List of West European Jews

Apart from France, established Jewish populations exist in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. With the original medieval populations wiped out by the Black Death and the pogroms that followed it, the current Dutch and Belgian communities originate in the Jewish expulsion from Spain and Portugal, while a Swiss community was only established after emancipation in 1874. However, the vast majority of the population in the Netherlands and a large proportion of the one in Belgium were murdered in the Holocaust, and much of the modern Jewish population of these countries (as well as of Switzerland) derives from post-Holocaust arrivals from other parts of Europe. Here is a list of some prominent Jews in western Europe, arranged by country of origin.

Austria

Belgium

Natanel Yatziv, number one athlete in Belgium (Belgian born)
Charles Trau (born 2 August 2002)
Sacha Fogel, (Founder of Luminol)
Chantal Akerman (6 June 1950 – 5 October 2015), director-screenwriter
Zora Arkus-Duntov, father of the Chevrolet Corvette (Belgian-born)
Gérard Blitz, Olympic water polo medallist, co-founder of Club Med
Gérard Blitz, Olympic swimming and water polo medalist^[1]
Maurice Blitz, Olympic water polo medalist^[1]
Henri Cohen, Olympic water polo medallist^[1]
François Englert, Nobel Prize laureate in theoretical physics
Leopold Flam, philosopher
Louis Frank, politician
Diane von Fürstenberg, fashion designer
Jean Gol, politician
Nico Gunzburg, professor
Asriel Günzig, rabbi
Camille Gutt, finance minister; head of the International Monetary Fund
Paul Hymans, liberal leader; president of the League of Nations
René Kalisky, writer
Julien Klener, linguist
George Koltanowski, chess player
Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist (Belgian-born; atheist of Jewish descent)
Alfred Loewenstein, financier (Jewish mother)
Ernest Mandel, marxist theorist
Bob Mendes, writer (Jewish father)
Ralph Miliband, political scientist^[2]
Jacques Ochs, Olympic fencing medalist^[1]
Chaïm Perelman, philosopher (Polish-born)
Ilya Prigogine, chemist (Russian-born), Nobel Prize (1977)
Gaston Salmon, Olympic fencing medalist^[1]
Henry Spira, animal rights activist
Elias M. Stein, mathematician (Belgian-born)
Marc Schlomo Jizchak Stern, Orthodox rabbi, cantor (de)
Gilbert Stork, chemist
Olivier Strelli, fashion designer
Samy Szlingerbaum, film director, writer, and actor^[3]
Guy Lee Thys, film director (Jewish mother)
Raymond van het Groenewoud, singer-songwriter (Jewish mother)
Sandra Wasserman, tennis player

France

Ireland

Italy

Political figures

Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), Senator and mayor of Pisa (1906–1907)
Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (1829–1907), linguist and Senator (1886–1890)
Luca Barbareschi (born in 1956), actor, director and former member of the Chamber of Deputies (2008–2013)
Emanuele Fiano (born 1963), member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006
Giovanni Cantoni (1818–1897), physicist, member of the Chamber of Deputies (1867–1874) and Senator (1876–1880)
Furio Colombo (born in 1931), journalist, member of the Chamber of Deputies (1996–2001, 2008–2013) and Senator (2006–2008)
Luigi Cremona (1830–1903), mathematician, Senator (1879–1903) and Minister of Public Education (1898–1899)
Giuliano Ferrara, (born in 1952), Minister for Parliamentary Relations (1994–1995), member of European Parliament (1989–1994), journalist and founder of Il Foglio
Aldo Finzi (1891–1944), fascist member of the Chamber of Deputies (1921–1929)
Giuseppe Finzi (1815–1886), patriot and Senator (1860–1886)
Vittorio Foa (1910–2008), socialist trade unionist
Alessandro Fortis (1842–1909), Italian Prime Minister (1905–1906)
Augusto Graziani (1933–2014), economist and Senator (1992–1994)
Yoram Gutgeld (born 1959), economist and former member of Chamber of Deputies (2013–2018)
Anna Kuliscioff (1857–1925), Russian-born revolutionary feminist
Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012), scientist and Senator (2001–2012)
David Levi (1816–1898), poet, patriot and Senator (1861–1880)
Luigi Luzzatti (1841–1927), Italian Prime Minister (1910–1911)
Ernesto Nathan (1848–1921), mayor of Rome (1907–1913)
Margherita Sarfatti (1880–1961), journalist and mistress of Benito Mussolini
Liliana Segre (born 1930), holocaust survivor and Senator for life since 2018
Sidney Sonnino (1847–1922), Italian prime minister (1906, 1909–1910)
Umberto Terracini (1895–1983), President of the Constituent Assembly of Italy (1946–1948), Senator (1948–1983)
Claudio Treves (1869–1933), politician and writer, grandfather of Carlo Levi
Leone Wollemborg (1859–1932), politician and former Minister of Economy

Religious and communal leaders

Samuel Aboab (1610–1694), prominent rabbi
Aaron ben Gershon abu Al-Rabi or Aronne Abulrabi of Catania (ca. 1400–1450), rabbinic scholar, cabalist and astrologer; called also Aldabi or Alrabi, Aaron was "the first Jew in the history to be invited during a Pontificate to discuss freely and without censorship about religious subjects and papal perplexities; Pope Martin V welcomed him in Rome^[4]
Barbara Aiello, American-born rabbi active in Italy
Benjamin Artom (1835–1879), Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain
Umberto Cassuto (1883–1951), rabbi
Abraham Isaac Castello (1726–1789), rabbi
Leone Ebreo (1465–1523), Neoplatonic philosopher
Amos Luzzatto (1928–2020), writer and former president of the Italian Jewish Communities Union^[5]
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746), rabbi, scholar, mystic, also known as Ramchal
Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), important rabbi and scholar, also known as Shadal
Raphael Meldola (1754–1828), rabbi
David Nieto (1654–1728), rabbi
Riccardo Pacifici (1904–1943), rabbi, murdered in Auschwitz
Joseph Pardo (1561–1619), rabbi
Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno (1475–1550), rabbi, philosopher
Elio Toaff (1915–2015), rabbi and former Chief of Italian Jews Community
Isaiah di Trani (ca. 1180–1250), talmudist, rabbi, also known as RID
Moses David Vali (circa 1697 – December 17, 1776) biblical commentator, physician, scholar, and Kabbalist from Padua.

Academics

Pedigree of Azzopardi
Faraj ben Salim, Sicilian physician and translator from Agrigento
Mosé Bonavoglia de' Medici, or Bonavoglio de' Medici (died 1447), Sicilian physician from Messina and Dienchelele (Naggid or Dayan kelali = Universal Judge of Sicilian Jews); his Hebrew name was Moses Hefez^[6]
Michele Besso (1873–1955), Swiss-born engineer
Caecilius of Calacte, Sicilian rhetorician from modern Caronìa
Laura Capón (1907–1977), physicist
Enrico Castelnuovo, art historian and medievalist
Gino Fano (1871–1952), mathematician
Robert Fano (1917–2016), physicist
Ugo Fano (1912–2001), physicist^[7]
Carlo Ginzburg (born 1939), historian
Giovanni Jona-Lasinio (born 1932), physicist (Jewish father)
Alberto Jori (born 1965), philosopher (Jewish mother)
Giorgio Levi Della Vida (1886–1961), linguist specialized in Semitic languages
Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012), neurologist, Nobel Prize (1986)
Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), criminologist
Salvador Luria (1912–1991), microbiologist, Nobel Prize (1969)
Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), scholar and poet
Franco Modigliani (1918–2003), economist, Nobel Prize (1985)
Arnaldo Momigliano (1908–1987), Italian-born historian^[8]
Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), physicist
Guido Pontecorvo (1907–1999), geneticist
Giulio Racah (1909–1965), physicist
Bruno Rossi (1905–1993), astrophysicist
Asher Salah (born 1967), historian
Cesare Segre (1928–2014), linguistics, semiotics
Emilio Segrè (1905–1989), physicist, Nobel Prize (1959)
pedigree of Sforno
Piero Sraffa (1898–1983), economist
Manfredo Tafuri (1935–1994), architectural historian, critic and theorist
Ariel Toaff (born 1942), historian
Andrew Viterbi (born 1935), inventor of the Viterbi algorithm
Bruno Zevi (1918–2000), architectural critic and historian

Mathematicians

Emilio Artom (1888–1952), mathematician
Eugenio Calabi (1923–2023), mathematician
Guido Castelnuovo (1865–1952), mathematician
Federigo Enriques (1871–1946), mathematician
Gino Fano (1871–1952), mathematician
Guido Fubini (1879–1943), mathematician
Beppo Levi (1875–1961), mathematician
Tullio Levi-Civita (1873–1941), mathematician
Beniamino Segre (1903–1977), mathematician
Corrado Segre (1863–1924), mathematician
Vito Volterra (1860–1940), mathematician

Musicians

Mario Ancona (1860–1931), baritone
Abramo Basevi (1818–1885), composer and musician
Alvise Bassano, musician^[9]
Anthony Bassano, musician^[9]
Baptista Bassano, musician^[9]
Jeronimo Bassano, musician^[9]
Haim Cipriani (born 1961), violinist and reform rabbi
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968), guitar, classical and synagogal music composer
Giacobbe Cervetto (1680–1783), cellist^[10] and composer
Lorenzo Da Ponte (born Emanuele Conegliano, 1749–1838), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic)
Abramo dall'Arpa (died 1566), harpist
Abramino dall'Arpa (fl ca. 1577–1593), harpist
Aldo Finzi (1897–1945), composer
Obadiah the Proselyte, musician^[11]
Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570–1630), baroque composer
Victor de Sabata (1892–1967), conductor (Jewish mother)
Leone Sinigaglia (1868–1944), composer

Writers

Devorà Ascarelli, poet and translator
Giorgio Bassani, author
Angela Bianchini, fiction writer
Riccardo Calimani, fiction writer and historian
Enrico Castelnuovo, father of Guido
Moses Chayyim Catalan, poet
Lorenzo Da Ponte (born Emanuele Conegliano), opera librettist (born Jewish, raised Catholic)
Leonardo de Benedetti, physician and writer
Manuela Dviri, writer
Alain Elkann, writer and journalist, father of John, Lapo and Ginevra
Carlo Ginzburg, historian, writer, essayist and pioneer of microhistory
Leone Ginzburg, writer (born in Ukraine)
Natalia Ginzburg (born Levi), author (Jewish father), wife of Leone and mother of Carlo
Arrigo Levi, writer, journalist and TV anchorman
Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
Primo Levi, chemist and author
Carlo Michelstaedter, philosopher
Lisa Morpurgo Dordoni, writer, astrologer
Paolo Mieli, journalist, historian and director of Corriere della Sera
Liana Millu, writer
Alberto Moravia (born Pincherle), author (Jewish father)
Laura Orvieto, writer
Alessandro Piperno, writer
Umberto Saba, poet (Jewish mother)
Donato Sacerdote, poet
Rubino Romeo Salmonì, writer
Roberto Saviano, writer, journalist (Jewish mother)
Clara Sereni, writer
Italo Svevo (born Schmitz), author
Humbert Wolfe, poet and civil servant^[12]
Aldo Zargani, writer
Guido Bedarida, writer

Artists

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, actress
Vito D'Ancona, painter
Cristiana Capotondi, actress (half Jewish)
Gioele Dix (b. Davide Ottolenghi), actor and comedian
Ginevra Elkann, film director, sister of John and Lapo
Arnoldo Foà, actor
Massimiliano Fuksas, architect (Jewish father)
Vittorio Gassman, actor (Jewish mother)
Alessandro Haber, actor
Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
Leo Lionni
Emanuele Luzzati, painter
Anna Magnani, actress (Jewish mother)
Amedeo Modigliani, painter and sculptor
Ernesto Nathan Rogers, architect, critic and editor
Moni Ovadia, theatre figure
Gillo Pontecorvo, director
Xenia Rappoport, actress
Bruno Zevi, architect

Business

Carlo De Benedetti (born 1934), industrialist, ex-CEO of FIAT, Olivetti, CIR Group, ex-deputy chairman of Banco Ambrosiano and ex-president of Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
John (born 1976) and Lapo Elkann (born 1977), Vice Chairman of Fiat (Jewish father)
Adriano Goldschmied (born 1944), fashion designer known as the "godfather of denim" who created Diesel, Replay, and AG Adriano Goldschmied; currently directing Goldsign and men's Citizens of Humanity
Moses Haim Montefiore (1784–1885), financier and philanthropist
Adriano Olivetti (1901–1960), son of Camillo, industrialist and social activist
Camillo Olivetti (1868–1943), founder of Olivetti typewriters
Guy Spier (born 1966), author and investor

Other

Eugenio Calò (1906–1944), Jewish partisan awarded the gold medal for military valour, murdered by the Nazis
Angelo Donati (1885–1960), banker who protected Jews in Southern France during Italian occupation in 1942–43
Mario Finzi (1913–1945), partisan (murdered in Auschwitz in 1945)
Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player
Riccardo Ehrman (1929–2021), journalist
Gad Lerner (born 1954), TV anchorman and journalist
Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker
Giorgio Liuzzi (1895–1983), Chief of the Staff of the Italian Army from 1954 to 1959
Renato Mannheimer (born 1947), pollster, president of IPSO
Maurizio Molinari (born 1964), journalist and essayist
Edgardo Mortara (1851–1940), boy kidnapped by Catholic Papal authorities
Fiamma Nirenstein (born 1945), essayist, journalist and MP for PDL (elected in 2008)
Enzo Sereni (1905–1944), Zionist and partisan, executed in Dachau concentration camp

Luxembourg

Hugo Gernsback, science-fiction pioneer (unconfirmed)
Emil Hirsch, reform rabbi
Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist (Luxembourg-born)
Arno Joseph Mayer, historian

Monaco

Franz Schreker, composer (Jewish father)

Netherlands

Scotland

Spain and Portugal

Switzerland

Maurice Abravanel, conductor
Jeff Agoos, US soccer international
Ernest Bloch, composer
Felix Bloch, physicist, Nobel Prize (1952)
Alain de Botton, writer
Albert Cohen, novelist
Arthur Cohn, film producer
Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss president (1999)
Camille and Henri Dreyfus, inventors of Celanese
Al Dubin, lyricist
Jean Dunand-Gotscho, sculptor, painter, lacquerer
Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel Prize (1921)
Edmond Fischer, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1992) (Jewish father)
Robert Frank, photographer
Meyer Guggenheim, businessman
Jeanne Hersch, philosopher
Frank Key, writer
Mathilde Krim, AIDS researcher (convert)
Dani Levy (born 1957), filmmaker, theatrical director and actor^[13]
Rolf Liebermann, Swiss music administrator and composer
Méret Oppenheim, surrealist artist
Rachel, stage actress (Swiss-born)
Tadeusz Reichstein, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950)
Tibor Rosenbaum, rabbi and businessman
Edmond Safra, banker
Jean Starobinski, literary critic
Sigismond Thalberg, pianist and composer
Regina Ullmann, poet
Charles Weissmann, biochemist
Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, owners of Chanel^[14]

United Kingdom

Politicians

John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons
Leon Brittan, Conservative Member of Parliament and Home Secretary
Benjamin Disraeli, British Conservative Prime Minister; converted to Anglicanism at age 12
Greville Janner, Labour Member of Parliament
Tim Judah, journalist and historian
Peter Mandelson, Labour Member of Parliament
David Miliband, politician, Labour Party (UK)
Ed Miliband (2005–present), Labour MP for Doncaster North and former Leader of the Labour party
Charlotte Nichols (2019–present) Labour MP for Warrington North
Andrew Percy (2010–present), Conservative MP for Brigg and Goole
Lucy Frazer (2015–present), Conservative MP for South East Cambridgeshire
Ruth Smeeth (2015–2019), Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North
Alex Sobel (2017–present), Labour MP for Leeds North West
Nicola Richards (2019–present), Conservative MP for West Bromwich East
Ian Levy (2019–present), Conservative MP for Blyth Valley
Dominic Raab (2010–present) Conservative MP for Esher and Walton

Actors

Tamsin Greig, actress and comedian
Tom Rosenthal, actor, comedian and writer
Georgia Slowe, actress
Sophie Okonedo, actress and singer
Paul Kaye, actor and comedian
Jason Isaacs, actor
Helena Bonham Carter, actress
David Baddiel, actor, comedian, writer and novelist
Rachel Weisz, actress
Matt Lucas, actor, comedian and writer
James Callis, actor
Sacha Baron Cohen, actor, comedian, writer, director and film producer
Edward Skrein, actor, rapper, film director and screenwriter
Daniel Radcliffe, actor and producer
Julian Morris, actor
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, actor and screenwriter
Gregg Sulkin, actor
Isobel Powley, actress

Religious and communal leaders

Other

Jacob Rothschild, banker

Notes

^ Of the 12 members of the 1928 Olympics Dutch Women's Gymnastics Team – the first ever women's gymnastics gold medalists – five were Jewish. All but Levie were murdered in the Holocaust.