Jews’ Names Were Not Changed at Ellis Island

[ . . . ] I gave a public lecture at a Jewish institution and casually mentioned that the family story so many American Jews have heard, that their surnames were changed at Ellis Island, is a myth. [ . . . ]

After that talk, I was mobbed by people—angry people, in a scrum. These were well-read, highly educated American Jews, each of whom furiously…

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Why do so many American Jews believe their ancestors changed their names at Ellis Island? This excerpt from Dara Horn’s book People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present reflects on this question, based on scholarship on American Jewish history. Horn concludes that the myth developed because American Jews wanted to protect their descendants from the truth that they experienced discrimination as Jews in the United States.

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