| When did the Jews arrive to Finland? Where did they come from? |
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The territory which is now Finland was for more than half a millennium – until 1809 – part of the Swedish Kingdom. Under Swedish law, Jews of that period were allowed to settle only in three major towns in the Kingdom, none of them being situated in the territory of Finland.
The injunction did not cover visits and therefore the first known reference of Jews in Finland is from 1782, when "Portuguese singers" Josef Lazarus, Meijer Isaac and Pimo Zelig as well as conjurer Michel Marcus received from the city administrative court of Helsinki the right to perform their skills in Helsinki. In this context beeing Portuguese refers to Jewish communities of Hamburg area or Holland, whose founders were driven away from Portugal nearly 300 years… |
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