Sephardic Jews of Denmark
In 1619 King Christian IV licensed a Sephardic Jew, Albert Dionis (also known as Samuel Jachia and Alvaro Diniz/Denis/Dionysius) to direct the royal mint in the newly established city of Glückstadt (Lykstad) in Schleswig-Holstein. It is reported that thirty “Portuguese” families moved there but the economy stagnated, and they moved away. I have seen claims that Dionis had lived in Hamburg and Brazil. I wonder if Albert Dionis translates as Alberto Dinis, which might make him a member of the Dinis family of Pontevedra in Galicia who seem to have gone everywhere.
A community was established in Altona (now part of Hamburg in Germany) in 1640. Gabriel Gomez persuaded Christian IV’s son Frederick III (reigned 1648-1670), to allow Sephardic Jews to live in Denmark to conduct trade. In 1647 Gomez organised a Danish trading expedition to the Caribbean, led by two brothers called de Casseres but it was unsuccessful due to social conflict in the English colony of Barbados – where they aimed to trade – due to the English Civil War. There was a second expedition in 1651.
A Sephardic community settled in the newly established town of Fredericia in 1682.
Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Copenhagen were involved in financial services and luxury products, including jewellery.As Sephardim enjoyed special privileges, it has been suggested that some German Jews took Portuguese name and joined the Sephardi synagogue in order to benefit.
Sephardic Jewish Genealogy in Denmark
I don’t know if there are any Sephardi families who have been continually settled in Denmark from the 17th Century. The Jewish Genealogical Society of Denmark, the Society of Danish Jewish History, the Danish National Archives and the Royal Library are probably good places to start researching Danish Sephardic family history.
The Sound Toll Registers list the ships that have to pay a toll to the Danes in order to pass between the North Sea and the Baltic. A number of these ships were owned by Sephardic merchants. The search page is here.
There was a Sephardic presence in the Danish West Indies, also called the Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands. These islands are now the United States Virgin Islands. The principle islands are Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix.
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