Laura Katarina Ekholm, Simo Muir

Name changes and visions of ”a new Jew” in the Helsinki Jewish community

Introduction

Name changes and visions of ”a new jew” in the helsinki jewish community. Discover how name changes in Helsinki's Jewish community (1930s-40s) shaped Jewish identity, integration into Finnish society, and visions of a 'new Jew.'

Abstract

This article discusses an organized name-change process that occurred in the 1930s in the Jewish community of Helsinki. Between 1933 and 1944 in approximately one fifth of the Helsinki Jewish families (c. 16 %) someone had their family name changed. We argue that the name changes served two purposes: on the one hand they made life easier in the new nation state. It was part of a broader process where tens of thousands of Finns translated and changed their Swedish names to Finnish ones. On the other hand, the changed family names offered a new kind of Jewish identity. The name-changing process of the Helsinki Jews opens a window onto the study of nationalism, antisemitism, identity politics and visions of a Jewish future from the Finnish perspective.

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