The Jersey Jewish community first established itself in the early-nineteenth century. Many of the Jews living in Jersey at that time had business connections with the South Coast and it was easier to have a presence on the island as travel between the mainland and the island was not as fast as it is today.
The community had a synagogue in the main town of St. Helier and had established a Jewish Cemetery with the earliest grave in the Old Cemetery bearing the date 1841.
There was a decline in the Jewish population in the island and at the start of the German occupation in June 1940 it is not known exactly how many Jews were here.
The exact number of people affected by the anti-Semitic regulations is difficult to calculate; we do not know what the wartime Jewish population was in Jersey or Guernsey, but we think at least 30 people were affected. Not everyone who was Jewish came forward to be registered, but the registration cards of those who did were stamped with a red letter J. Jersey Aliens Officer, Clifford Orange, was particularly diligent in encouraging Jews to register, especially if they were in doubt about whether they should.
Two of those known to be Jewish who did not come forwards to be registered were Miriam Jacobs in Guernsey and Lucy Schwob in Jersey. Lucy was a surrealist artist who became part of a two-woman resistance group with her partner, Suzanne Malherbe. The two were caught and imprisoned in Jersey Prison. They were sentenced to death but the Bailiff Alexander Coutanche appealed and this was commuted.
Three Jewish women (Therese Steiner, Marianne Grunfeld and Auguste Spitz) in Guernsey were deported to France in April 1942. From here they were rounded up in July 1942 and sent to Auschwitz where they died.
Jewish woman Julia Barry née Brichta was deported in March 1944 from Guernsey to Ravensbrück concentration camp for black market offences. She denied being Jewish and survived the experience. Jewish man John Finkelstein was deported from Jersey to Buchenwald concentration camp in February 1943 and survived. British Jews Elisabet Duquemin, her daughter Janet, and Elda Brouard were deported from Guernsey to Compiègne Transit and Internment Camp and then Biberach internment camp in February 1943; British Jews Esther Lloyd and Ruby Still were sent from Jersey to the same camps. All survived.
Those who were not deported were still harassed and had to abide by the anti-Semitic legislation. This created great fear in those affected. In Jersey, Victor Emmanuel committed suicide in April 1944, and Nathan Davidson ended up in the Island’s asylum during this period where he died in February 1944 of ‘maniacal exhaustion and insanity’.
Two Jews went into hiding in St Helier: Romanian Jew Hedwig Bercu was hidden by Dorothea Weber née Le Brocq, and British Jew, Mary Richardson, was hidden by Albert Bedane. Both Bedane and Weber have been honoured as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. Their families have loaned the medals to Jersey Heritage, and they are on display in the Occupation Tapestry Gallery at the Maritime Museum in St. Helier.
After the Second World War, the community re-established itself in the 1960s, with most members engaged in either retail or hospitality. By the end of the 1960s there was a large group who met for services in homes and then they moved to the church hall at St. Brelade.
Finally, a synagogue was established in the old Methodist Tabor Chapel, with the service of consecration conducted by the then Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovitz (second from the right of the picture shown at the top of this section) and Rev. Malcolm Weisman (on the right) in 1972. Between the 1970s and 1980s there were about 120 members of the Congregation.
At that time there were also about 4 or 5 families living in Guernsey who would travel over to Jersey for services as there has never been a synagogue in Guernsey. Over time this has fallen back to the current membership of 46. However, there are believed to be a further 200 Jews living in Jersey who are not members of the congregation for whatever reason and about 30 in Guernsey.
