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The history of the Jews in Iceland is relatively short, starting in 1625. In 2011, only 50–100 Jews were living in Iceland. They often gather to celebrate the Jewish holidays. ==History== From the eleventh century, Icelanders have called the Jews ''Gyðingar'', a derivative of Guð (God). The Gyðinga Saga, the Saga of the Jews, was written in the thirteenth century. It is a translation of the First Book of Maccabees and fragments from the writings of Flavius Josephus.〔(Sagas From Latin Sources )〕 The first Jews in Iceland were traders. Daniel Salomon, a Polish Jewish convert to Christianity, came to Iceland in 1625. In 1704, Jacob Franco, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin who was living in Copenhagen, was appointed to be in charge of all tobacco exports sold in Iceland and the Faroe Isles. In 1710 Abraham Levin and Abraham Cantor were given similar responsibilities. Isak, Cantor's son, took over from his father in 1731. In 1815, the Ulricha, a Jewish trade ship rented by Ruben Moses Henriques of Copenhagen, arrived in Iceland. In 1853, Iceland's parliament, the Alþingi, rejected a request by the Danish king to implement the Danish law allowing foreign Jews to reside in the country. Two years later the parliament told the king that the law would be applied to Iceland and that both Danish and foreign Jews were welcome. The Alþingi said that the Jews were enterprising merchants who did not try to lure others to their religion. However, no Jew is known to have accepted this offer. In the late nineteenth century there were a small number of trading agents which represented firms owned by Danish Jews. In 1913, Fritz Heymann Nathan, a Danish Jew, founded Nathan & Olsen in Reykjavík. After his marriage in 1917, he realized it was impossible to conduct a Jewish life in Iceland and moved to Copenhagen. The firm was highly successful until the Icelandic government introduced trade restrictions in the 1930s. In 1916, Nathan built the first big building of Reykjavík, with five stories. The building was designed by Mr. Guðjón Samúelsson and was considered very elegant. It was the first building to be lit by electric lights.〔(Nathan & Olsen )〕 During the Great Depression, Icelandic immigration policy generally followed that of Denmark's. In May 1938, Denmark closed its gates to the Austrian Jews and Iceland did the same a few weeks later. In the late 1930s, the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland (the Aid Association of German Jews) wrote a report to the Auswanderberater in Reich on the possibilities of Jewish immigration to Iceland and concluded it was impossible. Several Jews were expelled from Iceland and in the late 1930s Icelandic authorities offered to pay for the further expulsion of Jews to Germany, if the Danish authorities would not take care of them after they had been expelled from Iceland. Otto Weg, a Jewish refugee from Leipzig, was one of the few allowed to stay in Iceland during the war. He wanted to become fully Icelandic, left Judaism and adopted the name Ottó Arnaldur Magnússon. The 1930 census listed no adherents to Judaism. The 1940 census gave their number as 9; 6 men and 3 women.〔http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=106704&pageId=1256378&lang=en〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Jews in Iceland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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