Jacob Marcus, also called R. Jakob, was a German-Swedish businessman and one of the pioneers in the history of Sweden's

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

population, which began to take root around the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. Marcus was probably born in 1749 in

Schwaan Schwaan is a municipality in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is also the seat of the Schwaan Township, serving another six municipalities. The town is famous for being a traditional art colony. Geography The area a ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Marcus's considerable impact on the history of

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

and his significance to immigration and advancement have been pointed out in several publications. He had that city's first

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

built, which opened in 1796 for the increasing community centered on its congregation. That and his general benefit to Sweden, as a merchant especially privileged by King

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...

, and his position as an East Gothland property owner and community leader, have been recorded in published biographical articles. Marcus died 13 March 1819 in Norrköping.

Known descendants

Two of Marcus's daughters, Lowisa (1787-1842) and Hedda (1796-1834) married two brothers,

Aron von Reis Aron von Reis, originally ''Aron van Rees'' (born 30 August 1777 in the Netherlands, died 9 June 1848 in Marstrand, Sweden, was a Dutch-Swedish industrialist in Gothenburg. He and a business partner specialized in creating cotton textiles and print ...

and Moses von Reis of the successful von Reis family of

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Jews. A number of famous Swedes have descended from Marcus and his wife Fredrika Isaksdotter (1760-1826, originally ''Freideh Isaac''), such as historian

Hugo Valentin Hugo Mauritz Valentin (October 4, 1888 – May 7, 1963) was a Swedish historian, writer, and scholar in the field of Jewish history, particularly the history of Jews in Sweden, for which he has been labelled "The father of Swedish-Jewish histor ...

, TV producer Gunilla Marcus-Luboff, the Bonnier publishing dynasty, opera star

Isa Quensel Isa Quensel (21 September 1905 – 3 November 1981) was a Swedish actress and operatic soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scie ...

, industrialist

Stefan Anderson Knut Stefan Anderson (26 December 1878 – 8 May 1966) was a Swedish industrialist, journalist and master craftsman clockmaker/watchmaker decorated with badges of chivalric orders by the Kings of Sweden, Denmark and Norway and the President of F ...

, photographer

Mattias Klum Mattias Klum (born 10 February 1968 in Uppsala) is a Swedish freelance photographer and film producer in natural history and cultural subjects. He is the son of Swedish academic educator Arne Klum (1925-2016) and Ingegärd Klum, née Stefanson. ...

, pop entertainer

Magnus Uggla Per Allan Magnus Claësson Uggla (pronounced ; born 18 June 1954) is a Swedish entertainer, composer, actor, and occasional radio host. He is known for his satirical lyrics. Uggla was born in Stockholm. He was the lead singer of the hard rock ...

. Usually, already the early descendants of Marcus and Isaksdotter married into Swedish families which were not Jewish. American botanist-author

Siri von Reis Siri Sylvia Patricia von Reis (February 10, 1931 – August 3, 2021) was an American botanist, author, and poet of half- Finnish and half- Swedish ancestry. She was an authority on traditional medicine. She was also an investigator at the New Yo ...

in New York and daughter

Serena Altschul Serena Altschul (born October 13, 1970) is an American broadcast journalist, known for her work at MTV News and CBS. Early life and education Altschul was born in New York City to Siri von Reis, an author and botanist, and Arthur Altschul, a m ...

also descend from Marcus. The marked gravestone of Jacob Marcus can still be seen in the Jewish Cemetery of Norrköping. In 1900, a comprehensive account of the entire Marcus family and its descendants was published in Sweden as a large printed circular chart,''Stamtafla öfver Marcuska Familen 1749–1900'', Ludvig Marcus and an extensive family roster was updated until 1942 by Curt Marcus. Beginning around that time, Jewish descent (no matter how diluted) was kept in low profile, especially during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, despite Sweden during World War II, Sweden's neutrality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus, Jacob Jewish Swedish history 1749 births 1819 deaths 18th-century Swedish businesspeople German emigrants to Sweden 18th-century German Jews Swedish Ashkenazi Jews Marcus family, Jacob 18th-century German businesspeople