FACTSHEET: JEWS IN SCOTLAND
Immigrants in Scotland
Overview of Jewish immigration
Jews arrived in Scotland throughout the 19th century. From this time, there were isolated individuals who settled in Scotland but communities were not formed. Jews arrived in Edinburgh in 1816, in Glasgow in 1823, in Dundee by the 1870s and in Aberdeen by 1893.
These early immigrant Jews tended to come from Russia, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Mostly, this movement of people can be attributed to the pogroms (persecution instigated by the government against a minority group) in Russia which began at this time. Many others arrived in the 1930s as a result of Adolf Hitler’s persecution across Germany and his desire to achieve lebensraum (living space) for his master race.
Minutes from the synagogue in Glasgow show that the formation of a community began around 1887. By 1879, there were 800 Jews affiliated to a synagogue in the Garnethill area of Glasgow. This was one of the first synagogues built in the Victorian era in Scotland and Europe. This set the precedent and by 1880 many others began to open.
In Glasgow, a strong Jewish community emerged in the Gorbals. In 1901 there were 5000 Jews. It is estimated that by 1939 this figure had doubled to 10,000. This community began to establish networks that were based around religion, culture, charity, and education as well as a socialising. This is documented by numerous leaflets that were produced in 1901 for the Gorbals Jewish community.
These continued to be produced for many years, initially in Yiddish but then with some English words too. At this time, many of these Glasgow Jews were poor and organisations were established for administering poor relief, which continued well into the 1930s. The increased numbers of Jews led to the production of the Jewish Times newspaper and then in 1927 the Jewish Echo.
Jews found a degree of difficulty in gaining employment. Jews were not employed in banks or in government offices. This continued into the 1930s and led to many Jews establishing their own businesses, such as travelling sales. Their business model was based on the 1p repayment. This business plan was significant as it did not put Jews in direct competition with other immigrants in Scotland, namely the Irish. The Irish tended to work in the shipyards or the mines.
In terms of assimilation Jews tended to stay in their own communities, namely the Gorbals in Glasgow with some in the more affluent area of Garnethill in the West End of Glasgow. It is significant to highlight that even among the Jewish communities there were some signs of division. Eyewitnesses suggest that there was a ‘class’ division as the Russian descendants tended to be poorly educated compared with their German counterparts.
Teacher tips
This factsheet should be used with the eye-witness accounts of Jewish immigrants and family testimonies.
MIGRATION AND EMPIRE (H, HISTORY)1
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2009