Den første polsk jødiske skrædderfamilie i København - et mikrohistorisk studie

Abstract

This article includes a micro-historical analysis of the story of the Machtinger family that arrived in Copenhagen in 1899. The analysis takes its backdrop in the memoire written by Lea Maimin, the daughter of Moritz and Sofie Sara Machtinger; a text that vividly describes the life of Eastern European Jewish immigrants in Copenhagen at the turn of the 19th-20th century. The memoire is perspectivized via several historical sources, underlining how we can and how we cannot use memoires in historical descriptions. In spite of these precautions the Machtinger story is a strong testimony of the life of Jewish migrants and what shaped their lives, aspirations and destiny. The article further includes reference to and a short analysis of another Eastern European immigrant family arriving in Copenhagen in the early 20th century: the family Edelmann.