(2014) _ The Jews of Thessaloniki: Legacies of the Past, Shaping of Traditions, Challenges for the Future _ [Οι Ιουδαίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης: Κληρονομιές

Paul Hagouel

The Jews of Thessaloniki Page 1 of 8

FFaakkiirrlleerrii KKoorruummaa DDeerrnneeğğii November 9 2014 İstanbul

The Jews of Thessaloniki Legacies of the Past Shaping of Traditions Challenges for the Future

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am much honored to be amongst you this day I take this opportunity to thank Fakirleri Koruma Derneği and Metin Delevi for inviting me The date is also a solemn one the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht The history of the Jews of and in Thessaloniki is a vast topic that has been addressed by a number of historians and researchers over the years After all it is inexorably linked with the history of the other people of the geographic area spanning more than 2000 years tumultuous historical events and 3 Empires Even though the blow that was meted to Jewish Thessaloniki by the German Reich during the Second World War essentially wiped out Judaism in the city the challenges of the future of the now small but vibrant Jewish presence force us to build on our rich and glorious past Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BCE by General Kassandros who married the halfndashsister of Alexander the Great of the same name daughter of King Fillip the 2nd of the Macedonian Kingdom Thessaloniki became part of the Roman Empire in 168 BCE It is conjectured that the first Jews to arrive in the city were from Alexandria circa 140 BCE It was during that same period in 165 BCE that the Maccabees revolted against the rule of Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Macedonians who had desecrated the Temple Furthermore as Judaism was concerned this was the first instance of a conqueror claiming religious supremacy in order to rule over a people ndash the Jews It is interesting to note that Jews celebrate Hanukah for the occasion and at the same time they tend to forget the wrath of the zealots against their brethren who while retaining their Jewish traditions also adopted Hellenistic customs It is thus safe to assume that the pull of Hellenism was strong because each one (Judaism and Hellenism) complemented the other Proof of the above is the fact that the Jews inhabiting Thessaloniki and surrounding towns and regions during the Roman period and beyond are called Romaniotes The term defines Jews that have partly incorporated Greek into their religious ceremonies Epigraphs (monumental inscriptions) on 2 sarcophagi circa 2nd amp 3d Century CE attest to that and

Paul Hagouel

prove the Jewish presence Also an important find was the column from the ancient synagogue at Stobi (Οι Στόβοι) just 100 klms away with the inscription in Greek referring to ldquoPolycharmos Father of the Synagoguerdquo Saul of Tarsus a pious Jew better known in the Christian World as Apostle Paul the founder of Christianity as a religion ndash religious creed ndash based on the belief of the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth preached for 3 consecutive Shabbats at the Ets Ahaim synagogue to native Jews in Thessaloniki in 50 CE He wasnrsquot very convincing the crowd showed feelings of hostility and he had to be spirited away towards the city of Veria For the period up to the creation of the Eastern Roman Empire known as Byzantium it is safe to assume that Jews were left to live their lives without any religious discrimination That was so since both the Hellenic God Pantheon and the Roman one did not relate to other religions The exemptions had to do with the political aims of various conquerors of Jerusalem who saw in Jews a nation potentially hostile and not a religion It is with the Roman Emperor Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus also known in the Greek Christian Orthodox Church as Constantine the Great or Saint Constantine that the fortunes of both Thessaloniki and its Jews were inexorably linked with the fortunes or misfortunes and policies of Byzantium Constantine converted to Christianity and with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE he granted religious liberty to Christians and to other religions However incrementally the Christian Religion became the de facto state religion and finally under Emperor Theodosius I the state Church of the Roman Empire was established (de jure) with the Edict of Thessaloniki on February 27th 380 The implications of these were monumental especially for the Jews Eastern Orthodox Christianity became the sole authorized religionndashcreed of the Empire For the first time in History State and Religion coincide and are merged into one Religion is being used for political aims The Ecumenical Patriarch is there however in all things that involve Eastern Christianity andor in the name of it the Emperor is the bearer of all responsibilities emanating from this usurpation of spiritual power by the worldly one It is in this respect that the Emperor is the sole institution accountable for periodic discrimination and persecution of Jews various AntindashJudaic edicts and others all in the spirit of the superiority and complete dominance of Christianity in the Empire This is the complete opposite of Catholic Europe where the Pope held both spiritual and

Paul Hagouel

temporal powers and thus almost all atrocities committed in the name of Christianity in the realm of Catholicism can be attributed to him The Emperor believed that he could use a State Religion as the unifying force and catalyst for the vast empire that comprised many people in order to govern it efficiently and reign on them The effects of equating a nation with a religion were and are catalytic long after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire and even today It is in the Balkans especially an important geographic region of the Empire for reasons of commerce expanse proximity with western Europe where definitely even today a religion identifies an ethnicity and not vice versa The Jews of Thessaloniki and not only suffered from that The Jewish presence in Thessaloniki is sparingly recorded in those years There is a mention of Rabbi Tobias Ben Eliezer who circa 1096 wrote his book Midrash Lekah Tov [ldquoGood Doctrinerdquo ndash a commentary of the Pentateuch] In it he also attacks the Karaites In 1170 Benjamin of Tudela visits the city and reports that the Jews are oppressed And Archbishop Eustathios in his account of the Norman Siege and Capture of Thessaloniki in 1185 is not kind to the Jews This should not come as a surprise Emperors Constantine I Theodosius II and Justinian I among others adhered to an AntindashJudaic comportment Constantine claimed that the Jews are unclean and the other 2 passed AntindashJudaic legislation Theodosius in his Codex Theodosianus and Justinian in his Novella 146 on Jews Later Emperors are also attributed with various similar acts and comportment All of these restrictive measures applied equally to the Jews of Thessaloniki a city second only to Constantinople in importance in Byzantium Thus it is almost certain that Byzantine Administration was if not outright hostile at the least not friendly towards the Jews Venetian Rule of the city occurs the years 1423ndash1430 Jewish immigration from Italy and Sicily takes place adding to other arrivals such as in 1376 Jews from Hungary and Germany In the meantime the decline of Byzantium is irreversible The city will not revert to its rule but will be conquered by the Ottoman (Osmanlı) Empire on March 29 1430 After Constantinople also fell (1453) Jews inhabiting İstanbul are allowed to migrate in other cities and these include Thessaloniki The White Tower is built on the onset of Ottoman rule

Paul Hagouel

At the same time Sephardic Judaism is thriving in the Iberian Peninsula in Spain and Portugal Regrettably however Christian Spain under the Catholic Kings Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile decided that all Jews who did not convert to Christianity had to leave Their decision was formalized with the Alhambra Decree ndash the Edict of Expulsion ndash issued on the 31st of March 1492 It ordered the expulsion of Jews who declined to convert from the Crowns [Kingdoms] of Castile and Aragon and its territories and possessions by the 31st of July of that year Sultacircn Bayezid-icirc Velicirc (II) welcomed them in the Empire Around 15000 to 20000 settled in Thessaloniki Selanik These Jews brought with them their language customs and their skills It was unavoidable that the overwhelming presence of the Spaniards would swallow up the Romaniote minority and erase its traces from the city Jewish Thessaloniki is now part of a vast Empire It will remain so up to 1912 Jews in Thessaloniki are treated the same as in other parts and specifically as their coreligionists in many Jewish centers such İstanbul and İzmir As during the Byzantine era Thessaloniki is second to the capital İstanbul Jews enjoy the same privileges and are subject to the same rules and obligations like the Christians These sprang from the concept of dhimmī (Zimmicirc) as nonndashMuslim citizens of an Islamic State Coupled to that Jews belonged to the Jewish Millet or loosely defined religious minority community The Sublime Porte believed that the best way to govern the Empire given the large nonndashMuslim population aggregations that were present was to a) give some autonomy on linguistic religious and social issues to the nonndashMuslim communities and b) populate various geographic areas with Muslim Turks andor encourage conversion of local populations In this respect the Ottoman Empire differed from Byzantium Thus the Jews of Thessaloniki are Ottoman subjects but not first class citizens However due to this system of governance a positive outcome is that the spirit of communality among the Jews and that of taking care of their own was reinforced Furthermore very few Jews ever learned Turkish the language of the Administration and the majority This created the need and simultaneously employment opportunities for a stratum ndash branch of midlevel state employees mediating between the administration and the nonndashMuslim citizens

Paul Hagouel

Again there is an influx of various Jewish groups during the 16th and 17th centuries coming from all over from Portugal after they have been expelled as in Spain from Poland Hungary Italy and North Africa The dominant Sephardic element prevailed over all newcomers Sephardic or otherwise And in 1545 (5305) the Portuguese Marrano Samuel Usque will characterize it as the ldquoMother of Judaismrdquo in his opus Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel Cultural growth along with economic growth will last until the beginning of the 17th Century However later new sea routes as well as the involvement of the Ottoman Empire in military campaigns will bring economic malaise and cultural decline That is why the appearance of Sabbetai Cevy and his acceptance by many Jews of Thessaloniki as the Messiah should come as no surprise Originating from İzmir he declared himself the Messiah The result for Thessaloniki was the splitting of the community to believers and nonndashbelievers When the Ottoman authorities forced him to convert to Islam in 1666 a few hundred families followed him into conversion and thus created the complex minority of laquoJudeo-Muslimsraquo or Doumlnmeh [laquoTurncoatsraquo] or as they prefer to be called the laquoha-Marsquoaminimraquo ie The Believers Nominally they were considered Muslims The Yeni Camii built in 1902 served as their temple up to 1923 when with the Treaty of Lausanne they were forcibly expelled to Turkey as Muslims Fast forwarding to the 19th Century Noteworthy milestones are the publishing in 1864 of the first JudeondashSpanish newspaper El Lunar and in 1873 the establishment of schools by the Alliance Israeacutelite Universelle But we find the Empire with many internal and external issues and problems Tanzimat in 1839 and the Hatt-ı Huumlmayun of 1856 both from Sultan Abduumllmecid as well as various other measures over the years were both a bit late and little in order to stem the national aspirations of the subjects of different religion and language especially of the Christian ones That was the unintended result of the Ottoman model of Administration efficient for the first centuries but woefully inadequate for the later modern ones It was too late to both promote and forge the notion of the Ottoman Citizen based on Civil rights and not group rights One outcome of the long presence of the Ottomans in the Balkans was the reinforcement of the identification andor equation of a particular ethnicnational group with a certain language and religion even a particular Patriarchate That was due to their mode of government This holds true even today Only Jews were a nonndashethnic religious group So in the 1st Balkan War we find Thessaloniki inhabited by Greeks Turks Bulgarians Serbians Jews and a few other minor groups

Paul Hagouel

The Greek Army enters Thessaloniki on October 26 1912 In 1913 with the Treaty of Bucharest the city becomes officially Greek And with the Treaty of Athens in 1913 a Treaty of Peace between Greece and Turkey the Greek citizenship is acquired by all Christians Muslims and Jews Bear in mind that the Hellenic State officially founded in 1830 with the Treaties of London in all its constitutions proclaimed not only full freedom of religion but also full emancipation They [Constitutions] were based on Civil rights and not group rights No minorities were recognized Every person was a Hellene After more than 2000 years the Jew of Thessaloniki becomes by Constitutional mandate a Greek albeit of Jewish religious decent It was predictable that the Constitutional mandate for de jure incorporation into the national corpus could not be transubstantiated into a de facto one overnight For that the time span of at least a few generations was needed and also the resolve of the state to encourage the process through education was required Unfortunately Greece was confronted with many issues not all troubles free during that period The First World War its territorial expansion in the Balkans and its presence in Asia Minor in Smyrna after 1919 At the time modern nationalistic Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatuumlrk was ascertaining itself The over extension of Greek forces in Asia Minor resulted in defeat and they were forced to abandon all territories With the Peace Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 the first and only ever forced population exchange between two states based solely on religion took place The Doumlnmeh were transplanted to Turkey along with other Muslims either ethnic or nonndashethnic Turks Also in 1917 a major fire swept the predominantly Jewish city center of Thessaloniki the subsequent urban planning altered forever its centuries old JewishndashOttoman character The majority of the Christians ndash Rum Ethnic Greeks Ionians Yavan settled in Macedonia and many out of those in Thessaloniki This altered irrevocably the population distribution and statistics Thessaloniki still had the largest Sephardic community but it would never again regain its status as a Jewish City Mother in Israel Whereas before the Jewish element dominated commerce now it had to compete against the Christian Hellenic majority when still most Jews spoke Ladino and not Greek Everyonersquos economic realm was curtailed by the new borders and the multitude of new nationndashstates in Europe

Paul Hagouel

Jewish communities were recognized as public legal entities with a 1920 law on Jewish Communities The Thessaloniki Jewish Community was formally created and received its Bylaws with a decree published in 1923 The community diminished in population reaching a total of around 55000 on the eve of the Second World War The majority lead a hand to mouth existence even though many tend to equate or believe the urban legend that most were rich There existed some rich ones but this was not the case for the overwhelming majority The inter war years shaped the community in various respects Hellenization compelled the new generation to learn and speak Greek even though instruction in French and the learning of Ladino continued However incorporation and social mingling for the many with the Christian majority did not advance at a desirable pace due to the large numbers of Jews and the gap of generations ndash the older generations continued to speak Ladino ndash The Communal benevolent services catered to the needy Synagogues functioned as well as religious schools There were some acts of outright AntindashSemitism but it was neither institutionalized nor state sanctioned or promoted After the Cambell minindashpogrom in 1931 many immigrated to Palestine even though immigration to both Palestine and elsewhere had started before and continued after The German Reich attacks and invades Greece on April 6 1941 Thessaloniki is occupied on April 9th The annihilation of the Jewish Greek population of Thessaloniki that came as a result of the implementation of the sondashcalled Final Solution of the Jewish Problem by the German Reich and the waste and ruins that it left on its wake is one of the most infamous events in World History The numeric strength of the community just before deportations started in March 15 1943 is deduced from a document signed by SS Hauptsturmfuumlhrer Dieter Wisliceny where the Jewish Greek population of the city aged 6 and over was estimated at around 55000 souls Post war Jewish Thessaloniki in now counting more than 70 years life Wounds would never heal Memory and especially Remembrance are taking their revenge The Community offers again all services for those who wish to lead a full Jewish life The creation of the State of Israel as the Jewish State enhance our consciousness as Jews in Greece but also compels us to ascertain even more our Hellenic identity The challenge is to blossom as Jewish Greeks and not take the ldquoeasy way outrdquo of Aliyah (or the hard way depending on onersquos Weltanschauung) After all Jewish

Paul Hagouel

Greeks fought as equals in all wars and contributed to the glory of the country and the nation More subtle are the challenges still emanating from the catastrophe The maintenance and rebirth of JudeondashEspagnol as a living language Judaic Heritage instruction to our youth beyond elementary school ndash a Jewish Community private elementary school thrives ndash resurrection of prendashwar customs and maintenance of current ones that disappear as survivors pass away the passing to new generations of the centuries old recipes the record of all of the above in written audio video electronic from or otherwise just to name a few Last but most important and not least the demographic challenge looms ominous It is the most overwhelming Vigilance and nurturing of our youth is a must they have to be proud of ourndashtheir heritage and have to be imbued with the conviction of their destiny in keeping Judaism live in Thessaloniki Already interfaith weddings take their toll It is ironic that complete freedom and full emancipation is neither conductive in strengthening onersquos identity nor in keeping the cohesion when a minority

Personally I am optimistic that Jewish Thessaloniki will always be present and hopefully a contributor to Judaism in the 21st Century and beyond as well as a catalyst for tolerance understanding and peace among neighboring nations

I thank you very much

Paul İsaac Hagouel

hagoueleecsberkeleyedu hagouelgmailcom

independentacademiaeduPaulIsaacHagouel +30 6974389086 cell

+30 2310270886 land

Presentation (PowerPoint) Link httpswwwdropboxcomsnhhz1av2spfap80Hagouel_Jews_The

ssaloniki_C4B0stanbul_20141109_f3_ppsdl=0 or

httpsdrivegooglecomfiled0B6Vpuw9GQ6A5NEJSNUVtcjBQVTQviewusp=sharing

Paul Hagouel

FFaakkiirrlleerrii KKoorruummaa DDeerrnneeğğii

November 9 2014 İstanbul

((PPrreesseennttaattiioonn SSlliiddee nnuummbbeerrss))

PPPrrreeessseeennntttaaatttiiiooonnn (((PPPooowwweeerrrPPPoooiiinnnttt))) L LLiiinnnkkk httpswwwdropboxcomsnhhz1av2spfap80Hagouel_Jews_Thessaloniki_

C4B0stanbul_20141109_f3_ppsdl=0 or

1 The Jews of Thessaloniki Legacies of the Past Shaping of Traditions Challenges for the Future

I am much honored to be amongst you this day I take this opportunity to thank Fakirleri Koruma Derneği and Metin Delevi for inviting me The date is also a solemn one the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht The history of the Jews of and in Thessaloniki is a vast topic that has been addressed by a number of historians and researchers over the years After all it is inexorably linked with the history of the other people of the geographic area spanning more than 2000 years tumultuous historical events and 3 Empires Even though the blow that was meted to Jewish Thessaloniki by the German Reich during the Second World War essentially wiped out Judaism in the city the challenges of the future of the now small but vibrant Jewish presence force us to build on our rich and glorious past 2 Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BCE by General Kassandros who married the halfndashsister of Alexander the Great of the same name daughter of King Fillip the 2nd of the Macedonian Kingdom 3a Thessaloniki became part of the Roman Empire in 168 BCE 3b It is conjectured that the first Jews to arrive in the city were from Alexandria circa 140 BCE 4 It was during that same period in 165 BCE that the Maccabees revolted against the rule of Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Macedonians who had desecrated the Temple Furthermore as Judaism was concerned this was the first instance of a conqueror claiming religious supremacy in order to rule over a people ndash the Jews It is interesting to note that Jews celebrate Hanukah for the occasion and at the same time they tend to forget the wrath of the zealots against their brethren who while retaining their Jewish traditions also adopted Hellenistic customs 5 It is thus safe to assume that the pull of Hellenism was strong because each one (Judaism and Hellenism) complemented the other 6a b c Proof of the above is the fact that the Jews inhabiting Thessaloniki and surrounding towns and regions during the Roman period and beyond are called

Paul Hagouel

Romaniotes The term defines Jews that have partly incorporated Greek into their religious ceremonies Epigraphs (monumental inscriptions) on 2 sarcophagi circa 2nd amp 3d Century CE attest to that and prove the Jewish presence 7 Also an important find was the column from the ancient synagogue at Stobi (Οι Στόβοι) just 100 klms away with the inscription in Greek referring to ldquoPolycharmos Father of the Synagoguerdquo 8 Saul of Tarsus a pious Jew better known in the Christian World as Apostle Paul the founder of Christianity as a religion ndash religious creed ndash 9 based on the belief of the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth preached for 3 consecutive Shabbats at the Ets Ahaim synagogue to native Jews in Thessaloniki in 50 CE 10 He wasnrsquot very convincing the crowd showed feelings of hostility 11 12 13 and he had to be spirited away towards the city of Veria For the period up to the creation of the Eastern Roman Empire known as Byzantium it is safe to assume that Jews were left to live their lives without any religious discrimination That was so since both the Hellenic God Pantheon and the Roman one did not relate to other religions The exemptions had to do with the political aims of various conquerors of Jerusalem who saw in Jews a nation potentially hostile and not a religion 14 It is with the Roman Emperor Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus also known in the Greek Christian Orthodox Church as Constantine the Great or Saint Constantine that the fortunes of both Thessaloniki and its Jews were inexorably linked with the fortunes or misfortunes and policies of Byzantium Constantine converted to Christianity and with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE he granted religious liberty to Christians and to other religions However incrementally the Christian Religion became the de facto state religion and finally under Emperor Theodosius I the state Church of the Roman Empire was established (de jure) with the Edict of Thessaloniki on February 27th 380 15 The implications of these were monumental especially for the Jews Eastern Orthodox Christianity became the sole authorized religionndashcreed of the Empire For the first time in History State and Religion coincide and are merged into one Religion is being used for political aims The Ecumenical Patriarch is there however in all things that involve Eastern Christianity andor in the name of it the Emperor is the bearer of all responsibilities emanating from this usurpation of spiritual power by the worldly one It is in this respect that the Emperor is the sole institution accountable for periodic discrimination and persecution of Jews various AntindashJudaic edicts and others all in the spirit of the superiority and complete dominance of Christianity in the Empire This is the complete opposite of Catholic Europe where the Pope held both spiritual and temporal powers and thus almost all atrocities

Paul Hagouel

committed in the name of Christianity in the realm of Catholicism can be attributed to him The Emperor believed that he could use a State Religion as the unifying force and catalyst for the vast empire that comprised many people in order to govern it efficiently and reign on them The effects of equating a nation with a religion were and are catalytic long after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire and even today It is in the Balkans especially an important geographic region of the Empire for reasons of commerce expanse proximity with western Europe where definitely even today a religion identifies an ethnicity and not vice versa The Jews of Thessaloniki and not only suffered from that 16 The Jewish presence in Thessaloniki is sparingly recorded in those years There is a mention of Rabbi Tobias Ben Eliezer who circa 1096 wrote his book Midrash Lekah Tov [ldquoGood Doctrinerdquo ndash a commentary of the Pentateuch] In it he also attacks the Karaites 17 In 1170 Benjamin of Tudela visits the city and reports that the Jews are oppressed 18a b c And Archbishop Eustathios in his account of the Norman Siege and Capture of Thessaloniki in 1185 is not kind to the Jews 19 This should not come as a surprise Emperors Constantine I Theodosius II and Justinian I among others adhered to an AntindashJudaic comportment Constantine claimed that the Jews are unclean and the other 2 passed AntindashJudaic legislation 20 Theodosius in his Codex Theodosianus and 21 Justinian in his Novella 146 on Jews Later Emperors are also attributed with various similar acts and comportment All of these restrictive measures applied equally to the Jews of Thessaloniki a city second only to Constantinople in importance in Byzantium Thus it is almost certain that Byzantine Administration was if not outright hostile at the least not friendly towards the Jews 22 Venetian Rule of the city occurs the years 1423ndash1430 Jewish immigration from Italy and Sicily takes place adding to other arrivals such as in 1376 Jews from Hungary and Germany In the meantime the decline of Byzantium is irreversible The city will not revert to its rule but will be conquered by the 23a Ottoman (Osmanlı) Empire on March 29 1430 After Constantinople also fell (1453) Jews inhabiting İstanbul are allowed to migrate in other cities and these include Thessaloniki 23b c The White Tower is built on the onset of Ottoman rule At the same time Sephardic Judaism is thriving in the Iberian Peninsula in Spain and Portugal 24a Regrettably however Christian Spain under the Catholic Kings Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile decided that all Jews who did not convert to Christianity had to leave 24b Their decision was formalized with the Alhambra Decree ndash the Edict of Expulsion ndash issued on the 31st of March 1492 25

Paul Hagouel

It ordered the expulsion of Jews who declined to convert from the Crowns [Kingdoms] of Castile and Aragon and its territories and possessions by the 31st of July of that year 26 Sultacircn Bayezid-icirc Velicirc (II) welcomed them in the Empire Around 15000 to 20000 settled in Thessaloniki Selanik These Jews brought with them their language customs and their skills It was unavoidable that the overwhelming presence of the Spaniards would swallow up the Romaniote minority and erase its traces from the city Jewish Thessaloniki is now part of a vast Empire It will remain so up to 1912 Jews in Thessaloniki are treated the same as in other parts and specifically as their coreligionists in many Jewish centers such İstanbul and İzmir As during the Byzantine era Thessaloniki is second to the capital İstanbul Jews enjoy the same privileges and are subject to the same rules and obligations like the Christians These sprang from the concept of dhimmī (Zimmicirc) as nonndashMuslim citizens of an Islamic State Coupled to that Jews belonged to the Jewish Millet or loosely defined religious minority community The Sublime Porte believed that the best way to govern the Empire given the large nonndashMuslim population aggregations that were present was to a) give some autonomy on linguistic religious and social issues to the nonndashMuslim communities and b) populate various geographic areas with Muslim Turks andor encourage conversion of local populations In this respect the Ottoman Empire differed from Byzantium Thus the Jews of Thessaloniki are Ottoman subjects but not first class citizens However due to this system of governance a positive outcome is that the spirit of communality among the Jews and that of taking care of their own was reinforced Furthermore very few Jews ever learned Turkish the language of the Administration and the majority This created the need and simultaneously employment opportunities for a stratum ndash branch of midlevel state employees mediating between the administration and the nonndashMuslim citizens Again there is an influx of various Jewish groups during the 16th and 17th centuries coming from all over from Portugal after they have been expelled as in Spain from Poland Hungary Italy and North Africa The dominant Sephardic element prevailed over all newcomers Sephardic or otherwise 27 And in 1545 (5305) the Portuguese Marrano Samuel Usque will characterize it as the ldquoMother of Judaismrdquo in his opus 28a Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel 28b Cultural growth along with economic growth will last until the beginning of the 17th Century 28c However later new sea routes as well as the involvement of the Ottoman Empire in military campaigns will bring economic malaise and cultural decline 29

Paul Hagouel

That is why the appearance of Sabbetai Cevy 30 and his acceptance by many Jews of Thessaloniki as the Messiah should come as no surprise Originating from İzmir he declared himself the Messiah 31 The result for Thessaloniki was the splitting of the community to believers and nonndashbelievers When the Ottoman authorities forced him to convert to Islam in 1666 32a a few hundred families followed him into conversion and thus created the complex minority of laquoJudeo-Muslimsraquo 32b or Doumlnmeh [laquoTurncoatsraquo] or as they prefer to be called the laquoha-Marsquoaminimraquo ie 33 The Believers Nominally they were considered Muslims 34 The Yeni Camii built in 1902 served as their temple up to 1923 when with the Treaty of Lausanne 35a b they were forcibly expelled to Turkey as Muslims

36 Fast forwarding to the 19th Century 37 Noteworthy milestones are the publishing in 1864 of the first JudeondashSpanish newspaper El Lunar and in 1873 38 the establishment of schools by the Alliance Israeacutelite Universelle 39a b c d e But we find the Empire with many internal and external issues and problems 40a b c Tanzimat in 1839 and the Hatt-ı Huumlmayun of 1856 41a b c both from Sultan Abduumllmecid as well as various other measures over the years were both a bit late and little in order to stem the national aspirations of the subjects of different religion and language especially of the Christian ones 42a b That was the unintended result of the Ottoman model of Administration efficient for the first centuries but woefully inadequate for the later modern ones 43a b c It was too late to both promote and forge the notion of the Ottoman Citizen based on Civil rights and not group rights 44a b c One outcome of the long presence of the Ottomans in the Balkans was the reinforcement of the identification andor equation of a particular ethnicnational group with a certain language and religion even a particular Patriarchate That was due to their mode of government This holds true even today Only Jews were a nonndashethnic religious group 45a b c So in the 1st Balkan War we find Thessaloniki inhabited by Greeks Turks Bulgarians Serbians Jews and a few other minor groups

46a b c The Greek Army enters Thessaloniki on October 26 1912 47a b c d In 1913 with the Treaty of Bucharest 48a b c d the city becomes officially Greek 49a b c d And with the Treaty of Athens in 1913 a Treaty of Peace between Greece and Turkey the Greek citizenship is acquired by all Christians Muslims and Jews 50 Bear in mind that the Hellenic State officially founded in 1830 with the Treaties of London in all its constitutions proclaimed not only full freedom of religion but also full emancipation They [Constitutions] were based on Civil rights and not group rights No minorities were recognized Every person was a Hellene

After more than 2000 years the Jew of Thessaloniki becomes by Constitutional mandate a Greek albeit of Jewish religious decent It was predictable that the Constitutional mandate for de jure incorporation into the national corpus could not be

Paul Hagouel

transubstantiated into a de facto one overnight For that the time span of at least a few generations was needed and also the resolve of the state to encourage the process through education was required

Unfortunately Greece was confronted with many issues not all troubles free during that period 51a The First World War its territorial expansion in the Balkans and its presence in Asia Minor in Smyrna after 1919 At the time modern nationalistic Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatuumlrk was ascertaining itself The over extension of Greek forces in Asia Minor resulted in defeat and they were forced to abandon all territories 51b With the Peace Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 the first and only ever forced population exchange between two states based solely on religion took place 52a b c d The Doumlnmeh were transplanted to Turkey

along with other Muslims either ethnic or nonndashethnic Turks 53a b c d Also in 1917 a major fire swept the predominantly Jewish city center of Thessaloniki the subsequent urban planning altered forever its centuries old JewishndashOttoman character 54

55 The majority of the Christians ndash Rum Ethnic Greeks Ionians Yavan settled in Macedonia and many out of those in Thessaloniki This altered irrevocably the population distribution and statistics Thessaloniki still had the largest Sephardic community but it would never again regain its status as a Jewish City Mother in Israel Whereas before the Jewish element dominated commerce now it had to compete against the Christian Hellenic majority when still most Jews spoke Ladino and not Greek Everyonersquos economic realm was curtailed by the new borders and the multitude of new nationndashstates in Europe

56a Jewish communities were recognized as public legal entities with a 1920 law on Jewish Communities 56b The Thessaloniki Jewish Community was formally created and received its Bylaws with a decree published in 1923 57 The community diminished in population reaching a total of around 55000 on the eve of the Second World War The majority lead a hand to mouth existence even though many tend to equate or believe the urban legend that most were rich There existed some rich ones but this was not the case for the overwhelming majority

The inter war years shaped the community in various respects Hellenization compelled the new generation to learn and speak Greek even though instruction in French and the learning of Ladino continued However incorporation and social mingling for the many with the Christian majority did not advance at a desirable pace due to the large numbers of Jews and the gap of generations ndash the older generations continued to speak Ladino ndash The Communal benevolent services catered to the needy Synagogues functioned as well as religious schools 58a There were some acts of outright AntindashSemitism but it was neither institutionalized nor state sanctioned or promoted 58b After the Cambell minindashpogrom in 1931 59a b many

Paul Hagouel

immigrated to Palestine 60a b c d even though immigration to both Palestine and elsewhere had started before and continued after 61 The German Reich attacks and invades Greece on April 6 1941 62a b Thessaloniki is occupied on April 9th 63a The annihilation of the Jewish Greek population of Thessaloniki that came as a result of the implementation of the sondashcalled Final Solution 63b of the Jewish Problem by the German Reich and the waste and ruins that it left on its wake is one of the most infamous events in World History 64a b The numeric strength of the community just before deportations started in March 15th 1943 is deduced from a document signed by SS Hauptsturmfuumlhrer Dieter Wisliceny 65a where the Jewish Greek population of the city aged 6 and over 65b was estimated at around 55000 souls

66 Post war Jewish Thessaloniki in now counting more than 70 years life Wounds would never heal 67 Memory and especially Remembrance are taking their revenge The Community offers again all services for those who wish to lead a full Jewish life The creation of the State of Israel as the Jewish State enhance our consciousness as Jews in Greece but also compels us to ascertain even more our Hellenic identity The challenge is to blossom as Jewish Greeks and not take the ldquoeasy way outrdquo of Aliyah (or the hard way depending on onersquos Weltanschauung) After all Jewish Greeks fought as equals in all wars and contributed to the glory of the country and the nation

More subtle are the challenges still emanating from the catastrophe The maintenance and rebirth of JudeondashEspagnol as a living language Judaic Heritage instruction to our youth beyond elementary school ndash a Jewish Community private elementary school thrives ndash resurrection of prendashwar customs and maintenance of current ones that disappear as survivors pass away the passing to new generations of the centuries old recipes the record of all of the above in written audio video electronic from or otherwise just to name a few

Last but most important and not least the demographic challenge looms ominous It is the most overwhelming Vigilance and nurturing of our youth is a must they have to be proud of ourndashtheir heritage and have to be imbued with the conviction of their destiny in keeping Judaism live in Thessaloniki Already interfaith weddings take their toll It is ironic that complete freedom and full emancipation is neither conductive in strengthening onersquos identity nor in keeping the cohesion when a minority

68 Personally I am optimistic that Jewish Thessaloniki will always be present and hopefully a contributor to Judaism in the 21st Century and beyond as well as a catalyst for tolerance understanding and peace among neighboring nations I thank you very much

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Hagouel_İstanbul_The Jews of Thessaloniki_20141109_final_dist1

Hagouel_İstanbul_The Jews of Thessaloniki_20141109_final_Talk_numbers2

Paul Hagouel

prove the Jewish presence Also an important find was the column from the ancient synagogue at Stobi (Οι Στόβοι) just 100 klms away with the inscription in Greek referring to ldquoPolycharmos Father of the Synagoguerdquo Saul of Tarsus a pious Jew better known in the Christian World as Apostle Paul the founder of Christianity as a religion ndash religious creed ndash based on the belief of the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth preached for 3 consecutive Shabbats at the Ets Ahaim synagogue to native Jews in Thessaloniki in 50 CE He wasnrsquot very convincing the crowd showed feelings of hostility and he had to be spirited away towards the city of Veria For the period up to the creation of the Eastern Roman Empire known as Byzantium it is safe to assume that Jews were left to live their lives without any religious discrimination That was so since both the Hellenic God Pantheon and the Roman one did not relate to other religions The exemptions had to do with the political aims of various conquerors of Jerusalem who saw in Jews a nation potentially hostile and not a religion It is with the Roman Emperor Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus also known in the Greek Christian Orthodox Church as Constantine the Great or Saint Constantine that the fortunes of both Thessaloniki and its Jews were inexorably linked with the fortunes or misfortunes and policies of Byzantium Constantine converted to Christianity and with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE he granted religious liberty to Christians and to other religions However incrementally the Christian Religion became the de facto state religion and finally under Emperor Theodosius I the state Church of the Roman Empire was established (de jure) with the Edict of Thessaloniki on February 27th 380 The implications of these were monumental especially for the Jews Eastern Orthodox Christianity became the sole authorized religionndashcreed of the Empire For the first time in History State and Religion coincide and are merged into one Religion is being used for political aims The Ecumenical Patriarch is there however in all things that involve Eastern Christianity andor in the name of it the Emperor is the bearer of all responsibilities emanating from this usurpation of spiritual power by the worldly one It is in this respect that the Emperor is the sole institution accountable for periodic discrimination and persecution of Jews various AntindashJudaic edicts and others all in the spirit of the superiority and complete dominance of Christianity in the Empire This is the complete opposite of Catholic Europe where the Pope held both spiritual and

Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

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Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

Paul İsaac Hagouel

+30 2310270886 land

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

Front Page

Paul Hagouel

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Paul Hagouel

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Paul Hagouel

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Paul Hagouel

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Paul Hagouel

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Paul Hagouel

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(2014) _ The Jews of Thessaloniki: Legacies of the Past, Shaping of Traditions, Challenges for the Future _ [Οι Ιουδαίοι της Θεσσαλονίκης: Κληρονομιές

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