt, author and editor
• Heinrich Hirschsprung, industrialist, art patron (Den Hirschsprungske Samling)
• Arne Jacobsen, architect and designer (Jewish mother)
• Abraham Kurland, Olympic wrestling medalist
• Arne Melchior, politician and former Transport Minister and Minister for Communication and Tourism
• Marcus Melchior, chief rabbi of Denmark, father of Arne Melchior
• Michael Melchior, rabbi and Israeli politician
• Ivan Osiier, seven-time Olympic fencer
• Lee Oskar, harmonica player, member of War
• Herbert Pundik, journalist
• Raquel Rastenni, jazz and popular singer
• Edgar Rubin, Gestalt psychologist
• Dan Zahavi, philosopher
• Nikolaj Znaider, violinist, conductor

Estonia

• Jüri Alperten (1957–2020), conductor, pianist and music teacher
• Eino Baskin (1929–2015), actor and theatre director
• Avi Benjamin (born 1959), composer
• Ben Berlin (1896–1944), jazz musician
• Maria Dangell (born 1974), singer and pianist
• Aaron Feinstein, chess player
• Moses Wolf Goldberg (1905–1964), chemist
• Heinrich Gutkin (1879–1941), businessman and politician
• Idel Jakobson (1904–1997), NKVD investigator
• Louis Kahn (1901–1974), architect
• Anna Klas (1912–1999), pianist
• Eri Klas (1939–2016), conductor
• Mihhail Lotman (born 1952), philologist and politician
• Juri Lotman (1922–1993), semiotician
• Zara Mints (1927–1990), literary scientist
• Vladimir Padwa (1900–1981), pianist and composer
• Ita Saks (1921–2003), translator and publicist
• Hagi Å ein (born 1945), journalist, film director, screenwriter and professor
• Benno Schotz (1891–1984), sculptor
• Samuel H. Shapiro (1907–1987), politician
• Emmanuel Steinschneider (1886–1970), physician
• Leonid Stolovich (1929–2013), philosopher
• David Vseviov (born 1949), historian

Finland

• Mathilda Berwald, singer
• Max Dimont, historian and author
• Ida Ekman, soprano singer
• Abba Gindin, Finnish-born Israeli football player
• Rosalia Gurovich, barber
• Kim Hirschovits, ice hockey player
• Ruben Jaari, businessman
• Max Jakobson, diplomat
• Wolf Karni, football referee
• Daniel Katz, writer
• Elias Katz, athlete, Olympic medalist
• Kalle Katz, footballer
• Salomon Klass (1907–1985), Finnish Army captain
• Yorai Maliach, Israeli footballer of Finnish-descent
• Roni Porokara, footballer
• Boris Rotenberg, football player
• Marion Rung, pop singer
• Elis Sella, actor
• Seela Sella, actress
• Pekka K. Sinervo, Finnish-Canadian physicist
• Mauritz Stiller, director
• Uniikki, rapper
• Sam Vanni, painter
• Poju Zabludowicz, business magnate
• Ben Zyskowicz, conservative leader

Iceland

• Vladimir Ashkenazy (born 1937), pianist (Jewish father)
• Bobby Fischer (1943–2008), chess player (Jewish mother, but did not self-identify as a Jew; American expatriate, Icelandic)
• Dorrit Moussaieff (born 1950), former First Lady of Iceland
• Sruli Recht (born 1979), fashion designer

Latvia

• Elya Baskin, actor
• Isaiah Berlin, historian of ideas
• Lipman Bers, mathematician and activist
• David Bezmozgis, author
• Boris Brutskus
• Sergei Eisenstein, film director
• Movsas Feigins, chess player
• Morris Halle, linguist
• Philippe Halsman, photographer
• Joseph Hirshhorn, financier and philanthropist
• Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish musicologist
• Hermann Jadlowker, musician (born at Riga)
• Mariss Jansons, conductor (Jewish mother)
• Gil Kane, comic book illustrator
• Alexander Koblencs, chess player
• Abraham Isaac Kook, rabbi
• Gidon Kremer, violinist; father was a Jewish Holocaust survivor
• Nechama Leibowitz
• Yeshayahu Leibowitz
• Hermanis Matisons, chess player
• Mischa Maisky, cellist
• Solomon Mikhoels, actor
• Aron Nimzowitsch, chess player
• Arkady Raikin, performing artist
• Yosef Rosen, der Rogatchover Gaon
• Mark Rothko, painter
• Judith Shklar, political philosopher
• Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, rabbi
• Mikhail Tal, world chess champion
• Max Weinreich, linguist

Lithuania

• Semyon Alapin (1856–1923), chess player
• Mark Antokolsky (1840–1902), sculptor to Tzar Alexander II of Russia
• Moshe Arens (1925–2019), former Minister of Defence and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel
• Aaron Barak (born 1936), President of the Supreme Court of Israel
• Zerach Barnett (1843–1935), one of founders of Mea Shearim (Jerusalem), Petach Tikva and Neve Shalom, Israel
• Saul Bellow (1915–2005), writer and laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1976)
• Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858–1922), reviver of Hebrew
• Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), art critic
• Izis Bidermanas (1911–1980), photographer
• Reuben Asher Braudes (1851–1902), Hebrew-language novelist and journalist
• Victor David Brenner (1871–1924), designer of the US penny
• Eli Broad (1933–2021), American philanthropist and investor; founder of KB Home
• Sir Montague Burton (1885–1952), British retailer
• Abraham Cahan (1860–1951), writer and activist
• Leonard Cohen (1934–2016), musician, poet
• David Cronenberg (born 1943), film director
• Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892–1953), rabbi, Talmudic scholar
• Simeon Dimanstein (1886–1938), Soviet Commissar of Nationalities
• Bob Dylan (born 1941), singer-songwriter, artist, writer
• Ilya Ehrenburg (1891–1967), one of the most prolific and well-known writers during the Soviet Union
• Nosson Tzvi Finkel (1849–1927), Orthodox Jewish leader
• Vyacheslav Ganelin (born 1944), jazz musician
• Sara Ginaite (1924–2018), former resistance fighter, now Canadian academic
• Romain Gary (1914–1980), novelist, the Prix Goncourt (twice)
• Morris Ginsberg (1889–1970), sociologist
• Louis Ginzberg (1873–1953), scholar of the Talmud
• Philip Glass (born 1937), classical composer
• Leah Goldberg (1911–1970), poet
• Emma Goldman (1869–1940), political activist
• Nahum Goldmann (1895–1982), world Jewish leader
• Chaim Grade (1910–1982), Yiddish writer
• Iosif Grigulevich (1913–1988), secret agent, historian
• Zvi Griliches (1930–1999), economist
• Shira Gorshman (1906–2001), Zionist pioneer, Yiddish writer
• Aryeh Leib ben Asher Gunzberg (–1785), rabbi
• Bernard Lown (1921–2021), scientist, Nobel prize winner
• Aron Gurwitsch (1901–1973), philosopher
• Laurence Harvey (1928–1973), actor
• Jascha Heifetz (1901–1987), widely regarded as the greatest violinist of the 20th century
• Sidney Hillman (1887–1946), political activist
• Shemp Howard (1895–1955), comedian and actor
• Moe Howard (1897–1975), comedian and actor
• Curly Howard (1903–1952), comedian and actor
• Jay M. Ipson (born 1935), founder of the Virginia Holocaust Museum
• Leo Jogiches (1867–1919), revolutionary
• Al Jolson (1886–1950), singer, comedian, and actor
• Berek Joselewicz (1764–1809), colonel of the Polish Army
• Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan (1915–1995), clothes manufacturer
• Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838–1933), rabbi
• Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024), psychologist, Nobel Prize (2002) (Lithuanian parents)
• Mordechai Kaplan (1881–1983), founder of Reconstructionist Judaism
• Shlomo Kleit (1891–1962), political activist
• Aaron Klug (1926–2018), chemist, Nobel Prize (1982)
• Gurwin Kopel (1923–1990), artist
• Lazare Kopelmanas (1907–1980), international law scholar
• Abba Kovner (1918–1987), poet, writer
• Abraham Dob Bär Lebensohn (–1878), Hebraist, poet, and educator
• Micah Joseph Lebensohn (1828–1852), poet and translator
• Phoebus Levene (1869–1940), biochemist
• Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995), philosopher
• Isaac Levitan (1860–1900), landscape painter
• Bernard Lewis (1916–2018), historian
• Morris Lichtenstein 1889–1938), rabbi, founder of the Jewish Science
• Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973), cubist sculptor
• Jay Lovestone (1897–1990), politician
• Alexander Ziskind Maimon (1809–1887), author and scholar of the Talmud
• Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), poet and librettist
• Abraham Mapu (1808–1867), Hebrew novelist
• Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870–1953), rabbi
• Harvey Milk (1930–1978), gay-rights activist
• Hermann Minkowski (1864–1909), mathematician
• Oskar Minkowski (1858–1931), physiologist
• Benjamin Netanyahu (born 1949), Prime Minister of Israel
• Mitchell Parish (1900–1993), Lithuanian-born American lyricist
• Abram Rabinovich (1878–1943), chess player
• Bar Refaeli (born 1985), Israeli supermodel, television host, actress, and businesswoman
• Willy Ronis (1910–2009), photographer
• Eduardas Rozentalis (born 1963), chess player
• Yisroel Salanter (1809–1883), rabbi and Talmudist
• Meyer Schapiro (1904–1996), art historian
• Alexander Schneider (1908–1993), violinist and conductor
• Lasar Segall (1891–1957), painter, engraver, and sculptor
• Benjamin Schlesinger (1876–1932), American labor leader and former President of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union
• Ben Shahn (1898–1969), artist
• Esther Shalev-Gerz (born 1948), artist
• Karl Shapiro (1913–2000), poet (Lithuanian parents)
• Sam (1878–1905), Lee (1871–1953), and Jacob Shubert (1879–1963), theatre managers and producers (cf. Shubert Brothers)
• Joe Slovo (1926–1995), ANC activist
• Elijah ben Solomon (1720–1797), rabbi, the Gaon of Vilna
• Maximilian Steinberg (1883–1946), classical composer
• David Suchet (born 1946), English actor
• Helen Suzman (1917–2009), anti-apartheid MP (Lithuanian parents)
• Isakas Vistaneckis (1910–2000), chess player
• Louis Washkansky (1912–1967), recipient of the world's first human heart transplant
• Uriel Weinreich (1926–1967), linguist
• Irv Weinstein (1930–2017), American broadcaster (Lithuanian parents)
• David Wolfsohn (1855–1914), second President of the World Zionist Organization
• Bluma Zeigarnik (1900–1988), psychologist and psychiatrist
• Emanuelis Zingeris (born 1957), politician
• William Zorach (1889–1966), painter, sculptor, printmaker, and writer
• Louis Zukofsky (1904–1978), poet and professor (Lithuanian parents)
• Benjamin Zuskin (1899–1952), actor

Norway

• Bjørn Benkow, journalist, known for faking interviews
• Jo Benkow, President of the Parliament of Norway
• Carl Paul Caspari, professor in theology (Lutheranism)
• Leo Eitinger (born in Slovakia), professor of psychiatry at University of Oslo and Holocaust survivor, known mainly for his work on late-onset psychological trauma amongst Holocaust survivors
• Victor Goldschmidt, professor in mineralogy
• Salo Grenning, pen name Pedro, editorial cartoonists in Verdens Gang
• Berthold Grünfeld, specialist in psychiatry, and professor in social medicine until 1993
• Imre Hercz, physician and public debater
• Bente Kahan, Yiddish singer and actress
• Hermann Kahan, Holocaust survivor, activist
• Morten Levin, professor of organization and work science
• Robert Levin, pianist
• Oskar Mendelsohn, historian, known for his two-volume history of Norwegian Jews
• Charles Philipson, Supreme Court Justice Judge, Chairman of the Petroleum Law Committee, deputy chairman of the Petroleum Council and chairman of the Riksel Committee
• Moritz Rabinowitz, merchant, active in public debate against antisemitism and Nazism before World War II
• Øystein Wingaard Wolf, poet and author

Sweden

• Olof Aschberg, businessman and banker
• Robert Aschberg, journalist, media executive, TV personality
• Amalia Assur, first female dentist in Sweden
• Lovisa Augusti, opera singer
• Jean-Pierre Barda, musician
• Mathilda Berwald, née Cohn, musician
• Sharon Bezaly, flute soloist
• Jonathan Conricus (born 1979), Swedish-Israeli IDF Lieutenant-Colonel (ret), IDF International Spokesperson
• Jerzy Einhorn, pathologist and politician
• Herbert Felix, entrepreneur
• Aron Flam (born 1978), comedian, podcaster, and writer, and actor
• Josef Frank, architect and designer
• Isaac Grünewald, artist
• Lars Gustafsson, writer and scholar
• Johan Harmenberg, épée fencer, Olympic fencing medalist
• Eli Heckscher, economist
• Aaron Isaac, businessman from Swedish Pomerania, pioneer in the history of Sweden's Jewish population
• Erland Josephson, actor and writer
• Ernst Josephson, painter
• Ragnar Josephson, writer and art historian
• Anne Kalmering, singer
• Mirjam Katzin, academic
• Joel Kinnaman, actor
• George Klein, pathologist and writer
• Oskar Klein, physicist
• Oscar Levertin, poet and literary historian
• Jacob Marcus, businessman, pioneer in the history of Sweden's Jewish population
• Rudolf Meidner, economist
• Hanna Pauli, painter
• Dominika Peczynski, musician
• Alexandra Rapaport, actress
• Marcel Riesz, mathematician
• Göran Rosenberg, journalist
• Bo Rothstein, political scientist
• Nelly Sachs, poet, Nobel Prize (1966)
• Jerzy Sarnecki, criminologist
• Harry Schein, writer and culture personality
• Leif Silbersky, lawyer and author
• Sara Sommerfeld, actress
• Ute Steyer, Sweden's first female rabbi
• Mauritz Stiller, director
• Marcus Storch, industrialist
• Anna Warburg (1881–1967), educator
• Peter Weiss, dramatist and writer

References