This centre, which is situated at Garnethill synagogue, has archives of the history of the Jewish people who have arrived in Scotland, most arriving over the last couple of centuries. The first record of Jews in Scotland dates back to the late 1600s. The Jews who came to Scotland in the late 1600s and early 1700s came in small numbers and tended to be academics, who were attracted by the fact that in the Scottish Universities they were not required to swear a Christian oath, unlike those in England and the continent. These early arrivals were then followed by businessmen and merchants of Dutch and German descent. And more recent history has included the arrival of refugees, in particular during the years of WW1 and WW2.
This interesting document (https://www.scojec.org/resources/files/jewish_experience.pdf) produced by the archive centre has a few of the stories of people who have been very much involved in Scottish history and communities, including:
- Benno Schotz (see the link below) the sculptor who came from Estonia in 1912 to study at Glasgow School of Art and eventually became its Head of Sculpture (more info… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benno_Schotz) and some sculptures of his around Glasgow: http://www.glasgowsculpture.com/pg_images.php?sub=schotz
- Professor Noah Morris, a biochemist and physician in the medical faculty at University of Glasgow whose parents came from Latvia and Lithuania.
Many of Scotland’s and Glasgow’s Jewish people also arrived from Germany, Poland, Holland etc.
https://www.scojec.org/resources/files/jewish_experience.pdf
Tourists can join organised visits at the archive and there are occasional open days as well.
This interesting document about the history of five places of worship in Glasgow is currently only available on the Wayback machine archive.
There is some very interesting history about the artist Hilda Goldwag, who as a young person had to flee Austria:
BBC News – Forgotten art found in a dustbin
Binman rescues artwork treasures from the dump | HeraldScotland
There was an exhibition of her work at the Hidden Lane Gallery off Argyle Street Glasgow.
