A Memoir of a Childhood Shaped by Expulsion

The early memories of Glikl bas Leyb Hamel (also known as Glikl of Hameln), moving between Hamburg and Altona, underscore the fragile and shifting nature of Jewish legal status in early modern Europe. Born in 1645 in Hamburg, a self-governing port city, Glikl soon faced upheaval when Ashkenazic Jews were expelled in 1649, forcing her family to seek refuge in nearby Altona, which was under Danish rule. Even there, security was uncertain. Jews depended on Hamburg for their livelihoods and later fled back there when Swedish troops invaded Altona in the 1650s. They returned as Danish subjects, yet religious restrictions in Hamburg meant Altona remained the locus of their ritual life. Though Sephardic Jews were first welcomed in Hamburg, in exchange for heavy annual fees, growing restrictions drove them to Amsterdam in the late seventeenth century. Jews relied on unstable bargains with rulers, easily revoked or reshaped by politics, war, or economic pressure.