Archives of 53,000 Jews who lived in Ireland made available to the public

Volumes containing the names of 53,000 Jewish people who have lived in Ireland have been opened to the public.

The records of births, marriages and deaths stretching back to the 17th century were compiled by Stuart Rosenblatt, president of the Genealogical Society of Ireland.

The volumes also include details of where people are buried, the schools they went to and details of Jewish households from both the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

Although the Jewish population in Ireland now is relatively small, at about 2,000, it was much bigger in the past.

Mr Rosenblatt said thousands of Jewish people around the world had a connection to Ireland.

The 14 volumes of genealogical lists of Irish-Jewish families were presented to Dublin City Council’s Library and Archive on Pearse Street yesterday.

Belfast, Cork and Limerick will also receive copies.

Details about the family of Chaim Herzog, former president of Israel, who was born in Belfast, are included, along with those of the best-known Irish politicians with a Jewish background, including Ben and Robert Briscoe, Mervyn Taylor and Alan Shatter.

Records pertaining to the only Irish Jew killed at Auschwitz, Ettie Steinberg, are included, as are those of Irish-based Holocaust survivors Suzi Diamond and Tomi Reichental.

“We had a couple of hundred who came back for the Gathering and we are hoping to get more to come back to trace their roots. This way they have a one-stop shop,” Mr Rosenblatt said.

The research came from his experiences researching his own family tree, he said.

“For the first time Ireland – after 20 years of painstaking research – now has a comprehensive detailed record of Irish Jewry which will endure as a living memory of those past and present who passed through this beautiful island of Ireland.”

The records can also be accessed online for a fee at irishjewishroots.com/names.