Genealogical research

The Danish Jewish Museum's collection contains both photos, objects and personal archives with relevance for family history studies. You can read more about the options for searching and consulting relevant materials below the page 'the collection'.

Inquiries that only concern genealogical and family history matters should be directed to The Society for Danish Jewish History.

A number of databases of genealogical information are available online:

Mosaic burials and tombstones until 1886

Danish-Jewish genealogical database (requires membership of SDJH)

Jewish men registered in the copulation protocol in Copenhagen, 1735-1810

Meet a special item

In the video, museum inspector Signe Larsen shows a photo album from the collection. The film was made in collaboration with the School Service for our teaching project 'Lilmod'.

Research

The Danish Jewish Museum emphasizes a close connection between the museum's collection, research and dissemination. The museum's research projects therefore involve the active collection of objects and source material to illuminate central issues under the museum's area of ​​responsibility.

Knowledge center with research in the collection: In addition to the museum's own research projects and publications, the museum functions as a knowledge center that regularly receives visits from researchers and students from both at home and abroad, who research the museum's collection or consult the museum's knowledge and library. 

House research: The museum wants to house new research. Specifically, we offer study places to students who want to do research within the museum's work area. Contact us on info@jewmus.dk if you have a project or task you would like to write within our area.

Two examples of in-house research: In the autumn of 2019, the museum housed a thesis from the University of Copenhagen that will examine the museum's collection of Torah pennants. The museum has previously housed the research project The Scandinavian Psalter (London, British Library, Ms. Additional 17868): Representations of Jews and Devotional Practices in Thirteenth-Century Denmark by Marina Vidas, supported by the Ny Carlsberg Foundation.

Visit: Groups from higher education institutions and universities have free access to the museum during normal opening hours when they are accompanied by a teacher. In addition, the museum offers special tours outside opening hours.

Ongoing projects

Nordic art - Jewish heart: A research project on Jewish art collectors and cultural creators in the Nordic region. The project sheds light on an overlooked chapter in Nordic cultural history and asks how Jewish art collectors became so decisive for Danish and Nordic art history in the period 1870-1930.
The Hirschsprung Collection and the Danish Jewish Museum will therefore from 2022 enter into a close collaboration with a number of Swedish researchers to uncover an overlooked but crucial chapter in Nordic cultural history. The long-term goal is to place a number of museums and the Danish-Swedish connections clearly in the international, Jewish cultural history; both with the public and in international research. Contact Sara Fredfeldt Stadager for further information.

Completed projects

Jews in Danish business life: The project was divided into several elements and was the starting point for the establishment of the site Klik&Find (site temporarily closed for updating). For questions about the project, contact the museum inspector Signe Bergman Larsen.

Wartime experiences of Danish Jews 1943-45: In 2007, the Danish Jewish Museum launched a research and documentation project on the wartime experiences of Danish Jews 1943-45. As a result of the research and documentation project 1943-45, the museum has created a unique collection of materials to illuminate the lives and conditions of Danish Jews before, during and after the Second World War. As part of the project, the museum has also acquired 123 Holocaust testimonies relating to the wartime experiences of Danish Jews from the USC Holocaust Foundation Institute.

Religion - living cultural heritage: The museum has been part of a 3-year research collaboration, financed by the Velux Foundation. The project investigated the possibilities for mutual learning between the universities, specifically the religion subject, and the museum industry's work and dissemination of religion. The project's partners are the Danish Jewish Museum, the Immigrant Museum, Den Gamle By i Århus, ROMU, Århus University and Roskilde University. Read more about the project here. 

New Danish-Jewish identity in the light of the Kibbutz: A new generation of Danish Israeli Jews is in the process of forming their identity in the tension between Denmark and Israel, religion, traditions and politics. The lived life and contemporary religion are current and significant nuances that the Danish Jewish Museum will collect in order to learn more about the Danish Jewish diversity in Denmark. The museum's new research will investigate how internal and external dynamics such as religion, family and the outside world interact when a child in a Danish Israeli family has to define his identity and belonging in Denmark today. Contact Sara Fredfeldt Stadager for more information.

Academic assignments and theses

Academic assignments and theses on Danish Jewish history and the Danish Jewish Museum. Other theses and theses can be requested from the university libraries.