The Jew clause ( no, Jødeparagrafen) is in the vernacular name of the second paragraph of the
Constitution of Norway
nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov
nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov
, jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway
, date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814
, date_ratified =16 May 1814
, system =Constitutional monarchy
, b ...
from 1814 to 1851 and from 1942 to 1945. The clause, in its original form, banned
Jews from entering
Norway, and also forbade
Jesuits and monastic orders. An exception was made for so-called
Portuguese Jews. The penultimate sentence of the same paragraph is known as the
Jesuit clause ( no, Jesuittparagrafen).
The clause roughly translates as:
Christian Magnus Falsen
Christian Magnus Falsen (14 September 1782 – 13 January 1830) was a Norwegian constitutional father, statesman, jurist, and historian. He was an important member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly and was one of the writers of the Consti ...
,
Georg Sverdrup
Georg Sverdrup (born Jørgen Sverdrup; 25 April 1770 – 8 December 1850) was a Norwegian statesman, best known as one of the presidents of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament and ...
and
Nicolai Wergeland
Nicolai Wergeland (9 November 1780 – 25 March 1848) was a Norwegian minister, writer and politician, and a member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll that wrote the Constitution of Norway on 17 May 1814. He was elected as one of ...
were the central delegates behind the wording of the section's final paragraph. The wording was adopted on May 4, 1814. Those behind the law were highly educated and among the country's most well-read men.
This paragraph was finalized in Constitutional Committee and adopted after discussion, but without changes in the plenary.
Background
The paragraph can be seen as a continuation of
Christian V
Christian V (15 April 1646 25 August 1699) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699.
Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the decree ...
's
Norwegian Code
The Norwegian Code ( no, Norske Lov, abbreviated NL) is the oldest part of the Norwegian law still in force, partially in force in Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. It was given by Christian V of (Denmark and) Norway on 15 April 1687 and ent ...
of 1687, which stipulated that no Jews could reside in Norway without a
safe conduct
Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...
, but the wording of the
Constitution was strongly restrictive since the prohibition in the Constitution was absolute and without legal possibilities for exception, for example by safe conduct.
Elsewhere in Europe,
civil rights were on the rise in the
Napoleonic era. Countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Austria and the Netherlands had all liberalized many special restrictions and regulations against Jews between 1782 and 1814. Jews were given the status of guests where they were not given the status of inhabitants or full citizens. However, Norway's Constitution, considered the freest in Europe, became the most anti-Jewish.
Christian V's Norwegian Code of 1687 required Jews seeking entry to the kingdom to have a safe conduct from the King.
Sephardic Jews were admitted. The penalty for violation could be up to a thousand ''riksdaler'' in fines and the informer was rewarded with 50 ''riksdaler''. Converts had access to the country; Isaac Hambro, for example, came from Copenhagen and settled in Bergen as a merchant. In the 18th century, there were a few known cases of Jews being expelled and/or fined. The 1814 law represented a significant injunction.
Intellectual historian bases his thesis on, among other things, a previously unknown note by
Christian Magnus Falsen
Christian Magnus Falsen (14 September 1782 – 13 January 1830) was a Norwegian constitutional father, statesman, jurist, and historian. He was an important member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly and was one of the writers of the Consti ...
on Moses and the Hebrews. Falsen believed that the Jews were not suitable as citizens of states they did not govern themselves. This was a political and not a religious justification according to Harket: it was a notion that the Jews represented a threat to equality, freedom and the unity of the state. The supporters of the clause were
Nicolai Wergeland
Nicolai Wergeland (9 November 1780 – 25 March 1848) was a Norwegian minister, writer and politician, and a member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll that wrote the Constitution of Norway on 17 May 1814. He was elected as one of ...
,
Georg Sverdrup
Georg Sverdrup (born Jørgen Sverdrup; 25 April 1770 – 8 December 1850) was a Norwegian statesman, best known as one of the presidents of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament and ...
and Christian Magnus Falsen. They were well-versed in the history of the Jews given at the time. These notions were supported by
conspiracy theories and fears of "dangerous Jews". Among liberal intellectuals in the wake of the Enlightenment, there was strong skepticism of Judaism because they believed that the Jewish priesthood promoted an unreformed philosophy that kept the Jewish population down in ignorance and poverty. Famous names in the Enlightenment took this stand, not least
Voltaire. Prussian writer , who was central to the debate on the civil rights of Jews in Denmark and Germany, was likely an intellectual role model for Falsen. For Buchholz, it was not a conflict between two religions, but between different paths of development, and Buchholz believed that this problem could only be solved by Jewish girls marrying Christian men, while Jewish men had to be forcibly conscripted into the Prussian army.
According to Harket, it was instead intolerance based on
Enlightenment
Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:
Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
criticism of religion that led to the Jews being explicitly denied access to the kingdom of one of Europe's freest constitutions. In retrospect, the impression was created that the Jew clause was based on ignorance and
religious prejudice
Religious intolerance is intolerance of another's religious beliefs or practices or lack thereof.
Mere statements which are contrary to one's beliefs do not constitute intolerance. Religious intolerance, rather, occurs when a group (e.g., a so ...
. Supporters of the clause pointed out that the country was originally without Jews and they therefore did not think it was intolerant to uphold the ban. They justified it, for instance, with the idea that Jews could never be good citizens of any state where Jews did not rule because of a tendency to form a "state within a state" – an expression derived from the philosopher
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kan ...
.
Hans C. U. Midelfart argued at the
Constituent Assembly in
Eidsvoll against the clause. Theology professor
Johann David Michaelis in
Göttingen argued in the 1700s against equal status for Jews, and both Falsen and Wergeland had Michaelis' anti-Semitic book. Falsen believed that Jews were unfit as citizens of other countries as they had their own law (the
Law of Moses
The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God.
Terminology
The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...
) and therefore could not obtain civil rights in a country where other laws applied. Wergeland likely justified the ban in the interests of confessional unity in the country.
Lauritz Weidemann
Lauritz Weidemann (27 November 1775 – 1 August 1856) was a Norwegian judge, civil servant and politician. He served as county governor for almost 35 years, participated at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in 1814, and was a member of the ...
argued partly antisemitically, believing that the Jews' desire to emerge as a state made them untrustworthy citizens.
Herman Wedel Jarlsberg was partly opposed.
Frode Ulvund writes that
Teis Lundegaard
Theis Jacob Thorkildsen Lundegaard (8 October 1774 – 26 February 1856) was a Norwegian farmer, shipowner and politician. He represented Lister amt (now Vest-Agder) at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in 1814. He was elected to the Parlia ...
probably did not have a significant role as has been suggested.
In the 19th century, the stateless Jews were regarded as a symbolic counterpart to national identity. In the 1875 census, there were only 25 Jews in Norway. Jews were a common theme in ''Morgenbladet'' in the 1800s. It supported the fight against the Jew clause, but was patronizing in its mention of Jews. ''Morgenbladet'' argued in principle against the Jew clause and at the same time warned against the consequences of lifting it.
Henrik Wergeland was also condescending in his mention of two arrested Jews in 1844. He believed that by lifting the clause, many rich, educated and enterprising Jews would come to the country. In addition to this economic argument, he justified the opposition to the paragraph with Christian charity. For Wergeland it was a prerequisite that the Jews were culturally assimilated and that religion be a private matter.
Implementation
The ban on Jews was quickly enforced. By the end of 1814, the first suspected Jews were already being expelled or banished. Four men were exiled from Bergen at the end of 1814 after pressure from the local merchant class. Fear of competition from Jewish merchants was an important driving force behind the enforcement of the clause.
But they were not fined or arrested. Only at the end of the 1820s were the penal provisions of Christian V's Norwegian Code used. In 1822, the king, the government and the
parliament chose to completely ignore that the Constitution was violated. Norway was in financial crisis. A large installment on the national debt to Denmark was due, but Norway could not pay. King
Charles XIV John threatened to put Norway under the Swedish constitution if the installment was not paid. Norwegian independence was in danger. Danish
Joseph Hambro
Joseph Hambro (4 November 1780 – 3 October 1848) was a Danish merchant, banker and political advisor.
Early life
Joseph Hambro was born in 1780 in Copenhagen, Denmark.Andrew St George, 'Hambro, Baron Carl Joachim (1807–1877)', Oxford Dictiona ...
and Swedish Vilhelm Benedicks came to Norway twice that year to negotiate government debt. The former represented the financial house Hambro, the latter the financial house Michaelson & Bendicks. Both were Jews. A state loan from Hambro was the saving grace for Norway. The national debt and the loan crisis led to a pragmatic approach to the Jewish clause, according to historian .
In the difficult years after 1814, Finance Minister Herman Wedel Jarlsberg had tried to borrow money from banks in London. Because of the Jewish clause in the Constitution, he could not get a loan from Rothschild, and Rothschild had convinced the other banks in London to boycott the Norwegian state.
In 1844, Emanuel Philipson and Leon Lopez were arrested in
Christiania (today Oslo) after a raid on Lütken's billiard hall. The police found out that the two had broken the Jew clause. Lopez was released under an exemption for "
Portuguese Jews"; Philipson was imprisoned for 30 days because he could not pay the fine of 800
specidaler (a considerable sum at the time). ''Morgenbladet'' wrote in a commentary that the two had contributed to "reinforcing the rather widespread belief that the country will be overrun by swindlers and fraudsters [] if the ban on Jews entering the kingdom is lifted". was at that time a derogatory term for Jewish itinerant merchants, synonymous with ''swindler''. Andreas Munch wrote a satirical play based on ''Morgenbladet''
's views and polemics with its more liberal competitor, ''
Den Constitutionelle
''Den Constitutionelle'' is a former Norwegian daily newspaper, published in Christiania, Norway from 1836 to 1847.
History and profile
''Den Constitutionelle'' was founded in 1836 by bookseller Johan Fjeldsted Dahl
Johan Anthon Abraham Fjel ...
''.
Adolph Tidemand drew the caricature "" ('the Jews' reception in Christiania') based on the episode. Henrik Wergeland expressed no sympathy for the two, whom he described as "scoundrels of Jews".
Debate and decision at Eidsvoll
It was long believed that the ban on Jews in Norway was included in the Constitution at the request of "reactionary forces in the populace";
though there is little documented from the discussion within the constitutional committee, it now appears that the ban was driven forward by Falsen, Sverdrup and Wergeland.
Wergeland had his own draft constitution and the Jew clause was the only one where he was in full agreement with Sverdrup and Falsen. It was neither the peasants nor the merchant class who were the instigators, but the most influential intellectuals who dominated the constitutional committee, according to intellectual historian Håkon Harket.
Wedel Jarlsberg spoke to a certain extent for the Jews' cause at Eidsvoll, while
Arnoldus Koren demanded full religious freedom. Koren was the one who argued most strongly against the clause. Hans Midelfart stressed that it was inhuman and intolerant to exclude a large group on the basis of religious differences, and Midelfart opposed the clause. Wedel Jarlsberg and Midelfart argued against the paragraph because they believed it was contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.
Priests
Jonas Rein
Jonas Rein (30 January 1760 – 21 November 1821) was a Norwegian priest, poet and member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814.
Background
He was born at Øksendal in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. He was the son of parish prie ...
and
Peter Hount also argued against the clause. Hount said that the paragraph was abhorrently intolerant as the Jews were given "no place to dwell on God's green earth". Wedel Jarlsberg also thought that the paragraph was illiberal. Hount wanted exemptions for particularly affluent Jews.
Peter Motzfeldt
Peter Motzfeldt (3 August 1777 – 1 April 1854) was a Norwegian Military Officer and Government Minister. He served as a member of the Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814.
Background
Motzfeldt was born at Orkdal in Sør-Trøndelag, Nor ...
argued on the grounds of confessional unity and he believed the Jews could not assimilate. Several comments in the debate claimed that they were not afraid of the Jews' religion. Some arguments were economic, including that some Jews made a living as itinerant traders. It was presumably the chairman of the assembly,
Peder Anker, who asked all supporters of the clause to stand up. When the majority was clearly evident,
Christian VIII
Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814.
Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Frederi ...
noted in the register that politics prevailed over tolerance. The ban on Jews was originally formulated as an exception to the main rule of freedom of religion.
The paragraph was finalized in the constitutional committee and adopted after discussion but without amendment in plenary.
Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie, cousin of Arnoldus Korens also made an
interpellation at the same time which led to
Jesuits and monastic orders also being included in the clause.
It has been argued that representative
John Moses, who came from a British merchant family in
Kristiansund, likely had Jewish ancestry. Moses may have been of Jewish descent although there is no definitive information; the families may have come from the so-called Portuguese Jews ( cites
Oskar Mendelsohn).
Four attempts at repeal
Heinrich Nordahl Glogau was the first to publicly criticize the clause and thought it should be removed. Glogau, who had converted to Christianity and become a merchant in Bergen, reacted to an anti-Jewish article in the newspaper. In 1817, Glogau openly criticized Falsen in the journal , where Falsen was editor. In 2018, the Møhlenpris stairway in Bergen was given the name Heinrich Glogau's stairway.
With his poem "" ('The Jews') in 1836, Andreas Munch distanced himself from the clause:
Henrik Wergeland first raised the issue of amending the Constitution (§ 2) in ''
Statsborgeren'' in 1837. In 1839 Wergeland sent a proposal for a constitutional amendment to parliament. The proposal was sponsored by Søren Anton Wilhelm Sørensen, President of the Parliament, and presented on 28 June 1839. Henrik later convinced his father Nicolai, the clause's architect, to work for its repeal.
The first attempt to repeal the clause came in 1842, 20 years after the Hambro loan had been negotiated. In this conjunction, Henrik Wergeland had published the poetry collection ('The Jew') and had it sent to every member of parliament before the first vote was taken to repeal the clause.
In the constitutional committee's statement on the matter in 1842, a translation was made and quoted from a German encyclopedia which gave a somewhat complimentary account of Norway's attitude towards the Jews:
In the press and in Parliament there was extensive argumentation against the proposal, often economically justified. Politician
Peder Jensen Fauchald
Peder Jensen Fauchald (15 November 1791 – 1 July 1856) was a Norway, Norwegian politician.
He was elected to the Storting, Norwegian Parliament in 1830, 1833, 1836, 1839, 1842 1845, 1848 and 1851, representing the rural constituency of ''Chri ...
, school principal
Hans Holmboe, and others also fought for its repeal. In the vote, 51 voted in favor of the committee recommendation to remove the Jewish clause, 43 against. This was not the necessary two-thirds majority required by constitutional amendments, and the proposal failed.
Henrik Wergeland continued to work for the cause until his death in 1845. The same year, the proposal failed for a second time, and in 1848 for a third time. At the fourth hearing in Parliament, the constitutional amendment was adopted on June 13, 1851. It was ratified by the king on July 21. Legislation based on the Jew clause was then adapted, and finally, on September 24, 1851, the king enacted (the Law on the Repeal of the Hitherto Existing Prohibition of Jews Entering the Kingdom, etc.) Jews were thus awarded religious rights on par with Christian
dissenters.
The Occupation and the Jew clause
During the
Second World War,
Vidkun Quisling's
Nasjonal Samling regime reintroduced the clause on March 12, 1942. The amendment was signed on March 12, 1942 by Quisling,
Sverre Riisnæs
Sverre Parelius Riisnæs (6 November 1897 - 21 June 1988) was a Norwegian jurist and public prosecutor. He was a member of the collaborationist government ''Nasjonal Samling'' in occupied Norway during World War II and a ''Standartenführer'' (Colo ...
and
Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang
Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang (31 January 1909, Fredrikstad – 25 November 1988) was a Norwegian secretary to the Nasjonal Samling government of Vidkun Quisling 1940–1941 and minister 1941–1942 and 1942–1945. He was also President of the 1943–1 ...
. The clause then remained in place until the liberation in 1945. Quisling was convicted of illegal amendment of the Constitution after the war.
Other excluded persons
Monastic orders were allowed to enter the country in 1897, while the Jesuits had to wait until 1956, when Norway was going to ratify the
European Convention on Human Rights. A minority in the Parliament voted against, including
C. J. Hambro
Carl Joachim Hambro (5 January 1885 – 15 December 1964) was a Norwegian journalist, author and leading politician representing the Conservative Party. A ten-term member of the Parliament of Norway, Hambro served as President of the Parliament f ...
(
Conservative Party) and
Lars Elisæus Vatnaland
Lars Elisæus Vatnaland (18 April 1892 – 9 March 1983) is a Norwegian politician for the Farmer's Party.
He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Rogaland in 1945, and was re-elected on three occasions. He had previously served in th ...
(
Bondepartiet) and
Erling Wikborg
Erling Wikborg (5 November 1894 – 6 April 1992) was a Norwegian politician for the Christian Democratic Party.
He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1945, and was re-elected from Oslo on two occasions.
Wikborg held ...
(
Christian Democratic Party).
Opposition was strong in some Christian circles, with theologian as a key spokesman.
Later sections on religious freedom
In 1964, paragraph 2 was amended again, this time by adding the right to free exercise of religion. The paragraph read:
On May 21, 2012, the paragraph was amended again by removing the reference to the state's public religion, and the amended paragraph § 2 reads:The provision on freedom of religion was moved to § 16:
See also
*
History of the Jews in Norway
The history of Jews in Norway dates back to the 1400s. Although there were very likely Jewish merchants, sailors and others who entered Norway during the Middle Ages, no efforts were made to establish a Jewish community. Through the early mod ...
*
Freedom of religion in Norway
While the constitution of Norway establishes that the King of Norway must be Evangelical Lutheran, it also establishes that all individuals have the right to exercise their religion. The government's policies generally support the free practice ...
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
** Three comedies dealt with the clause: ''Jøden'' (ca. 1844) by Andreas Munch, ''En Jøde i Mandal'' (1849) by Adolph Rosenkilde, and ''Den første Jøde'' (1852) by Christian Rasmus Hansson
{{History of the Jews in Europe
Antisemitism in Norway
Jewish Norwegian history
Expulsions of Jews
Constitution of Norway
1814 in Norway
Religious expulsion orders
Legal history of Norway
Law of Norway