Brexit
vote sparks rush of British Jews seeking Portuguese passports
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Sephardic Jews are applying for citizenship of Portugal under law
making amends for expulsion centuries ago
Sam Jones in Madrid
@swajones
Saturday 31 December
2016 07.00 GMT
The UK’s decision
to leave the European Union has fuelled an 80-fold increase in the
number of British Sephardic Jews seeking Portuguese citizenship under
a recent law intended to make amends for their ancestors’ expulsion
from the Iberian peninsula more than 500 years ago.
Last year both Spain
and Portugal brought in legislation to facilitate the return of the
descendants of the thousands of Jews who were forced from the
countries at the end of the 15th century.
The Spanish
government said the offer of citizenship was intended to right the
“historical wrong” that saw the country’s Jewish community
exiled, forced to convert to Catholicism or burned at the stake.
Portugal said that while there was no way to make up for what had
been done, the offer of citizenship represented “an attribution of
a right”.
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In the wake of
June’s Brexit vote, however, a rapidly increasing number of British
Sephardic Jews have been applying for Portuguese citizenship as a way
to deal with the uncertainty created by the leave victory.
According to the
Jewish Community of Oporto – which, along with the Lisbon Jewish
community, is certifying applicants – demand from the UK has soared
since 23 June.
Dr Michael Rothwell,
a delegate to the community, said it had received just five
applications before Brexit compared with 400 in the two months
following the vote.
“I think people
are a bit nervous about this and therefore feel that having a
European Union passport would be an advantage even if they are not
necessarily planning to move to Portugal,” he said. “Having
citizenship of an EU country has its benefits.”
Rothwell said the
community had not been surprised by the rush for Portuguese
passports, adding that the number of individuals applying was greater
that 400 as many had applied in groups. Although there are no precise
figures, the UK’s Sephardic population is estimated to be in the
thousands.
Alison Rosen,
executive director of the S&P Sephardi Community in London, said
its archivists had also seen a rise in the number of people inquiring
about their Sephardic ancestry.
“One hundred per
cent, the minute Brexit happened, we definitely saw an increase in
volume and I think it’s continuing,” she said. “In the past, we
had a handful of people and it’s now a steady flow of people. In
the past we might have got one a month and now it’s a couple a week
or something.”
However, Spain’s
Federation of Jewish Communities said it had not seen a similar rise
in UK applications after Brexit, perhaps because the language tests
required by the Spanish government are pushing would-be applicants to
try the Portuguese route, which makes no linguistic demands on
applicants. The UK does not feature among the Spanish government’s
top 10 countries for applications, a list led by Argentina, Israel,
Venezuela, the US and Canada.
Gillie Traeger, a
45-year-old teaching assistant from Greater London, is one of those
now seeking Portuguese nationality. For her, the offer of citizenship
is a matter of recognising both her Sephardic roots and asserting her
wider European identity in the aftermath of Brexit.
“There’s kind of
a sense of pride from coming from this very old Jewish family in
England,” she said. “[But] historically, I don’t feel like I’m
just English. I feel I’m European and would like to stay that way.
Having the opportunity to do this is rather nice, actually.”
Another British
descendant of Sephardic Jews, who did not want to give his name, said
his decision to apply for Portuguese citizenship had been political
and pragmatic.
“The moment that I
heard about the decree in Portugal, I said to my wife: ‘If we leave
the European Union, I’m going to apply for Portuguese
citizenship,’” he said.
“I’m literally
in mourning about Brexit. I’m a European, a cosmopolitan and I
think all forms of nationalism are pretty hateful. If you look at the
19th and 20th century and see what nationalism does, it’s not a
history to be particularly proud of.”
Particularly
distasteful, he added, had been the rhetoric surrounding the debate
with its familiar attacks on “the hated Johnny Foreigner”.
“My going for
Portuguese citizenship is in part symbolic; it’s in part protest
and in part the embracing of a particular cultural heritage. But it’s
in part the practicality of being able to travel in Europe without
having to produce a non-European passport.”
Yoram Zara, an
Israeli lawyer representing Sephardic Jews from all over the world,
said the reasons for the rise in applications were self-evident.
“They are used to
being a part of the European Union and enjoying all the privileges
and rights of European citizens,” he said. “Now there’s some
uncertainty about what will happen in the coming years, so it’s
safe to have it if you intend to live, work or study in the EU or to
retire there. Having a Portuguese, EU passport certainly shouldn’t
harm you and might give you things that a British passport will no
longer allow you to have.”
Zara and Rothwell
said that while applications to Portugal from the UK were on the
increase, there was also strong interest from Turkey, which welcomed
many Sephardic Jews following the expulsion from Spain and Portugal.
Five hundred years
on, the dwindling community has found itself the target of terrorist
atrocities, and many feel increasingly unwelcome in Turkey’s
shifting political climate.
“This law came out
at a time when precisely Turkish Jews are feeling under stress from
the political changes that are taking place in Turkey,” said
Rothwell.
“Five hundred
years ago, Spain and Portugal expelled the Jews and the Sultan of the
Ottoman empire received them very happily – it was a very good deal
– and they have been living in those areas very happily for 500
years, but now the circle is kind of closing because the Turkish Jews
are not feeling very safe where they are, and so you have the
inverse.”
Zara said that
Sephardic Jews in Turkey were now applying in their “hundreds and
thousands”.
He added: “They
are concerned – and I think the last few months have proved them
right – because things are not stable in Turkey and maybe they will
need to leave if things get worse.”
Despite the
emollient words from Madrid and Lisbon, though, some of those whose
ancestors were persecuted and chased from their homes are still left
pondering the epic injustice of it all.
“To them it may be
an offer of amends but to me it’s part of my cultural identity and
heritage,” said Misty Kenney, who applied for Portuguese
citizenship before the Brexit vote.
“I’m surprised
they didn’t start doing this years ago. If it wasn’t for the
inquisition maybe I would be in Portugal today.”
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