Back

Portuguese Jewish community in Hamburg

This article is about the former Sephardic community in Hamburg. For the history of Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities in Hamburg and in neighbouring Altona, Harburg and Wandsbek, now all incorporated, see History of the Jews in Hamburg.
Part of a series on the
History of Hamburg
'Hamburg' by Robert Bowyer, 1814
by timeline
Prehistory and Antiquity
Middle Ages
Early Modern
Continental Blockade
Modern
Contemporary
by other topic
Political and economic history
Jewish history
  • Other Hamburg topics

From about 1590 on, there had been a Portuguese Jewish community in Hamburg, whose qehilla (קהילה‎ "congregation") existed until its compulsory merger with the Ashkenazi congregation in July 1939. The first Sephardic settlers were Portuguese Marranos, who had fled their country under Philip II and Philip III, at first concealing their religion in their new place of residence. Many of them had emigrated from Spain in the belief that they had found refuge in Portugal.

Developed by StudentB