Personalities

Persons of Jewish descent or religion shaped Mecklenburg for a long time. While they were initially forced to confine themselves to trade and could therefore only make a name for themselves there, later with the progressive legal emancipation of Jews the doors to social, professional, or scholarly development in Mecklenburg society, in other German lands, or abroad were finally opened to them. Jewish professors and scholars, jurists, physicians, entrepreneurs, artists, politicians, and visionaries were until the rise of National Socialism just as successful as their Christian fellow citizens and were widely popular and respected as experts in their fields.

It is no longer widely known today that even the father of the parliamentary-democratic constitution of the newly formed Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin of May 17, 1920 was of Jewish descent: the Schwerin lawyer and politician Justizrat Felix Loewenthal.

It is evident that women are rather a rarity in the list of notable personalities. As was to be expected in the patriarchal society of the time, the core of every Christian as well as Jewish family was typically the man. Women had to subordinate themselves to men and were generally legally and socially disadvantaged. Equality would remain a foreign concept for a long time. It is therefore not surprising that women, due to the prevailing social circumstances alone, were hardly in a position to pursue careers.

Furthermore, this list does not represent a ranking by the significance of the personalities, but rather aims to offer a loose overview of notable Jewish personalities in or from Mecklenburg. It is continually expanded.

Ahrens, Friedrich

Albu, Josua Falk

Bernhard, Arnold

Bernhard, Isidor Carl

Bernhard, Paul

Bernhard, Siegmund (Schmul)

Cohen, Löser

Cohn, Salomon

Donath, Leopold

Einhorn, David Meyer

Engelbert, Moses

Feilchenfeld, Gabriel Fabian

Friedberg, Chajim

Hamburger, Georg

Hamburger, Jacob

Hirsch, Else

Holdheim, Samuel

Isaak, Aaron

Israel, Jeremias

Jacobsohn, Jacob

Jacobson, Israel

Jaffe, Marcus (Mordechai) Lazarus

Joseph, Bruno

Ladewig, Carl Laser

Ladewig, Louis

Lasson, Adolf

Lemelson, Carl Moses

Levi, Levin Hirsch (Jehuda Leb)

Liebenthal, Leopold

Liebmann, Michael

Lipschütz, Isidor (Baruch Isaak)

Löwenhelm, Ferdinand Carl (Nathan)

Löwenthal, Felix

Löwenthal, Josephy (Jachel)

Marcus, Otto

Marcus, Siegfried Samuel

Meier-Ahrens, Gertrud

Nathan, Joseph

Nord, Semmy (Hans)

Rabinowitz (Rabbino), Bernhard

Rosenbaum, Otto

Sanders, Daniel Hendel

Schlachter, Sally

Silberstein, Siegfried