The Sephardic community of Hamburg no longer exists but was one of the most significant in the Western Sephardic diaspora. It was also the first established Sephardic community in northern Europe. There were strong commercial and familial connections with Amsterdam and London. Unlike the other two communities, Hamburg suffered religious-based interference and did not evolve on a similar trajectory to Amsterdam. This week Dr Hugo Martins will discuss this historically important 17th Century Portuguese-Jewish community.

Hugo Martins holds a PhD in Early Modern History from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon. He was a doctoral fellow of the Rothschild Foundation and a research fellow of the DAAD and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. He is currently undertaking a postdoctoral research at the University of Potsdam on the legal history of Hamburg in the 17th and 18th centuries. Completed in 2018, his doctoral thesis focused on the religious and social history of Hamburg’s Portuguese-Jewish community during the 17th century. More generally, his research focuses on the social and institutional history of the Portuguese diaspora in the early modern period, interests that also include the Portuguese colonial and overseas history. His new book on the Portuguese Jews of Hamburg is soon to be published and can be ordered online.

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