Before

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s were a significant part of the population in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

where they numbered around 240,000, including approximately 100,000 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, or about 45% of that city's pre-World War II population (Vilnius was also once known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania"). A large Jewish community also existed in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. In comparison,

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

have had much smaller communities, concentrated mostly in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The following is a list of prominent North European Jews, arranged by country of origin:

Denmark

Victor Bendix Victor Emanuel Bendix (17 May 1851 in Copenhagen – January 1926) was a Danish composer, conductor and pianist, who came from a Jewish family. His teachers included Niels Gade. He was also a friend of Carl Nielsen, who dedicated his Symph ...

, composer, conductor and pianist *

Susanne Bier Susanne Bier (; born 15 April 1960) is a Danish filmmaker. She is best known for her feature films ''Brothers'' (2004), '' After the Wedding'' (2006), ''In a Better World'' (2010), and '' Bird Box'' (2018), and the TV miniseries ''The Night Mana ...

, film director *

Kim Bodnia Kim Bodnia (born 12 April 1965) is a Danish actor, writer, and director. He became widely known for his role as police detective Martin Rohde in the Scandinavian crime drama series '' The Bridge''. He became internationally known for his lead role ...

, actor *

Harald Bohr Harald August Bohr (22 April 1887 – 22 January 1951) was a Danish mathematician and footballer. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of almost periodic functions. His brother was the No ...

, mathematician and footballer (Jewish mother) *

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...

, physicist, Nobel Prize (1922) (Jewish mother) *

Victor Borge Børge Rosenbaum (3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the North America and Europe. His ...

, entertainer *

Edvard Brandes Carl Edvard Cohen Brandes (21 October 1847, in Copenhagen – 20 December 1931, in Copenhagen) was a Danish politician, critic and author, and the younger brother of Georg Brandes and Ernst Brandes. He had a Ph.D. in eastern philology. Biography ...

, politician, critic and author, minister of finance from 1909 to 1910 * Ernst Brandes, economist and editor *

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

, author and critic, father of Danish naturalism *

Marcus Choleva Marcus Choleva (born 12 April 1933) is a Danish businessman. He was CEO of KFI (Købmændenes Finansieringsinstitut) from 1970 until 2012. Early life and education Marcus Choleva was born on 12 April 1933 in the Frederiksberg district of Copenh ...

, chief executive officer of KFI *

Dagmar Cohn Dagmar Freuchen-Gale (June 30, 1907 – March 9, 1991) was a Danish illustrator, writer and editor. Early life and education Freuchen-Gale was born Dagmar Cohn in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, to Hans Cohn and Betty Johanne Neustadt. Her parents w ...

, illustrator *

Meïr Aron Goldschmidt Meïr Aron Goldschmidt (October 26, 1819 – August 15, 1887) was a Danish publisher, journalist and novelist. He was the founding editor of the satirical and political magazine ''Corsaren''. Biography Goldschmidt was born in Vordingborg, ...

, author and editor *

Heinrich Hirschsprung Heinrich Hirschsprung (7 February 1836 – 8 November 1908) was a Danish tobacco manufacturer, arts patron and art collector most known for founding the Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen, a museum dedicated to Danish art from the 19th and ...

, industrialist, art patron (''Den Hirschsprungske Samling'') *

Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA () 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple we ...

, architect and designer (Jewish mother) *

Abraham Kurland Abraham Kurland (10 June 1912 – 14 March 1999) was a Danish Olympic silver medalist wrestler. Kurland won 12 Denmark championships from 1932-49, won a silver medal in lightweight Greco Roman wrestling at the 1932 Olympics and a gold medal i ...

, Olympic wrestling medalist *

Arne Melchior Arne Melchior (22 October 1924 – 24 September 2016) was a Danish politician of Jewish descent and supporter of Jewish causes. He was the son of Marcus Melchior. Melchior was active in the Social Democratic Party but left this party in 1973 to co ...

, politician and former Transport Minister and Minister for Communication and Tourism *

Marcus Melchior Marcus Melchior (1897 – 1969) was the rabbi of the main synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the time of the rescue of the Danish Jews in October 1943, during the Second World War. After escaping with his family and other Danish Jews to Sweden, ...

, chief rabbi of Denmark, father of Arne Melchior *

Michael Melchior Michael Melchior ( he, מיכאל מלכיאור; born January 31, 1954) is a Jewish leader, Orthodox rabbi, thinker, and activist. He is a former Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs, a former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a former m ...

, rabbi and Israeli politician *

Ivan Osiier Dr. Ivan Joseph Martin Osiier (December 16, 1888 – December 23, 1965), was a Danish Olympic medalist, and world champion, fencer who fenced foil, épée, and saber. He was given the Olympic Diploma of Merit during his career. He is also on ...

, seven-time Olympic fencer *

Lee Oskar Lee Oskar (born 24 March 1948) is a Danish harmonica player, notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which was formed by Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown, his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer. H ...

, harmonica player, member of

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

Herbert Pundik Herbert Pundik or Nahum Pundak ( he, נחום פונדק; September 23, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was a Danish-Israeli journalist and author. He worked for the newspaper Information and as a correspondent for Danmarks Radio. Since 1965, he worked ...

, journalist *

Raquel Rastenni Raquel Rastenni (21 August 1915 – 17 August 1998), born Anna Rachel Rastén, was a popular Danish-Russian singer. She was born in Copenhagen, and grew up in an apartment in the poor part of the city. Her Jewish parents immigrated to Denmark from R ...

, jazz and popular singer *

Edgar Rubin Edgar John Rubin (September 6, 1886 – May 3, 1951) was a Danish psychologist/ phenomenologist, remembered for his work on figure-ground perception as seen in such optical illusions like the Rubin vase. Born to Jewish parents, Rubin was bor ...

, Gestalt psychologist *

Dan Zahavi Dan Zahavi (born 1967) is a Danish philosopher. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at University of Copenhagen. Biography Dan Zahavi was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Israeli father and a Danish mother. He initially studied phenomenolog ...

, philosopher *

Nikolaj Znaider Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider (born 5 July 1975 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish violinist and conductor. Biography Szeps-Znaider was born in Copenhagen to Polish-Jewish parents. His father had originally emigrated from Poland to Israel, and his moth ...

, violinist, conductor

Estonia

* Jüri Alperten (1957–2020), conductor, pianist and music teacher *

Eino Baskin Eino Baskin (17 June 1929 – 11 March 2015) was an Estonian actor and theatre director. Baskin was born in Tallinn to Jewish parents Hirsch and Maria Baskin (née Raage). In 1951 he graduated from before becoming engaged at the Estonian Drama T ...

(1929–2015), actor and theatre director * Avi Benjamin (born 1959), composer *

Ben Berlin Ben Berlin (born Hermann Biek; 1896–1944) was a jazz musician born in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia) in 1896. He married composer Vera Vinogradova around 1920 and they had two children, Leopold and Nina. Berlin founded the Ben Berlin Dance Orchest ...

(1896–1944), jazz musician * Maria Dangell (born 1974), singer and pianist * Aaron Feinstein, chess player * Moses Wolf Goldberg (1905–1964), chemist * Heinrich Gutkin (1879–1941), businessman and politician * Idel Jakobson (1904–1997), NKVD investigator *

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...

(1901–1974), architect *

Eri Klas Eri Klas (7 June 1939 – 26 February 2016) was an Estonian conductor. Klas was born into a Jewish family in Tallinn. His mother was pianist Anna Klas. His father, Eduard Klas, was killed in 1941, during the Holocaust.''Eesti Entsüklopeedia ...

(1939–2016), conductor *

Mihhail Lotman Mihhail Lotman (born September 2, 1952 in Leningrad) is an Estonian literature researcher and politician, son of Juri Lotman and Zara Mints. Mihhail Lotman's research fields include general semiotics and semiotics of culture as well as text theo ...

(born 1952), philologist and politician *

Juri Lotman Juri Lotman (russian: Ю́рий Миха́йлович Ло́тман; 28 February 1922 – 28 October 1993) was a prominent Russian-Estonian literary scholar, semiotician, and historian of Russian culture, who worked at the University of Tart ...

(1922–1993), semiotician *

Zara Mints Zara Grigoryevna Mints (russian: Зара Григорьевна Минц; July 24, 1927 – October 25, 1990) was a Slavic literary scientist active in the University of Tartu. She was the wife of Juri Lotman. Mints was born in Pskov, but th ...

(1927–1990), literary scientist * Vladimir Padwa (1900–1981), pianist and composer *

Ita Saks Ita Saks (3 December 1921 – 23 March 2003) was an Estonian translator and publicist. She is mainly known by her Latvian-language translations to Estonian language. Saks was born into a Jewish family in Valga. From 1950 until 1956, she studied E ...

(1921–2003), translator and publicist * Hagi Šein (born 1945), journalist, film director, screenwriter and professor *

Benno Schotz Benno Schotz (28 August 1891 Arensburg, Livonia, Russian Empire – 11 October 1984 Glasgow, Scotland) was an Estonian-born Scottish sculptor, and one of twentieth century Scotland's leading artists. Biography Early life Schotz was the y ...

(1891–1984), sculptor *

Samuel H. Shapiro Samuel Harvey Shapiro (born Israel Shapiro; April 25, 1907 – March 16, 1987) was the 34th governor of Illinois, serving from 1968 to 1969. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Life and career Born in 1907 in the Governorate of Eston ...

(1907–1987), politician * Emmanuel Steinschneider (1886–1970), physician * Leonid Stolovich (1929–2013), philosopher * David Vseviov (born 1949), historian

Finland

Mathilda Berwald Mathilda Charlotta Berwald, née ''Cohen (surname), Cohn'' (9 March 1798 in Helsinki in Finland – 3 May 1877 in Stockholm),svar.ra.seHedvig Eleonora döda/ref> was a Finnish and Swedish people, Swedish concert singer. She was later appointed offi ...

, singer *

Max Dimont Max Isaac Dimont (August 12, 1912 – March 25, 1992) was a Finnish American Jewish historian, lecturer, publicist, and writer. Early life Dimont was born into a Jewish family on August 12, 1912 in Helsinki, Finland, one of five children. Some ...

, historian and author *

Ida Ekman Ida Paulina Ekman (22 April 187514 April 1942) was a Finnish soprano singer. She was also referred to as Ida Morduch-Ekman. Her career was mainly in oratorio and lieder, and she was a renowned interpreter of the songs of Jean Sibelius, many of whi ...

, soprano singer * Abba Gindin, Finnish-born Israeli football player *

Kim Hirschovits Kim Michael Hirschovits-Gerz (born 9 May 1982) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward and sports manager of Kiekko-Espoo in the Mestis. During his playing career, he skated in the Finnish Liiga (called SM-liiga until 2013) with HI ...

, ice hockey player * Ruben Jaari, businessman *

Max Jakobson Max Jakobson (September 30, 1923 – March 9, 2013) was a Finnish diplomat and journalist of Finnish-Jewish descent. Jakobson was an instrumental figure in shaping Finland's policy of neutrality during the Cold War. Max Jakobson was born i ...

, diplomat *

Wolf Karni Wolf Waldemar Karni (4 February 1911 – 31 January 1996) was a Finnish football referee. Karni was born as Ze'ev Wulf Koseloff and changed his name in 1935. He used to play football and handball in the Jewish clubs Kadur Vyborg and Makkabi H ...

, football referee * Daniel Katz, writer *

Elias Katz Elias Katz (June 22, 1901 – December 26, 1947) was a Finnish track and field athlete, who competed mainly in the 3000 metres steeplechase. Katz was born in Turku to a Jewish family. He frequented local nightclubs, participated in dance mar ...

, athlete, Olympic medalist *

Salomon Klass Salomon Klass (17 April 1907 – 22 March 1985) was a captain in the Finnish Army, a company commander and one of the three Finnish Jews who were nominated to be awarded the Iron Cross by Nazi Germany during World War II, all of whom refused to ...

(1907–1985), Finnish Army captain *

Roni Porokara Roni Porokara (born 12 December 1983) is a Finnish former international footballer. Club career FC Hämeenlinna On 15 May 2003, at age 19, Roni Porokara made his league debut in a match between FC Hämeenlinna and KuPS. During his two-ye ...

, football player * Boris Rotenberg, football player *

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945 in Helsinki) is a Finnish pop singer. She is known for having represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1973. Her 1962 Eurovision song placed 7th, and in 1973, she managed to bring Finland's ...

, pop singer *

Elis Sella Elis Sella (25 September 1930 Viipuri, Finland – 8 December 1992 ) was a Finnish actor. Sella's father was History of Jews in Poland, Polish-Jewish and mother Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian-Jewish. He was married to actress Seela Sella. The couple ...

, actor *

Seela Sella Seela Maini Marjatta Sella (née Virtanen, b. 30 December 1936) is a Finnish film actress. She was born in Tampere, Finland. During her career, which has spanned more than 60 years to date, Seela Sella has had roles in productions at the Finnis ...

, actress *

Mauritz Stiller Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Swedish film director of Finnish Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller had been a pioneer of the Swedish film ...

, director *

Uniikki Dan Ahti Tolppanen (born 11 June 1981) is a Finnish rapper, better known by his stage name Uniikki (meaning unique). He is the co-founder in of Rähinä Records (founded in 1998) with Elastinen, Iso H, Andu and Tasis. Uniikki was born to a Jewi ...

, rapper *

Sam Vanni Sam Vanni (till 1941 Samuel Besprosvanni; 6 July 1908 – 20 October 1992) was a Finnish painter. He is considered to be the pioneer of abstract art in Finland.Poju Zabludowicz Chaim "Poju" Zabludowicz (born 6 April 1953) is a Finnish-born British billionaire businessman, art collector and philanthropist.Midgley, Dominic (5 March 2010)"FINN CITY..." ''Highbeam Business'' (London). Retrieved 23 June 2013. Early life a ...

, business magnate *

Ben Zyskowicz Ben Berl Zyskowicz (born 24 May 1954) is a Finnish politician and member of parliament. Zyskowicz was chairman of the Finnish National Coalition Party's (Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus) parliamentary group from 1993 to 2006, and has been a member o ...

, conservative leader

Iceland

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...

, pianist *

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

, chess player (Jewish mother, but did not self-identify as a Jew; American expatriate, Icelandic) *

Dorrit Moussaieff Dorrit Moussaieff ( he, דורית מוסאיוף, born 12 January 1950) is an Israeli jewellery designer, editor, and businesswoman who was the First Lady of Iceland from 2003 to 2016. She became engaged to President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson ...

First Lady of Iceland This is a list of spouses and partners of Icelandic presidents. Eliza Reid is the spouse of incumbent president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson. List † – denotes that the person died while the president was in office References {{First Lad ...

* Sruli Recht, award-winning designer

Latvia

Elya Baskin Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books o ...

, actor *

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, historian of ideas *

Lipman Bers Lipman Bers ( Latvian: ''Lipmans Berss''; May 22, 1914 – October 29, 1993) was a Latvian-American mathematician, born in Riga, who created the theory of pseudoanalytic functions and worked on Riemann surfaces and Kleinian groups. He was also kn ...

, mathematician and activist *

David Bezmozgis David Bezmozgis ( lv, Dāvids Bezmozgis; born 1973) is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, currently the head of Humber College's School for Writers. Life and career Educational background Born in Riga, Latvia, he came to Canada with his family ...

, author *

Boris Brutskus Boris (Ber) Davydovich Brutskus (russian: Борис (Бер) Давыдович Бруцкус, he, בוריס (בר/דּוֹב) בֶּן־דָּוִד ברוצקוס, german: Boris Brutzkus; October 15/October 3 (Russian information), 1874 – ...

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...

, film director *

Movsas Feigins Movsas Feigins or Movša Feigin (28 February 1908 – 11 August 1950) was a Latvian chess master. Biography Movsas Feigins was born in Dvinsk (then Russian Empire, now Daugavpils, Latvia). He won at Riga 1930, and was Latvian Champion in 1932 (aft ...

, chess player *

Morris Halle Morris Halle (; July 23, 1923 – April 2, 2018) was a Latvian-American, Latvian-born Jewish United States, American Linguistics, linguist who was an Institute Professor, and later professor emeritus, of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute ...

, linguist *

Philippe Halsman Philippe Halsman ( lv, Filips Halsmans, german: Philipp Halsmann; 2 May 1906 – 25 June 1979) was an American portrait photographer. He was born in Riga in the part of the Russian Empire which later became Latvia, and died in New York City. Li ...

, photographer *

Joseph Hirshhorn Joseph Herman Hirshhorn (August 11, 1899 – August 31, 1981) was an entrepreneur, financier, and art collector. Biography Born in Mitau, Latvia, the twelfth of thirteen children, Hirshhorn emigrated to the United States with his widowed moth ...

, financier and philanthropist *

Abraham Zevi Idelsohn Abraham Zevi Idelsohn ( he, אַבְרָהָם צְבִי אידלסון ''Avrohom Tzvi Idelsohn'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew; middle name also rendered ''Tzvi'', ''Zvi'', ''Zwi'', or ''Zebi''; June 11, 1882 – August 14, 1938) was a prominent Jewish ...

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originat ...

ologist *

Hermann Jadlowker Herman (Hermann) Jadlowker (17 July 1877, in Riga – 13 May 1953, in Tel Aviv) was a leading Latvian-born tenor of Russian (later Israeli) nationality who enjoyed an important international career during the first quarter of the 20th century. ...

, musician (born at Riga) *

Mariss Jansons Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019) was a Latvian conductor best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he was ...

, conductor (Jewish mother) *

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...

, comic book illustrator *

Alexander Koblencs Alexander Koblencs ( lv, Aleksandrs Koblencs, russian: Александр Кобленц; 3 September 1916, Riga – 9 December 1993, Berlin) was a Latvian chess master, trainer, and writer. He is best known as the trainer of the 1960-61 World Ch ...

, chess player *

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one ...

, rabbi *

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holoc ...

, violinist; father was a Jewish Holocaust survivor *

Nechama Leibowitz Nechama Leibowitz ( he, נחמה ליבוביץ׳; September 3, 1905 – April 12, 1997 ) was a noted Israeli Bible scholar and commentator who rekindled interest in Bible study. Biography Nechama Leibowitz was born to an Orthodox Jewish fami ...

Yeshayahu Leibowitz Yeshayahu Leibowitz ( he, ישעיהו ליבוביץ; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew ...

Hermanis Matisons Hermanis Matisons (german: Herman Mattison; 1894, Riga – 1932) was a Latvian chess player and one of world's most highly regarded chess masters in the early 1930s. He was also a leading composer of endgame studies. He died of tuberculosis at ...

, chess player *

Mischa Maisky Mischa Maisky ( lv, Miša Maiskis, he, מישה מייסקי, russian: Миша Майский; born 10 January 1948) is a Soviet-born Israeli cellist. Biography Mischa Maisky was born in 1948 in Riga and is the younger brother of organist, har ...

, cellist *

Solomon Mikhoels Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels ( yi, שלמה מיכאעלס lso spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, – 13 January 1948) was a Latvian born Soviet Jewish actor and the art ...

, actor *

Aron Nimzowitsch Aron Nimzowitsch ( lv, Ārons Nimcovičs, russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimz ...

, chess player *

Arkady Raikin Arkady Isaakovich Raikin (russian: Аркадий Исаакович Райкин; – 17 December 1987) was a Soviet stand-up comedian, theater and film actor, and stage director. He led the school of Soviet and Russian humorists for about hal ...

, performing artist *

Yosef Rosen Joseph Rosen (Yiddish: יוסף ראָזין, ''Yosef Rosin''; 1858 – 5 March 1936) known as the Rogatchover Gaon (Genius of Rogachev) and Tzofnath Paneach (Decipherer of Secrets—the title of his main work), was a rabbi and one of the mo ...

, der

Rogatchover Gaon Joseph Rosen (Yiddish: יוסף ראָזין, ''Yosef Rosin''; 1858 – 5 March 1936) known as the Rogatchover Gaon (Genius of Rogachev) and Tzofnath Paneach (Decipherer of Secrets—the title of his main work), was a rabbi and one of the mo ...

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

, painter *

Judith Shklar Judith Nisse Shklar (September 24, 1928 – September 17, 1992) was a philosopher and political theorist who studied the history of political thought, notably that of the Enlightenment period. She was appointed the John Cowles Professor of Govern ...

, political philosopher *

Meir Simcha of Dvinsk Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (1843–1926) was a rabbi and prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. He was a kohen, and is therefore often referred to as ''Meir Simcha ha-Kohen'' ("Meir Simcha the Kohen"). He is k ...

, rabbi *

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

, world chess champion *

Max Weinreich Max Weinreich ( yi, מאַקס ווײַנרײַך ''Maks Vaynraych''; russian: Мейер Лазаревич Вайнрайх, ''Meyer Lazarevich Vaynraykh''; 22 April 1894, Goldingen, Russian Empire – 29 January 1969, New York City) was a Russ ...

, linguist

Lithuania

Semyon Alapin Semyon Zinovyevich Alapin (russian: Семён Зиновьевич Алапин; – 15 July 1923) was a Russian chess player, openings analyst, and puzzle composer. He was also a linguist, railway engineer and a grain commodities merchant. B ...

(1856–1923), chess player *

Mark Antokolsky Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (russian: Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский; 2 November 18409 July 1902) was a Russian Imperial sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Biography Mordukh Matysovich Antokolsky''Boris Schatz: The ...

(1840–1902), sculptor to Tzar

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Gra ...

Moshe Arens Moshe Arens (27 December 1925 – 7 January 2019) was an Israeli aeronautical engineer, researcher, diplomat and Likud politician. A member of the Knesset between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served as Minister of Defense th ...

(1925–2019), former Minister of Defence and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel * Aaron Barak (born 1936), President of the Supreme Court of Israel *

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...

(1915–2005), writer and laureate of the

Nobel Prize for Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

(1976) *

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Eliezer Ben‑Yehuda ( he, אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֵּן־יְהוּדָה}; ; born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman, 7 January 1858 – 16 December 1922) was a Russian–⁠Jewish linguist, grammarian, and journalist, renowned as the lexicographer of ...

(1858–1922), reviver of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large h ...

(1865–1959), art critic *

Izis Bidermanas Israëlis Bidermanas (17 January 1911 – 16 May 1980 in Paris), who worked under the name of Izis, was a Lithuanian-Jewish photographer who worked in France and is best known for his photographs of French circuses and of Paris. Biography Born in ...

(1911–1980), photographer *

Reuben Asher Braudes Reuben Asher Braudes ( he, רְאוּבֵן אָשֵׁר בּראודס; russian: Реувен Ашер Браудес; 22 September 1851, Vilnius, Vilna – 18 October 1902, Vienna) was a Lithuania-born Hebrew literature, Hebrew novelist and jou ...

(1851–1902), Hebrew-language novelist and journalist *

Victor David Brenner Victor David Brenner (born Avigdor David Brenner; June 12, 1871 – April 5, 1924) was an American sculptor, engraver, and medalist known primarily as the designer of the United States Lincoln Cent. Biography Brenner was born to Jewish parents ...

(1871–1924), designer of the

US penny The cent, the United States one-cent coin (symbol: ¢), often called the "penny", is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition o ...

Eli Broad Eli Broad ( ; June 6, 1933April 30, 2021) was an American businessman and philanthropist. In June 2019, ''Forbes'' ranked him as the 233rd-wealthiest person in the world and the 78th-wealthiest in the United States, with an estimated net worth of ...

(1933–2021), American philanthropist and investor; founder of

KB Home KB Home is a homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad in Detroit, Michigan. It was the first company to be traded on the NYSE as a home builder and was a Fortune 500 company from 2000 through 2008. Its ...

* Sir

Montague Burton Sir Montague Maurice Burton (15 August 1885 – 21 September 1952) was the founder of Burton Menswear, one of Britain's largest chains of clothes shops. Early life Born Meshe David Osinsky and a Lithuanian Jew in Kurkliai, Kaunas provinc ...

, British retailer *

Abraham Cahan Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of ''The Forward'' (), a ...

(1860–1951), writer and activist *

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

(1934–2016), musician, poet *

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

(born 1943), film director *

Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892 – 31 December 1953) was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Jewish philosopher of the 20th century. He is best known for being the ''mashgiach ruchani'' ("spiritual counselor") of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Is ...

(1892–1953), rabbi, Talmudic scholar * Simeon Dimanstein (1886–1938), Soviet Commissar of Nationalities *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

(born 1941), singer-songwriter, artist, writer *

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

(1891–1967), one of the most prolific and well-known writers during the Soviet Union * Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Orthodox Judaism leader *

Vyacheslav Ganelin Vyacheslav (Slava) Ganelin ( he, ויאצ'סלב (סלבה) גנלין , lt, Viačeslavas Ganelinas, russian: Вячеслав Шевелевич Гане́лин; born 17 December 1944) is a Lithuanian–Israeli jazz pianist, composer, and ped ...

(born 1944), jazz musician * Sara Ginaite (born 1924), former resistance fighter, now Canadian academic *

Romain Gary Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew (, and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar), was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt under two names. He i ...

, novelist, the Prix Goncourt (twice) *

Morris Ginsberg Morris Ginsberg FBA (14 May 1889 – 31 August 1970) was a British sociologist, who played a key role in the development of the discipline. He served as editor of ''The Sociological Review'' in the 1930s and later became the founding chairma ...

, sociologist *

Louis Ginzberg Louis Ginzberg ( he, לוי גינצבורג, ''Levy Gintzburg''; russian: Леви Гинцберг, ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish desce ...

, scholar of the Talmud *

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

, music composer *

Leah Goldberg Leah Goldberg or Lea Goldberg ( he, לאה גולדברג; May 29, 1911, Königsberg – January 15, 1970, Jerusalem) was a prolific Hebrew-language poet, author, playwright, literary translator, and comparative literary researcher. Her writ ...

, poet *

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

, political activist *

Nahum Goldmann Nahum Goldmann ( he, נחום גולדמן) (July 10, 1895 – August 29, 1982) was a leading Zionist. He was a founder of the World Jewish Congress and its president from 1951 to 1978, and was also president of the World Zionist Organization from ...

, world Jewish leader *

Chaim Grade Chaim Grade ( yi, חיים גראַדע) (April 4, 1910 – June 26, 1982) was one of the leading Yiddish writers of the twentieth century. Grade was born in Vilnius, Russian Empire and died in The Bronx, New York (state), New York. He is buried ...

, writer *

Iosif Grigulevich Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich (russian: Иосиф Ромуальдович Григулевич; May 5, 1913 – June 2, 1988) was a Soviet secret police (NKVD) operative active between 1937 and 1953, when he played a role in assassination plots ...

, secret agent, historian *

Zvi Griliches Hirsh Zvi Griliches ( ; 12 September 1930 – 4 November 1999) was an economist at Harvard University. The works by Zvi Griliches mostly concerned the economics of technological change, including empirical studies of diffusion of innovations and ...

, economist * Shira Gorshman, Zionist pioneer, writer *

Aryeh Leib ben Asher Gunzberg Aryeh Leib ben Asher Ginzburg (or Wallerstein) ( he, אריה ליב גינסבורג) ( 1695 – June 23, 1785), also known as the Shaagas Aryeh, was a Lithuanian rabbi and author. Life Born in Lithuania, c. 1695, he was a Rabbinical casuist. ...

, rabbi *

Bernard Lown Bernard Lown (June 7, 1921February 16, 2021) was a Lithuanian-American cardiologist and inventor. Lown was the original developer of the direct current defibrillator for cardiac resuscitation, and the cardioverter for correcting rapid disordered h ...

, scientist, Nobel prize winner *

Aron Gurwitsch Aron Gurwitsch (russian: Аро́н Гу́рвич; 17 January 1901, Vilnius, Vilna Governorate – 25 June 1973, Zurich) was a Litvak American phenomenologist. Work Gurwitsch wrote on the relations between phenomenology and Gestalt psychology ...

, philosopher *

Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...

, actor *

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

(1901–1987), widely regarded as the greatest violinist of the 20th century *

Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor' ...

, political activist *

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Lithuanian Yiddish, Litvak accent. He is ...

(1895–1955), comedian and actor *

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

(1897–1975), comedian and actor *

Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...

(1903–1952), comedian and actor * Jay M. Ipson, founder of the

Virginia Holocaust Museum The Virginia Holocaust Museum (VHM) is a public history museum located in Richmond, Virginia, United States. The museum is dedicated to depicting the Holocaust through the personal stories of its victims. History The VHM first opened in 1997, fou ...

Leo Jogiches Leon "Leo" Jogiches (Russian: Лев "Лео" Йогихес; 17 July 1867 – 10 March 1919), also commonly known by the party name Jan Tyszka, was a Polish Marxist revolutionary and politician, active in Poland, Lithuania, and Germany. Jogiche ...

, revolutionary *

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

, singer, comedian, and actor * Berek Joselewicz, colonel of the Polish Army *

Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan (6 June 1915 – 18 January 1995) was a Lithuanian-British industrialist and the founder of Kagan Textiles, of Elland, which made raincoats from the waterproof Gannex fabric he had invented. Gannex raincoats were worn ...

, clothes manufacturer *

Yisrael Meir Kagan Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan (January 26, 1838 – September 15, 1933), known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law, was an influential Lithuan ...

, rabbi *

Daniel Kahneman Daniel Kahneman (; he, דניאל כהנמן; born March 5, 1934) is an Israeli-American psychologist and economist notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics, for which he was award ...

, psychologist, Nobel Prize (2002) (Lithuanian parents) *

Mordechai Kaplan Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (born Mottel Kaplan; June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a Lithuanian-born American rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist ...

, founder of

Reconstructionist Judaism Reconstructionist Judaism is a Jewish movement that views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization rather than a religion, based on concepts developed by Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). The movement originated as a semi-organized stream wi ...

* Shlomo Kleit, political activist *

Aaron Klug Sir Aaron Klug (11 August 1926 – 20 November 2018) was a British biophysicist and chemist. He was a winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of bio ...

, chemist, Nobel Prize (1982) * Gurwin Kopel (1923–1990), artist * Lazare Kopelmanas, international law scholar *

Abba Kovner Abba Kovner ( he, אבא קובנר; 14 March 1918 – 25 September 1987) was a Polish Israeli poet, writer and partisan leader. In the Vilna Ghetto, his manifesto was the first time that a target of the Holocaust identified the German plan to ...

, poet, writer *

Abraham Dob Bär Lebensohn Abraham Dov Ber Lebensohn (; – November 19, 1878), also known by the pen names Abraham Dov-Ber Michailishker () and Adam ha-Kohen (), was a Lithuanian Jewish Hebraist, poet and educator. Biography Avraham Dov Ber Lebenson was born in Vilna, ...

, writer *

Micah Joseph Lebensohn Micah Joseph Lebensohn (; (2 February 1828 – 17 February 1852), also known by the pen name Mikhal (), was one of the foremost poets and translators of the Haskalah in Vilna. He is best known for his innovative narrative Biblical romances a ...

, writer *

Phoebus Levene Phoebus Aaron Theodore Levene (25 February 1869 – 6 September 1940) was a Russian born American biochemist who studied the structure and function of nucleic acids. He characterized the different forms of nucleic acid, DNA from RNA, and fo ...

, biochemist *

Emmanuel Levinas Emmanuel Levinas (; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to me ...

, philosopher *

Isaac Levitan Isaac Ilyich Levitan (russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н; – ) was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape". Life and work Youth Isaac Levitan was born in a shtetl of Kibarty ...

, artist *

Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near E ...

, historian *

Morris Lichtenstein Morris Lichtenstein (1889–1938) was the founder of the Jewish Science, Society of Jewish Science. Born in Lithuania, he later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he was ordained by the Reform Hebrew Union College in 1916, becoming the first Eastern E ...

, rabbi, founder of the

Jewish Science Jewish Science is a Judaic spiritual movement comparable with the New Thought Movement. Many of its members also attend services at conventional synagogues. It is an interpretation of Jewish philosophy that was originally conceived by Rabbi ...

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of Cr ...

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

sculptor *

Jay Lovestone Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Centr ...

, politician * Alexander Ziskind Maimon, author and scholar of the Talmud *

Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acm ...

, poet

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Abraham Mapu Abraham Mapu (1808 in Vilijampolė, Kaunas1867 in Königsberg, Prussia) was a Lithuanian novelist. He wrote in Hebrew as part of the Haskalah (enlightenment) movement. His novels, with their lively plots encompassing heroism, adventure and romanti ...

, novelist *

Isser Zalman Meltzer Isser Zalman Meltzer ( he, איסר זלמן מלצר) (February 6, 1870 – November 17, 1953),Isser Zalman Meltzer "Even HaEzel" (1870 - 1953) was a famous Lithuanian Jewish and Belarusian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He is also kno ...

, rabbi *

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...

, gay politician in the U.S. *

Hermann Minkowski Hermann Minkowski (; ; 22 June 1864 – 12 January 1909) was a German mathematician and professor at Königsberg, Zürich and Göttingen. He created and developed the geometry of numbers and used geometrical methods to solve problems in number t ...

, mathematician *

Oskar Minkowski Oskar Minkowski (; 13 January 1858 – 18 July 1931) was a German physician and physiologist who held a professorship at the University of Breslau and is most famous for his research on diabetes. He was the brother of the mathematician Hermann Mi ...

, physiologist *

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

, Prime Minister of Israel *

Mitchell Parish Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 190 ...

(1900–1993), Lithuanian-born American lyricist *

Abram Rabinovich Abram Isaakovich Rabinovich (5 January 1878 – 7 November 1943) was a Lithuanian–Russian chess player. He was champion of Moscow in 1926. Biography Rabinovich was born in Vilna, Lithuania (then the Russian Empire) into a Litvak family. ...

, chess player *

Bar Refaeli Bar Refaeli ( he, בר רפאלי; born ) is an Israeli model, television host, businesswoman and actress. She is among the most internationally successful models to come from Israel, appearing on the cover of the 2009 ''Sports Illustrated'' Sw ...

, Israeli supermodel, television host, actress, and businesswoman *

Willy Ronis Willy Ronis (; 14 August 191012 September 2009) was a French photographer. His best-known work shows life in post-war Paris and Provence. Life and work Ronis was born in Paris; his father, Emmanuel Ronis, was a Jewish refugee from Odessa, and ...

, artist *

Eduardas Rozentalis Eduardas Rozentalis (born 27 May 1963 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian chess grandmaster. He played for the Lithuanian team in every Chess Olympiad since 1992, except in 2000 and 2012. Rozentalis won the Lithuanian Chess Championship in 1981, 1983 ...

, chess player *

Yisroel Salanter Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809, Zhagory – February 2, 1883, Königsberg), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. ...

, rabbi, famed Talmudist *

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...

, art historian *

Alexander Schneider Abraham Alexander Schneider (October 21, 1908 – February 2, 1993) was a violinist, conductor and educator. Born to a Jewish family in Vilnius, Lithuania, he later moved to the United States as a member of the Budapest String Quartet. Early li ...

, violinist and conductor *

Lasar Segall Lasar Segall (July 21, 1889 – August 2, 1957) was a Lithuanian Jewish and Brazilian painter, engraver and sculptor. Segall's work is derived from impressionism, expressionism and modernism. His most significant themes were depictions of hum ...

, painter, engraver and sculptor *

Benjamin Schlesinger Benjamin "Ben" Schlesinger was a Lithuanian-born American trade union official and newspaper office manager. Schlesinger is best remembered as the nine-time President of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), serving from 1903–1 ...

, American labor leader, former President of the

International Ladies Garment Workers Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the Clothing#Gender differentiation, women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest trade union, labor unions in the United States, one of the firs ...

Ben Shahn Ben Shahn (September 12, 1898 – March 14, 1969) was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as ''The Shape of Content''. Biography Shahn was born ...

, artist * Esther Shalev-Gerz, artist *

Karl Shapiro Karl Jay Shapiro (November 10, 1913 – May 14, 2000) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1945 for his collection ''V-Letter and Other Poems''. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to th ...

, poet (Lithuanian parents) * Sam, Lee and Jacob Shubert, theatre managers, producers (cf.

Shubert Brothers The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th cen ...

) *

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

activist *

Elijah ben Solomon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( he , ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman'') known as the Vilna Gaon (Yiddish: דער װילנער גאון ''Der Vilner Gaon'', pl, Gaon z Wilna, lt, Vilniaus Gaonas) or Elijah of ...

, rabbi, The Gaon of Vilna *

Maximilian Steinberg Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg (Russian Максимилиан Осеевич Штейнберг; – 6 December 1946) was a Russian composer of classical music. Though once considered the hope of Russian music, Steinberg is far less well known ...

, composer *

David Suchet Sir David Courtney Suchet''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor known for his work on British stage and television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenh ...

, English actor *

Helen Suzman Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE (née Gavronsky; 7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in th ...

, anti-apartheid MP (Lithuanian parents) *

Isakas Vistaneckis Isakas Vistaneckis (Isaak, Itzhak Vistinietzki) (29 September 1910 in Marijampolė – 30 December 2000 in Tel Aviv) was a Lithuanian Jewish chess player who held the chess title of Correspondence Chess International Master (IM). Biography In 1930 ...

, chess player *

Louis Washkansky Louis Joshua Washkansky (12 April 1912 – 21 December 1967) was a South African man who was the recipient of the world's first human-to-human heart transplant, and the first patient to regain consciousness following the operation. Washkansky l ...

, recipient of the world's first human heart transplant *

Uriel Weinreich Uriel Weinreich ( yi, אוריאל ווײַנרײַך ''Uriel Vaynraykh'', ; May 23, 1926 – March 30, 1967) was a Jewish–American linguist. Life Uriel Weinreich was born in Wilno, Poland (since 1945, Vilnius, Lithuania), the first child of ...

, linguist * David Wolfsohn, second President of World Zionist Organization *

Bluma Zeigarnik Bluma Wulfovna Zeigarnik (russian: Блю́ма Ву́льфовна Зейга́рник, p=ˈblʲumə ˈvulʲfəvnə zʲɪjˈɡarnʲɪk; 9 November Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._27_October.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...

, psychologist and psychiatrist *

Emanuelis Zingeris Emanuelis Zingeris (born 16 July 1957 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian philologist, museum director, politician, signatory of the 1990 Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, currently serving as a Member of the Seimas (199 ...

, politician *

William Zorach William Zorach (February 28, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism, as well as for ...

, painter, sculptor and writer *

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

, poet (Lithuanian parents) *

Benjamin Zuskin Benjamin Zuskin (russian: Вениамин Львович Зу́скин (Veniamin Lvovich Zuskin); April 28, 1899 – August 12, 1952) was a Soviet and Russian actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theatre (GOSET). Zuskin had the t ...

, actor

Norway

Bjørn Benkow Bjørn Leo Benkow (13 February 1940 – 17 February 2010) was a Norwegian journalist who became infamous for faking interviews with celebrities. Among the persons Benkow claimed to have interviewed were Bill Gates, Michael Schumacher, Oprah Winfre ...

, journalist, known for faking interviews *

Jo Benkow Jo Benkow (born Josef Elias Benkowitz; 15 August 1924 – 18 May 2013) was a Norwegian politician and writer, notable for being an important person in the Conservative Party of Norway, and the President of the Parliament 1985–1993. He was also ...

, President of the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

Carl Paul Caspari Carl Paul Caspari (8 February 1814 – 11 April 1892) was a Norwegian neo-Lutheran theologian and academic. He was a Professor of Old Testament Theology at the University of Oslo. He wrote several books and is best known for his interpretations a ...

, professor in theology (

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

) *

Leo Eitinger Leo Eitinger (12 December 1912 – 15 October 1996) was a Norwegian psychiatrist, author and educator. He was a Holocaust survivor who studied the late-onset psychological trauma experienced by people who went through separation and psychologi ...

(born in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

), professor of psychiatry at

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

and

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

survivor, known mainly for his work on late-onset psychological trauma amongst Holocaust survivors *

Victor Goldschmidt Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (27 January 1888 in Zürich – 20 March 1947 in Oslo) was a Norwegian mineralogist considered (together with Vladimir Vernadsky) to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry, developer of the Goldsch ...

, professor in mineralogy *

Salo Grenning Salo Grenning, pen name Pedro (5 April 1918 – 1 February 1986) was a Norwegian illustrator. He was born as Salo Goldfarb in Bergen as a son of businessman Leopold Goldfarb (from Rajgród, lived 1878–1933) and Sonja Epstein (from Suwałki, l ...

, pen name Pedro, editorial cartoonists in

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

Berthold Grünfeld Berthold Grünfeld (22 January 1932 – 20 August 2007) was a Norway, Norwegian psychiatrist, sexologist, and professor of social medicine at the University of Oslo. He was also a recognized expert in forensic psychiatry, often employed by Nor ...

, specialist in psychiatry, and professor in social medicine until 1993 *

Imre Hercz Imre Hercz (10 March 1929 – 24 July 2011) was a Jews, Jewish Hungarian Jews, Hungarian-Norwegian Jews, Norwegian physician and public debater. Hercz was born in Transylvania and had his childhood years in Nagyvárad, in the Nagyvárad#History, ...

, physician and public debater *

Bente Kahan Bente Kahan (born 23 September 1958) is a Norwegian solo vocalist, actress, musician, director and playwright, best known for her renditions and productions of Yiddish folk music and plays. Since 2002 she has lived and worked in Poland. Biograph ...

, Yiddish singer and actress *

Hermann Kahan Herman Kahan (born Chaim Hersh Kahan; 15 February 1926 – 13 February 2020) was a Romanian-born Norwegian businessman, rabbi, author, and Holocaust survivor. Early life Kahan was born into an Hasidic Jewish family in Sighet, Romania. Elie ...

, Holocaust survivor, activist * Morten Levin, professor of organization and work science * Robert Levin, pianist * Oskar Mendelsohn, historian, known for his two-volume history of Norwegian Jews * Charles Philipson, Supreme Court Justice Judge, Chairman of the Petroleum Law Committee, deputy chairman of the Petroleum Council and chairman of the Riksel Committee *

Moritz Rabinowitz Moritz Moses Rabinowitz (20 September 1887 – 27 February 1942) was a retail merchant based in the city of Haugesund, Norway. Rabinowitz was active in the Jewish community in Norway and was an early opponent of Nazism. After Nazi Germany invaded ...

, merchant, active in public debate against antisemitism and Nazism before World War II *

Øystein Wingaard Wolf Øystein Wingaard Wolf (born 17 April 1958) is a Norwegian poet and author, living and working in Oslo. Since his debut in 1980 (''Morderleken''), he has published numerous books of poetry, as well as three music albums. He was awarded the Mads W ...

, poet and author

Sweden

* Olof Aschberg, businessman and banker * Robert Aschberg, journalist, media executive, TV personality * Amalia Assur, first female dentist in Sweden * Lovisa Augusti, opera singer * Jean-Pierre Barda, musician *

, née Cohn, musician * Sharon Bezaly, flute soloist * Jerzy Einhorn, pathologist and politician * Herbert Felix, entrepreneur * Josef Frank (architect), Josef Frank, architect and designer * Isaac Grünewald, artist * Lars Gustafsson, writer and scholar * Johan Harmenberg, épée fencer, Olympic fencing medalist * Eli Heckscher, economist * Erland Josephson, actor and writer * Ernst Josephson, painter * Ragnar Josephson, writer and art historian * Anne Kalmering, singer * Joel Kinnaman, actor * George Klein (biologist), George Klein, pathologist and writer * Oskar Klein, physicist * Oscar Levertin, poet and literary historian * Jacob Marcus, businessman, pioneer in the history of Sweden's Jewish population * Rudolf Meidner, economist * Hanna Pauli, painter * Dominika Peczynski, musician * Alexandra Rapaport, actress * Marcel Riesz, mathematician * Göran Rosenberg, journalist * Bo Rothstein, political scientist * Nelly Sachs, poet, Nobel Prize (1966) * Jerzy Sarnecki, criminologist * Harry Schein, writer and culture personality * Leif Silbersky, lawyer and author * Sara Sommerfeld, actress * Ute Steyer, Sweden's first female rabbi *

, director * Marcus Storch, industrialist''Jewish Chronicle'', February 4, 2000, p.6: "Jewish business leader Marcus Storch" * Peter Weiss, dramatist and writer

References

{{reflist Lists of Jews, North European Jews Danish Jews, Estonian Jews, Finnish Jews, Icelandic Jews, Latvian Jews, Lithuanian Jews, Norwegian Jews, Swedish Jews, Lists of people by ethnicity, Jews,North European