History of the Jews in Sweden

The history of Jews in Sweden can be traced from the 17th century, when their presence is verified in the baptism records of the Stockholm Cathedral. Several Jewish families were baptised into the Lutheran Church, a requirement for permission to settle in Sweden. In 1681, for example, 28 members of the families of Israel Mandel and Moses Jacob were baptised in the Stockholm German Church in the presence of King Charles XI of Sweden, the dowager queen Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, and several other high state officials. King Charles XII (1697–1718) spent five years with an encampment in the Turkish town of Bender and accumulated a large number of debts there for his entourage. Jewish and Muslim creditors followed him to Sweden, and the Swedish law was altered so that they could hold religious services and circumcise their male children. In 1680 the Jews of Stockholm petitioned the king that they be permitted to reside there without abandoning their creed, but the application was denied because the local consistory had refused to endorse it. On 3 December 1685, Charles XI ordered the governor-general of the capital to see to it that no Jews were permitted to settle in Stockholm, or in any other part of the country, "on account of the danger of the eventual influence of the Jewish religion on the pure evangelical faith." In case Jews were found in any Swedish community, they were to be notified to leave within fourteen days. Through court patronage Jewish merchants were occasionally appointed royal purveyors. King Charles XII (in Swedish Karl XII) usually had one or more wealthy Jews with him in the field as the paymaster(s) of his army abroad. In 1718, Jews obtained permission to settle in the kingdom without the need to abjure their religion. Charles XII spent five years in Bender, Bessarabia (at the time a part of the Ottoman Empire) with his army and incurred substantial debts with Jewish and Muslim merchants, who supplied the army with equipment and provisions.