Jews in Ottoman Salonika

Precise indications about the chronology of the first settlement of Jews in Thessaloniki are lacking. They may have arrived from Alexandria, Egypt, around 140 BCE.

During the two following centuries, Thessaloniki was plagued by many misfortunes: its siege and destruction by the Normans (1185), its conquest by the Franks of the Fourth Crusade, and its subsequent occupation, first by the Epirus Principality (1244), and then by the Empire of Nikaia (1246).

Raids by Serbs, Bulgarians and Catalans followed, as well as the Zealots uprising (1342-1349), and its first conquest by the Turks (1387).
It is during that time (1376), that the first settlement of Ashkenazi Jews takes place in Thessaloniki. They arrive, persecuted, from Hungary and Germany, throughout the 15th century.In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 26, 1430, the army of Sultan Murat II appears before the city gates. Thessaloniki will capitulate after a three-day siege.All of the above can be considered as pre-history of the Jewish presence in Thessaloniki. The pivotal point is the settlement of 15,000-20,000 Spanish (Sephardic) Jews after 1492, who will make a lasting and seminal contribution to the destiny of the Jewish Community, but also to that of the city as a whole. Those persecuted Jews found shelter in the capital of Macedonia, thus giving her a new profile for the future.

In 1568, a Community delegation to Constaninople, under the leadership of Moshe Almosnino, succeeds in securing a new Sultan edict, reconfirming all the written priviledges that were initially granted by Suleiman the Magnificent and were burned during the fire of 1545. Thereafter, the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki is treated as “Musselnik”, i.e. and autonomous administrative unit, reporting directly to the Sublime Porte. It also secures the right to acquire raw materials at prices lower than market prices.

Sabbetai Sevy of Smyrna (Izmir), appears in 1655 in Thessaloniki, declaring himself to be the long-expected Messiah, self-appointed King of Israel, and savior of the Jewish people. The appeal of his message will worry the Turkish authorities, causing his arrest and condemnation to death in 1666. Sabbetai Sevy is forced to convert to Islam in order to save his life. The Jews had been already split into those who believed in him, and those who considered him a crook and an imposter. The former, around 300 families, will follow him in defection, thus creating the peculiar social minority of “Judeo-Muslims”, that came to be known as “Donmeh”.

This group defection shook the community. Hundreds of families as well as professional guilds were split, making it impossible for the independent community-synagogues to function effectively and cope with the problem. The situation was further aggravated by the economic crisis, hindering the ability of the separate communities to support their cultural and welfare institutions. This gradually set off a process of integration, whereby the individual communities had to relinquish authority and rights to a more centralized federal governing body, in order to achieve better administrative control, and face the new challenges more effectively. Finally, around 1680, the small independent communities formally unite under the leadership of a single council comprised of three Rabbis and seven secular members.

The new trends and ideas take shape in the “Haskala” movement among the Jews, with intellectual ventures beyond the narrow confines of the biblical and post-biblical tradition, and towards the study of contemporary secular thought and art. This process of emancipation is further assisted by the new socio-political conditions prevailing in the Ottoman territories as a result of the Porte’s attempt to move away from medieval despotism, towards a new, modernized image. The Yenitsar body is dismantled in 1826, while for the first time, some civil rights are being granted to the non-Muslim constituents of the Empire, with the edicts (firmans) of Hati Humayan and Giulhade (1836 and 1854).

The increasing appearance of western industrial products will also contribute to the city’s overhaul and expansion, transforming it into a city-agency of commerce and industry. Part of the Byzantine fortifications are torn down in 1869. The fires of 1890, 1896, and 1898 will offer the opportunity for an urban transformation. The burned down districts are being redesigned, narrow streets are widened, fresh running water is being introduced along with electricity and the streetcar, as well as the railroad, which from 1871 onwards, will connect Thessaloniki with Constantinople to the East, and Europe to the West.

Jews own 38 out of the 54 commercial enterprises of the city, and constitute the overwhelming majority of its workforce.
Even though Thessaloniki retains its multinational structure, the demographic and financial superiority of the Jewish Community, will constitute one of its more distrinct features. By the end of the 19th century, Thessaloniki will number more than 70,000 Jewish souls, i.e. about half of the total population.

Social welfare is broadened and dispensed through modern charitable institutions, such as “Matanoth Laevionim” which provides student meals. “Torah Umlahu” supporting financially poor students and taking care of their eventual professional arrangement, the “Allatini” and “Aboav” orphanages, the “Lieto Noah” psychiatric asylum, the “Baron Hirsch” hospital (today the “Ippocrates”), the “Bikour Holim” health care institution, and, later, the “Saul Modiano” home for the elderly.It is also interesting to note that the first newspaper to circulate in Thessaloniki in 1864, is the Jewish “El Lunar”, “La Epoca” will follow in 1875 and, later, “La Imparciale”, “Le Progrns”, “Journal de Salonique”, “La Libertn”, “Opinion”, “L’ Independent”, and the Zionist “La Nation”, “El Avenir”, “Renacencia Judia”, “La Esperanza”, “Pro Israel”, and others.

In 1908, the “Young Turks” launch their coup in Thessaloniki, and, using the city as their base, overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamit II.
Following the Young Turk revolution, the Zionist movement surfaces in Thessaloniki with the creation of the “Bnei Zion” society, and the “Maccabi” athletic association. Zionism had first appeared in the city in 1899, operating under the cover of societies such as “Kadima”, which had as its stated purpose the dissemination of the Hebrew language.

On July 11, 1942, all Jewish men aged 18 to 45, are ordered to report at Liberty square. There, after being subjected to indescribable humiliations, they are registered and taken away for forced labor. The Community had to pay the huge sum of 2.5 billion drachmas to the Germans, in order to set them free.

Out of the 46,091 Jews that were deported to the extermination camps, only 1950 returned alive, i.e. approximately 4%.

The Jewish Community, in an effort to encourage the research and study of Ancient Greek literature and to further promote closer bonds between the peoples of Greece and Israel, undertook the construction of a wing at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Named “The Hellenic House”, it was inaugurated 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.

Greece with Eleftherios Venizelos as Prime Minister and Nicolaos Politis as Foreign Minister, was one of the first countries that accepted the Balfour Declaration on the creation of a jewish National Home in the Palestine?

12,898 Jews served during World War II in the Greek Army, defending their country? That 343 were officers? That 513 died and 3,743 were wounded? That among the first casualties was Colonel Mordechai Frezi from Chalki.

13. That Christian Greeks sheltered to the persecuted Greeks, risking their own lives? That the Church and Clergy, the National Resistance Movement, the Gendarmerle, and the Metropolital Police were the first to help? That the Chief of Metropolitan Police, Angelos Evert, issued thousands of false identity cards to Jews, helping them to evade the Nazis?

That the Greek State, having by law inheritance rights on the property of Greeks who die leaving no inheritors, refused to benefit from the plight of the Greek Jews, and waived its rights by law?

Mustafa Kamal Ata Turk is also said to belong a Donmeh or judeo Muslim. He was an active member of Young Turks who revolted against Turks and later he abolished many Muslim cultural and religous identities.