The Dönmeh is the name commonly applied to the descendants of the followers of the false messiah and apostate Sabbatai Zevi. It is a derogatory term with the implication of ‘turncoats’. They self-define as “the Believers” (המאמינים, ha-Ma’aminim).
The movement, known as Sabbateanism, was for a time huge in the global Jewish community and accusations of Sabbateanism continued to be made with Jewish communities for a generation after Sabbatai Zevi chose to convert to Islam rather than be executed by the Ottomans.
When Sabbatai Zevi died in 1676 there were around 200 Dönmeh families, principally in Adrianople/Edirne, but also in Smyrna/Izmir, Bursa and other cities. There was a mass conversion in Salonika/Thessaloniki in 1683 and the city became the principal Dönmeh centre. Salonika, which was conquered by Greece in 1912. The Muslim population, including the Dönmeh, were transferred to Turkey during the population transfers agreed under the Treaty of Lausanne in 1924. Perhaps there were 10-15,000 Dönmeh refugees. Most of the community re-settled in Istanbul (especially in Yeniköy, Sarıyer) and Izmir. Possibly this population transfer saved them from the fate of the Jews of Salonika, virtually all of whom were murdered by the Nazis.
There were a number of splits within the Dönmeh community. The three subgroups are:
- Yakubis followed Sabbatai Zevi’s brother-in-law who also claimed to be his reincarnation. Today they are orthodox Sunni Muslims. In Izmir they formed a sort of lower middle class.
- Izmirlis, the community in Izmir, claim descent from the original community, as so ideologically purer. They were economically and culturally dominant amongst Dönmeh in Salonika, and there was a degree of assimilation in the Turkish population.
- Karakashes/Konyoses broke away from the Izmirlis around 1700. Their founder, Barukhiya Russo also claimed to be a reincarnation of Sabbatai Zevi. This is the subgroup that proselytised amongst Jews in Poland, Austria and Germany. In Salonika they were largely an artisan class.
They lived in their own quarter of Salonika, between the Jewish and Muslim quarters, and maintained their own institutions. Schools operated in the Turkish language. Each of these groups were organised into their own Kahal (congregation) but shared a cemetery. Earlier generations of Dönmeh had both Turkish and Jewish names. Originally they prayed in Hebrew, later Ladino, and then Turkish. Religiously, they adhered to Eighteen Precepts, attributed to Sabbatai Zevi. Reportedly, two of the Precepts are to publicly present as Muslims, and not to intermarry. They circumcise boys at eight days, like Jews and unlike Muslims, but work on Jewish holidays. Claims of sexual immorality, such as wife swapping, made by both Jews and Muslims appear to be slanderous.
There is not much public domain information on Dönmeh religious practice and belief, but religious activity is believed to be centred in the home. It is suggested that they are influenced by Sufism, and deliberately transgress standard religious practice in order to draw closer to the Almighty. This reportedly includes eating non-kosher food, calling up women to the Torah, and celebrating Shabbat on the wrong day. This second- or third-hand information and I do not know if it is true.
In Turkey the Dönmeh face suspicion due to their Jewish ancestry and accusations that they are fake Muslims. The unequal capital tax in Turkey between 1942 and 1944 that taxed Jews at a higher rate than Muslims, taxed the Dönmeh at somewhere in between.
Traditionally Jews and Dönmeh have kept their distance from each other, but the Dönmeh are of Sephardic origin and so belong in a book on Sephardic genealogy.
My impression is that whatever Dönmeh archives existed were destroyed in the Great Fire in Salonika in 1917. Given the degree of prejudice the community faces in Turkey, it is unlikely they will open their archives any time soon.
I believe that Y-DNA tests have shown common ancestry between individual Dönmeh and Sephardic families. Given that virtually the entire Jewish community of Salonika were murdered by the Nazis, it is possible that some members of the Dönmeh community are the only surviving descendants of some Iberian Jewish lineages.
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