JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THESSALONIKI |
The time when the Jews first
settled in Thessaloniki is a question that has not yet been historically
resolved. Some researchers claim that there were Jews in Thessaloniki
at the time of its founding (315 BC).
Others support that the Jews
initialy settled in Thessaloniki in 140 BC coming from Alexandria.
Flavius Joseph talks about Jews in Macedonia and further reference
to them is made in a letter from Herod to Calligula dated 10 AD.
Another important reference to
the presence of a organized Jewish Community in Thessaloniki is
to be found in the Acts of the Apostles. The relevant passage
informs us that Paul visited the city in 50 AD and taught at the
Synagogue on three consecutive Saturdays.
There is also evidence about
the continuous existence of a Jewish Community in Thessaloniki
during Roman and Byzantine times. These Jews were called "Romaniotes".
They had hellenized their names and spoke Greek. In the middle
of the 14th century more Jews arrived in Thessaloniki from Gentral
Europe, Sicily and Italy.
However, the most significant
settlement was that of 15-20.000 Spanish Jews (Sepharadim) who,
being percecuted by the Catholic kings Ferdinand and Isabella
and the Inquisition, left Spain and settled in Thessaloniki in
1492. More Jews exiled form Sicily, Portugal and North Africa
arrived as well. All these people settled in the city of Thessaloniki
which was almost totally deserted after its conquest by the Turks
in 1430. They occupied the area from Vardari Square to Diagonios
Street and from Egnatia Street to the waterfront promenade.
Demographically, the Jews were
the dominant element of the city and turned it into a first rate
commercial center. The Sepharadim distinguished themselves in
the field of textiles, worked in the mines of Gallikos River and
Sidirokapsa, founded the first printing house in Thessaloniki
in 1520 and many of them distiguished themselves as rabbis, physicians,
philosophers, poets and lawteachers. Thus, the fame of Thessaloniki
spread all over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. This
is why Thessaloniki was given the honorary title of "Mother
in Israel".
The succesful period was interrupted
at the beginning of the 17th century. Commerce received a blow
after the discovery of new sea routes and the city itself suffered
consecutive fires and epidemics. Still, the determining event
at the time was the appearance of a self-proclaimed Messiah, Sabetai
Sevi (1655). His popularity alarmed the Ottoman Authorities who
arrested him and condemned him to death (1666). In order the save
his life Sabetai Sevi converted to Islam. Three hundred Jewish
families followed his example.
This mass apostasy truly shook
the community which recovered only as late as the middle of the
19th century. A series of modernizing measures taken by the Ottoman
authorities in the city enhanced the process of revival. The city
expanded. It was lit by elecricity, electric streetcars were installed,
the port was modernized and a railroad connection with the rest
of Europe was established. From 1873 the Jews received advanced
European education thanks to the Alliance Israelite Universelle
Schools. It was at that time that the first newspaper ever was
published in Thessaloniki. It was the Jewish paper "EL LUNAR"
(1864). Industrial development was launched too, with the big
steam mill of the Italian - Jews of the Allatini family (1854).
The Jews dominated the commercial
scene, were active in all professions and were by far the largest
labor force in the city. That is why the city streets were deserted
on the Sabbath and on Great Jewish Holidays. In 1891, the Jewish
Community founded the working-class neighbourshoods of Baron Hirsch
and Kalamaria and established a whole chain of brilliant and unique
charity institutions. They created a welfare system that has not
been equaled in any other Diaspora community (Allatini and Mair
Aboave orphanages, the Baroness de Hirsch Hospital, Mental Asylum,
Saoul Modiano Old People's Home, Bikour Holim Health Organization,
etc.). The community had more than 30 Synagogues, numerous chapels
and parish schools and the great traditional "Talmoud Torah
Agadol" School. After the revolution of 1908 the socialist
organization "Federation" was founded and the first
Zionist groups made their appearance (Bene Sion, Kadima Macabbe,
Misrahi, etc.).
On October 26, 1912 Thessaloniki
becomes Greek again. The leaders of the Community are immediately
received by King George I and the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos
who promised to respect the rights of the community and offered
full equality in the eyes of the Law.
According, to the Greek Authorities
Census, the Jews of Thessaloniki numbered 61,439 as compared to
45,867 Muslim 39,936 Greek and 10,600 people of other origins.
A few years later the City was
devasted by the 1917 fire. The Community was cruelly hit. It numbered
53,000 homeless members. Almost all synagogues, schools and charity
institutions were destroyed.
For this reason many Jews emigrated
in the period between the two Wars and especially after the sad
incident of arson that destroyed the Kambel neighbourhood (1931).
Most of them settled in the Land of Israel. Still, in 1940 the
Community numbered more than 50,000 people. The Jews of Thessaloniki
lived peacefully along with their Christian neighbors. They fought
bravely for their homeland during the 1940-41 War, and 12,898
of them joined the Armed Forces (343 officers). They suffered
513 dead and 3,743 wounded.
Thessaloniki's occupation by
the Axis Forces (April 9, 1941) was the beginning of the end.
The Nazis applied anti-Jewish measures from the very first days.
They forbade the admission of Jews to cafes, cinemas etc. They
took over the Hirsch Hospital and many Jewish houses, imprisoned
members of the Community Council, looted the Community offices,
destroyed its archives and all Jewish libraries. On July 11, 1942
all male Jews between 18 and 45 years of age were ordered to present
themselves at Eleftherias Square. After incredible humiliations,
their names were taken down and they were led to labour camps.
The Community paid a 2,5 billion drachmas ranson to free them.
At the end of the same year all Jewish businessess were confiscated
and the more than 2000 year old Jewish Cemetery was destroyed.
As of February 1943 the Jews
vere obliged to wear a Yellow Star badge on their breasts and
live only in certain areas (ghettos). They were forbitten to work
as members of the professions (lawyers, physicians, professors)
and to belong to any club or institution. On March 15, 1943 the
first train left for the death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau.
Until August 1943, another eighteen convoys would follow. They
carried almost all the Jews, packed in carriages that had been
designed for animals. Their destination was the place of their
extermination. A very small number managed to escape thanks to
the help of Christian friends or joined the Resistance Forces.
These Jews returned to Thessaloniki after its liberation in October
1944 and together with the few refugees from the death camps they
managed to start a new life from the ruins.
Today, despite the extermination
of 96% of its members, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki is
once again a reality in the city.
The age-old hymns echo in the
three synagogies, the young members of the Community attend a
propet Jewish primary school. An ultra modern Old People's Home
provides residence to the elderly and a Community Centre attracts
the young. So, despite its tragic ordeal, the Jews of Thessaloniki
managed to rise from their ashes and offer a tangible example
of vitality and spiritual strength.
It is well known that of the
50,000 Jews of pre-war Thessaloniki less than 2,000 were saved.
Soon after the liberation of
the city from the Nazis (October 1944), the few Jews that had
joined the Resistance Forces or had joined within Greece turned
up. They gathered at the Synagogue of the Monasteriotes, the only
one that had been saved from destruction, and elected a Governing
Gommittee. This Committee managed to take back the Community's
property and organized some sort of Community life with the help
of organizations such as American Joint Distribution Committee
and HIAS. After May 1945 those who survived the death camps gradually
appeared in Thessaloniki.
The largest number of the survivors
had neither family nor means of livelihood. Those who managed
to get their homes or shops back found them empty, looted by the
Nazis and their collaborators. They lived in the buildings of
the Community institutions and were fed by the Community. Many
of them emigrated en masse to the USA and Israel. In spite of
all these difficulties the small Jewish Community started to reorganize
itself and return to normal.
Today the Community has one Rabbi
and three Synagogues. For the Shehita and Moeluth needs a specialist
is invited from Athens.
As for education the Community
provides Jewish teachers from Israel or Greek-Jews who were trained
in Israel. In the first few years after the War, the Community
had entered an agreement with two private schools. So the children
were all at the same place and could be taught Hebrew. Since 1979,
the Community has its own private primary school and nursery.
Every summer it organizes children's camps and also maintains
a youth community center and the only Jewish asylum for the eldertly
in Greece.
In 1983, the Jewish Community
of Thessaloniki funded the construction of the "Hellenic
House" at the Jerusalem University. It was honoured for this
reason by the Athens Academy. The Community was also honoured
by the City of Thessaloniki which in 1986, dedicated a square
in the city to the memory of the Holocaust victims.
ADMINISTRATION
The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki
is a Legal Entity under Public Law. It comes under the jurisdiction
of the Ministries of Education and Religion and it operates according
to Law No. 2456/1920 "On the Jewish Communities". It
is accountabe to the State and submits its budget and accounts
to it for approval.
Its highest authority is the
twenty-member Community Assembly elected in a general election
every four years. The Assemply elects through secret ballot the
five-member Community Council that is its executive authority.
The Council appoints specifc Committees responsible for particular
sectors (Cemetery, Synagogues, school, school care, welfare, medical
care, management of real estate property, summer camps, public
relations). The Community Services cover all activities and carry
out the decisions of the Community Council and the Committees.
EDUCATION
The Jewish Primary School:
Since 1979 the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki has been running
a six-year primary school and nursery attended by about 80 children.
The school is housed in the traditional building of the charity
organisation "Matanoth Laevionim" where until the Holocaust
free meals were served to poor students.
The nursery admits children from
the age of three and a half. In addition to the National Curriculum
Hebrew, English and French as well as Jewish Religion and History
are taught at the Primary School.
School Care: The Community's
care for education is extended to secondary school pupils and
students of Universities and Technical Studies Institutions. Students
with inadequate means are supported with subsidies and loans and
those who excel receive scholarships.
Summer Camp: Ever since
the first post-War years the Community introduced the institution
of summer camps for children, the only such camps in Greece. At
first it was located on Perea beach, just outside Thessaloniki,
later in Chalkidiki and in the last few years at Plaka Litohorou,
at the feet of Mt. Olympus.
Today the camp hosts 150-200
children aged 7-15. They come from all Jewish communities in the
country and from abroad.
YOUTH CENTER
The community maintains a Youth
Center that organizes various recreational and cultural events
such as dances excursions, congresses and seminars.
CLUBS - SOCIAL LIFE
In Thessaloniki there are:
a) The Jewish cultural club "Brotherhood"
which organizes various events at its locale on 24, Tsimiski Str.
b) The ladies organizations with
a wide range of social and cultural activities.
c) The athletic club "MACCABEE"
which maintains basket ball and table tennis sections.
d) The "Greece-Israel"
Association which promotes closer bonds between the two peoples
through various activities.
CHARITY ACTIVITIES
Welfare Care
The Community offers subsidies
to its less privileged members and has recently introduced a series
of measures in order to support young couples, so as to face its
demographic problems. There is also a loan service for businessmen
and small industry owners.
The Community maintains a surgery
and covers fully the medical and pharmaceutical needs of its less
privileged members.
"Saoul Modiano" Old
People's Home
The "Saoul Modiano"
Old People's Home was founded with a donation by Saul Modiano,
a Jew of Thessaloniki who died in Trieste in 1924.
It started operating in 1932
in its own building on Queen Olga Str. The purpose of the Home
was to look after the elderly Jews of both sexes.
The Home operated continously
until the German occupation. In 1943 its inmates shared the fate
of the rest of the Jewish population of Thessaloniki. They were
exiled and exterminated in the Auschwitz gas chambers.
Thus, the Home did not operate
until 1974, when the Council of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki
under the chairmanship of David (Dick) Benveniste decided to reopen
the institution, thinging that it would serve the needs of Thessaloniki's
as well as the needs of the whole country's old people.
The Community decided that a
new building had to be erected in order to fulfill contemporary
requirements and therefore undertook this task. The construction
and provision of all necessary equipment were completed in 1981
and since then the institution has been in operation.
The Old People's Home admits
men and women who are members of the Jewish Communities of Greece
and are over 65 years of age. It operates in a six-storey building.
Each floor has seven single and two double bedrooms, as well as
a lounge. On the ground floor three is a synagogue, a restaurant
and a reception hall. The institution employs the necessary administrative,
health and auxiliary staff. The Community physician visits the
institution and examines its residents once a week. There is also
occupational therapy by trained staff.
All Jewish Holidays are observed
and officially celebrated at the Old People's Home. The Community
ladies and school pupils often take part in the Home's activities.
Thus, in the few years it has
been in operation thanks to the full and manysided support of
the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, the "Saul Modiano Old
People's Home has established itself as a genuine "Home for
our Parents", a warm asylum where Jewish senior citizens
live in a happy, dignified and comfortable environment, among
people who embrace them with love and care.
THE NEW JEWISH CEMETERY
It is known that the Nazis destroyed
the ancient Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki that covered an area
of about 300,000 sq. m. at the place where the University Campus
is situated today. The graves were looted and tombstones were
scattered all over the city.
After the liberation, the Community
founded a new cemetery in the Stavroupolis area. Some tombstones
from the old cemetery were carried there and a monument for the
victims of the Holocaust has been erected.
SYNAGOGUES
a) The Synagogue of the Monasteriotes
The Synagogue of the Monasteriotes
was founded with a donation by Ida Aroesti in memory of her husband
Isaac. Families from Monastir in Yugoslavia who had settled in
Thessaloniki after the Balcan Wars (1912-1913) and World War I
(1914-1918), also contributed to the Synagogue's building and
furnishing.
The foundations were laid in
1925 and the construction work lasted for two years. The Synagogue
was officially opened by the then Chief Rabbi of Thessaloniki
Chaim Raphael Habib on 27 Elul 5687 (1927).
During the Nazi occupation the
Synagogue of the Monasteriotes was the center of the ghetto sector
that was created in the inner city.
When the entire Jewish population
was exiled to the death camps, the Synagogue was used by the Red
Cross as a warehouse. This was the reason it escaped destruction
by the Nazis and was maintained in relatively good repair.
Immediately after the liberation
in November 1944, the few Jews that had been saved by Christian
friends and those who had joined the National Resistance Forces
found refuge in this Synagogue. When normal Community life war
restored this Synagogue became the central Synagogue of Thessaloniki.
In June 1978 the earthquake that
shook the city caused serious damage to the Synagogue and its
operation ceased until the fine task of its restauration was completed
with funds furnished by the Greek Goverment that considered this
Synagogue as one of the historical monuments of Thessaloniki.
Today it is in operation for the religious needs of the Thessaloniki
Jews.
b) "Yad Lezicaron" Synagogue
This Synagogue was opened in
1984 dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
It was built on the site of the smal "Bourla" prayer
centre (Caal de la Plaza) that had been operating since 1912 to
meet the religious needs of the numerous Jews who worked in the
nearby market place.
c) "Saul Modiano" Synagogue
There is also a small synagogue
in the Old People's Home for their religious needs.
CULTURAL
1) The Center of the Cource
of Jewish history, in Thessaloniki.
It was opened in 1985 as part
of the celebration of the 2,300 year anniversary of the city's
founding. It includes a permanent photographic exhibition covering
the history of the Thessaloniki Jews (traditional costumes, synagogues,
Jewish press, traditional Houses and charity institutions, neighbourhoods,
Holocaust).
2) Museum of the Jewish
Presence in Thessaloniki.
It also includes a museum and
a specialized library on the history and customs of the Jews of
Thessaloniki. It intends to set up on 1997, with the occasion
of the Cultural Capital.
3) Publications
The Community has, in the last
few years, funded a series of publications on its history and
traditions. These publications are:
1) "Agada sel Pessach".
Editor: Barouh Schiby
It is trilingual (Greek, Hebrew
and Spanish in Latin characters and "Rashi"). This book
has been recognized as a true work of art.
2) IN MEMORIAM
by M. Molho and J. Nehama:
It is the story of the Holocaust
of the Jews of Greece. It was written in French and had been published
right after the War. It had been out of print for some time. The
Jewish Community of Thessaloniki organized its republication both
in the original French version an in a Greek translation realized
by George Zografakis.
3) "The History of the
Jews of Thessaloniki"
by J. Nehama in 7 volumes
The Community has funded the
reprinting of the first five volumes that had been out of print
while the author was still alive. The Community also funded the
first publication of the last two volumes of this monumental work
and also its Greek traslation.
Other publications that were
funded by the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki are: "BIRKENAU"
memories from the death camps by our fellow citizen doctor A.
Menashe.
"The Synagogues of Thessaloniki:
by Alberto Nar.
"The Proverbs of the Sepharadim
Jews of Thessaloniki"
by George Zografakis.
The translations of the Hymns
and the Prayer Book of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) by Asher
Moissis.
A special edition of the "Chronika"
magazine for the 2,300 year anniversary of the city of Thessaloniki.
THE HELLENIC HOUSE
The Jewish Community, in an effort
to encourage the research and study of Ancient Greek literature
and to further contribute to the promotion of closer bonds between
the peoples of Greece and Israel, undertook the construction of
a wing at the University Complex of Jerusalem. This wing was named
"The Hellenic House" and was opened on March 14, 1984;
many eminent personalities from the world of politics and culture
were present. The wing was dedicated to the memory of the Greek-Jewish
students who were killed during the Holocaust.
The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki
was honoured by the Athens Academy and the Rotary Clubs of Thessaloniki
for this historic gesture.
MODERN JEWISH MONUMENTS OF THESSALONIKI
Among the very few modern monuments
of our city that survived to our days some buildings that belonged
to Jewish families or hosted charity institutions stand out.
The most important ones are:
"Villa Allatini"
(198 Vassillissis Olgas Str.)
A work by the Italian architect
Vitaliano Pozelli. It was built in 1888 as the summer residence
of the Allatini family, a family famous for both its business
and community activities.
Between 1909 and 1912 it was
used as the prison-residence of Sultan Abdul Hammid II, who was
overturned by the New Turks. In 1926 it hosted the then newly
founded University of Thessaloniki while in the 1940-41 War it
was used as a hospital.
Today, Villa Allatini hosts the
Prefecture of Thessaloniki.
Other monumental buildings that
belonged to the Allatini family and are still in use today are
the mills on Antheon Str. and their Bank on Stock Market Square.
"Villa Fernandez" (Casa
Bianca)
(at the corner of Vassillissis
Olgas and Th. Sofouli Str.),
Built in 1910 by the Italian
architect Pierro Arigoni to be the residence of the Jewish businessman
Dino Fernandez it has been associated with the romantic story
of his daughter Aline's affair with Lieutenant Aliberti.
"Villa Mïrdoch"
Built by the Greek architect
Xenophon Paeonides in 1905 to be the residence of the Turkish
Division Commander Saifulah Pasha. In 1923 it was bought by the
Jewish family Schialom and in 1930 by another Jewish family, the
Mordochs. After World War II it housed successively the services
of ELAS, the 3rd Army Corps, and the Social Security Institution
in the City of Thessaloniki. Today it is used by the Municipality
of Thessaloniki as an Exhibition Hall for paintings.
"Villa Jacob Modiano"
It was built in 1906 to be the
residence of Jacob Modiano by the engineer Eli Modiano. In 1913
the villa was bought by the City of Thessaloniki and offered as
a palace to the then King Constantine. It was used in the period
between the two Wars as the residence of the Governor General
of Macedonia and it later housed the Military Medicine School.
Since 1970 it has been housing the Macedonian Popular Art Museum.
The visitor interested in the
sites associated with the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki can
also visit the picturesque Modiano Market, the "Saul Modiano
Arcade", the Hippocrates Hospital, built in 1907 by the Jewish
Community with the support of Baroness Clara de Hirsch, and finally
"Yenni Djami" built in 1902 by the "Donmes"
(Jews who had converted to Islam in the 17th century) and used
later as Thessaloniki's Archeological Museum. After the new Arceological
Museum was finished, Yenni Djami is used for painting and sculptures
expositions.
JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THESSALONIKI
Useful adresses
1) Synagogue of the Monasteriotes:
2) Yad Lezicaron Synagogue and
Center of Historical studies of Thessaloniki's Judaism
3) Community Offices, Rabbinate
4) Cemetery and the Holocaust
Monument:
5) Jewish Primary School
6) "Saoul Modiano" Old
People's Home
7) Jewish Martyrs Square
8) Internet e-mail: jct1@compulink.gr
35, Syngrou Str. tel. 524.968
24, V. Heracliou Str. tel. 223.231
Community Center, "Brotherhood"
Club:
Tsimiski 24, tel. 272.840, 277.803
221.030, 221.124
Stavroupolis
(opposite the "AGNO"
factory),
tel. 655.855
"Talmund Torah Agadol":
7 Fleming Str. tel. 849.347,
837.177
89, Kimonos Voga Str. tel. 848.473
Enclosed by Papanastasiou,
Priamou and Karakassi Str.