At Last: A Jewish Museum in Denmark

Abstract

Denmark is probably the last country in Europe to get a Jewish museum. This might seem surprising, considering the Danish efforts on behalf of Jewish citizens during the Second World War. But it also suggests that it has not been felt necessary to have a museum for an integrated minority. Among the reasons for establishing a Jewish museum two stand out. The demography of Europe has changed, with the immigration of relatively large groups of people with a different ethnic and religious background creating conflicts in society and being a constant subject of debate on national and political levels. This has persuaded the Danish Jewish community admittedly far fewer in number than the new minorities to conclude that the time has come to show how a population group, which in certain aspects was different, was integrated without becoming assimilated. Another obvious reason has been the desire to exhibit the collection of Danish Jewish works of art