Anti-Semitism in Minneapolis

Despite the large Jewish population in Minneapolis, Jews faced a lot of anti-Semitism and persecution. In 1946, the popular American journalist Carey McWilliams called Minneapolis the anti-Semitic capital of the United States. In his article “Minneapolis: the Curious Twin,” he writes that “in almost every walk of life, ‘an iron curtain’ separates the Jews from the non-Jews in Minneapolis. Nor is this ‘iron curtain’ a matter of recent origin; on the contrary, it seems have always existed." ¹  Jews faced discrimination in employment, housing and were barred from many organizations and clubs. Jews in Minneapolis had arguably not reached the same status as Jews in other American neighborhoods, including St. Paul, and the community felt more isolated.

"In almost every walk of life, ‘an iron curtain’ separates the Jews from the non-Jews in Minneapolis."- Carey McWilliams

According to McWilliams, the difference between St. Paul and Minneapolis had a lot to do with their origins. Jews settled in St. Paul at the same time as other immigrants, such as the Catholic community, and helped establish the city. ²  Minneapolis, on the other hand, had a higher population of people of Scandinavian and Protestant Anglo-Saxon background that had settled and established major industries before the less assimilated Eastern-European Jews came. ³ Their exclusivity to Jews, along with economic pressures before and during the Great Depression fueled much of this prejudice. A 1931 survey of Minneapolis employers who wrote on their job applications “gentiles preferred,” revealed that they discriminated for such reasons as Jews were too social and took off work for Jewish holidays, to  “Jews showed too much familiarity with those in authority” and “Jewish employees represented the danger of ultimate business competition." ⁴

While there was a high rate of unemployment among the Jewish community, many Jews dealt with this anti-Semitism by either becoming self-employed, changing their names to pass as “non-Jewish,” or fighting the prejudice head-on, with such organizations as the Jewish Free Employment Bureau and the Jewish Family Welfare Association. ⁵  It wasn’t until the 1950’s, though, that explicit exclusion of Jews from jobs and clubs started to become unacceptable, though more discreet anti-Semitism remained for decades to come. ⁶