A new exhibition is taking place at the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre in Glasgow showcasing the Jewish histories of six Scottish towns, including Dunfermline.

When Jewish immigrants began to settle in Scotland during the 1800s, the first small communities were in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Other smaller communities then later developed, including one in Dunfermline.

The new exhibition, Hidden Histories: Scotland’s Former Jewish Communities, uses material from the collections of the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre (SJAC) in Glasgow.

Harvey Kaplan, director at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, commented on the Jewish community in Dunfermline: “So we know that there was some Jewish individuals in the 19th century before there was a community, the earliest that we have is a man called Benjamin Alexander, who is in the 1861 census, and he is a pedlar.”

In 1880, a Jewish couple, called Isadore Lyons and Hannah Markinson, got married in Dunfermline,

“The community seems to have been founded in 1908, Jewish services take place themselves anywhere, it doesn’t have to be a dedicated synagogue," Harvey added. 

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“The first services seem to have been in New Row and Couston Street.”

The census’ of 1911 and 1921 show that about there was about 50 Jewish people in Dunfermline at this time. Many of them would have come from the Russian Empire, from places that are now independent countries such as Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and some would have come from the Austrian Empire.

There was a synagogue in Pittencrieff Street, which Harvey said was “in a converted chapel of some sort”. There was never a purpose-built synagogue, it would have been in a converted building or a private house.

The first minister was Reverend Morris Balanow, who was succeeded by Reverend Morris Segal. Nowadays, the area where the synagogue was is now a housing estate, but one of the new streets is named ‘Segal Place’ and a plaque marks the spot where the synagogue was.

Dunfermline Press: The former site of the synagogue is marked with a plaque. The former site of the synagogue is marked with a plaque. (Image: Alexandra Baff)

“He was in that job until 1944, so that’s like the heyday of the community if you like, it was the 1920s to 1940s,” said Harvey.

There are numerous stories of Jewish individuals and families who played a part in Dunfermline’s history.

The Bernstein family opened a shop in Chalmers Street in the 1920s where they sold furniture, carpets, and menswear, and one member of the family, John Jacob Bernstein, was a Labour councillor magistrate.

Julius Green, who was brought up in Dunfermline, performed intelligence work for Britain during the Second World War. He was posted to the 152 (Highland) Field Ambulance of the 51 Highland Division but was captured in France and imprisoned in Colditz Castle.

He later went on to write a book about his experiences called From Colditz in Code.

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In Douglas Bank Cemetery, among the war graves is one belonging to a young Jewish man named Harold Irving Chizy. Chizy was from Montreal in Canada, but was killed in action in 1944 and buried in Dunfermline.

Dunfermline was also home to Isaac Sclar, who was chairman of the electric company, James Scott & Co Dunfermline, and was the secretary and treasurer of the community from 1920 to 1945. He and his wife Doris took in an 11-year-old refugee girl, Dolly Mahler and looked after her.

However, eventually the small Jewish community in Dunfermline did begin to disappear.

Harvey said: “After the war the community declined, this happened in most of the smaller Jewish communities in Scotland.”

When asked if the Dunfermline Jewish community would have had to deal with a lot of antisemitism, Harvey commented: “I don’t think so, the impression I get is that there wasn’t much because it was a small community, and I think they probably kept their heads down a bit. I don’t think it was a problem.”

To put together the exhibition, the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre spoke to people to find out their stories.

“It’s always the case that when these communities cease to function, there was always individuals or family that are there in the future, but not an organised community," said Harvey.

“We spoke to people who are still there or people who grew up in Dunfermline.”

The Scottish Jewish Archives Centre has a small collection of material about the former Jewish community of Dunfermline, but would welcome any memories, photographs or documents relating to the community.

Harvey summed up the community, saying: “It was a small community in the first half of the 20th century. Starts off from nothing and reaches a peak in the 1920s and 30s and during the war, it sort of drops off.”