Jewish Scots have told of the anti-Semitic abuse they have faced as a new documentary explores the country's diminished but still thriving communities.

One young woman who grew up in Aberdeen said she recalled being told by another child at 13: "Hitler should have finished the job".

Another, older woman whose family run Scotland's only Kosher delicatessen on the outskirts of Glasgow said she was rejected for a tennis club as a child on account of her religious faith.

In 2021, there were more reports of anti-Semitism in the UK than ever before.Reported incidents in Scotland are relatively small but are said to have have doubled since 2017.

Scotland’s Jewish community was small until the late 1800s when it grew to around 20,000 during the 1930s and 40s, with the last phase of immigration driven by the flight before and during world war two.  

At one time Scotland had around twenty dedicated synagogues and was home to countless kosher butchers, bakers, grocers.  

The community centred around the Gorbals in Glasgow, but was spread throughout the country. 

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The population has shrunk to around 6,000 in number - with only six physical synagogues remaining.

Anita Spivak, a young professional who grew up in Aberdeen but now lives in Edinburgh, believes Judaism is "by and large ignored by Scottish education."

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She said: "I was the only Jewish person in my primary school and secondary school which meant that when you know little about something you stick to the stereotypes because that is all you know.

"Unfortunately those were strong anti-Semitic tropes. In primary school it manifested mostly in physical bullying. 

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"I wouldn't say the kids knew exactly what they were talking about but regurgitating things their parents had said or something they read online."

She recalled being told,"Hitler should have finished the job." As a 13-year-old that was quite scary," she said.

"That being said, being Jewish in Scotland, I'm met more with curiosity now rather than immediate upfront anger or violence."

Glasgow-based BBC documentary maker Sarah Howitt also meets the Kohen family whose ancestors arrived in 1900 from Lituania and Poland. The family run Scotland's only Kosher deli in Giffnock.

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"My friend who lived across the road was not Jewish and she was a member of the local tennis club and I wanted to join but they wouldn’t let a Jewish child join," say matriarch Doreen Kohen, who is famed for her traditional potato latkes. 

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Others said the abuse was now centred on Israel's treatment of Palestinians but said society said "moved on a lot".

Glasgow born Deborah Haase, who is honorary curator at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre said:“If you went through the Gorbals you would see signs says no black, no Jews, no dogs.We've moved on a lot."

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The documentary maker travels to Inverness to meet Holocaust survivor and former journalist Kathleen Hagler who arrived here as a tourist in the 1970s from Hungary.

She says she felt an affinity with Scotland because it had also “suffered over the centuries like Jews.”

Her father was taken in to slave labour when she was a baby and her mother, brother and sister were all killed in Auschwitz.

In 1944 the Nazis invaded Hungary and forced Jewish people into ghettos and over 12 days in May the Jews of the Muncaks Ghetto were deported to Aushvwitz.

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She told how she was saved "by mistake" leaving her with life-long survivor's guilt. A Christian man intended to save her brother but he was unwell that day so he took Kathleen instead.

She said: "I don't think I can ever forgive myself for being the one who survived. 

"It's not my fault, I realise it but my brother should have survived, not me."

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Although the Jewish population is considerably smaller, Scotland’s most senior religious leader, Rabbi Moshi Rubin, says Glasgow, “really punches above its weight”. 

His orthodox congregation in Giffnock and Newton Mearns  is the largest in the country.  

Rubin is a Hassidic jew, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.  He and his then young wife, Mancunian Hadassa, first came to Glasgow when they were newly married 33 years ago and have eight children.

He said: When I came here [from America] over 30 years ago my own congregation had over 1000 members.

“We don’t have that today but what hasn’t really changed is the buzz and Glasgow is an interesting community. It seems to punch way above its weight.”

Being Jewish in Scotland will be screened on BBC Scotland on Thursday, October 13 at 10.30pm.