Timeline of Jews in Greece
- 70 CE: Earliest evidence of Jewish presence in Greece; Jewish prisoners brought after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
- 1170: Benjamin of Tudela visits Greece, reporting on Jewish communities in Thebes, Corinth, and Patras.
- 1376: Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologus grants protection to the Jews of Thessaloniki.
- 1423: Venetians sell many Jews from Thessaloniki as slaves, disrupting the community.
- 1430: Ottoman conquest of Thessaloniki; Sultan Murad II invites Jews to resettle, leading to community growth.
- 1492: Expulsion of Jews from Spain; many Sephardic Jews settle in Ottoman-controlled Greece.
- 1496: Jews expelled from Portugal; some settle in Greece.
- 1522: Ottoman conquest of Rhodes; Sephardic Jews settle there.
- 1529: Sephardic Jews establish community in Thessaloniki (Salonica).
- 1536: Joseph Nasi, influential Sephardic figure, settles in Thessaloniki.
- 1545: First Hebrew printing press established in Thessaloniki.
- 1620s: Sabbatai Zevi, false Messiah, born in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey), influences Greek Jewish communities.
- 1821-1832: Greek War of Independence.
- 1826: Pogrom against Jews in Patras during Greek War of Independence.
- 1830: Modern Greek state established, excluding areas with significant Jewish populations.
- 1881: Thessaloniki remains under Ottoman rule, with a thriving Sephardic community.
- 1912-1913: Balkan Wars; Greece annexes Thessaloniki and other areas with Jewish populations.
- 1917: Great Fire of Thessaloniki destroys much of the Jewish quarter.
- 1922: Greece-Turkey population exchange; some Turkish-speaking Jews leave Greece.
- 1936-1941: Metaxas Regime in Greece.
- 1940-1941: Greco-Italian War and German invasion of Greece.
- 1941-1944: Axis occupation of Greece; severe persecution of Jews.
- 1943: Deportation of Thessaloniki’s Jews to Auschwitz begins.
- 1944: Deportation of Jews from other Greek cities, including Athens and Ioannina.
- 1944-1945: Liberation of Greece; few Jews survive the Holocaust.
- 1946-1949: Greek Civil War.
- 1951: Jewish restitution laws passed in Greece.
- 1967-1974: Military junta rules Greece.
- 1979: Judaism recognized as a legal religion in Greece.
Jews of Greece
Jews have lived in what is now Greece since ancient times. The established Greek-speaking Jewish community were called Romaniote (after the Eastern Roman Empire). Sephardic Jews arrived in the decades after their expulsion from Spain in 1492.
Major Sephardic communities developed in Thessaloniki (formerly Salonika), Rhodes, and Corfu. Our focus is genealogical resources for researching Sephardic Jewish ancestry in Greece, with a particular emphasis on Thessaloniki, but hopefully this will also be useful to Romaniote researchers.
Initially, Sephardic Jews thrived under Ottoman rule, playing key roles in trade between the Ottoman Empire and Christian powers. However, their position declined along with the empire in the 18th-19th centuries. From the mid-19th century onward, many Jews emigrated due to economic pressures and rising nationalisms in the region.
Genealogical Resources for Jews in Greece
Due to the loss of many primary records, researchers often rely on secondary sources for Greek Jewish genealogy. Key resources include:
General Jewish Archives and Resources for Greece
- Alliance Israélite Universelle archives
- Yad Vashem Holocaust victim database
- Jewish newspapers. The National Library of Israel Newspaper Collection includes Greek Jewish newspapers.
- USHMM. In 1945 on the outskirts of Berlin, the Red Army captured a train whose cargo included 297 files from the Jewish community of Thessaloniki and another 117 from the Athens community. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has digitised this collection.
- Yivo have records for 1917 to 1939.
Ottoman Archive
See the Turkey page. Hopefully useful material will emerge from the Ottoman State Archives. This may include the Ottoman census of Salonika of 1902.
It is not known if Sharia (Islamic) court records survive in Greece, but Jews often appear in them. The Islamic courts took precedence over the Christian and Jewish ones.
Greek Archives
- General State Archives
- Historical Archive of Macedonia
- Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic and Historical Archive
- Documents on the history of the Greek Jews : records from the historical archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Historiko Archeio tou Hypourgeiou Exōterikōn
- Military Records: Pre-WWII conscription registers may contain information on Jewish men and their parents. See FamilySearch for details.
Foreign Consular Records
Archives of foreign consulates may contain information on Jews with foreign citizenship.
- Archives of the Italian consulate in Salonica
- Le consulat de France à Salonique 1781-1913. A doctoral thesis on the French consulate in Salonica.
- Records of the British consulate in Salonica.
- There is a List of Jews in Greece entitled to Spanish protection under Orden Circular nº 2217 de 11 de febrero de 1949.
Genealogical Resources for Locations in Greece
Salonika – Thessaloniki
Introduction
Thessaloniki, known as “la madre de Israel,” had a Judeo-Spanish-speaking Jewish majority for much of its history until the early 20th century. The city was annexed by Greece in 1912, leading to Hellenization efforts that were unpopular with the Jewish population. A devastating fire in 1917 destroyed much of the Jewish quarter and community records. The resettlement of Greek refugees from Turkey in 1922 further altered the city’s demographics. The Holocaust devastated what remained.
Early History of Sephardim in Salonika
Sephardic Jews arrived in Salonika in the decades following the Expulsion in 1492. Possibly they had transited via Italy and North Africa. There is no evidence to support the account that the Ottoman Sultan sent ships to rescue Iberian Jews. Salonika became the most important centre of Sephardic settlement in the eastern Mediterranean, and was largely a Judeo-Spanish or Ladino-speaking city.
Sabbatai Zevi, the false messiah, caused division in the community in the mid-17th Century. Some of his followers later followed him in becoming Muslim, and are today known as Dönmeh (Turkish: Renegades). This community moved to Turkey in the population exchange after the Greco-Turkish war.
Some Francos, French and Livornese Jews, arrived in the city in the 19th Century, but – despite industrialisation – it was principally a period of decline and emigration, including to Egypt, western Europe and America.
Greek annexation of Salonika in 1912
Greece annexed Salonika after the first Balkan War in 1912. This was followed by immediate Hellenisation of the city, which was not popular with the Jews. The Greek annexation of Salonica cut the port city off from its Balkans hinterland which caused economic problems and was a further cause of migration.
After conquering the city, the Greek government wanted population details. The archdiocese provided information on Christians and, reportedly, a list of 26,542 Jewish men. The Austro-Hungarian consulate told them about an Ottoman census in 1902.
A Greek census conducted by the General Administration of Macedonia in 1913 reported 61,439 Jews in Salonica, representing 39% of the population. This was felt to be under-reporting, and the Jewish population was estimated to be 45%. What survives of the census is in the Historical Archive of Macedonia, Archive of the General Administration of Macedonia, file 45.
The Great Fire of 1917
A massive fire on 18 August 1917 destroyed a large part of the city, including most of the Jewish quarter. 32 synagogues, 10 rabbinic libraries, 8 Jewish schools, the Jewish community archives, and a significant number of Jewish institutions, businesses, and clubs were reduced to ashes. 10,000 Jewish families were left homeless. The restoration of the city was used to impose further Hellenization, including expropriation of Jewish properties and dispersing the Jewish community throughout the city. Some sources blamed the fire on the Greek government.
Population Transfer of 1922
The resettlement of 100,000 Greeks from Turkey in the city in 1922 turned the Jews into a minority. At the same time the Turkish Muslim and Dönmeh communities were transferred to Turkey. Perhaps more than the Fire, the whole nature of the city changed in 1922.
AIU Jewish schools taught in French, and France became the major destination for Jewish emigrants. Migrants also went to the Americas and, I think, Egypt.
A 1924 law forced Sunday closing on Jewish-owned businesses, which damaged their income.
1931 Pogrom
Anti-Semitic riots broke out on 29 June 1931. The Camp Campbell area, the poorest Jewish neighbourhood, was destroyed and 500 Jewish families made homeless. The pogrom was carried out by Greek refugees from Asia Minor. The Greek government stated the attack was not anti-Semitic!
Second World War
By the outbreak of the Second World War, the Jewish population of Salonika had decreased from 93,000 to 53,000 people. The Germans occupied the city on 9 April 1941. There was a mass deportation of the Jewish population in 1943. 90% of the Salonika’s Jews died in the Holocaust. Today the Jewish population is 1,300. Most of the Jewish cemetery was destroyed first by the Nazis, and then to build a university.
Video: The Destruction of Salonica’s Jewish Community: The First Hand Account of Dr. Albert Menache
In barely a generation the Spanish-speaking Jewish city of Salonika became the Greek city of Thessaloniki, with four hundred years of Jewish history largely destroyed and then forgotten.
Resources for Jewish Genealogy in Thessaloniki
- The Cercle de Genealogie Juive has transcribed a number of registers from Salonica, and partially transcribed the census of the Jewish population taken in 1917-1918 after the Great Fire
- Les Archives de l’Alliance Israelite Universelle et la Communaute Juive de Salonique: Naissances, Mariages, Deces (1864-1919) by Joseph Nehama. This book, written in French, contains transcriptions of birth, marriage, and death records from the Jewish community of Thessaloniki (Salonique) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as an index of names. Publisher: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 1978. ISBN: 978-2701801226.
- USHMM. In 1945 on the outskirts of Berlin, the Red Army captured a train whose cargo included 297 files from the Jewish community of Thessaloniki and another 117 from the Athens community. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has digitised this collection.
- Salonica records in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. This is a significant collection of the post-fire period.
- The Historical Archives of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki: The Era of Extroversion by Aliki Arouh
- Preliminary finding aid of the archive of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, 1905-1943 (bulk 1917-1943) was compiled by Devin Naar. I have not seen this book.
- Family Search – Thessaloniki County. It is reported that the Municipal Archives hold records from 1925.
- Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
- Maps of Salonica
- A Sketch of the State of Primary Education Among the Jews of the East, and Especially Among the Jews of Salonika, by Moise Allatini, 1875. Translated from the Italian
- Post-war transformation of Thessaloniki and the fate of the Jewish assets
- For those researching early modern Western Sephardic merchants in Salonica, I assume British records are held at the National Archives in London. I think French records are in the Archives de la Chambre de Commerce et de l’Industrie, in Marseille. I assume they are in AA1801 (Archives antérieures à 1801).
Jewish Newspapers in Salonika
Salonica was a centre of Jewish publishing. See the National Library of Israel Newspaper Collection. Also note:
- Journal de Salonique. Some copies of Journal de Salonique have been digitised by Gallica. The Journal de Salonique was a French-language Jewish newspaper published in Salonica between 1895 and 1910.
- El Avenir (also called El Futuro or El Porvenir) was a Zionist newspaper published between 1900 and 1918.
- Le Progrès de Salonique was a French-language newspaper.
- La Epoca, El Shamar (איל שאמאר) and El Rizon were Judeo-Spanish newspapers published in Salonica. I don’t know what copies survive.
- Aksiyon was published from 1928 under Greek rule.
The Central Municipal Library of the Municipality of Thessaloniki has a project to digitise local newspapers.
Books on Jewish Salonika
- Joseph Nehama’s “Histoire des Israelites de Salonique” (7 volumes)
- Naar, D. E. (2016). Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece. Stanford University Press.
- Jewish Salonica by Devin E Naar
- Pallini, C., & Scaccabarozzi, A. R. (2009). In Search of Salonika’s Lost Synagogues. An Open Question Concerning Intangible Heritage.
- Ginio, E. (2011). Jews and European Subjects in Eighteenth-Century Salonica: The Ottoman Perspective.
Synagogues in Salonika
Below is a list of synagogues in Salonika that used to exist in Salonika. Note that many have the names of the community’s place of origin. Not just ‘Spain’, but Portugal, Germany, Italy, France and North Africa.
Name of Synagogue | Date |
Ets ha Chaim | 1st century |
Ashkenaz or Varnak | 1376 |
Mayorka | 1391 |
Provincia | 1394 |
Italia Yashan | 1423 |
Guerush Sfarad | 1492 |
Kastilla | 1492–3 |
Aragon | 1492–3 |
Katallan Yashan | 1492 |
Kalabria Yashan | 1497 |
Sicilia Yashan | 1497 |
Monastirlis | 1927 |
Apulia | 1502 |
Lisbon Yashan | 1510 |
Talmud Torah Hagadol | 1520 |
Portugal | 1525 |
Evora | 1535 |
Estrug | 1535 |
Lisbon Chadash | 1536 |
Otranto | 1537 |
Ishmael | 1537 |
Tcina | 1545 |
Nevei Tsedek | 1550 |
Yahia | 1560 |
Sicilia Hadash | 1562 |
Beit Aron | 1575 |
Italia Hadash | 1582 |
Mayorka Sheni | 16th century |
Katallan Chadash | 16th century |
Italia Sheni | 1606 |
Shalom | 1606 |
Har Gavoa | 1663 |
Mograbis | 17th century |
Rhodes
The island had been captured by the Turks from the Christians in 1522. Rhodes becomes an important centre of Sephardic culture and commerce. In 1840 there was a blood libel against the Jews of Rhodes. The community spoke Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) and maintained strong Sephardic traditions. At its peak in the 1920s, the Jewish population of Rhodes numbered around 4,000. The community was known for its rabbinical scholarship and printing industry.
Italy took the island from the Turks in 1911. Italy’s racial laws were imposed in 1938. The Germans took the island from the Italians in 1943. In 1944, most of the population were deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. the Turkish consul Selahattin Ülkümen saved forty two Jewish families, many of whom had Turkish citizenship. Rhodes was occupied by the British in 1945, and handed to Greece in 1947. A small Jewish community was re-established.
As well as the Americas and western Europe, Jews from Gibraltar emigrated to Egypt and other parts of Africa.
Genealogical Resources for Rhodes
- Rhodes Jewish Museum
- List of headstones from the Rhodes Jewish cemetery
- Jewish Community of Rhodes
- Geni Rhodes genealogy project
- Jews of Rhodes DNA project
- Italian State Archives (for records from 1912-1943)
Books on the Jews of Rhodes
- The Jews of Rhodes: The History of a Sephardic Community by Marc Angel
- The Jewish Martyrs of Rhodes and Cos by H. M. Franco
Corfu
The Jewish community of Corfu had a diverse history, including both Romaniote (Greek-speaking) and Sephardic Jews. The earliest records of Jews in Corfu date from the 12th century, with Sephardim arriving post-1492. The Venetians who controlled the island establish a ghetto (the Evraiki) in Corfu in 1516. The island came first under French rule in 1797, and then Britain in 1815 (United States of the Ionian Islands). The British gave the island to Greece in 1864. There were anti-Jewish riots in Corfu in 1891, causing many Jews to emigrate. Most of Corfu’s Jews were deported to Auschwitz in 1944, and murdered there. Only one of the four synagogues, the Scuola Greca, remains.
Key facts:The Jewish community of Corfu included both Romaniote and Sephardic Jew. Corfu had a unique Jewish dialect called Italkian, a mix of Greek, Italian, and Hebrew. At its peak in the early 20th century, the Jewish population of Corfu numbered around 5,000
Genealogical Resources for Corfu
- The Jews of Corfu: Between the Adriatic and the Ionian
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP)
- “The Jews of Corfu” by Pearl Preschel
- Corfu Old Sephardic Jewish Cemetery. Oldest gravestone is from 1702.
- Documents referring to the threatened expulsion of the Jews of Corfu in 1572 : manuscript
- Documents referring to the threatened expulsion of the Jews of Corfu in 1572 : manuscript
- Sephardic prayerbook published in Corfu
Other Sephardic Communities in Greece
Kastoria
Kastoria is a small town in western Macedonia – in northern Greece – midway between Salonica and the Albanian coast. The Jewish population was mainly Romaniote but had a Sephardic community until the 20th Century. This has been researched by Michael Coffield.
Ioannina
While primarily a Romaniote community, Ioannina did have some Sephardic influence. Most of the community was murdered in 1944. Resources include Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum (New York) and “The Jews of Ioannina” by Rae Dalven.
Volos
Volos was a significant Sephardic community in central Greece. A Sephardic community was established in the 16th Century. In 1944 many Jews were saved by the local Greek population. Resource: The Jewish Community of Volos.
Larissa
A city in Thessaly with a Sephardic history. Resource: The Jewish Community of Larissa.
Chalcis (Halkida)
Chalcis (Halkida) is the capital of the island of Euboea. It had a mixed Romaniote and Sephardic community. The small Jewish population was poor, followed the Sephardic rite but had Greek surnames such as Marzoukos, Kosty, Moschonas, Sakkys, Politi, and Daskalaki.
Trade and Business Directories
Some historic business directories for Greece:
- Annuaire Commercial et Industriel de la Grèce, published in French by Noulis & Chryssides, Athens. I have not yet located a copy of this guide.
- Οδηγός την Ελλάδασ – Odigos tis Ellados (Guide of Greece), published by Pyrsos Publishing Co. This was a biannual 1,700 page publication. It included sections on Saloniki and corporations. I have not yet located a copy of this guide.
- Gallica has Le Guide Sam : pour l’expansion économique française dans le Levant
- Annuaire de Commerce, published by Theo. T. Ioannides, secretary of the Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Athens, 1929. This is about 730 pages. The Bank of Greece has a copy in their collection.
Other Resources
A couple of non-Jewish Greek genealogical sources
- Gregory Kontos at Greek Ancestry is at the cutting edge of genealogy in Greece. While the focus is Church records, they are also digitising city directories, voter and military lists, etc. They have a YouTube channel.
- Hellenic Genealogy Geek
- A useful article in Greek: https://parallaximag.gr/thessaloniki/istoria-evraikon-oikogeneion-tis-thessalonikis
Professional Genealogist
I am a professional Sephardic genealogist. You are welcome to get in touch if you need professional help with your Greek Jewish family tree.
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