Presentation
This Presentation Examines:
History of Greek Jews in Greece
Jewish Communities in Greece
The Holocaust in Greece
Greek Jewry today
http://www.zchor.org/greece/picsgreece/greece2.jpg
Importance of Greek Jewry
Greek Jewry Integral part of Greek history
Greek Jews (Romaniotes) Greece’s & Europe’s oldest minority groups
Antiquity (2300 years)
Greek Jews' Holocaust Integral part of Greek history
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http://nimg.sulekha.com/others/original700/greece-holocaust-memorial-2011-1-30-10-10-56.jpg http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/5/9/1273429924965/Athens-Holocaust-memorial-006.jpg http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/greece/eng/images/biblio/bibl03.jpg
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http://www.jewishmuseum.gr/en/index.html
Greek Jews in AntiquityArchaic/Classical Period-Greece
1st Greek Jewish Contact Outside Greece After Babylonian exile of 586-539 BCE
Persian King Cyrus allowed Jews to return to their homeland
Prophet Ezekiel wrote:Greek traders of "Javan," Ionia, who traded in slaves and worked with bronze. (late 500’s BCE)
Greek historian Herodotus “Palestinian Syrians” served in the Persian king Xerxes’ navy that invaded Greece in 480 BCE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greek-Persian_duel.jpg
Greek Jews of the Hellenistic Period
Hellenistic Period Many Hellenized Jews left Judaea New commercial centers
(Alexandria & Antioch) Smaller groups moved to coastal
cities (Ephesus, Smyrna, Thessaloniki, Chalkis) & Crete.
Earliest reference to a Greek Jew Inscription 300-250 BCE Oropos (small coastal town
between Athens & Boeotia) "Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew“ (may have been a slave)
1st recorded mention of Judaism in Greece
300-250 BCE –island Rhodes (Book of Maccabees) http://www.geschichteinchronologie.ch/eu/griechenland/
EncJud_juden-in-gr-d/EncJud_Greece-band7-kolonne869-870-karte-juedische-gemeinden.jpg
Legends1st Jewish Communities-Hellenistic Period
4th century BCE (316 BCE) 1st Community-Thessaloniki
King Kassandros Alexander the Great’s brother-in-law
Asked King Ptolemy of Egypt to send Alexandrian Jewish artisans to assist in building the city.
The White Tower of Thessaloniki, marking the southeastern edge of Jewish quarter of Thessaloniki, "the Mother of Israel". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:White_Tower.jpg
Legends1st Jewish Communities-Roman Period
A Romaniote oral tradition tells:
1st Jews arrived in Ioannina shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Many Jews were sent to Rome on a slave ship when a storm sank their ship in the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaniotes
http://ritabay.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/the-original-menorah-on-the-arch-of-titus.jpg httpIonian Sea, close to the city of Ioannina in the
region of Epirus://www.gojerusalem.com/_media/userfiles/8/14159/84817.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Ioannina_map.png
Traces of Greek Jewry-Roman Period
2nd century BCEHyrcanusJewish community leader of Athens
• Honored
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hyrcanus_I-Yohanan.jpg
Throne of Moses in Synagogue of Delos from 1st Cent. CE
Menorah carved on marble found in Ancient Agora of Athens, 267-396 CE
Mosaic Floor of a Jewish Synagogue in Aegina Greece 300 CE
Synagogue of Sardis 350 CE
http://wwith statue in the agoraww.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html
Romaniote-Byzantine Period
Romaniote Jews-1st Inhabitants
Term Romaniote Coined Byzantine Period (4th - 10th Cent.)
Romaniotes Hellenized Jews Greek speaking Citizens Roman/Byzantine Emp.
Distinct from Ashkenazim & Sephardim
2,300 year presence Greek Jewry
For the first 1,800 years Jewish population only
Romaniotes
Romaniotes -oldest European Diaspora Jewish community
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaniotes
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html
http://www.romaniotesjews.com/2008/02/who-are-romaniotes-jews.html
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Romaniote Jews Romaniotes absorbed many Greek attributes:Customs & TraditionsGreek family namesLanguage
Yevanic (Yāwān, Ἰωνία - Ionia)Greco-Judaic dialectWords-phrasesGreek, Hebrew, Aramaic & TurkishOnly oral, spoken languageToday – nearly extinct – 50 speakers
Minhag – RomaniaTraditional Jewish prayers Recited & chanted in GreekWritten with Hebrew letters Religious services continue to sustain
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Seder Piyuttim Hadashim ve-gam Yeshanim...
http://www.piyut.org.il/tradition/englis…
Greek Jews - Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire Several Jewish communities
1st Byzantine Emperors were hostile
1st anti-Jewish laws written
Jews in Byzantium were not as restricted as Jews in the West.
Several forced conversions
1376- Arrival of Ashkenazi Jews from Hungary & Germany avoiding persecution
By end of Byzantine Empire, Venetian Jews had many privileges
Byzantine Jews Mt. Athos, 10th Centuryhttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/
Greece.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Byzantine_Empire
Alexander the Great, clad as a Byzantine emperor, receives a delegation of Jewish rabbis. Miniature from the 14th-century Alexander Romance
Greek Jews - Ottoman Empire
Expulsion Order of 1492 in Spain
Sultan invited Sephardic Jews to Ottoman Greece
Highly educated & skilled
Thessaloniki Home to Sephardic Jews
Mother Israel-Madre Israel-Jerusalem of the Balkans
2 centuries - one of the largest Jewish communities in the world
Ladino Speakers
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/Greece/salonica2.jpg
Greek Jews-Ottoman Empire
Romaniotes Romaniotes adopted Sephardic
culture
Continued speaking Judeo-Greek Yevanic
Maintained own synagogues/liturgy
1920’s 24 official Sephardic
communities in Greece Few Romaniote communities
remained
Ioannina (northwest near Albanian border)
Became largest Romaniote community
2 Synagogues
Jewish doctor and merchant, 1574
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Greece.html
Jewish family of Salonika in 1917
Jewish Communities29 Jewish Communities existed in Greece before the Holocaust
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Athens, Alexandroupoli, Arta, Veria, Volos, Didymoticho, Drama, Zante, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Kavala, Karditsa, Kastoria, Corfu, Komotini, Crete, Kos, Larisa, Nea Orestiada, Soufli, Xanthi, Patras, Agrinio, Preveza, Rhodes, Serres, Trikala, Florina and Halkida
The Greek Holocaust-20th Century
65,000-80,000 Greek Jews perished
89% of entire Jewish population (one of the highest populations in Europe)
2/3 of Greek Jewry lived in Thessaloniki (56,000)
96% of Jews in Thessaloniki perished
12,598 fought in Greek army
8,000-10,000 survived with help of Greeks
1,950 returned to Thessaloniki to find most of their 60 synagogues/schools burnt.
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How the Greek Jews could have survived
Michael Matsis-1997
The Illusion of Safety: The Story of the Greek Jews during the 2nd WW.
Daily broadcasts by BBC
Allied military missions in occupied countries
Secret agentsLeaflets thrown from planes (this method was used in Greece to deliver political messages).
Population of Thessaloniki
Year Total Population
JewishPopulation
JewishPercentage
1842 70,000 36,000 51%
1870 90,000 50,000 56%1882/84 85,000 48,000 56%
1902 126,000 62,000 49%
1913 157,889 61,439 39%
1943 53,000
2000 363,987 1,400 0.3%
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#cite_note-Molho-15http://www.ejpress.org/ImageGallery/9fc6f9a4-982f-45d7-9a47-
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Greek Jewry TodayEstimated 5500 Jews live in Greece.
2,500 (Athens), 1,300 (Thessaloniki), & rest within various parts of the country
Both Romaniote/Sephardic subgroups
Mixed marriages, ageing population, younger generations
No longer see benefits in officially declaring themselves Jews
Jews identified as Romaniotes live mainly in Athens
Only about 58 live in Ioannina.
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http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/greece/greece.pdf
http://www.ejpress.org/article/23067
Jewish Communities In GreeceCentral Board of Jewish Communities (KIS)
Umbrella organization of Greek Jewry in Greece
Athens & Thessaloniki2 & 3 synagogues Jewish primary school Jewish museum Several organizations, associations, camps & youth groups - Greek Jewish events
In the remaining parts of Greece
7 small, active communities with functioning synagogue (Chalkis, Corfu, Ioannina, Larissa, Rhodes, Trikala, Volos)
40-70 members each330 - Larissa
Crete 12 Greeks Jews Synagogue of Etz Hayyim in Hania
1999 rededicated Opened during Jewish holidays
http://www.athjcom.gr/en/images/logos/kis_eng.JPG
Jewish Athens1977 - Small room adjacent to synagogue
Early exhibits World War 11 artifactsDocuments - 19th & 20th centuries Stolen Jewelry of Thracian Jews (Bulgarians)
1984- Museum moved & rented space
1997- neoclassical 19th cent. Building
Research & studies on Greek JewsNumerous programs, activities & exhibitions
10-12 thousand visitors annuallyEducating others -especially children about the Holocaust
Teacher seminars Zanet BattinouDirector
http://www.jewishmuseum.gr
Jewish Athens-Synagogues & School
1904-Etz Hayyim-Ioannina Synagogue
1935-Beth Shalom Sephardic Synagoguehttp://www.jewishmuseum.gr/en/information/jews_greece/jewish_sites/
jewish_synagogues.htmlhttp://www.athjcom.gr/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11:beth-shalom-synagogue&catid=12:athens-synagogues&Itemid=339
Athens Jewish Community School
Romaniote Jews in IoanninaEarly 20th century About 4000 Poor, conservative Jews (trade & crafts)
1881-19241st massive wave of immigration-USA-NYEconomic/political reasonsEpirus region-combat zone Greece/Ottoman Empire
Immigrant Romaniotes escaped Holocaust
At onset WWII 1950 Romaniote Jews in Ioannina1,860 deported to Auschwitz-BirkenauMost never returned
2 synagogues Kehila Kedosha Yashan inside kastroKehila Kedosha Hadash -still exists Bimah -Torah scrolls read- raised dais -western wall
Aron Kodesh-Torah scrolls kept-eastern wall At the middle - wide interior aisle
Romaniotes in New YorkMid-1950’sSmall group Holocaust survivors immigrated to USA after catastrophic earthquakes
Most engaged in textile industry
1927-Kehila Kedosha Janina-landmarkReasons for establishment:Few Sephardic /Ashkenazi congregations on Lower East side of NY City
Romaniotes had difficulties:
Ashkenazi Different prayer liturgies/Torah services/pronunciation of liturgy
SephardicLiturgy similar but language- Judesmo-Ladino
Traditional Hebrew used for most of services, piyyuttim- distinctive poetry strictly Romaniote-inserted into liturgy
Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos
Study of Romaniotes
Performed study/interview on 20 Romaniotes in New York (Alexiou)
75% - 2nd generation Greek Jews:Identify & refer as Greek JewsGreek elements into lifestyle70% -strong attachment Greece/Greek identity
All have visited Greece 75% visit annuallyGreek food-integral part of diet
Greek Language90% understand Greek 40% speak it comfortably.Over 1/3 read Greek satisfactory
The Jews of Salonica today About 1000 Jewish Pre-school/ Primary school (about 80 children)
Summer camp School care Youth center Jewish Clubs Welfare Care/Old People’s Home New Jewish Cemetery
Three Synagogues Synagogue of the Monasteriotes (1925)
"Yad Lezicaron" Synagogue (1984) "Saul Modiano" Synagogue The Center of the Cource of Jewish history, in Thessaloniki (1985)
Museum of the Jewish Presence in Thessaloniki (1997)
http://www.jdc.org/where-we-work/europe/greece.html
http://www.jmth.gr/
http://www.jct.gr/school.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monastir_Synagogue.JPG
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