Salonica and Istanbul: Social, Political and Cultural Aspects of Jewish Life 9781463225803

Citation preview

Salónica and Istanbul

Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies

83

A co-publication with The Isis Press, Istanbul, the series consists of collections of thematic essays focused on specific themes of Ottoman and Turkish studies. These scholarly volumes address important issues throughout Turkish history, offering in a single volume the accumulated insights of a single author over a career of research on the subject.

Salónica and Istanbul

Social, Political and Cultural Aspects of Jewish Life

Rena Molho

The Isis Press, Istanbul

« t a S PPeSS 2010

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2010 by The Isis Press, Istanbul Originally published in 2005 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of The Isis Press, Istanbul. 2010

ISBN 978-1-61719-126-8

Printed in the United States of America

Dr. Rena Molho studied European history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki and received her Ph.D with distinction from the University of Human Sciences of Strasbourg. She has taken part in many symposiums, television and radio programs, in Greece and abroad and has published more than 30 studies in both Greek and foreign scientific books, encyclopaedias and journals. Her work focuses on the different expressions of Ottoman and Greek Jewish civilization and culture and more specifically that of the Jews of Salonica. Her research has been supported with grants by the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture of New York and by the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles. In 1996 she became senior interviewer and coordinator in Greece for the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and has videotaped 70 holocaust Greek survivors' personal accounts. She is currently the coordinator for the Centropa organisation that is conducting a new series of audio interviews of Thessaloniki born survivers who after 1945 returned and settled in Greece Dr. R. Molho has taught the history of Jewish presence in Greece in seminars organized by the International Study Groups, and since 1991 she is co-founder of the Society for the Study of Greek Jewry. Since 1999-2000, she is visiting professor at Panteion University in Athens, the first Greek academic institution to include the course of Jewish History in its curriculumn in Greece until today[2005]. Her book The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856-1919: A Unique Community received the Athens Academy Award in December 2000 and in 2001 it was published in Greek by Themelio publishing house. It is since a university handbook distributed to Greek students of Jewish History. This book is now being translated and will be published in Turkish.

To my Father and my dearest friends, Moira Paterson, Christine Frat, Izo Abram, Gerard Galtier, Chana Ruda-Carlebach and Samy Taboh, who have never let me down.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword Part I: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 1. Les Juifs en Grèce au XXème siècle 2. The Jewish Presence in Salonica 3. Germany's Policy Against the Jews of Greece: The Annihilation of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, 1941- 1944 PART II: SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ORGANISATION 4. Etat de la recherche 5. Le renouveau de la communauté juive de Salonique entre 1856 et 1919 6. Les Juifs d'Istanbul avant et après les Tanzimat 7. Jewish Working-Class Neighborhoods Established in Salonica Following the 1890 and 1917 Fires 8. Education in the Jewish Community of Salonica in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century 9. Female Jewish Education in Salonica at the End of the 19th Century 10. Le Cercle de Salonique 1873-1958 : Club des Saloniciens .. PART III: THE POLITICAL ROLE OF THE JEWS FROM 1908 TO 1936 11. The Zionist Movement in Salonica up to the A'Panhellenic Zionist Congress 12. The Jewish Community of Salonica and Its Incorporation into the Greek State 1912-1919 13. Salonique après 1912. Les propagandes étrangères et la communauté juive 14. Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece, 1912-1919 15. La législation anti-juive de Venizélos entre les deux guerres ou comment la République peut venir au secours de l'antisémitisme

9

17 37

49

73 85 99 107 127 139 151

165 187 203 217

229

8

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

PART IV: JUDEO-SPANISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE 16. The Judeo-Spanish, a Mediterranean Language in Daily Use in 20 th Century Salonica 17. Le théâtre judéo-espagnol à Salonique: une source de l'histoire sociale des Juifs locaux 18. Judeo-Spanish Theatre Plays on the Themes of Tradition and Change in the Early Twentieth Century,

275

CHRONOLOGY BIBLIOGRAPHY

285 289

243 263

FOREWORD

The present volume is a collection of published and unpublished studies on Ottoman and Greek Jewry, written over the last 20 years. During this period I have dedicated myself to understanding why the history of the Jews of Salonica was until recently almost a taboo subject, both for Greek and non Greek historians. If nationalistic priorities determined Greek historians' aims in re-writing history with the view of re-discovering the ancient « Greekness » of Salonica (which was incorporated to Greece only in 1913), the scarcity of scattered sources on this Jewish community especially after its annihilation by the Germans (who also stole its archives in 1943), was a significant obstacle for both groups. What impressed me, however, was that such justifications, which had contributed to the effacement of a vibrant society known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans of the previous 500 years, were easily set aside — or were eagerly examined when a research topic such as the emergence of Socialism in the city became en vogue. As happened in the 1970s, Socialist Jews, who could not at this juncture be ignored since they were the founders and the long term proponents of the movement in Salonica, seemed to be more easily accepted. In fact, researchers went out of their way to proclaim this to the point of translating Judeo-Spanish sources published in the local Socialist papers, (preserved in the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem). Intrigued by this conspicuous phenomenom and with an urge to find out more of what made Salonica Jews so « special », if not in fact threatening, I began my long search into the history of the Jewish communities in Greece. This was a step that allowed me to make the necessary comparisons before I could ascertain what it was about Salonica that made it an unusual Jewish community. For this same reason, I had to study the Stambouliote Jewish community, the second most important Jewish settlement in the Ottoman Empire after Salonica. Over the years, the rewarding findings of this ongoing research have permanently enriched my identity as a Jewish woman of Salonica, and at the same time have helped me develop as a historian. Were I, however, to sum up my feelings and experience about this venture I would say two things: First that Salonica's Jewry constitutes a case study of an exceptional and unique « normality » in the history of Jewish Diaspora and second that it is an inexhaustible treasure trove awaiting the

10

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

study of many researchers in all social sciences and disciplines. In other words, it is a multidimentional - multifaceted area, so challenging and so rich that it can not possibly be covered by one person alone. This is precisely the purpose of this collection of articles. Namely to initiate and stimulate young researchers in pinpointing the numerous lacunae I and other historians have left both thematically and chronologically. To achieve this it is important to discover and study old and newly available unexplored sources such as the Ottoman Archives, now open to the public, and those of the Jewish Communities of Greece, now being classified electronically in Tel Aviv, which were unavailable when I started my research. The articles included here, in English and French, reflect on the social, political and cultural aspects which exemplify Salonica's particularity from various angles. They focus on what characterizes this city's history which was in many ways determined by the activity of the Jewish community, representing 50% of the local multiethnic population for the previous 500 years. Part I, consists of three introductory articles aimed at the interested but not necessarily specialised reader. The first Les Juifs en Gréce au XXéme siecle, dealing with Greek Jewry in general, serves as a historical framework that situates Salónica in relation to the other Greek Jewish communities. The second The Jewish Presence in Salónica is of a similar nature and serves to sum up the main events that determined Salonica's history and at the same time that of the Jewish Community. In the second chapter of this article I have tried to formulate certain points that pertain to Salonica's uniqueness. The third article Germany's Policy against the Jews of Greece: The Annihilation of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, 1941-1944, deals with the destruction of Salónica Jewry during World War II. As with the other articles, there is an unavoidable overlap with the first article in French. I nevertheless decided to include it in this collection, because it is based on different sources, is more detailed and was written more recently. Part II focuses on the social characteristics of the Salónica Jewish community, concentrating on the way the Communal administration and its welfare and cultural institutions were organised. It starts with an introductor}' chapter entitled Etat de la recherche, which is a critical analysis of most of the existing bibliography I have studied. I thought this could be useful for new researchers, who could thereby pinpoint less explored areas of study. For the rest, Part II sheds light on a variety of social issues delineating the community's activity. Le renouveau de la communauté juive de Salonique entre 1856 et 1919, the second article, describes the community before the Ottoman reforms (or Tanzimat) and the way it was re-organised after

FOREWORD

11

these were applied. Similarly, the following article, Les Juifs d'Istanbul avant et après les Tanzimat, focuses on Istanbul's Jewish community and its resistance to adopting institutional and social reforms. In this way the differences between the two most important Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire become apparent, bringing into focus Salónica's uniqueness. The next article, Jewish Working-Class Neighborhoods Established in Salónica Following the 1890 and 1917 Fires, deals with one of the most important welfare institutions in the Community, namely the housing of the poorer layers of society. It analyses the way the Community confronted an unexpected crisis such as this caused by the two most dramatic fires of its history. It also contains significant information as well as maps on the geographical location of Jewish neighborhoods in the city before and after the fires, and on the stratification of that society. This is followed by two articles on education: Education in the Jewish Community of Salónica in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century and Female Jewish Education in Salónica at the End of the 19th Century. They deal with the way modern education was adopted in 1873, for both boys and girls, and transformed the community intellectually, professionally, economically, socially and ideologically. Finally Le Cercle de Salonique 1873-1958 : Club des Saloniciens, is the first study ever written on the haute bourgoisie of multicultural Salónica. It shows the way the city's upper class was organised, led by Jewish initiative, into a multiethnic club as early as 1873. As happened with the Socialist Federation in 1908, this association was the first attempt of Salonica's progressive leaders to socialize, exchange ideas and collaborate for the benefit of their city. The 85 year-long activity of the Cercle is marked by the changes Salónica underwent as it was being transformed into a national city. During this time the Jews lost their predominant role and were turned into a relatively insignificant minority. Nevertheless, the progressive attitude of the Cercle's members persisted after 1943, even though most of them were no longer Jewish. During the German occupation, when most of Salonica's non Jewish population showed scant concern for how their Jewish compatriots were being mistreated, the Cercle members disregarded religious barriers, even at the cost of being themselves persecuted by the Germans. Part III examines the political role played by the Jews between 1908 and 1936, which for Salónica constituted the period of the greatest political upheaval in its history before WW.II From 1908 to 1919 Salónica became the centre of political and military conflicts which occurred in the last phase of the national liberation struggles of Balkan peoples in Macedonia. At the same time, the antagonisms between the Great Powers which, on this occasion, sought to exercise their influence on the newly created nation states in the

12

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

area, briefly made Salonica an international city between 1913 and 1919, before it was incorporated into Greece. From the end of WW I and until the Asia Minor catastrophe of the Greeks in 1923, Salonica became a centre for 100,000 Asia Minor Greeks who settled into a city, that had been recently hit by a severe fire(1917). In the interwar period (1923-1939) these two major events caused dramatic economic and demographic changes that culminated in a major social crisis from which the city did not recover, paradoxically until after the end of WW II. The political activity of the Jews in Salonica during this period is studied in two axes: a) the position they adopted in relation to the "Jewish question" is presented in The Zionist Movement in Salonica up to the A'Panhellenic Zionist Congress. The local version of Zionism during this period (1897-1919), which focused on Salonica rather than Zion, attests the community's special relationship to its city, a relationship that decisively influenced Greek policy. Section b) deals with the socio-economic and political problems that Jews faced when Salonica and with it the local Jewish community were annexed to the Greek national state. An overview of the different stages of this multifaceted procedure during which Salonica and its Jews were incorporated into the Greek state is contained in The Jewish Community of Salonica and Its Incorporation into the Greek State 1912-1919. Subsequently, the political activity exercised by the Jews of this pluralist community is examined in every stage that Salonica underwent before its annexation to Greece. Salonique après 1912. Les propagandes étrangères et la communauté juive shows how, on the eve of the Balkan Wars, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece, all directed their propaganda towards the local Jews, convinced that it was up to them to decide on Salonica's political future. They therefore tried to persuade the Jews that it was to their city's benefit and thereby in their interest that Salonica be attached to one or other of those states. At the same time this chapter analyses how the Jews of Salonica were in a position to evaluate and reject the Balkan states' political game, opting for solutions that, with the support of the Great Powers, would insure Salonica's status quo. Yet, Salonica was finally given to Greece and the way the Greeks managed to gain the trust of both the Great Powers and that of the local Jews is studied in the next article: Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece, 1912-1919. It deals with the way the Greek prime minister Venizelos successfully handled both European and Balkan pressures and managed at the same time to stop acts of popular antisemitism, by adopting a pro-Jewish policy. In large part this policy gained him the Great Powers' approval for the city's annexation to

FOREWORD

13

Greece. What becomes apparent throughout Part III is that the Jews of Salonica held an unusually important position vis-à-vis the political forces that decided on Salonica's future status. In addition, their self-confidence in taking political initiative in an attempt to defend their cultural autonomy as well as their city's economic predominance in the Balkans, is what distinguishes Salonica Jews from all other Europen and Balkan Jews.

La législation antijuive de Venizélos entre les deux guerres ou comment la République peut venir au secours de l'antisémitisme, the last article in Part III, confirms the doubts expressed by the Jews about Venizelos' pro-Jewish policy in 1912. Defined by rigorous measures that were successfully applied by governmental agents, who stopped all antisemitic incidents until Salonica was annexed to Greecc, this policy was progressively overturned throughout the interwar period. Its reversal started from the moment Salonica Jews became vulnerable in 1917 and climaxed in the 13 years following the demographic change of 1923, when the Jews were turned into a minority. In conjunction with the previous article, it is clear that antisemitism could be combatted only when it was in the interest of Greece to apply such a policy. By the same token, the same "liberal" party legitimised antisemitism when the Jews, replaced by Greek refugees, had ceased to be at the centre of the political scene. Part IV deals with the Judeo-Spanish language and culture. JudeoSpanish, the Koine of most Jewish communities in the Balkans during Ottoman times, was Salonica's most popular local language. The Judeo-

Spanish, a Mediterranean Language in Daily Use in 20 th Century Salonica, offers an overview of the various literary and popular genres that were published in the city from the last quarter of the 19th until the middle of the 20 th century. Newspapers, original works of fiction, translations of fiction and non-fiction, plays, folk songs and poetry, popular storytelling and communal archives that have survived constitute an unparalleled, but barely explored collection of primary sources. In recent years I have developed a particular interest in the study of theatrical plays that have survived in Judeo Spanish. In general, theatre serves the purpose of educating the public through entertainment. Similarly JudeoSpanish plays, were often published in mass-circulation periodicals, mostly to be read and at times performed. They constituted the most expedient instrument for the enlightenment and emancipation of the Sepharadim. My final two articles: Le théâtre judéo-espagnol à Salonique: une source de

l'histoire sociale des Juifs locaux, and Judeo-Spanish Theatre Plays on the Themes of Tradition and Change in the Early Twentieth Century, are based on five plays that examine the issues of tradition and change in

14

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

social, political and religious practice of the Sepharadi world in Salonica and Istanbul, by putting them in their historical context. Finally, it has been thought useful to complete this collection of studies with a chronological table referring to Salonica's Jewish history, and with a bibliography thematically organised for both the general and the specialised reader. At this point, I would like to express my gratitude to my publisher Sinan Kuneralp, who has been an enthusiastic collegue and supportive editor. Rena Molho, Thessaloniki, July 2004

LES JUIFS EN GRECE AU XX e SIECLE1

Au VI e siècle avant Jésus-Christ, des Juifs s'installèrent pour la première fois sur le pourtour maritime de la Grèce, mais c'est à la fin du XV e siècle que la diaspora ibérique y déferla. Salonique se peupla alors de Juifs espagnols et portugais qui imposèrent leur langue et leurs coutumes à leurs correligionnaires de langue judéo-grecque (romaniotes) ou de langue yiddish (ashkénazes), venus de Byzancc ou d'au delà du Danube au temps des persécutions juives en Europe, entre le XI et le XIV e siècles 2 . Au moment de la fin des guerres balkaniques, les Juifs de Grèce étaient au total 100.000, dont 90.000 dans les nouvelles provinces. A elle seule la ville de Salonique en comptait 80.000 3 . Lors de l'entrée des Grecs le 26 octobre 1912 — ils battaient les Bulgares de quelques heures ! —, sur une population totale de 160.000 habitants 50 % étaient des Juifs 4 . L'autre moitié de la population était composée de Turcs, Grecs, Bulgares, Valaques et levantins. Les Juifs étaient les maîtres incontestés de l'artisanat, de l'industrie, du commerce et de la finance. Agents maritimes, dockers, bateliers, agents en douane, charretiers : tous étaient Juifs. Jusqu'au grand incendie de 1917, ils habitaient le centre de la ville, alors que les Grecs occupaient la zone latérale sud-est et les Turcs la ville haute 5 . La langue maternelle de ces Juifs de Salonique était le judéoespagnol, dialecte castillan auquel s'ajoutaient certains termes issus de l'hébreu, du turc, du grec, de l'italien, ou même d'origine slave. Le judéoespagnol était aussi la langue locale de Salonique, parlée également par les non-juifs qui partageaient le même espace économique 6 . Les autres communautés juives étaient beaucoup moins importantes. Au début du XX e siècle, il en existait une trentaine, de présence souvent ancienne, mais d'importances diverses, dans plusieurs villes de Grèce : au sud, 1 Article para dans la revue Matériaux, juillet-septembre 2003, no.71, pp. 39-48. ^Andrew SHARF, Byzantine Jewry. From Justinian to the Fourth Crusade, London, Routledge 1971, pp. 132-162. ^Rena MOLHO, Les Juifs de Salonique, 1856-1919 : Une communauté hors norme, en grec Athènes, Themelio, 2001, pp. 29-52. 4 L a population juive est restée majoritaire à Salonique jusqu'en 1923, la ville étant alors appelée « La Jérusalem des Balkans ». 5 Rena MOLHO, «Le Renouveau...» in G.Veinstein (éd.), Salonique 1850-1918 : La ville des Juifs et le réveil des Balkans, Paris, Autrement, 1992, pp. 64-78. 6 Rena MOLHO,«The Judeo-Spanish, a Mediterranean Language in Daily Use in 20th Century Salonica», exposé lors de la conférence tenue à Giron, en mars 1998 sur le thème La Cultura del Llibre: Herència de Passat, Vivència de Futur.

18

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

dans l'île de Crète, à La Canée; dans les îles de Chios, Lesbos, Kos et Rhodes; à l'ouest, dans les îles ioniennes de Corfu, Zante, Leucade et Céphalonie, où les Juifs locaux entretenaient des échanges quotidiens avec leurs correligionaires des villes voisines de l'Epire (Arta, Janina et Preveza); au sud-ouest, à Patras et à Corinthe, dans le Péloponnèse; dans le centre-est, à Chalkis dans l'île d'Eubée et dans les principales villes de Thessalie, Volos, Larissa et Trikala; au nord et à l'ouest de la Macédoine, dans les villes de Kastoria, Verria et Florina; à l'est de la même région, dans les villes de Serres, Drama, Kavala et dans les villes de la Trace, Xanthi, Komotini, Didymoteichon et Alexandroupolis. Toutes ces communautés avaient réussi à survivre au long de l'histoire, et parfois même à prospérer, en dépit des épreuves que leur caractère minoritaire les avait amené à subir. Quant à la communauté juive d'Athènes, elle ne comptait que quelques centaines de membres au début du XX e siècle, et était d'implantation très récente (c'est en 1885 seulement qu'elle avait été dotée d'un cimetière et d'un oratoire). Elle s'accrut toutefois pendant les guerres balkaniques, du fait de l'arrivée des Juifs fuyant d'autres parties du pays, et en particulier Salonique 1 .

Le rôle des Juifs dans la vie économique Dans la Grèce des guerres balkaniques, Salonique était la ville la plus importante du point de vue économique. Elle était alors le grand emporium des Balkans dont les activités commerciales s'étendaient de l'Egée au Danube et de l'Adriatique à laMaritsa et même au de-là. Son port était rempli de bâteaux à vapeur et de voiliers. Elle servait de centre d'approvisionnement naturel à ce vaste arrière-pays, qui de l'Albanie jusqu'à Istanbul représentait une clientelle potentièle de quatre millions d'habitants. Les transactions qui s'opéraient sur le marché salonicien dépassaient en volume et en importance celles de toutes les autres places de Grèce réunies 2 . Quand les Grecs entrèrent dans Salonique, ils s'aperçurent vite que, du centre jusqu'à la Tour Blanche, la ville était toute entière juive. Le judéoespagnol était la langue des rues, des magasins et des foyers; c'était aussi la langue des enseignes écrites en caractères hébraïques, alors que les réclames, les factures, les livres de comptabilité et les légendes des films projetés dans

^Michaél MOLHO, « L a nouvelle Communauté juive d ' A t h è n e s » in The Joshua Starr Memorial Volume, New York, 1953, pp. 231-239. 2 R e n a MOLHO, «The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation into the Greek State, 1912-1919», Middle Eastern Studies, 1988, vol. 24, pp. 390-403; «Thessalonique après 1912 : propagandes étrangères et communauté juive», in Revue historique, CCLXXXVII/1(1992), pp. 127-140. et «Le Renouveau...» ; art. cit.

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU

XXe

SIECLE

19

tous les cinémas étaient formulés en français 1 . Les Juifs étaient à la tête de toutes les entreprises industrielles et commerciales de la ville : ils avaient participé à la fondation de la compagnie des eaux, du gaz, de l'électricité et des tramways. Ils avaient créé la minoterie et la briquetterie Allatini, une grande brasserie, des sociétés de tabac, une grande filature, la Banque de Salonique ainsi que cinq autres grandes maisons etc. ; ils étaient les maîtres incontestés des importations et des exportations, représentaient les compagnies de navigation internationales, ainsi que les plus importantes compagnies d'assurance. Leur probité commerciale était proverbiale, puisque les plus grosses affaires se traitaient sur simple parole dibbour de mercader (promesse de marchand), ou autrement dit «engagement d'honneur» 2 . Les tabacs, dont la Thrace et la Macédoine tiraient le meilleur de leurs revenus, était un domaine réservé aux Juifs. Depuis l'expert qui allait l'acquérir sur pied, l'ouvrier qui le conditionnait, jusqu'à l'exportateur, les commis de bureaux, les courtiers, des agents à l'étranger, tous étaient Juifs. Et il en était presque de même dans plusieurs centres du pays, à Comotini, à Didymoteichon, à Serres, à Verria, à Florina, à Castoria, à Janina, pour toute la production des céréales, d'opium, des peaux brutes, des cocons, ou des articles manufacturés localement ou importés. Seule la situation des Juifs en Vieille Grèce et dans les îles était fort différente : en Thessalie, à Chalkis, en Morée, petits commerçants, colporteurs, artisans, et ferblantiers, ils partageaient la misère des régions peu favorisées.

Education,

culture et vie

religieuse

A la fin de la Première Guerre Mondiale, Salonique comptait douze écoles juives de qualité, dont quatre établissements secondaires. Depuis sa fondation en 1873, l'Alliance israélite universelle entretenait à elle seule tout un complexe scolaire de sections maternelles, élémentaires, primaires supérieures, secondaires et professionnelles. 10.000 enfants, parmi lesquels 4.500 filles, y étaient scolarisés. Le français avait la première place dans l'enseignement et servait d'instrument de formation, puisque le corps enseignant était majoritairement formé en France. Les matières classiques étaient au programme, mais aussi l'histoire juive biblique et post-biblique. ^Michaél MOLHO, « Le judaïsme grec en général et ia communauté juive de Salonique en particulier entre les deux guerres mondiales », in Homenaje à Millas-Vallicrosa, Barcelona, 1956, vol. II, pp. 73-107. ^Cette expression est typiquement judéo-espagnole, puisque le premier mot est en hébreu et le second en espagnol.

20

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

L'enseignement de l'hébreu était confié à des rabbins locaux. Le turc — et ensuite le grec— n'occupaient que quelques séances dans le programme scolaire. A Salonique de nombreux jeunes juifs fréquentaient les nombreuses écoles étrangères, françaises, italiennes ainsi que les écoles congrégationnistes 1 . Par ailleurs 1.800 élèves suivaient l'enseignement du Talmud. Entre 1910 et 1913 le Grand Rabbin Itzhack Epstein introduit des réformes d'inspiration moderne : le cours de l'hébreu fut alors complètement transformé en enseignement d'une langue vivante et compréhensible. Chaque localité de Thrace, de Macédoine et de l'Epire disposait de son école juive, subventionnée le plus souvent par l'Alliance israélite universelle. Dans ces écoles l'instruction générale allait de pair avec l'enseignement du français et la culture religieuse. Les Séfarades des Nouvelles Provinces de langue et de mentalité latine assimilaient facilement les langues et la culture d'Occident. Ils voyageaient à l'étranger pour des raisons d'études ou d'affaires, lisaient les journaux, les revues et les livres français. Le niveau culturel des Juifs de Salonique était élevé : la ville possédait plusieurs bibliothèques hébérgées dans des clubs, à la fois centres de sociabilité et de culture. Le premier, fondé en 1897, était l'Association des anciens élèves de l'Alliance israélite qui groupait des centaines d'adhérants des deux sexes. Par l'organisation de cours, de conférences et de causeries suivies de discussion, ces clubs— club des anciens élèves des lycées français, des écoles italiennes, de l'école Gategno, de l'école Altcheh, de la Kadima (spécialement formées d'hébraïsants), de laMacabi, des Jeunes Juifs etc.— apportaient un complément d'instruction 2 . Le goût de la lecture était très développé y compris parmi les membres des couches populaires, pour lesquelles tout ouvrage connu, en français ou italien, roman ou texte de théâtre, était traduit en judéo-espagnol. Entre 1875 et 1940, ont existé aussi dans la ville une quarantaine de journaux et de revues, à l'existence souvent éphémères : trente et une publications étaient rédigées en judéo-espagnol et huit en français. Elles représentaient toutes les tendances politiques, à l'image de la laïcisation et du pluralisme de la communauté. Dix de ces publications, les plus diffusées, étaient satiriques ; neuf étaient sionistes, cinq socialistes, une de tendance monarchiste, et neuf d'intérêt général. Trois revues complétaient cette série.

*Rena MOLHO, Les Juifs de Salonique, 1856-1919..., op. cit., pp. 139-224. ^Rena MOLHO, «Education in the Jewish Community of Salonica in the Beginning of the 20th Century», Balkan Studies, 34/2, 1993, pp. 259-269; et «Le développement culturel à Salonique au début du XXème siècle», in Les cahiers de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle / Dossier : Les Juifs de Salonique, novembre 1997, no. 17, pp. 32-34.

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU X X e

SIECLE

21

Dans les quartiers urbains, il existait trente-deux synagogues communautaires, plusieurs synagogues privées (appartenant aux familles de la grande bourgeoisie) et plus de soixante oratoires fréquentés par un grand nombre des Saloniciens de stricte observance. Certains riches particuliers entretenaient des séminaires réputés, dotés de bibliothèques des œuvres rares, comprenant par exemple des exemplaires du Talmud, des Traités de Maïmonide, de Joseph Caro, de commentaires de Rachi, de Eben Ezra et surtout des collections de Responsa qui étaient l'œuvre des talmudistes saloniciens. La communauté se caractérisait aussi par l'importance, en son sein, de la philanthropie et de l'entraide. Elle possédait ainsi un hôpital particulièrement moderne, tandis que quelques dispensaires, comme le Bikour Holim, se trouvaient dans les quartiers juifs des faubourgs pour les soins médicaux des pauvres. La Société Matanoth La-evionim, fondée en 1901, fournissait des repas chauds de midi à de nombreux écoliers pauvres ou orphelins. Il existait aussi deux orphelinats —un pour garçons et un pour filles—, ainsi que plusieurs fondations de charité, de secours scolaires, ou d'œuvre de layette. Et il y avait encore des caisses de prêts sans intérêt pour soutenir les familles en difficulté. En Vieille Grèce et dans les îles les enfants juifs étaient, en général, scolarisés dans les écoles grecques, où l'étude des langues étrangères, y compris l'hébreu, était négligée. Seule la communauté de Corfou échappait à cette léthargie intellectuelle, grâce à son parler italien et à son amour à la culture de son passé venitien.

Statut des communautés Depuis la fondation du royaume, la Grèce contemporaine avait inscrit la liberté de cultes dans sa Constitution. Ce n'est toutefois qu'en 1882, quand l'annexion de Thessalie amena sous le régime hellénique les communautés juives de Volos, de Larissa, de Triccala etc., que celles-ci reçurent leur statut légal et furent autorisées, entre autres, à entretenir des écoles particulières. La loi 147 de 1914 reconnaissait l'existence des communautés des Nouvelles Provinces, et leur concédait le privilège de l'application du code rabbinique, en matière matrimoniale. Quatre ans plus tard, la loi 1242 prévoyait la nomination des enseignants d'hébreu dans les écoles primaires de l'Etat que fréquentaient plus de vingt enfants de confession mosaïque. En 1920, toutes les communautés furent reconnues de facto et de jure. La loi 2456 de 1923 érigea les communautés en personnes morales de droit public et

22

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

énonça leurs droits et privilèges : selon ce texte, il suffisait qu'une communauté se compose de plus de vingt familles pour qu'elle soit constituée et ratifiée par décret royal. Pour entretenir ses institutions, chaque communauté avait alors le droit d'accepter des dons particuliers et de prélever des taxes sur les denrées réputées casher ; elle pouvait fonder des écoles particulières à condition d'inclure dans le programme le grec et l'histoire hellénique. Les Juifs pouvaient chômer le samedi et les jours fériés juifs ; pendant ces jours, ils étaient d'ailleurs exemptés de comparaître en justice. Les commerçants juifs étaient autorisés à tenir leurs livres de commerce en judéoespagnol ou en français. Dans le cadre de la constitution hellénique, chaque communauté jouissait d'une autonomie complète: elle était administrée par une assemblée générale élue, qui désignait un conseil pour la direction des affaires intérieures, et un autre pour la gestion de la fortune communale, avec droit d'acheter et de vendre et de nommer des commissions pour administrer chacune des institutions philanthropiques, cultuelles et scolaires. L'assemblée désignait également le grand rabbin, qui avait pouvoir de décision sur toutes les questions de caractère religieux. C'est elle, enfin qui devait établir le texte des statuts de la communauté, qui devaient ensuite être approuvés par décret. Les statuts de Salonique ont été approuvés en 1923, même si ils furent souvent modifiés par la suite.

Les Juifs et le rattachement de Salonique à la Grèce Le judaïsme en Grèce ne se réduisait certes pas à la communauté de Salonique, mais celle-ci en était néanmoins, et de loin, la pièce maîtresse. Or, pour diverses raisons, dont certaines accidentelles, cette communauté, n'allait cesser d'être mise à l'épreuve par l'évolution moderne des Balkans en général, et de la Grèce en particulier. Une première migration des Juifs saloniciens eut lieu en 1908, avec la révolution des Jeunes Turcs: une de leurs premières mesures avait été en effet de décréter la conscription de non-musulmans (juifs et chrétiens), jusque-là dispensés de servir dans les armées de l'Empire. Près de huit mille Juifs quittèrent alors Salonique à destination des Etats-Unis. Une seconde vague de départs se produisit après les guerres balkaniques de 1912 et 1913, quand la division de l'ensemble des Balkans en Etats nationaux — dont les frontières devenaient autant de barrières douanières — priva Salonique de son vaste arrière-pays, et amena un grand nombre des commerçants juifs à quitter la ville pour Istanbul.

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU

XXe

SIECLE

23

Les premiers contacts des Juifs avec la Grèce avaient été plutôt ambigus. Les troupes grecques s'étaient montrées coupables d'excès et d'abus que l'administration avait promptement réprimés. N é a n m o i n s , pour se protéger contre la partialité de la police et assurer leur défence, les Juifs avaient f o n d é en 1908 le "Club des Intimes" et en 1913 la ligue "Ahdout" (Union) chargée de fournir une assistance judiciaire aux aitisans et d'améliorer la situation économique des ouvriers. L ' œ u v r e de cette ligue f u t excellente, mais de courte durée, du fait du bouleversement provoqué par l'incendie de 1917 1 . Depuis la Révolution des Jeunes-Turcs, les Juifs saloniciens pouvaient s'exprimer dans le domaine politique et ils furent nombreux à se ranger du côté des révolutionaires. En réaction aux nationalistes locaux le sionisme, jusqu'alors timide, s'érigea lui aussi en parti idéologique organisé. En même temps, des jeunes intellectuels et des ouvriers fondèrent en 1909 un parti socialiste, connu sous le nom de Fédération ouvrière socialiste, et qui devint le parti socialiste le plus grand et le mieux organisé de l'Empire. L e régime grec eut par conséquence un nouveau développement des courants politiques chez les Juifs de Salonique. Le sionisme progressa encore et gagna de nombreux nouveaux adhérents mais au lieu de faire de la p r o p a g a n d e p o u r l ' i m m i g r a t i o n en Palestine, c o m m e le d e m a n d a i t l'Organisation sioniste centrale, le sionisme salonicien défendait l'idée de l'internationalisation de la ville (et du maintien des Juifs sur place) que partageaient aussi les socialistes grecs, qui voyaient dans cette politique non seulement un moyen pour sauvegarder la sécurité des Juifs, mais aussi une possibilité de favoriser la paix dans les Balkans 2 . A u début de la Grande Guerre, les Juifs de Salonique furent très divisés, c o m m e d'ailleurs le reste de la population grecque de la ville, entre la partipation à la guerre aux côtés de la Triple Entente, ainsi que le souhaitait Venizelos — ou la neutralité — position de la Cour. Toutefois, à partir de l'automne 1915, Salonique devint le centre des opérations alliées en Orient et connut pendant quelques années une intense animation. De nouvelles fortunes s'édifièrent rapidement, surtout parmis les Juifs, et il y avait du travail pour tous. Deux ans plus tard cependant, en août 1917, un énorme incendie, alimenté par le fameux vent du Vardar, embrasait le centre de la ville : 4.101 immeubles, répartis sur 227 hectares, f u r e n t détruits, laissant sans foyers quinze mille familles, dont dix mille juives. La communauté juive fut le plus

' Rcna MOLHO, «Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece», Jewish Social Studies, vol. L, nos. 3-4, Summer-Fall 1988/1993 pp. 253-264. Rena MOLHO, «The Zionist Movement in Salonica up to the A'Panhellenic Zionist Congress», in Proceedings of the conference The Jewish Communities of Southeastern Europe from the 15th Century to the End of World War II, Thessaloniki 30 Oct.-3 Nov. 1992, pp. 327-350.

24

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

durement frappée : plus des deux-tiers des propriétés ravagées par le feu lui appartenait, et un dixième seulement de cette immense fortune était assuré. Presque toutes les écoles, les trente-deux synagogues, les oratoires, tous les centres culturels, les bibliothèques, les clubs furent anéantis. Malgré les secours mobilisés partout dans le monde, qui parvinrent à rassembler une s o m m e de 40.000 livres-or, la communauté ne se releva j a m a i s de cette catastrophe : la physionomie juive de la ville datant de plus de cinq siècles avait été effacée dans trente-six heures... 1 Vingt-cinq mille des cinquante-trois mille sinistrés juifs, appartenant pour la plupart à la petite et à la moyenne bourgeoisie furent contraints de partir habiter dans les quartiers édifiés à la hâte et d ' u n e façon rudimentaire. L'apauvrissement de cette population, qui se trouva alors à la charge de la Communauté, eut pour conséquance la baisse de son niveau intellectuel et social 2 .

Les Juifs et

l'hellénisation

Le caractère juif de Salonique était une source de préoccupation pour les gouvernments grecs. En tant que port naturel, la ville était en effet le vrai débouché de l'Europe centrale depuis la Baltique : c'est pour cette raison que tous les pays balkaniques avaient rêvé de s'emparer, afin de s'offrir ainsi un libre accès à la mer. Une fois rattachée à la Grèce, elle était devenue ville frontalière, située à quelques kilomètres de l'arrière-pays balkanique, et d'autant plus vulnérable aux diverses convoitises diverses qu'elle était peuplée par un élément étranger à l'hellénisme. L'hellénisation de Salonique, qui devait permettre la sauvegarde de la sécurité du pays et l'intégrité du territoire constituait donc une priorité dans le programme du parti libéral grec que dirigeait Venizelos, premier ministre depuis 1910. Il y avait là un antagonime irréductible entre le parti vénizeliste et la population juive salonicienne 3 . Habitués à être exemptés du service militaire — ce qui avait déjà été remis en cause par les Jeunes Turcs — et inquiets des répercussions fâcheuses que le progamme d'hellénisation de

' Rena MOLHO,«La présence juive à Thessalonique», article en grec, in Paratiritis, hiver 1994, pp. 13-52. ^Rena MOLHO, «Jewish Working-Class Neighborhoods Established in Salonica Following the 1890 and the 1917 Fires», in Minna ROZEN, (ed.), The Last Ottoman Century and Beyond : The Jews of Turkey and the Balkans, 1808-1945, vol. II, Tel Aviv, 2002, pp. 173-194. ^R. MOLHO, «The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation ...", art. cit. ; «Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Salonica, 1912-1919», Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora XIII/34 (1986), pp. 113-123; et «Salonique après 1912 : propagandes étrangères et communauté juive», art. cit.

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU X X e

SIECLE

25

Venizelos risquait d'avoir pour eux, les Juifs votaient soit en faveur des sionistes ou des socialistes, soit pour les monarchistes, mais leur poids électoral en faisait des vrais arbitres lors des élections à Salonique, et Venizelos ne put rien faire contre leur hostilité. Sévèrement battu lors des élections générales de novembre 1920, il attribua tout de suite sa défaite aux suffrages des « allogènes ». Pendant la période politique très compliquée qui suivit -retour au pouvoir du mouvement vénizèliste dès 1924, puis de Venizelos lui même, comme premier ministre à nouveau, de 1928 à 1933; période républicaine de 1924 à 1933 —, les Juifs furent en but à une politique hostile, si non clairement antisémite, même si celle-ci était en partie masquée par le caractère démocratique du parti libéral 1 . A partir de 1923, les Juifs furent obligés de voter dans un secteur électoral séparé, c'est-à-dire un ghetto politique, qui réduisait leur pouvoir électoral, en les contraignant à voter uniquement pour leurs représentants. En guise de contestation, ils décidèrent de boycotter les premières élections qui suivirent cette décision : lors de la consultation, il y eut seulement cinquante et un électeurs sur un total de dix mille inscrits... D'autres mesures suivirent. Lorsqu'il s'agissait des contribuables « allogènes », les inspecteurs du fisc exerçaient par exemple leur mandat avec une rigueur toute spéciale : beaucoup de commerçants juifs choisirent l'émigration pour éviter la persécution fiscale. Après avoir liquidé leurs affaires, les plus riches s'installèrent à Milan, Paris ou Marseille. L'élite de la communauté salonicienne ainsi qu'une grande partie de la fortune juive locale disparurent dans cet exode. La ville fut privée de ses « capacités » et dé ses capitaux ; le moulin et la briquetterie Allatini, la brasserie Olympos, ainsi que cent autres entreprises changèrent de mains à cette époque. Beaucoup d'ouvriers juifs et non-juifs saloniciens réduits au chômage, d'autant plus que des milliers de réfugiés grecs, arrivés à Salonique après l'échec de la campagne d'Asie Mineure en 1923, les concurrençaient en acceptant de les remplacer pour des salaires inférieurs 2 . Cet afflux transforma profondément la structure démographique, économique et sociale de toute la Grèce, mais surtout de Salonique, où s'installèrent subitement cent mille réfugiés, dénués de tout — les réfugiés les plus riches préféraient s'établir à Athènes ou au Pirée, attirés par la centralisation gouvernmentale, alors que les resources de Salonique, privée de son arrière-pays, étaient alors déclinantes. Fort nombreux, ceux-ci bénéficiaient d'importants dégrèvements fiscaux, ainsi que de l'indu!gences des R. MOLHO, "La législation anti-juive de Venizélos entre les deux guerres ou comment la République peut venir au secours de l'antisémitisme », en grec, Synchrona Themata, Juin 2003, no. 82, pp. 53-59; «The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation ...", art. cit. ; «Le Renouveau...» art. cit. ; et «Venizelos and the Jewish Community ...", art. cit. 2 R . MOLHO, «La présence juive à Thessalonicjue», art. cit.

26

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

agents du fisc, ce qui eut pour effet un découragement grandissant des Juifs de Salonique, et une recrudescence des départs, d'autant plus nombreux que la communauté avait perdu tout ce qui faisait sa qualité de vie : après l'incendie de 1917, des milliers de maisons du centre de la ville avaient à jamais disparu, et leurs anciens habitants juifs n'avaient plus aucun espoir de les reconstruire. Quelques mois après la catastrophe — en mai 1918 —, un ministre, Papanastassiou, l'un des leaders libéraux, avait en effet décrété l'expropriation générale de la zone incendiée, pour, officiellement, des raisons de politique urbaine (mais il s'agissait évidemment aussi d'une occasion inespérée d'helléniser la ville). La configuration urbaine antérieure fut donc effacée : les anciens propriétaires devant recevoir des bons fonciers transférables. Après quelques années de discussions, les nouveaux lots furent mis aux enchères publiques, mais les petits propriétaires juifs, qui avaient alors dépensé leurs économies (d'ailleurs sérieusement dévalorisées à la suite de la guerre), ne purent en acquérir que fort peu. Ne pouvant se réinstaller à l'ancien emplacement de leurs maisons et de leurs boutiques, ils finirent par vendre au rabais les bons fonciers qui leurs avaient été accordés. En 1924, le même Papanastassiou, devenu ministre du Travail, s'attaqua à la tradition du Shabbath. Par une loi spécifique à la ville de Salonique, qui rendait obligatoire le repos dominical, il abolit le privilège sabbatique consacré par la tradition, et que confirmait pourtant clairement une disposition de la loi 2456 (votée cette même année 1923) consacrée au règlement organique de la communauté... La crise de 1929, éprouva d'autant plus les Juifs qu'ils étaient déjà affaiblis par toutes ces difficultés. L'industrie du tabac, qui occupait tant d'ouvriers juifs, en subit le plus les effets, et les ateliers de conditionnement fermèrent les uns après les autres. Des milliers d'ouvriers étaient réduits au chômage. Dans cette situation, la communauté était profondement divisée. La majorité était sioniste : il existait une profusion de confréries, de cercles el de clubs éducatifs et sportifs (parmi lesquels les plus connus étaient Maccabi, Bnci Z i o n , Bnot Israël, Nouveau Club, T h é o d o r e Herzl, Betar, Misrahi, Bialik, Geoula, Max Nordau, Hatehya, Hashahar, Menora, Mevasseret Zion, Association des Jeunes Juifs), qui tous avaient leur local, leur bibliothèque, leurs conférences, leurs cours etc., et donc l'activité idéologique était coordonée par la Fédération sioniste (1919), à laquelle adhéraient tous les groupes sionistes du pays. Pour leur part, les modérés ou « alliancistes », imprégnés de l'idéologie de l'Alliance israélite, qui se recrutaient surtout dans les couches moyennes et la haute bourgeoisie, étaient partisans d'une politique d'assimilation à la langue et à la culture du pays, et

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU X X e

SIECLE

27

affirmaient que chaque électeur devait voter selon sa conscience et ses intérêts politiques. Les « populaires », enfin, regroupaient dans leurs rangs la majeure partie des habitants des faubourgs, des ouvriers et artisans. Ils ne représentaient que le quart du corps électoral juif, mais sa partie la plus active, de sorte que certains organes de presse et les rapports de police leurs attribuaient une influence prédominante, présentant ainsi la communauté toute entière comme une force de gauche. Aux élections parlementaires les « populaires » parvenaient souvent à envoyer à la Chambre un ou deux députés juifs grâce aux alliances avec les partis de gauche du pays. Si dans la majeure partie des villes de la Vieille Grèce une bonne entente régnait entre juifs et chrétiens — les petites communautés juives jouaient d'ailleurs un rôle insignifiant dans l'économie de ces villes —, les Juifs de Salonique, qui malgré une progressive décadence conservaient encore des vestiges considérables de leur ancienne prospérité, étaient par contre l'objet d'un antisémitisme très vif. L'hostilité du parti libéral contre les Juifs semblait cependant peu à peu s'apaiser. En 1929, l'avocat Ascher Mallah fut élu sénateur dans la liste des vénizélistes, qui recueilliaient des voix juives de plus en plus nombreuses : leur candidat à la mairie de Salonique fut soutenu par deux mille voix juives, et un vice-maire juif fut élu, Avraam Recanati 1 . Cet apaisement ne dura cependant guère. Des journaux saloniciens se lancèrent dans des attaques antijuives qui opposaient systématiquement le réfugié — orthodoxe — au Juif «allogène». Aux yeux des réfugiés, une expulsion massive des Juifs aurait permis aux «vrais Hellènes» de se partager leurs biens. L'antijudaïsme d'une certaine presse parvint à ameuter contre les Juifs saloniciens des étudiants, des réservistes de l'armée et une partie de la population des faubourgs. Dirigée par un marchand d'habits, Giorgios Cosmidis, une ligue antijuive, l'Ethniki Enosis Hellados — le Trois Epsilon —, fut fondée en 1929. Elle se présentait comme une société secrète, mais recruta des milliers d'adhérents, et lança des appels à l'agression directe contre les Juifs. Makedonia, l'organe des Vénizélistes, se plaça de son côté publiant des articles antisémites, avec en particulier le journaliste Nicos Fardis et ses adjoints. Assez contradictoirement, selon leurs thèmes favoris, les Juifs étaient des communistes acharnés à la perte du pays, mais qui en même temps - il ne fallait pas avoir peur de la contradiction — s'enrichissaient aux dépens du pauvre peuple grec ; pour eux, les Juifs représentaient un danger sans précédent au sein de l'hellénisme, et il était nécessaire, pour le moins, de les expulser.

^M. MOLHO, « Le judaïsme grec en général ...», art. cit.

28

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

En 1930, un congrès des sociétés maccabis, auquel assistait un délégué de Salonique, se tint à Sofia. Dans une allocution un Juif bulgare fit allusion à la nécessité pour la Bulgarie d'annexer la Macédoine grecque. Le propos était passé inaperçu, mais un membre des "Trois Epsilons" le découvrit en épluchant les comptes-rendus du congrès, et s'empressa d'accuser le délégué de Salonique et la Maccabi, — ainsi d'ailleurs que toute la communauté salonicienne, et le judaïsme mondial lui même - de collaborer avec les Bulgares pour arracher à la Grèce la plus belle de ses provinces. La presse s'empara de l'affaire, et engagea une très violente campagne pour soulever les foules contre la « trahison » des Juifs. Sous l'œil indiffèrent de la police, cette agitation conduisit d'abord à des émeutes et à des incidents violents dans les rues et les tramways pour aboutir finalement en juin 1931 à un véritable pogrom. Dans la nuit du 29 au 30 juin 1931, des groupes armés comprenant deux mille réfugiés encadrés par des réservistes de l'armée se dirigèrent vers le faubourg juif de Campbell, au sud-est de la ville, le plus petit et le plus isolé, où ils mirent le feu aux baraquement où logeaient trois cent familles juives. Pourtant alertées à temps les autorités ne firent rien pour arrêter les agresseurs. Assaillis pendant leur sommeil, les habitants du quartier ne purent que s'échapper en hâte, en abandonnant leurs foyers à l'incendie (pendant les jours de terreur qui suivirent, ils furent logés par la communauté dans des écoles et dans des temples). Plus tard, lors du procès des incendiaires, le jury rendit un verdict d'acquittement et le crime resta impuni. Si Venizélos, qui était alors au pouvoir, stigmatisa les fauteurs des troubles à la Chambre des députés, il ne fit cependant rien pour les victimes. Le pogrom de Campbell provoqua un important exode. De 1932 à 1934 dix milles Juifs saloniciens émigrèrent en masse en Palestine : cette arrivée soudaine de nombreux ouvriers, artisans, mahoniers, et d'hommes d'affaires à Haïfa et à Tel Aviv contribua de façon importante au développement de ces villes. Ce fut, par exemple, un émigré salonicien, Léon Recanati, ex-président de la communauté de Salonique, qui fonda la Palestine Discount Bank qui devint par la suite l'un des instituts de crédit les plus prospères de tout le Proche-Orient. Avec les exodes successifs vers l'Amérique du Nord en 1908, vers la Turquie en 1913, vers la France de 1917 à 1919 puis de 1922 à 1926, et enfin vers la Palestine de 1932 à 1934, près de 40.000 Juifs avaient donc quitté Salonique en un peu plus de vingt ans (ils n'imaginaient pourtant pas que leur départ les sauverait de l'extermination nazie...). En 1935, ils étaient néanmoins encore 52.350, dont 47.289 de nationalité grecque et 5.061 étaient recensés comme de nationalité yougoslave, italienne, espagnole, turque, portugaise, etc. Ne représentant plus que le sixième la population de la ville,

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU

XXe

SIECLE

29

les Juifs de Salonique concentraient néanmoins encore 20% de l'économie : ils jouaient un rôle important dans la grande industrie, le haut négoce, la banque, la représentation des grandes usines de l'Europe et des Etats-Unis d'Amérique, ainsi que dans les agences de navigation et les assurances internationales ou la médecine. Ils restaient aussi les maîtres des marchés du papier, du drap, des articles pharmaceutiques, des métaux de construction, de la verrerie et de la faïencerie, de l'industrie de cuir et de la tannerie. Ils rivalisaient même avec Athènes, qui attirait pourtant alors toutes les forces vitales du pays, mais où les Juifs (environ trois mille) étaient pour la plus part spécialisés dans l'industrie textile 1 . A la veille de la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale, les Juifs saloniciens contrôlaient deux mille trois cents entreprises sur un total de neuf mille huit cents inscrits au registre des chambres du commerce, de l'industrie et de l'artisanat. Le plus grand nombre des Juifs étaient cependant employés dans les activités manuelles et les travaux de force les plus durs : ils étaient alors bateliers, dockers, charretiers, pêcheurs, marbiers, ferblantiers, maçons, peintres de bâtiment etc. C ' e s t dans le domaine de l ' e n s e i g n e m e n t que la volonté d'hellénisation porta les coups les plus rudes à la spécificité juive. Peu après le progrom Campbell, une loi vint profondement bouleverser l'organisation des écoles juives : pour accélérer l'hellénisation des éléments « allogènes » de la Nouvelle Grèce, le gouvernement interdit en effet la fréquentation des écoles étrangères aux enfants grecs qui n'avaient pas achevé leurs études primaires; l'enseignement de toute langue étrangère était banni du programme des écoles primaires, exception faite toutefois de l'hébreu qui pouvait être enseigné aux élèves juifs pour leur besoins confessionels 2 . Les écoles de l'Alliance, qui avaient permis à des milliers d'enfants juifs de connaître un renouveau idéologique et professionnel, demeurèrent des établissements communautaires, mais désormais héllenisés. Les Juifs perdirent la possibilité d'apprendre des langues étrangères, ce qui avait été dans le passé un de leurs grands avantages. A partir de 1931, les Juifs saloniciens avaient compris qu'ils devaient s'assimiler au milieu grec. Et assez paradoxalement, le coup d'Etat monarchiste de Métaxas, le 4 août 1936, fut pour eux un bienfait. Bien qu'inspiré par des doctrines fascisantes, Métaxas se souvenait des anciennes sympathies royalistes des Juifs, et nourrit toujours à leur égard des sentiments amicaux. Il décida d'interdire toutes les manifestations antijuives, et une censure attentive fut exercée sur tout ce qui s'imprimait sur ce thème dans le ' M. MOLHO, « Le judaïsme grec en général ...», art. cit. ^Viaria VASSIL1KOU, « L'éducation des Juifs de Salonique dans l'entre-deux-guerres », article en grec , in Le Judaïsme Grec , par l'Association de l'étude de la civilisation et de l'éducation néohéllenique : Fond, de l'École Moraiti, Athènes, 1999, pp. 129-147.

30

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

pays, qu'il s'agisse de journaux, de revues ou de livres. Métaxas mit aussi les « Trois Epsilons » hors la loi. Pendant toute la période de sa dictature de (1936-1941), les Juifs jouirent du plus grand calme. Entre 1931 et 1935, la fermeture des écoles étrangères privées et la fusion de celles de l'Alliance avec les écoles communautaires, avait conduit à une baisse du niveau culturel des Juifs saloniciens. Le tirage des quatre journaux importants du début du siècle qui existaient encore, L'Indépendant et Le Progrès en langue française, et L'Accion et Le Messagero rédigés en judéo-espagnol, passa de vingt-cinq mille exemplaires quotidiens en 1932, à seulement six mille en 1940. Les rencontres organisées par les clubs juifs, les conférences, les causeries et les cours, étaient de moins en moins nombreux. Le régime métaxiste avait suspendu toutes les libertés et il n'était plus possible de se réunir, pour quel que soit l ' o b j e t de la rencontre, sans une autorisation de la police. Une intelligentsia juive parvint cependant à survivre, dont le représentant le plus brillant f u t sans doute Joseph Nehama, grand érudit, fondateur en 1897 de l'Association des anciens élèves de l'Alliance, collaborateur de diverses revues françaises, passioné par une grande variété de sujets, parmi lesquels l'hygiène, le droit et l'histoire, auteur d ' u n e histoire de la ville de Salonique (La ville convoitée) et d ' u n e grande Histoire des Israélites de Salonique en sept volumes 1 .

La destruction

des Juifs de Grèce

Txs Allemands occupèrent Salonique en avril 1941, après que la Grèce se f û t défendue avec succès contre l'attaque italienne. L e roi et nombre de dirigeants parvinrent à s ' e n f u i r et un régime Quisling f u t mis sur pied. Le général Georgios Tsolakoglou, signataire de l'armistice avec l'ennemi, devint Premier Ministre. La Grèce f u t alors divisée en trois zones : le nord de la Thrace fut octroyée à la Bulgarie, la région frontalière et la Macédoine grecque furent placées sous contrôle militaire allemand, tandis que le sud, Athènes et l'Epire revenaient aux Italiens 2 .

1 Parmi les autres Juifs grecs qui se distinguèrent par leur œuvre il faudrait mentionner le poète de langue grecque, Joseph Eliia, les juristes de Larissa, Hiskia Shaky, Ascher Moïssis et Yomtov Yacoël, mort en déportation, le colonel Mordehaï Frizi, le premier héros grec qui tomba sur le front d'Albanie en 1940, Mentech Bessantchi ou encore Alberto Molho, journaliste et auteur talentueux, de conscience socialiste, ainsi encore que plusieurs autres qui contribuèrent à jeter un dernier lustre sur le judai'sme de Grèce 2 Rena MOLHO, «The Holocaust of Greek Jewry», Demos, 1993, pp. 28-31.

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU

XXe

SIECLE

31

En 1941, la majorité de la population juive grecque — c'est-à-dire de l'ensemble de la Grèce et des régions contrôlées par les Allemands — se trouvait à Salonique — 56.000 personnes sur 79.950 1 . Dès leur entrée dans la ville, le 9 avril 1941, les Allemands prirent des mesures à leur encontre : ils fermèrent les journaux juifs L'Indépendant, Le Progrès, El Messagero et L'Accion, et fondèrent un journal de langue grecque Nea Evropi, vigoureusement antisémite ; ils arrêtèrent tous les membres du conseil de la communauté, et en pillèrent toutes les bibliothèques et les archives 2 . S'ils relâchèrent ensuite les membres du conseil, ce ne fut cependant qu'après avoir désigné comme président de la communauté Saby Saltiel, un de ses anciens employés pour servir de courroie de transmission avec l'administration militaire allemande et la Gestapo. Ultérieurement, les Allemands le remplacèrent par le grand rabbin de Salonique, Zvi Koretz, qu'ils avaient un temps emprisonné à Vienne. Comme plusieurs autres chefs de Judenrat en Europe, celui-ci suivit strictement les ordres des occupants, en espérant protéger ainsi la communauté des malheurs qui la menaçaient; il devint aussi un rouage de la machine de destruction, facilitant plutôt qu'entravant les plans des nazis. Mais il faut le distinguer de certains Juifs comme Albert Hasson, Jacques Albala, Edgar Kounio, etc. qui eux collaborèrent sciemment avec les Allemands 3 . A partir de 1941, comme le reste de la population grecque, les Juifs souffrirent d'abord seulement, dans un premier temps, des pénuries alimentaires, en particulier pendant l'hiver 1941-1942. S'il y eut alors des arrestations et des exécutions, celles-ci n'avaient en cette période un caractère systématique. Mais ce n'était pas évidemment qu'une question de temps pour que les décisions prises en Allemagne sur l'extermination du judaïsme européen commencent à être appliquées en Grèce4. Le 11 juillet 1942, tous les hommes juifs âgés de 18 à 45 ans furent appelés à se rassemler sur la place de la Liberté, au centre de la ville. Environ neuf mille d'entre eux répondirent à cette convocation et furent soumis à des vexations, frappés et contraints de se livrer à des exercises humiliants sous le soleil brûlant. Quelques jours plus tard, deux à trois mille hommes furent envoyés aux travaux forcés dans diverses régions voisines, où ils furent employés dans des carrières ainsi que pour la construction des routes pour ^Esther BENBASSA et Aron RODRIGUE, Juifs des Balkans : Espaces judéo-ibériques XIVXXème siècles, La Découverte, Paris, 1993, p. 278. 2 Michael MOLHO et Joseph NEHAMA, In Memoriam, Hommage des victimes juives des Nazis en Grèce, Communauté Israélite de Thessalonique, Thessalonique, 1948, (reimpr. 1988) pp. 31-37. Ibid. 4 Mark MAZOWER, Inside Hitler's Greece: The Expérience of Occupation, 1941-1944, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1993.

32

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

l'armée allemande. Plusieurs d'entre eux moururent en raison des conditions de vie. Les membres du conseil de la communauté entamèrent alors des négociations complexes avec le commandant militaire des affaires civiles, Max Merten, pour tenter de racheter les jeunes juifs. Merten leur demanda d'abord de lever 3.500 milliards de drachmes, puis baissa ensuite la somme à 2.500 milliards, mais à condition que la Communauté accepte de céder le cimetière juif à la municipalité, qui le convoitait depuis la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale. Finalement les Juifs n'ont réussi à rassembler que 1.650 milliards pour la date fixée et, le 6 décembre 1942, Max Merten ordonna la destruction du cimetière multiséculaire qui contenait près de cinq cent mille tombes - il en utilisa les matériaux pour construire, entre autres choses, une piscine destinée au loisir des officiers nazis. Entre temps, les Allemands continuaient de terroriser les Juifs en pillant leurs biens et en expropriant les affaires des notables de la ville 1 . Entre janvier et février de 1943, Eichmann organisa pour le Bureau pour la sécurité du Reich la déportation des Juifs de Grèce. Une fois arrivés à Salonique, ses collaborateurs Dieter Wisliceny et Alois Brunner travaillèrent avec Merten à la réalisation du programme de la déportation des Juifs locaux. Ceux-ci furent d'abord obligés de porter l'étoile jaune et un signe distinctif désigna leurs entreprises. Sous la direction du grand rabbin Zvi Koretz, les dirigeants communautaires dressèrent une liste detaillce de tous les Juifs de la ville, et les Allemands établirent trois ghettos dans les quartiers à forte concentration juive. Toute la population juive y fut transporté le 25 février. Après que les Juifs aient été enfermés dans ces ghettos, sans possibilité de sortir, les Allemands confisquèrent leurs fortunes. Le premier train emportant des Juifs saloniciens quitta la ville le 15 mars 1943 pour Auschwitz où il arriva le 20. Il transportait deux mille huit cent personnes ; 2.191 furent gazées dès leur arrivée 2 . Cent cinquante juristes saloniciens protestèrent contre ces déportations, et demandèrent que les convois soient envoyés vers d'autres parties du territoire grec. L'intelligentsia athénienne — y compris l'archevêque Damaskinos - tenta elle aussi de s'interposer en faveur des Juifs 3 . Le grand rabbin Koretz essaya, sans succès, de persuader les autorités grecques, dont le Premier Ministre fantoche, Ioannis Rallis, d'intervenir pour convaincre les Allemands de porter à quinze mille le nombre des trois mille Juifs exemptés de la déportation pour être affectés aux

*M. MOLHO et J. NEHAMA, In Memoriam,.., op. cit. pp. 47-55. Rena MOLHO, «The Holocaust of Greek Jewry», art. cit. 3 Steven B. BOWMAN, "Greek Jews and Christians during World War II", in Yehouda BAUER et al., Remembering the Future : Working Papers and Addenda. Jews and Christians during and after the Holocaust, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1989, vol. I, pp. 215-223. 2

LES

JUIFS

EN

GRECE

AU

XXe

SIECLE

33

travaux forcés au service de l'organisation Todt. Cette tentative ne fit qu'entraîner sa destitution et son arrestation. Excepté quelques individus qui parvinrent à fuir et à rejoindre la résistance grecque ou, avec l'aide de leur amis chrétiens, à se cacher dans d'autres villes de la zone italienne, les seuls à échapper à l'extermination furent quelques centaines de Juifs « espagnols » ou « italiens » qui selon les accords de 1943 signés par les Allemands, avaient droit d'être « rapatriés ». Sébastian Romero Radigales, consul espagnol à Athènes, travailla beaucoup pour leur protection, et grâce à ses efforts et à ses contacts avec les Italiens, il parvint à ce que cent cinquante Juifs « espagnols » se réfugient au sud du pays. Le consulat italien à Salonique, le consul lui-même (Guelfo Zamboni) et l'attaché militaire (Lucillo Merci) protégèrent sept cent cinquante Juifs et leurs biens en leurs fournissant des certificats de nationalité qui leur permirent de gagner la zone italienne 1 . Le 8 mai 1943, neuf cent soixante-dix Juifs de Didimoteichon, trentedeux de Soufli et cent soixante de Nea Orestias (de la zone frontalière bulgare) furent emmenés à Salonique pour rejoindre le convoi du 9 mai. Les déportations se succédaient à grande vitesse : en août 1943, dix-neuf convois représentant 48.533 personnes avaient quitté la ville. 37.387 furent gazées dès leur arrivée à Birkenau, et la plupart des autres périrent dans les camps de travail à Auschwitz. Fin août 1943, Salonique, la Jérusalem des Balkans, après plus de quatre cent cinquante ans de vie séfarade, était devenue Judenrein.

Le. sort des Juifs des régions sous occupation

italienne

Dans les territoires qui étaient passés sous leurs contrôle, les occupants italiens adoptèrent envers les Juifs une attitude très différente : ils n'acceptèrent aucune déportation de Juifs et, jusqu'au moment où l'Italie capitula (en septembre 1943) firent tout leur possible pour rejeter les demandes des Allemands et bloquer « la solution finale » 2 . De 1941 à 1943, les Juifs d'Athènes et des autres villes de Grèce en zone italienne vécurent donc dans une relative tranquilité ; le chef de la police italienne, le général Carlo Geloso, ainsi que son successeur, Carlo Vechiarelli, les protégeaient. De ce fait, la population juive d'Athènes atteignit le chiffre de dix mille personnes en 1943.

% BENBASSA et A. RODRIGUE, Juifs des Balkans ...,op. cit., pp. 282-3. ^Daniel CARPI, "Nuovi Documenti per la storia dell'Olocausto in Grecia : L'attegiamento del degli Italiani" , Michael no. 7, 1981, pp. 119-200.

34

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

A p r è s la capitulation italienne, lorsque les A l l e m a n d s prirent le contrôle de l'ancienne zone italienne, ils nommèrent, conformément à leur pratique habituelle, le grand rabbin Eliahu Bazirlay président de la communauté d'Athènes. Mais, contrairement à son homologue de Salonique, celui-ci fit son possible pour les gêner en commençant par dissoudre le conseil de la communauté et former un groupe secret de notables pour faire face à la situation. Après s'être installé à Athènes et avoir institué un Judenrat, D. Wizliceny, l'adjoint de Eichmann, lui ordonna de dresser une liste de tous les Juifs, en prenant appui sur les registres communautaires. Loin d ' o b é i r Barzilay les brûla, et s'échappa de la ville, grâce au soutien et à l'aide des Juifs communistes et de leurs compagnons chrétiens qui l'emmenèrent avec sa famille dans un centre de la résistance grecque. En octobre 1943 les Allemands ordonnèrent aux Juifs d'Athènes de s'enregistrer, mais la plupart d'entre eux ne le firent pas. Finalement en mars 1944, les Allemands en arrêtèrent huit cent, — les seuls sur lesquels ils purent mettre la main à Athènes— q u ' i l s déportèrent immédiatement 1 . Dans les autre villes du pays, de nombreux Juifs purent se sauver grâce à l'aide des autorités laïques et religieuses locales, ou leurs amis chrétiens. Malgré tout, cinq mille deux cent f u r e n t cependant arrêtés et déportés à A u s c h w i t z entre mars et avril 1944 2 , et environ mille huit cent Juifs de Corfou et mille sept cent de Rhodes furent encore déportés en juin 1944. Aujourd'hui, il n'est toujours pas facile de dénombrer le nombre exact de Juifs morts pendant la Shoah. Selon les statistiques du Comité Central des Communautés Juives de Grèce (KIS), établis juste après la libération, 8 7 % de la population d ' a v a n t guerre aurait péri 3 . C'est une des proportions les plus élevées en Europe, avec comme cas extrême Salonique, où le pourcentage monte à 96%. Des cinquante mille Juifs de Salonique avant guerre, il n'en restait plus que mille neuf cent cinquante en 1944, et de trente et une communautés juives de Grèce, huit, avec q u e l q u e s centaines de m e m b r e s au total, exception faite de la communauté d'Athènes, accrue de ceux qui ne pouvaient plus rejoindre leurs communautés détruites à jamais.

1

M. MOLHO et J. NEHAMA, In Memoriam,.., op. cit., tome 2, pp. 50-51. Ibid„ p. 53 3 Central Zionist Archives (CZA) S25-5282, liste non datée préparée par le Comité Central des Communautés Juives de Grèce (KIS) probablement en 1946. 2

LES

JUIFS

Tableau

EN

récapulatif

GRECE

AU

des déportations

XXe

SIECLE

des Juifs de

35

Grèce]

1940

Déportés

1947

1959

Thrace Macédoine Thessalie Grèce continentale Péloponnèse Epire Iles

2.852 62.800 2.121 3.825 337 2.584 4.825

2.692 51.162 1.831 1.780 90 2.384 4.060

74 2.309 405 5.100 152 238 667

38 1.410 856 2.669 37 115 135

Total

79.950

52.573

10.371

5.260

Régions

1

Michael MOLHO et Joseph NEHAMA, ln Memoriam,.., op. cit., p. 326.

THE JEWISH PRESENCE IN SALONICA1

Due to its strategic position on the Via Egnatia, the great Roman road stretching from Rome to Constantinople and uniting the West with the East, Salonica is the central metropolis of the Balkan Peninsula. At the same time, the port of Salonica on the Thermaic Gulf constitutes the main outlet of the Macedonian hinterland to the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean. Founded in 315 BC, Salonica (originally called Thessaloniki) has been in continuous existence for over 23 centuries. Throughout its 2300-year history this highly-coveted city has been conquered by many different peoples who succeeded one another as its masters, including the Romans, the Byzantines, the Italians, the Ottomans, and the Greeks, yet it has always harbored a Jewish community. During the Ottoman period, and especially from 1492-1912, when its Jewish community was the largest in the world, the city known as Madre de Israel to the Jews was rightfully identified as the 'Jerusalem of the Balkans' by the non-Jews. The first Jews to settle in the newly-established Thessaloniki in 315 BC had been given their freedom by Alexander the Great in 324. After his conquest of Mesopotamia and Palestine, he and his successors granted Jews equal citizenship; this led to their spontaneous Hellenisation. When Cassander succeeded Alexander as king of Macedonia and founded Thessaloniki as his new capital, he used incentives to bring Jews, among other minorities, to populate the new city. When Salonica fell to the Romans (168 BC), the Greek-speaking Jews, known today as Romaniotes, continued to enjoy an autonomous communal and judicial administration. This allowed them to practice their religion and with it maintain their culture (they did not work on Shabbath, and had their own courts and institutions). The rapid christianisation of the Greeks of Thessaloniki by Saint Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, in 54 AD, has been attributed to their long exposure to Jewish monotheistic ideas. Favourable conditions prompted many Jews to migrate to Macedonia, especially during the subjugation of Palestine to the Romans. When Christianity became the official state religion in the fourth century, laws that were then enacted against the Jews were rarely implemented, The Particularity of the Jewish Community of Salonica": Keynote lecture delivered 25 October 1998 at the Holocaust Center of Southern California (University of CaliforniaBerkeley). I would like to thank Dr. Deborah Kazazi for doing the editing.

38

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

because the Byzantine Empire was more preoccupied with Christian heretics and the invasions of the Slavs and the Saracens. In the Middle Ages, in fact, many western Jews who had followed the crusaders as army providers settled in Thessaloniki and other Byzantine towns to escape persecutions in Europe initiated during the Crusades. The Ottoman conquest of Macedonia in 1430 coincided with a great influx of European Jews expelled from their home countries, particularly from Spain. At the time, Salónica (as it was known in the Ottoman period) had only 2,000 inhabitants, among whom many were Romaniote Jews. Thus, the 20,000 Sepharadim, Spanish Jews and Conversos who settled in the city after 1492 contributed to its demographic and economic rebirth. They were active in international trade, finance, medicine and pharmacy. Some knew foreign languages, which helped them conduct commerce with Europe, while others were skilled craftsmen who introduced many new arts and crafts, including the manufacturing of arms and gunpowder, textiles, and others. Thus at the turn of the 16th century, at the time when all the other Greek cities were falling into decline, Salónica had 29,000 citizens, 50% of whom were SepharadicJews. They contributed to the city's development, gave it an international character and made it the second most important port in the Ottoman Empire after the capital. In the 16th century, known as Salónica's Golden Age, the Sepharadim established many libraries, an important Talmudic Academy, a printing press (1503), and a Conservatory for Jewish religious singing piyoutim. They also established 31 independent synagogues or congregations, with names that reflected the geographical origin of the newcomers: Provincia, Majorca, Castillia, Catalan, Aragón, Evora, Italia, Sicilia, etc. The Spanish Jews were more numerous and better educated than the local Romaniote and the Ashkenazi Jews who had arrived earlier (1376), and soon assimilated these older communities. Within a century, all the Jews in Salónica spoke Judeo-Spanish. For more than four centuries, with 50% of the city's multiethnic population being Jewish, their language was also spoken by many Christians or Moslems, underscoring the peaceful co-existence of the various ethnic groups living in the city. Similarly to Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish, was initially a koine, a common language or melting-pot of the different Spanish dialects spoken by all the Sepharadim established in Ottoman lands. In the course of time, it borrowed many elements from the neighbouring Greek and Turkish cultures. In the 17th century, the loss of Ottoman possessions in Europe and the discovery of new commercial routes caused Salónica's economic decline. The Jewish community was also seriously affected. It was unable to pay its

THE

JEWISH

PRESENCE

IN

SALONICA

39

taxes to the sultan and soon commerce passed into the hands of Greek, Vlach, and French merchants. Economic decline brought spiritual and social impoverishment, and as a result the Salonica community lost its former glory. The study of the Bible was neglected and the Jews sought solace in the study of the Kabbalah or in mysticism. Still, the city continued to attract new Jewish settlers and the population of the community kept growing. One of the newcomers was the false messiah rabbi Shabbetay Zvi or Sevi. Expelled f r o m Ismir, he found fertile ground for his messianic preachings in Salonica. He came in 1669 and preached for 10 years in the only mixed congregation of the Shalom synagogue. When he declared he was the true messiah, Salonica's Rabbinate ordered his arrest by the Ottoman authorities for causing social and religious unrest. Threatened with execution, he converted to Islam to save his life. His followers, 300 heads of Jewish families, converted after him thereby creating the Judeo-Moslem sect of the Deunme the apostates, in Turkish. Early in the 19th century, the Jews were relieved f r o m heavy taxation, but their economic and cultural rehabilitation came only after the Alliance Israelite Universelle introduced an educational reform by creating popular and vocational schools (1873-1910). Salonica then acquired a class of skilled artisans and specialised workers who met the needs of an evolving industrial society. Between 1878 and 1914, flour-mills, brick factories, breweries, soap-works and silk-worm nurseries, carpet- and shoe-making factories and, above all, several large tobacco workshops were created, mainly by Jews. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the Jews in Salonica were poor; in the early 20 t h century the Community administration had to support 6,000 of the 13,000 Jewish families then living in the city. These were often unemployed, and included artisans, peddlers, and menial workers, but as shown in Table I, most of them were in the seafaring trades, working as porters, boatmen, and fishermen.

Table I: The Professional Pyramid of the Jews in Salonica in 1919 750 1,900 6,100 7,450 7,750 9,000

professionals businessmen small merchants office and shop clerks craftsmen and workers porters, dockers, boatmen and fishermen

In fact the majority of porters and dockworkers (Turkish = hamals) in Salonica were Jews, as we see f r o m their Judeo-Spanish appellations: il

SALONICA

40 hamalico

AND

ISTANBUL

de la kioshe (the small corner hamal),

los hamales

del Sibi (the

porters of the Sibi neighbourhood, who specialised in carrying salted sea food), los hamales del commerco

(the stevedores in the port). Most of these

workers were organised into guilds. There were two kinds of fishermen in Salonica: the Moros

who

fished in deep waters and remained at sea during the whole week including sometimes the Shabbath, and the Gripari,

who fished in shallow waters.

Both of these f i s h i n g specialties had their own a s s o c i a t i o n s

with

constitutional rules, providing in detail for the welfare and social security of their members. Jewish fisherman went out to sea in boats called caiques.

Many of

these caiques as well as other type of boats, such as carriers for bigger ships, the maounes,

were owned by Jews or Jewish companies. W h e n 10,000

Salonican Jews emigrated to Palestine and settled in Haifa between 1932 and 1934, these were the boats they used for their transportation. Their lifestyle has left its imprint on local Judeo-Spanish popular songs, replete with working class characters, as illustrated in the following song written and sung in Salonica. LA SERENA En la mar ay una torre En la torre ay una ventana Ayi aposa la palomba Que a los marineros yama

THE SIREN There is a tower on the sea There is a window in the tower The dove that's calling the sailors Is resting there

Dame la mano palomba quero subir al tu nido maldicha ke durmesh sola Vengo a dormir contigo

Give me your hand my dove So I can reach your nest How can you sleep alone I'll come to sleep with you

Si la mar se faze leche Los barquitos de canela yo me mancharía entera para salvar mi bandiera

If the sea would turn to milk and the boats were of cinnamon I would throw myself in the mud To save my name and honor

Si la mar se faze leche Yo me ago un vendedor Para vender las mi dolores con palavricas d'amor

If the sea would turn to milk I would become a salesman To sell my sorrows With tiny love words

Esta serena sta loca Quiere que la ame yo Que la ame su querido Que tiene obligación

This maiden is crazy She wants me to love her Let her sweetheart love her It is his duty

THE

JEWISH

PRESENCE

IN

SALONICA

41

In this song, a Jewish seaman appears to be seduced by a Jewish girl in a tower by the sea. The image is evocative of the White Tower of Salonica, which borders the sea and which has served as the city's most characteristic landmark since the end of the 15 th century. On the other hand, the girl in the song may have belonged to the personnel of one of the impressive seafront villas, which were also called 'towers'. As the song makes no allusion to other communities, it underscores the completeness of the social spectrum in the city, where maids as well as sailors were all Jewish. It should be noted that there were no other Jews in the Diaspora engaged in this trade. In fact, in 1910 Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi were compelled to import some of Salonica's Jewish boatmen and fishermen to Palestine in order to break the Arab monopoly on these professions. The massive migration of 10,000 Salonican Jews following the Campbell anti-Semitic incidents in the 1930's manned the ports of Haifa and Yaffo with many skilled longshoremen. At the turn of the 20th century, Salonica was connected to Europe by railway, its port was renovated, and the city entered the modern age. The creation of banks, mainly by Jews but also by Greeks, facilitated the commercial activities of the city and contributed to its economic growth and social ascendance. The Ottoman Reforms, which took effect during the same period, 1839-1878, prompted the reorganisation of the Jewish community under the control of efficient secular leadership. This liberal spirit, which culminated in the Young Turk revolution, enabled the ethnic minorities, among them the Jews, to organise their first cultural and political associations. The four theater halls established during this period in Salonica were all owned by Jews, who rented them to various associations that mounted plays or organised events to raise money for philanthropic purposes. The most impressive local organization, created in 1909 by a group of Salonican Jews, was the Socialist Federation, which was at the time the most important Workers' Union in the Empire. It published its newspapers in 4 languages and thereby attracted members from all the ethnic groups living in the city. Between 1865 and 1940, more than 40 Jewish newspapers were published in Salonica, mostly in Judeo-Spanish but also in French and Greek, representing all the prevailing political tendencies. As the Jews constituted the majority of Salonica's multiethnic population and practiced all professions, they were represented in all social classes and largely determined the city's social and political dynamics. Tt is indicative, for example, that the port of Salonica remained closed on Saturdays as well as during all Jewish holidays up until 1923, ten years after the city was incorporated into the Greek state.

42

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

At the end of the Balkan wars in 1913, the annexation of Salonica by Greece had been viewed with some apprehension by the Jews. It was obvious that the city would be cut off from its vast Macedonian hinterland, lose its commercial importance in the Balkans, and become a border town in the Greek national state. As the propaganda of the neighbouring countries coveting Salonica tried to win the Jewish population over to its side, the Community took action, officially forwarding its proposals to the Great Powers and explaining that to safeguard its interests Salonica ought to become an international city. At first, this plan was given serious consideration, since it also met the interests of both the Great Powers and those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But at the end of the second Balkan War this changed, and the Great Powers agreed to the annexation of Salonica by Greece. The International Zionist Committee then urged the Community to give its allegiance to the Greek government, since it had kept its promises for fair treatment of the Jewish population. So in 1914 the Community decided to accept Greek sovereignty by presenting the Greek state with a memorandum requesting certain privileges that safeguarded the preservation of its cultural identity. Impressively, all of these requests were fully satisfied. Within the Greek state the Jews were happy, for they enjoyed the same civil rights as all other Greeks. The Great Fire of 1917 and the arrival of 100,000 Greek refugees who settled in Salonica after the Asia Minor catastrophe in 1923 reduced the community's importance, and during the Interwar period its members represented only 20% of the city's population. But even though they had been transformed into a minority, the Jews in Greek Thessaloniki continued to be active in every domain. Thessaloniki's most ancient Jewish community stopped its continuous development only with the arrival of the Germans in 1941, who eliminated 96% of its population and succeeded in destroying its cultural wealth and monuments. They looted the community's archives and religious treasures, bombed most of its 60 synagogues and schools, desecrated the Jewish cemetery's estimated 500,000 graves, and murdered almost 50,000 Jews still living in the city in 1943. Today, the Jewish community has close to 1,000 members and maintains two synagogues, one elementary school, a retirement home, and a Jewish club. Following their long tradition, the Jews of Thessaloniki participate in the economic and cultural life of their city and try to keep alive the spirit of their forefathers through lectures, symposia and concerts that draw a very wide attendance. A Jewish Museum and Research Center have recently been inaugurated to help preserve the vestiges of a way of life that is today a memory.

THE

J E W I S H

P R E S E N C E

IN

S A L O N I C A

43

Why is Salonica's Jewish Community so Unique? It is of interest for us to consider the elements which comprised the 'particularity' of Salonica's Jewish community. As we just saw, the outstanding characteristic that distinguishes the history of the Jewish community of Salonica is its impressively long-lasting presence, parallel to the history of this city, which has recently completed 2,315 years of existence. This is a rare coincidence in the annals of Jewish history, even when we compare the case of Salonica with that of other ancient cities such as Jerusalem or Alexandria, whose old Jewish communities were at times expelled or became inert to the point of disappearing 1 . In Salonica, the Jewish community shrank and was threatened with extinction only once, probably around 1478. This has been attributed to an Ottoman policy aimed at repopulating Istanbul. Since 1456, the surgtin imposed the compulsory settlement of Moslem and minority groups from various areas of the Empire in the capital. The Jews from Salonica were among them 2 . It is, however, unclear when exactly the transfer of Salonica's Jews occurred, or how many actually went to the capital. Whatever the case, it seems that most of them returned to their home city so soon that their Christian and Moslem fellow-citizens were not able to appropriate the synagogues, which in fact were maintained with the same names until 1941, when they were destroyed by the Nazis. The longstanding presence of the Jews in Salonica is important for the study of Jewish history for two reasons: first, because of the local particularity that differentiates it in comparison with the other communities in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and Greece; secondly, because the stability that distinguishes and defines the local community permits study of the institutional and the structural evolution of Jewish society more generally. Since the continuous Jewish presence in Salonica can be traced back to the foundation of the city, the history of Salonica is necessarily tied to the history of the Jewish community. This relationship was reinforced by the settlement of the Spanish Jews at the end of the 15 th century, and for the following four and more centuries, during which the Jewish population considerably outnumbered the other religious communities 3 .

'Alexander Fuks and Victor Tcherikover, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, Cambridge, Mass., 1957, p. 3. Heath W. Lowry Jr., "Portrait of a City: The Population and Topography of Ottoman Selanik (Thessaloniki) in the Year 1478", in Studies in Defterology: Ottoman Society in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Analecta Isisiana vol. 4, Istanbul, 1992, pp. 65-99. 3 That is, the Moslem and the Christian Greeks, Slavs, Armenians and Levantines. 2

44

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

This probably explains why the bibliography for the post-Byzantine period on the history of this city is so limited in size when compared to the rich bibliography dealing with the ancient, Byzantine, and Greek national rebirth periods, which are conveniently used for highlighting the "Greekness" of Salonica's character 1 . Furthermore, the Ottoman period up to the second dccade of the 20 t h century has only partially been studied in relation to the history of the various minorities, particularly the Jewish community of Salonica 2 . The difficulty consists in that there is no other case of a Jewish community whose social, economic, and, most importantly, political activity is so interwoven with, and so mutually defined by, the historical development of a city. On the other hand, eventhough the uniqueness of Salonica has been pointed out by historians, it has not been sufficiently researched. It cannot be classified in the usual framework of the other important, yet lesser, Jewish communities in the Ottoman state, such as Istanbul, Ismir, Baghdad, Alexandria, or even Jerusalem, communities that were all registered as cultural and social minorities 3 . If this systematic exception reinforces the need to undertake the research of the particularity of Salonica's Jewish community, it is at this point useful to define this particularity more precisely. Wherein does the nature of the local ^The bibliography compiled by Konst. Hatzopoulos (Bibliographia tis Thessalonikis, IMHA, Thessaloniki, 1987), constitutes a characteristic example. It consists of 268 pages and 3.350 titles. Among them the Turkish occupation period covers 10 pages only containing 141 titles, all of which, apart from a few exceptions, focus mainly on issues of Greek interest - for example, the national liberation struggle connected to the city. There are only 12 titles referring to the Jews, and even fewer dealing directly with the Jewish presence between 1453-1912. This, does not, of course, mean that this is all the bibliography that exists on the Salonica Jews during the same period. In Robert Attal, Bibliographie des Juifs de Grèce, Jérusalem, 1984, one finds 270 titles on the same topic, of which 120 are in Hebrew or in Judeo-Spanish, while the remainder are in the French, Italian, German, English, as well as Greek language. ^P. Risal (J. Nehama), La ville convoitée, Salonique, Paris, 1914, 366 p.; Kostis Moskof, Thessaloniki 1700-1912; I tomi tis metapratikis polis (Thessalonique 1700-1912; Anatomy of a commercial city), Athenes, 1973, 244 p.; Gilles Veinstein (ed.), Salonique 1850-1918; La 'ville des Juifs' et le réveil des Balkans, Paris: Autrement, 1992, 294 p. ; Meropi Anastassiadou, Salonique, 1830-1912: une ville ottomane à l'âge des réformes, Leiden, 1997; Rena Molho, I evraioi tis Thessalonikis, 1856-1919: Mia idiaiteri koinotita (in Greek, The Jews of Salonica 1856-1919: A Particular Community), Athens, 2001; Mark Mazower, Salonica City of Ghosts Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430-1950, London, 2004; Minna Rozen, The Last Ottoman Century and Beyond : The Jews in Turkey and the Balkans, vol. I. and II (éd.), Tel Aviv, 2002 (vol.II) and 2005 (vol.1). 3 W.F.Weiker, Ottoman Turks and the Jewish Polity..., loc. cit., pp. 63-65, 130-131, 178; Av. Levi, The Sephardim..., loc. cit., pp. 5-6, 8, 37, 56, 68, 87-90, 92-93; E. Benbassa et A. Rodrigue, Juifs des Balkans..., loc. cit., pp. 15,67, 8 3 , 8 5 , 8 9 , 9 1 , 9 8 , 108-109, 120, 131, 161-63, 182-183; Joseph Hacker, "Jewish Autonomy in the Ottoman Empire: Its Scope and Limits. Jewish Courts from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries", in A. Levy, The Jews..., loc. cit., pp. 153-203; Minna Rozen, "Individual and Community in the Jewish Society of the Ottoman Empire: Salonica in the Sixteenth Century", in Av. Levy, The Jews..., loc. cit., pp. 215-275; M. Siikrii Hanioglu, "Jews in the Young Turk Movement to the 1908 Revolution", in Av. Levy, The Jews...", loc. cit., pp. 519-527.

THE

JEWISH

PRESENCE

IN

SALONICA

45

community, formed in these particular historical circumstances, differ in relation to that of other important Jewish communities in Europe or the Ottoman Empire? The answer to this question requires that we first determine the inherent or typical characteristics of the usual urban Jewish communities. Normally minorities in both the demographical and the cultural sense, they only rarely maintain close relations with the other ethnic or social minorities with which the cohabitate. The Jewish minorities differ in their behaviour from the other minorities in that they do not have any political aspirations. Only rarely do they express any political claims, much less territorial ones, even if they are known for their long and historical presence in the same city, as for example in Istanbul or Jerusalem. On the contrary, the Jewish communities will try, in accordance with the laws of proper traditional Jewish behaviour as these were defined by religion during the first diaspora in the 6th century B.C. 1 , to align themselves with the dominant political party on which their status depends. In the Ottoman Empire, as in the rest of the Diaspora, Jewish communities appeared to benefit from local hospitality, and this made them politically vulnerable. Consequently, they adopted apolitical behaviour and prioritized their problems in accordance with their Jewishness - in other words, according to what distinguished them, rather than as part of the wider social groups to which they belonged. In this way they were marginalized, even in relation to the other social or religious minorities which at times participated, or even created, political crises, at the risk of incurring the anger of Power. By distancing itself, the Jewish minority reinforces the hostility of the non-Jewish population against its members; by not identifying with other minorities, Jews appear to be aligned with sovereignty. This vicious cycle causes the Jewish minority to live in a state of preoccupation with temporariness and uncertainty, threatened by the anger of its social milieu or environment and at the same time fearful of a possible expulsion by the state, as for example happened in 1492 in Spain. It adapts to, but does not participate in, political activity, limiting itself to its professional life. It does not participate in the wider social life either as a minority or simply as part of society. Consequently, it is unable to influence political or other developments in the city 2 .

' Yehouda David Eisenstein, Sefer Otsar Dinim ou Minhagim (Summary of Jewish Customs and Laws), Tel-Aviv, Hatfuss ofset Brodi Katz, p. 62. ^Hannah Arendt, Les origines du totalitarisme: Sur l'antisémitisme, Paris, 1984, pp. 39-63.

SALONICA

46

AND

ISTANBUL

In that case, what is the difference which distinguishes the Jewish community of Salonica? How does it perform in a crisis? How is Jewish identity expressed in a multiethnic city dominated by Greek Christian and Turkish Moslem interests? The period 1912-1919 offers particularly interesting circumstances for the study of the Jewish community. Its unique character expresses itself in 1912, during the first Balkan War, when Salonica was reoccupied by the Greeks. Right from the start, the Jews refused to accept the fact that Salonica was to become Greek. They saw the Greeks as conquerors to be rejected. The Jews reacted to the Greek "occupation". They do not take part in any of the celebrations for the "Greek liberation" of the city. Furthermore, the Salonica Jews disputed Greek sovereignty and took action, convinced that a different settlement should be found to secure their own position. They behaved as a local population taking political action, and not as "guests" from elsewhere. More importantly, the special character of the Jewish community is also confirmed by the Greek state. While in the rest of Greece Jews had been confronted with violence and incriminated for their pro-Turkish feelings, in Salonica the Greeks displayed a friendly attitude towards the Jews in 1912. The new government put down all anti-Semitic activity, promoted proJewish measures, and accepted all the official demands made by the Jewish community. The power relationship between the Jewish minority and Greek sovereignty was in this case reversed as the Jews imposed themselves. This was exceptional. The local Jewish community did not follow the model of the typical Jewish community of the Diaspora, nor did the victorious Greek army behave in a typical fashion. It showed respect for the wishes of the local people who had been conquered. U n l i k e Jewish c o m m u n i t i e s in E n g l a n d , France or R u s s i a , the Salonican Jews wielded substantive political power. Both in 1913 and in 1919, when these same countries were deciding on the distribution of newly obtained territories to the new nation-states of Serbia, Grcece and Bulgaria, they took into account the wishes of the local Jews only in the case of Salonica. In other words, this Jewish community continued to exercise its influence on the fate of the city even in crises, whether at the end of the Balkan Wars or at the conclusion of World War I. Paradoxically, certain questions raised only confirm this particularity: 1. W h y did the Greeks avoid the provocation of this " g u e s t " community? 2. Were the Greeks worried that the Salonica Jews might really have the power to influence the decisions made by the Great Powers?

THE

JEWISH

PRESENCE

IN

SALONICA

47

3. On the other hand, what made the Salonica Jews believe that they could influence political decision to their advantage? 4. How could a Jewish community have been so self-confident at a time when anti-Semitic ideology and nationalistic feeling had already made their appearance in Europe? Undoubtedly, the uniqueness of the Jewish community of Salonica can be better comprehended if studied within a larger historical context. This could only shed light on the special developments that took place between 315 B C and 1941, which contributed to Salonica's Jews feeling and behaving as secure in the Diaspora as they would normally have felt and acted in their proper homeland.

GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF GREECE: THE ANNIHILATION OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THESSALONIKI, 1941-19441

Among the different forces that have determined the history of Greece, the Jewish presence left its stamp with its 31 Jewish communities of long historical continuity. Its origins, especially in Macedonia, can be traced even earlier than the foundation of Thessaloniki, or Salonica, the Macedonian capital renowned for 2,300 unbroken years of continuous history. Salonica, the most ancient and continuous Jewish settlement in Europe, kept growing from the 6th century BC until the middle of the 20th century. Such development occurred because, in contrast to most Jewish communities, the Jewish population of Salonica (315 BC) was never threatened by expulsion or segregation by any of the sovereign peoples who controlled the area 2 . The Germans were the only exception, and their determination to destroy this community met with 96% success. The scarcity of contemporary studies dealing with this exceptional Jewish community is due largely to the Germans' notoriously efficient looting of communal archives, libraries, and ritual objects, to their destruction of synagogues and half a million graves, and to the murder of 50,000 human beings. Thus, there are very few traces left to remind one of the grandeur of this community, which was known for many centuries to all Jews as the Jerusalem of the Balkans or, as acclaimed in Simon Usque's verse, as The Metropolis of Israel. The strength of the Jewish community of Salonica, where 56,000 of Greece's 79,950 Jews lived3, was manifested following the Italian invasion of Greece, on 28 October 1940. At that time the Greek army included some 13,000 Jews, of whom 343 were either senior officers or held high positions.

Lecture delivered in Hamburg on 1 March 2004 on the occasion of the exhibition "Crimes of the German Wermacht", organised by the Hamburger Institut fur Sozialforschung. I would like to thank Dr. Deborah Kazazi for doing the editing. 2 The Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Venetians, Ottomans, and Greeks. 3 Alex. Kitroeff, "Documents: The Jews of Greece, 1941-1944: Eyewitness Accounts" Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 12:3 (Fall 1985), pp. 5-32; Esther Benbassa and Aron Rodrigue, Juifs des Balkans: Espaces judéo-ibériques XlV-XXème siècles, (Paris: La Découverte, 1993), p. 278.

50

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

From Salonica alone, about 9,000 Jews 1 had fought in the Greek army, of whom 3,700 were either killed or wounded in battle 2 .

German Policy in the First Year of Occupation

(1941-1942)

Hitler declared war on Greece on April 6, 1941, and on April 9, the Germans entered Salonica. In the first 10 days, the Gestapo imprisoned all the members of the Jewish Communal Council, in addition to other important notables and employees. The President of the Jewish Community and the Great Rabbi, Zvi Koretz, were arrested in Athens, and Koretz was transported to Vienna where he was imprisoned for several months. Similarly to the way they had dealt with other Jewish communities in Europe, the Germans then had the Jewish Community offices closed, and their archives confiscated. T o this day the archives have not been returned 3 . Through these archives, the Germans gathered information on the economic situation of the Community and its individual members 4 , while simultaneously controlling all evidence of their premeditated evils. A month later, four Community employees of Salonica were released. One of these, Saby Saltiel, 5 was appointed by the Germans Director of the Community and of all the other thirty communities in Greece. By special order, they dissolved the Community Council and the committees of the various Jewish philanthropic foundations. Saltiel was chosen because he was an inefficient accountant whose position and dubious morality rendered him useful to the occupiers' aims. Under the Germans' instructions, S. Saltiel created a consolidated welfare

^St. Bowman (ed.), and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit., Y. Yakoel's account, p. 49. Koretz was imprisoned from August 1942 until September 1942. ^Joseph Ben, "Jewish Leadership in Greece during the Holocaust", in Patterns of Jewish Leadership in Nazi Europe, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1977, pp. 335-352. 3 Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, ( hereafter JCTh), letter of February 9, 1993, to the respective Embassies of Greece in Moscow and of Russia in Athens, asking for the return of its confiscated archives (which were discovered at the time in Moscow's KGB Committee on Archival Affairs of the Government's Russian Federation); Panayote Kouparanis, "IGreek Archives in Moscow", in Greek, newspaper To Vima, suppl. Nees Epoches, 11.12.1994, pp. 12.; JCTh, letter of January 17, 1995 to the Minister of Macedonia & Thrace, asking him to intercede with the Russian authorities for the return of the a/m archives. ^ Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, (hereafter CAHJP), File 2729, undated handwritten letter in German by a certain Theoharidis to a Dr. Joh. Pohl in Frankfurt concerning the Greek Archives and informing him that they did not contain any separate information on the Jews. 5 S . Saltiel was an insignificant teacher of French who had turned to commerce without success. He then served as bookkeeper to various companies, most of which went bankrupt. During the Metaxas dictatorship he was appointed director general of the Community by the governor of Macedonia (see Y.Yakoel's account in St. Bowman (ed.), and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salonica.,.,op. cit. p. 26.

GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF GREECE

51

foundation to replace the dissolved foundations of the community 1 . To this end he engaged in obligatory collection of funds in Salonica and Athens. Saltiel was not trusted by the Jews, so his attempt to collect money was an utter failure. Towards the end of 1941, hunger and misery among the Jewish masses increased deaths from starvation to 600 casualties 2 . The dissolution of communal foundations had rendered the Communal organisation a nonfunctioning institution. Without their leaders and welfare funds, the Jews were paralysed, having no one to consult and nowhere to turn. If nothing better was to be set up in their place, why were the Community's welfare foundations, which had operated well for centuries, destroyed? At the beginning of 1942 3 , a number of well known personalities of the community forced Saltiel to reestablish the soup kitchens, an institution for children called Matanot la Evyionim. They first established a committee whose goal was to collect the money necessary for Matanot's maintenance. This committee bypassed the Community's corporate apparatus by compiling a list of taxpayers; whoever contributed funds submitted them directly to Matanot. As a result, Matanot's reputable administrators were able to increase the number of children being fed from an initial 200 to 2,000, with each child receiving a free, hot midday meal and bread. Later this institution was also supported by the International Red Cross 4 . As of January 1942, the basement of Matanot in Misrahi Street became the daily meeting place for all those who cared about Jewish philanthropy and Jewish affairs in general. For this reason, this extra-communal group was named the Coordinating Committee for Welfare Works 5 . Placing it under the Presidency of Saltiel for reasons of legitimacy, its members could more easily implement their programs for the relief of the poor and for dealing with emergencies. Eventually, they became aware that the continued financial collapse of the Community was due to Saltiel's selling off of significant Community real estate and the allocation of proceeds to the ever-increasing payroll of the Community. The Coordinating Committee members tried unsuccessfully to influence Saltiel, who kept saying that he had been appointed by the Germans and that he had to execute their orders, since he was

*St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit. pp. 283-287. ^Joseph Ben, "Jewish Leadership in Greece...", art. cit. Alex. Kitroeff, "Documents: The Jews of Greece, 1941-1944..." art. cit.., see Confidential report on the Germans preventing Jews from securing fair share of shipments of food and medicine, pp. 10-11. 4 I n Hebrew it means "Gifts for the Poor", an institution created in Salonica in 1901. Rena Molho, The Jews of Salonica, 1856-1919: a unique community, in Greek, Themelio, Athens, 2001, pp. 104-106. 5 St. Bowman (ed.), and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit., pp. 287291.

52

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

accountable only to t h e m 1 . Hence, the G e r m a n s ' conspicuous interest in communal affairs led through Saltiel's collabouration to the C o m m u n i t y ' s impoverishment and mismanagement. From the time the Germans entered Salonica in April 1941 until July 1942, no racial measures were applied. The confiscation of the communal archives as well as of old Jewish libraries 2 , of the commercial assets of paper wholesalers, printers, etc., and the imprisonment of some Jewish notables, were not specifically anti-Jewish measures, given that Christian notables were also imprisoned and their properties confiscated. So the Germans' attitude towards the Jews was seemingly one of indifference 3 . However, when measures such as the confiscation of buildings, furniture and radio receivers were put into effect, these were primarily applied against the Jews. Appeals for reparations m a d e by the Jews were always turned down by the G e r m a n authorities. Nor did G e r m a n s engage in commercial transactions with Jews, except when they proceeded to appropriate Jewish merchandise, in which case they 'bought' at ridiculously low prices 4 . In addition, various anti-Jewish leaflets, anti-Semitic radio broadcasts, and newspaper propaganda were disseminated. Jews suffered arbitrary expulsion f r o m their own stores, as for example happened to the owners of the Molho Bookshop 5 . Additionally, financial blackmail against certain Jews effected by individual German officers could be perceived as "preparatory measures for more sinister plans" 6 .

1st. Bowman (ed.), and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel's account pp. 30. CAHJP, File 2724, 20-page document dated 2 n d Jan 1966, by the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, containing lists of old books and manuscripts registered by the German authorities between 1942-43 under the title "Einige der Schriften von Saloniker Rabbiners, welche in den Gemeindebibliotheken von Saloniki vor der Zerstorung durch die Nazis in den Jahren 19421943 vorhanden waren". 3 JCTh, document 684/11 June 1945, report by the temporary administrative committee, signed by President H.M.Saltiel and the secretary A.Safan. 4 Ibid. The Propagandastaffel, for example turned against the Jewish movie house business, obliging the owners to turn over their assets by notarial acts mainly to Greek refugees. The same happened with the Jewish paper wholesalers and printing houses that were turned over to dishonest Orthodox Greek journalists, as well as with the Jewish vegetable vendors and butchers, who were arbitrarily and forcibly expelled from their shops and replaced by Christians intimate with the Germans. -''On 19 December 1941, the Income Tax Authorities controller, ordered by the German Wermacht, estimated Mair Molho's bookshop value at 6.6 m. drachmas. A year later, on 26 November 1942 its owner Mair E. Molho was forced to sell his bookshop by notary's act, Milt. Tzianoudakis, at the ridiculous price of 1.2 m. drs. to his competitor G.S.Vosniadis who managed the shop from 26 April 1941, when it was first confiscated. On 19 June 1963, S.M. Molho, his son and heir, received as reparations the sum of 28.875 drs. (9.000 DM X 3, 398). ^ H agen Fleischer, "Greek Jewry and Nazi Germany: The Holocaust and its Anticedents", in Association pour l'étude des Juifs en Grèce, Actes du 1er colloque d'histoire, Les Juifs en Grèce : Questions d'histoire dans la longue durée, éditions Gavrilidis , Athènes 1995, pp. 185208. 2

G E R M A N Y ' S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF

GREECE

53

The delay of the German authorities in implementing programmatic anti-Semitic measures can be explained by the use they made of the Jews during this time in acquiring the necessary information and organisation before they could proceed to the thorough looting of the community's assets, estimated in 1945 as having a value of 18 million gold sovereigns 1 . Also, except for Chelmno (1941), no major extermination camps were operating before the spring of 1942 2 . So even though the Jewish Community was placed under the jurisdiction of the Gestapo, which closed the numerous Jewish clubs, organisations, and schools, a false sense of security persisted. The fact that Jewish communal activity was limited to the registration of births and deaths, the payment of its employees 3 and the overseeing of religious activities, was interpreted by Jews as part of the daily routine under the Occupation. This illusion of safety was reinforced in the spring of 1942 when General Tsolakoglou 4 visited Salonica's Great Rabbi Koretz, and S. Saltiel thanked him for having made a favourable declaration on behalf of Greek Jews. Describing them as valiant Greek patriots, Tsolakoglou had also confirmed that there was no Jewish problem in Greece 5 . Great Rabbi Koretz had by that time been released from prison and had returned to Salonica, where he was restricted to his religious duties. Shortly after his reinstatement, he fought with Saltiel, and was once more imprisoned in Salonica for several months 6 . Saltiel was in daily contact with the Gestapo and with the help of J. Albala, a refugee from Vienna who knew German, executed their orders to the letter. The Jews of Salonica, having been informed of reprisals against their fellow Jews in other countries for acts of insubordination, were extremely cautious not to give the invader any excuse to justify the imposition of an anti-Semitic policy. Since 1933 Salonica Jews had been aware of Hitler's program against their correligionists in Europe, and even though they could

JCTh, document 684/11 June 1945, report by the temporary administrative committee, signed by President H.M. Saltiel and Secretary A. Safan. Damages declared at 18 m. Gold English sovereigns. So far the reparations received in 1969 only for the religious treasures stolen were 5 million DM. Walter Laqueur, The Terrible Secret, Penguin, London, 1980, p.13, (Belzec opened in March 1942, Sobibor in May 1942, and Auschwitz in July 1942). ^Besides Albala, the Community was forced to employ 40 supposedly "Jewish" refugees from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, who turned to the Gestapo whenever they needed support for their excessive demands to the Community and were therefore rightfully mistrusted by Jewish circles. •^Appointed Prime Minister during the Occupation, Tsolakoglou was a favorite of the Geim?®?,. 5 Joseph Ben, "Jewish Leadership in Greece...", art. cit. ft St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel's account, p. 49.

54

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

not identify with them culturally, they had published extensive articles in their various newspapers 1 on behalf of their European brethren. But since 1941 all Jewish press had ceased publication, and the Greek press was published by persons on the German payroll. They had established a new paper entitled Nea Evropi (New Europe), which in concert with the Greek evening paper Apogevmatini had from time to time filed anti-Semitic reports which increased the Jewish fears. Rumors also circulated concerning secret reports and the requests by some Orthodox Christians to the Germans regarding the application of racial laws in Salonica 2 .

The Germans' Anti-Semitic Policy in 1942 The first act of anti-Semitic policy took place at the beginning of July 1942, when an official declaration by Max Merten, German officer responsible for the city of Salonica, was published in Apogevmatinfi. It summoned all Jewish males aged 18-45 to present themselves in Freedom Square 4 at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday 11 July, without mentioning the purpose of the assembly and threatening severe penalties in case of non-conformity. Jews of Italian and Spanish citizenship were exempted from this summons. The Jews soon found out that they were to be used for some military works. That Saturday morning, large groups of Jews started arriving in Freedom Square, one of Salonica's most central locations. Along the sides of the Ionian Bank (now Alpha Bank), dozens of municipal employees under the supervision of the Gestapo and the German technical services (the Strassenbahn) had set up offices for the registration of the Jews. Every registrant was given a card bearing his name, occupation, address and serial number. War invalids and a small number of communal employees obtained exemption cards. S. Saltiel and J. Albala were invited to watch the event from the offices of the bank 5 . This procedure, which was executed in the open under the pretense of a bureaucratic order, was one of the occupier's devices aimed at legitimizing abuse. It also rendered the Greek Orthodox participants and bystanders its benevolent associates. ^Hagen Fleischer, "Greek Jewry and Nazi Germany...", op. cit, Rena Molho, "The Jewish Press in Salonica", (in Greek) O ellinikos evraismos, 3-4 April, 1998, Etaireia Spoudon Neoellinikou Politismou kai Genikis Paideias, Athens, 2000, pp. 149-169. 2 St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salonica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel account, pp. 34-35. ^Joseph Ben, "Jewish Leadership in Greece...", art. cit.. ^Greek = Plateia Eleftherias. 5 St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salonica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel account, pp. 37-39 .

GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF GREECE

55

During this assembly many cases of maltreatment of Jews by Germans officers and soldiers occurred. Jews who had arrived late were brutally beaten; bulldogs were sent to attack Jews who dared to sit, smoke, or cover their heads under the burning July sun 1 . There were so many casualties that Red Cross ambulances were called in to take people to their homes. Other Jews were forced to perform exhausting gymnastic exercises under the eyes of curious Christian onlookers. Germans and journalists took pictures that were published in the next day's papers 2 . In publicising the Jews' humiliation, the Germans did not at the time think that this photographic evidence would today constitute one of the clearest proofs of their crimes. On the following Monday, 13 July 1942, registration continued with only threats against the Jews. This was due to Merten's change of attitude after receiving complaints from his Greek Orthodox hosts about the maltreatment of the assembled Jews. Later, at his trial in Greece in 1959, Merten defended himself by claiming that he had not been in Salónica on 11 J u l y 3 . Though this proved false, the incident shows that Merten was apprehensive about such reactions by the Christian population. On the other hand, local Orthodox organisations did not yet intercede on behalf of the Jewish citizens because even Christians feared that they would be subjected to the same treatment as their fellow Jewish citizens. It should also be pointed out that in Salónica the stance of the Christian population was totally different from that of Christian populations in most of Greece, where Christians assisted Jews 4 .

Background to the Relations between Christians and Jews in Salónica since 1912 For the 400 years preceding the end of World War I, Salónica had been one of the world's most important Jewish cities 5 . In 1912, when the Greeks won Salónica from the Ottomans, they found a thriving Jewish ' Some survivors that were in this assembly also add that the Germans forced them to look straight at the sun without lowering their eyes. Information delivered by many survivors from among the 70 Salónica Jews interviewed by the author for the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles. 2 St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel account, pp. 38. Samuel Hassid, "The Trial of Max Merten in the Changing Mirrors of Time and Place", unpublished 10-page study which appears under the name of the author on the Internet. Ben Zvi Institute, unclassified 5-page report from Cairo entitled "Notes on the Present Situation of Greek Jewry", dated Oct.12, 1943 and signed by A.L. Molho. Judging from the style it is probable that the author was the same as the journalist of the satirical paper La Vara known for his caustic articles against the Jewish religion, Zionism, the colonization of Palestine, under the pseudonym Napulitan. K. Molho, The Jews of Salónica, 1856-1919, op. cit., 2001. 4

56

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

community numbering 80,000 members, w h o dominated the city in many areas other than commerce. Once it became the wish of the Greeks for Salonica to acquire a Greek character, the city's multiethnic character with its many Jews and Moslems became a cause of concern to the Greek population, since the city was coveted by all the neighbouring Balkan states 1 . Though many Jews had emigrated to Europe during World War I, additional political upheavals such as the war, Venizelos' national coup, the Great Fire of 1917, the continuation of the Greco-Turkish war in Asia Minor, the defeat of the Greek army, and the arrival of Greek refugees had not given the state time to deal with the Hellenization of the Macedonian capital. The demographic change that took place after the relocation of 100,000 Greek refugees f r o m Asia Minor increased the number of Christians and decreased the number of Jews. Until 1924, however, the day of rest, when most shops remained closed, was still Saturday (the Sabbath). Nevertheless, the Greeks undertook a systematic effort during the following decade to reduce Jewish influence in both the economic and political spheres. Sunday became the obligatory day of rest; the use of foreign language signs was prohibited; the anti-constitutional measure of separate electoral quarters for the Jews was introduced 2 . The Greek press of Salonica and the newspaper Makedonia in particular indulged systematically in anti-Jewish propaganda, polarizing relations between the two elements. A sad result of the poisoning of Greek public opinion by the press was the anti-Jewish pogrom in the Campbell neighbourhood in 1931. Its direct outcome was the first mass emigration of thousands of Jews to Palestine, reducing the local Jewish population to 56,000 Jews, reducing the Jewish component f r o m 50% to 20% of the local population 3 . As of 1932, the state embarked on an attempt at linguistic assimilation of the Jewish clement by issuing a law prohibiting Greek children f r o m attending foreign, i.e., Jewish schools 4 . As a result most Jews had to attend the city's Greek schools and went to study in Greek universities. However, the strict prohibition of anti-Semitic propaganda in the press and the dissolution

' Reria Molho, "Salonique après 1912: propagandes étrangères et communauté juive", Revue historique, CCLXXXVII/1(1992), pp. 127-140. ^Rena Molho, "Venizelos' Anti-Jewish Measures in Interwar Thessaloniki and How a Democracy Can Contribute to the Rise of Antisemitism", in Greek, Synchrona Themata, issue 82, June, 2003, pp. 53-59. 3 Ibid. 4 Rena Molho, "Education in the Jewish Community of Salonica in the Beginning of the 20th Century", Balkan Studies, 34/2,1993, pp. 259-269.

GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF GREECE

57

of the EEE 1 during the Metaxas dictatorship (1936-1940) contributed to the voluntary assimilation of the Jews, which explains their patriotic stance during the Greco-Italian war in Albania. Of course Salonica was not totally free of anti-Semitic elements aiming at the elimination of the Jews. But most of these attempts failed because former Greek officers from the war in Albania intervened against them 2 .

Forced Labour Imposed on the Jews In July 1942, immediately after the Jews were registered, they were ordered to present themselves in groups of 2,000-3,000 to be dispatched to various destinations in Greece. The companies of I. Miiller and Bauteitung, who were contactors building military roads for the Germans, assumed primary responsibility for the exploitation of Jews as labourers. Under the supervision of German and Greek police, Jewish labourers were first disinfected and then sent by train to destinations on the outskirts of Salonica and to the nearby towns of Veria and Katerini. The work sites were organised along military lines, each headed by a commander who was a former officer of the Greek army, under the supervision of Greek engineers and German military personnel of the Mililar Strassenbahn. From the outset, living conditions were so bad that doctors were needed immediately. The Jewish labourers were provided neither with nourishing nor sufficient food and lived in miserable quarters, such as stables. They had to work hard for more than 10 hours a day, primarily in quarries. Physical abuse of labourers was part of the daily routine. The heat of the summer, the location of the sites in malaria-ridden areas, and the lack of basic hygienic necessities, soap, and medicines all contributed to the spread of illnesses and epidemics. The first dead brought back to Salonica resulted in an uproar in the Jewish society and dictated the Community officials' immediate intervention 3 . In order to relieve the suffering Jewish labourers, the members of the Central Coordinating Committee for Welfare Works resolved to prompt S. Saltiel to take action with regard to both the contractors and the German police. The Gestapo drafted Jewish doctors who were forcibly sent to the work sites as these were established. i

X EEE stands for Ethniki Enosis Ellados, a small fascist and antisemite organization created by Asia Minor refugees. 2 St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salonica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel account, pp. 85-87. i Ibid„ p. 43.

58

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Around 20 August 1942, I. Müller asked S. Saltiel whether the Community could take over the drafting and care of Jewish labourers. His offer was unanimously accepted at once, and the legal advisor of the Community Yakoel prepared a draft memorandum of understanding containing the following points 1 : 1) A liaison office was established between the Salonica-Aegean military command and the Jewish Community, run by a four-member committee of Jewish labourers, who would organise the drafting of Jews and supervise their working conditions and medical care. 2) This executive committee had the power to decide on exemptions. 3) Permission was granted to buy out one's obligations, subject to a decision by the executive committee. 4) I. Müller was to attend the meetings of the liaison office and its decisions had to be approved by Dr. Max Merten, head of the German Military Command of Salónica and the Aegean. On August 29, Dr. Merten signed the agreement and it was put into effect immediately. This proved that Merten was directly responsible for the drafting and the miserable state of the Jewish workers, whom the occupiers had gone to great pains to initially disinfect! On the other hand, the fact that the forced labour issue had passed into their hands caused relief among the Executive Committee's members and produced the illusion that henceforth they would be in control of the situation. The first task of the Executive Committee was the establishment of reasons for exemptions: sole breadwinner, high school or university student. They approved monetary requital of labour with the lowest fee set at 1 million drachmas. It is estimated that in its first 20 days of operation the liaison office drafted 3,000 new labourers, established buy-out fees for 500 draftees, and exempted 6,000 students plus 1,000 others. At the request of the Germans, I. Müller was always present, as were Saltiel and Albala. Dr. Merten immediately confirmed the committee's decisions2. The funds collected from the buy-outs (of 7,500 Jews, estimated at a minimum of 7.5 billion drachmas) were to be deposited in a special bank account of the Jewish Community. Müller's cooperation with the Committee proved very useful for the buy-outs and for liaising with the German authorities. It was at his recommendation that Dr. Koretz was released from prison and became a member of the committee3. 1

Ibid„ pp. 46-47. St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit.,Y.Yakoel account, pp. 48-49. 3 Ibid. Dr. Koretz became part of the committee as soon as he was released from prison in Sept. 1942. 2

GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF GREECE

59

The work of the liaison office proceeded smoothly, and when 300 million drachmas had been collected from the buy-outs, Y. Yakoel prepared a draft of terms defining the way the office would operate and manage these funds. When he found out that withdrawals from the account needed approval by the Executive Committee alone, Saltiel was offended. He went to Merten and accused the Executive Committee of working against him. Merten in turn threatened to imprison the Executive Committee members in a concentration camp. This reaction is certain proof of the financial abuses both Merten and Saltiel indulged in for their own personal interest. It is little wonder that the requital money account has never been traced, and the Jewish Community continues to maintain that this money should be returned to it 1 . Meantime the Todt organisation, the German army's technical military unit, had arrived and sent Jewish labourers to various sites in Chalkidiki. The savagery exhibited towards them by the work supervisors caused massive escapes, arrests, and executions on the spot. In addition, the labourers' state of health became critical, and death announcements arrived daily from the work sites. In common with the writer's own father, the handful of Jews who survived the forced labour sites never received the reparation dues owed to them by the Claims Conference in Frankfurt, who offered as an excuse the fact that they had worked less than six months in the forced labour units. In addition, these old people (all now over eighty) were asked to produce ' p r o o f , i.e., documents of the Occupation Authorities stored in Berlin's archives. In view of the high rate of disease and death, the Executive Committee sent Yakoel to inspect the work sites. Together with Miiller and General Lavranos, they toured Yidas, Methoni and St. Demetrios. Yakoel was so badly shaken by his visit that he compiled a long list of his observations, as follows 2 : 1. Most of the labourers were unsuited for work and their productivity was low. 2. Their nutrition was totally inadequate, so they were forced to resort to buying better food with their own funds. 3. At certain work sites supervisors behaved cruelly towards the labourers.

All the property of the Jewish Community was managed by the Bank of Salonica, formerly a Jewish bank but taken over by the Germans and from 1941 subordinate to the Reichsbank. See Alex. Kitroeff, "Documents: The Jews of Greece, 1941-1944..." art. cii., p. 26, IV. Office of Strategic Services, undated report no.10792. 2 St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salonica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel account, pp. 52-53.

60

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

4. Conditions of shelter and water supply were inadequate and unsanitary; as a result, dozens of cases of psoriasis appeared among the workers. 5. The cases of malaria, which in some areas struck 15-20% of the employees, reached 60% in the Yidas area. 6. Medical, especially pharmaceutical, care was totally inadequate for sick labourers, who lay on cement floors in stables suffering from 40degree fevers. 7. Clothes and shoes were worn, and an immediate supply was urgently needed for so that labourers could cover the most private parts of their body. 8. In view of the impending winter, most of the labourers had to be furnished with winter clothes and blankets. 9. The behaviour of the villagers around the work sites was very good. 10. Due to bad living conditions, massive escapes by labourers occurred at various work sites. The death rate at the work sites during the first two months reached 3%. Mtiller, having himself witnessed the miserable condition of the labourers, suggested to Yakoel that it would be more expedient for the military works if all Jewish workers were replaced by Christians specialised in road construction. He estimated that if an amount of two billion drachmas could be collected from the buy-out fees of Jewish workers, it would suffice to pay the wages of Christian workers. But Yakoel was not supposed to disclose the plan to Jewish circles until Mtiller could get approval from the German authorities. In the meantime M. Merten asked Saltiel to urgently convene the members of the Coordinating Committee. He than announced to them the idea of replacing all Jewish labourers with specialised Christian workers, on condition that the Community would assume their cost, which Merten then re-evaluated at 3.5 billion drachmas. The Jewish workers would be released as soon as the stipulated amount had been deposited at the Military Command. Though the Great Rabbi and members of the Coordinating Committee thanked Dr. Merten for his interest, they also told him that they could not collect so large a sum in so short a time. This incident makes certain points clear: 1. The Germans could not treat Christian workers in the same way they mistreated Jews; 2. It was considered normal not to reimburse Jewish labourers for their work, and 3. Merten, who had the power to arbitrarily raise

G E R M A N Y ' S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF G R E E C E

61

the ransom m o n e y to almost double his original estimate, must have repeatedly taken advantage of such cases. Escorted by his translator Meissner, Dr. Merten said that except for the way it would be deposited, the amount set to replace Jewish labourers was non-negotiable. And to remind Jews of his power, he added that he had convcyed to certain circles in Berlin that there was no reason f o r the application of the racial program against the Jews in Macedonia, despite repeated approaches by local circlcs inimical to them. When Merten left, Yakoel told the members of the Coordinating Committee that Miiller's estimation of the amount required was 2 billion drachmas. They all agreed then to ask Mr. Mtiller to intercede in order to reduce the amount, and to keep the matter secret until they had reached an agreement with Merten. The following day (October 14), Koretz informed them that Miiller had agreed to intercede and Yakoel made a presentation of the conditions under which 'Merten's proposal' could be implemented. They met Merten the next day, and the Great Rabbi and Yakoel announced to him their reply. Merten replied that since it was impossible to reduce the amount of 3.5 billion drachmas, he recommended the following: 2 billion in cash, and in return for the remaining 1.5 billion, the Jews would have to renounce any claims on the Jewish cemetery, which was to be used for military purposes. While playing his last card, Merten repeated that the Jews had many enemies in the city who were asking for the destruction of the Jewish cemetery and the imposition of anti-Jewish measures, which he himself did not agree to apply in Macedonia. Since the suggested solution concerning the cemetery was a new proposal, the meeting was adjourned without an agreement being reached. The members of the Coordinating Committee met again with Merten on the evening of October 17 (the Sabbath) and gave him their written reply. It said that an amount of 2 billion drachmas could be collected within a certain period of time and, if military considerations imposed the destruction of the Jewish cemetery, it was up to Merten to decide. This Merten supposedly discussed with Berlin headquarters over the phone, and asked to meet with the Coordinating Committee that same evening. On his return, Merten brought a short memorandum spelling out that 2 billion drachmas were to be paid for the buy-out of Jews drafted into forced labour by the Jewish community of Salonica to the G e r m a n Military Command of Salonica and the Aegean in installments up until December 15. He also agreed verbally to help collect the amount by obligatory contribution from all the members of the community without exception, even those who

62

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

had moved to Athens 1 . He also promised that labourers attached to Todt, who were not covered by the agreement, would also be replaced. Under the pretense of legitimacy, all this was signed on October 17, 1942. The following morning (October 18, 1942) the news spread like lightening and was appreciated as a success of the Coordinating Committee. Almost every Jewish family had one of its members at the works and the number of deaths was rising daily. So the agreement was greeted with relief, not only by the city's Jews but also by Christians. As usual, people evaluated the situation according to their own moral values and had therefore trusted Merten's written commitments. Evidently, the whole set-up of negotiations was his device, designed to mislead the Jews into believing that their problems could be solved by financial agreements. Perhaps they should have wondered more about whether Merten - who was duly found to be arbitrarily raising the forced labour ransom money for his own pecuniary gain - was an honest man. Weren't the Jews being dragged to the forced labour sites on his orders, even though he had repeatedly confirmed that no racial laws were to be applied in Macedonia? Merten, who had been informed about the deportations by Eichmann in 1942, knew he could extract more money from the Jews if they were kept reassured. During his trial in Athens in 1959, M. Merten was charged with 15 criminal offences that labeled him both an extortionist and a murderer; though found guilty of most of these chargcs, he was never punished in Greece or in Germany 2 . To be sure, Merten had become so rich in Salonica that he could even reverse justice. According to the agreement, the Community had to pay 1 billion drachmas to the Germans in ten days for the release of prisoners to begin. Since it was impossible to collect such a large amount at such short notice, the Coordinating Committee decided to borrow 500 million drachmas from the individual requital fund reserved for welfare. The Committee promptly called 100 Jewish notables with a request for their moral and material support and drew up lists of provisional individual contributions of 1.5 million drachmas, which it imposed. During November and December 1942, along with taxation on liquid assets, lists of real estate ownership by Salonica Jews were compiled and taxation was imposed on those assets as well, once they had been

1 According to Y.Yakoel the amount collected from individual requital (500 million drachmas) would not be used. ^ Samuel Hassid, "The Trial of Max Merten ..." art. cit.

G E R M A N Y ' S P O L I C Y A G A I N S T THE J E W S 01F G R E E C E

63

appraised by the Committee. Meanwhile its members, unable to collect more than 500 million, had to seek the intervention of the German authorities to take drastic measures. Another problem faced by the Committee was their fear that the Germans could raise the amount in view of the serious fall in the value of the drachma against the British gold sovereign 1 . And Great Rabbi Koretz kept postponing the Committee's plan to go to Athens and collect money from wealthy Jews there. In parallel with their financial activities, the Coordinating Committee started organising the labourers' demobilization. With the help of the Greek state railroad services, the Jewish doctors, and even Miiller, 3,000 Jews from 12 distant rural locations returned safely to Salonica.

The Destruction of the Jewish Cemetery in Salonica Acting upon a request by the Macedonia General Governor Vas. Simeonidis, the Salonica-Aegean Military command sent a letter to the Jewish Community to collaborate with the Municipality for the transfer of the Jewish cemetery, which was located in the center of the city near the newly-created university (1926) 2 . Two new Jewish cemeteries were to be created, one on the eastern side and another on the western side of the city. This was a very serious problem for the community, since Jews are not allowed to remove bones from graves. A very brief time limit was set for the implementation of these orders, under penalty of demolition of the cemetery. This was the third problem the Community had to face, and though it immediately organised yet another special Committee to deal with the transfer of the tombs, in the end it did not manage to face this morbid challenge. This would have been a huge operation since the old cemetery covered an area of 550,000 square meters, most of which was already covered by approximately half a million graves. If all

1

According to Yakoel's account this reduced the value of the agreed sum from 8,000 to 4,500. Michael Molho, "El cemeterio Judio de Salonica, verdadero museo epigráfico, historico y arqueologico", Sefarad, IX, 1949, pp. 1-24; Stella Salem, "The Old Jewish Cemetery of Thessaloniki", Cultural Forum of the Jewish Community ofThessaloniki, Etz Ahaim Foundation, Thessaloniki, 2002, pp. 49-59. From 1925, the moving of the Jewish cemetery was raised repeatedly in Salonica, but the Jewish community and the Municipal government kept postponing the issue because it was a complicated legal and religious matter. In 1936-40 when the issue resurfaced more acutely, the Jewish community donated 30,000 square meters and the university assumed to this end the removal of bones to another part of the cemetery, until the community would be able to apply the necessary change in cemetery location dictated by the law. This situation caused an upheaval among a large part of the city's Christian population, and when it resurfaced during 1942, the Germans took it upon themselves to satisfy the wishes of the Christian population. 2

64

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

the 50,000 Jews of Salonica worked to move their family graves, each and every one of them would have to move at least 10 graves. The Community's inability to act instantly was interpreted as an excuse to bypass the German authorities until the arrival of the British. This was why the Greek technical services were ordered to take over the massive demolition of the cemetery. On 6 December 1942, it sent a team of 3,000 workers, who destroyed the cemetery with excessive zeal. The municipality used the tombstones to repair sidewalks and to build a swimming pool for the German officers 1 . The rest were stolen and sold as building material outside the city, and one can still find, as the writer has personally witnessed, Jewish tombs decorating children's playgrounds, bars, and restaurants in modern hotels in the summer resorts of the Chalkidiki. Clearly the demolition of the cemetery was a political and not a military act, since Merten, who ordered it, knew it would bring the Christian population over to his side. Until then, this monumental cemetery had been solid proof of the fruitful coexistence between the Jews and non-Jews over a long period of time. To most Christians the destruction cleared the field for the Hellenisation of Salonica, but for the Jews it was the precursor to the imminent genocide of the largest Jewish community in the Near East.

The Organisation of Deportations Following these events Dr. Kalmes, the German director of the Gestapo in Salonica, on the pretext of doubting the honesty and the administrative skills of the President S. Saltiel, replaced him with the Great Rabbi Zvi Koretz, the only one among the candidates who accepted the post. To meet his request, the Gestapo appointed a new Communal Council and named Isaack Sciaky, a former Member of Parliament, Secretary of the Community. These administrative changes brought a noticeable improvement in the general management of the Community. What had really changed was the German Authorities' agenda, which now urged them to impose serious leaders instead of puppets like Saltiel and Albala, whom they had kept in this position for the preceding 20 months. As was later shown, in view of the imminent organisation of deportations, the new President and Communal Board members were competent and trustworthy individuals who had the respect of the population. Eventually, they would prove to be more persuasive, and therefore more useful, to the Germans for the implementation of their orders.

1 Michael Molho and Joseph Nehama, In Memoriam, Hommage des victimes juives des Nazis en Grèce, Communauté Israélite de Thessalonique, Salonica, first edition 1948, reprinted 1988, pp. 47-55.

G E R M A N Y ' S P O L I C Y A G A I N S T THE J E W S O F G R E E C E

65

In the meantime, while the Community's delegation headed by Yakoel was raising funds in Athens, a high-ranking officer of the Gestapo arrived in Salónica. In a harsh and disdainful manner, he demanded that the Jewish Community immediately compile a historical, demographic, and economic report on the Community and its members 1 . The report was prepared by expert notables of the community, and once translated into German it was presented to the Gestapo official, who returned immediately to Berlin 2 . In February 1943, Albala was appointed liaison between the SS security battalions, newly arrived from Berlin, and the Jewish Community. Dr. Koretz, now acting as President of the Community, had to report personally twice a week to the SS, who had taken over community affairs from Dr. Kalmes. With the help of Albala, set free from imprisonment, the duly arrived members of the Rosenberg Commando, D. Wisliceny and A. Brunner, requisitioned and established their headquarters in a Jewish house, in 42 Velissariou Street, near the Jewish Community offices, in an area densely populated by Jews 3 . On 8 February 1943 the officers of the Rozenberg Committee announced to the Executive Committee the following decisions in compliance with orders from Berlin4: -Jews were forbidden to use vehicles of any kind or to leave Salónica on pain of execution. -Jews were forbidden to circulate on central roads after 5:00 p.m. -All Jews above the age of six were obliged to wear the Yellow Star. -They were all obliged to live exclusively in a prescribed area of the city or ghetto. These orders were to be complied with by 25 February by all Salonican Jews apart from those holding Italian or Spanish nationality. The news caused despair among those assembled because they realised that despite Merten's promises, the Germans were now implementing racial measures. The Communal Board concentrated on resettling 7,500 Jewish families, who were spread out all over the city, into the two neighbourhoods with the largest 1 JCTh, (unclassified documents in its private collection), a) Daoud Levy, Notas Históricas sovre la Communidad Judia de Salónica, 1870-1940, unpublished manuscript of 1942, 31 p.; Idem, unpublished manuscript translated in Greek by D. Benveniste, Peri proelefsseos merous tis akinitou perioussias tis Israilitikis Kinotitos tis Thessalonikis (1942) (Of the origin of part of the real estate property of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki), Thessaloniki 1971, l i p . These two reports, which according to their author and the director of the Jewish Community who preceded S.Saltiel, Daoud Levy, had also been ordered by the Germans in 1942. They may not have been the final drafts that had been sent to Berlin in 1943, but their contents surely correspond to the order mentioned above. 2 St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salónica..., op. cit.,Y.Yakoel account, p. 82. This took place during the month as of the 23d of December 1942. 3 Ibid„ p. 90. 4 m d „ pp. 90-91.

66

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

concentration of J e w s 1 . On the same day, its members rushed to the Community offices and organised two committees for the execution of German orders. One was assigned the preparation of a census of the Jewish p o p u l a t i o n , the provision of individual identity cards, a n d of the distinguishing signs of the Star of David. The other committee was to prepare for the moving and joint housing of families into the two assigned areas. Many subcommittees of volunteers were formed to help execute this immense operation by February 25. The difficulties involved, and the numerous orders with which the SS kept bombarding the Community leaders through Koretz, did not allow them to stop and consider solutions that could ensure their safety. Telephones owned by Jews had to be returned to the telephone company; their furniture, carpets, works of art, and kitchen utensils were all to be collected for use in German offices, or stored in a warehouse 2 . T o this day, the few survivors' families have hardly received any reparations for this officially organised theft. Still, the cruelest of the new measures was the formation of a body of civil guards made up of young Jews, to supervise the strict execution of measures, as an auxilliary unit of the SS. But although five hundred young men were recruited and placed under Albala's orders, most of them escaped and only a few remained to fulfill the traitor's role 3 . In view of the difficulties involved in implementing the measures at such short notice (15 days), the Community leaders decided to see Merten and ask for a revision of the German decisions. But Koretz refused to go, and forbade the members to meet Merten.

The Deportation

of the Jews

During that time, the Baron Hirsch neighbourhood near the train station in Vardari was fenced in with barbed wire and turned into a local concentration camp, isolated f r o m the rest of the population. In addition to its ^Such as those in the center of the burned area and near the White Tower. Rena Molho, "Jewish Working-Class Neighborhoods Established in Salonica Following the 1890 and 1917 Fires", in Minna Rozen, editor, The Last Ottoman Century and Beyond: The Jews in Turkey and the Balkans, 1808-1945, vol. II (Proceedings of the International Conference on The Jewish Communities in the Balkans and Turkey in the 19th and 20th Centuries through the End of World War II, the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University 5-8 June, 1995), Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 2002, pp. 173-194. 2 A l e x . Kitroeff, "Documents: The Jews of Greece, 1941-1944..." art. cit.; Jews had to construct lists of their belongings and estimate their value before they turned them in to the German authorites. St. Bowman (ed.) and Is. Benmayor (trans.), The Holocaust in Salonica..., op. cit., Y.Yakoel account, p. 94. ^Information delivered by many survivors among the 70 Salonica Jews interviewed by the author for the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles.

G E R M A N Y ' S P O L I C Y A G A I N S T THE JEWS OF G R E E C E

67

600 working-class inhabitants, 15 families from the nearby Langada were first incarcerated there. The Jewish population started being transported to Baron's Hirsch camp as of 25 February. The first train that took away Salonican Jews left the city on 15 March and arrived in Auschwitz on 20 March. Of the first 2,800 people that were transported, 2,191 were gassed upon arrival1. One hundred and fifty Salonican jurists protested against the deportations and submitted a petition to request that the convoys be diverted to other parts of Greek territory. The intelligentsia of Athens, including Archbishop Damaskinos, also tried to interpose in favour of the Jews 2 . In the meantime, Koretz tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Greek authorities, and even the quisling Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis, to intervene. Koretz wanted them to convince the Germans to increase the number of Jews who were being released from deportation and assigned to hard labour in the service of the Todt organisation from 3,000 to 15,000. This led to the imprisonment of the Great Rabbi by the Germans in the Baron Hirsch camp 3 . With the exception of some individuals who succeeded in escaping and joining the Greek resistance or hiding in cities of the Italian Zone with the help of their Christian friends, the only ones to escape the Germans' 'final solution' were some hundred Spanish and Italian Jews 4 . Following the agreements of 1943, signed by the Germans, they had the right to be 'repatriated'. The Spanish Consul in Athens, Sébastian Romero Radigales, succeeded in sheltering 150 Spanish Jews in the south of the country. The Italian consul in Salónica, Guelfo Zamboni, and the military attaché Lucillo Merci also protected 750 Jews and their possessions and property by providing nationality certificates that enabled them to reach the Italian zone 5 . On the 8 May 1943, 970 Jews from Didimoteichon, 32 from Soufli and 160 from Nea Orestiada in the border district with Bulgaria were brought to Salónica where they were united with the convoy of 9 May 1943. As for the rest, one deportation followed another and by 18 August 1943, a total of iRena Molho, "The Holocaust of Greek Jewry", Demos, 1993, pp. 28-31. Steven B. Bowman, "Greek Jews and Christians during World War II", in Yehouda Bauer et al., Remembering the Future: Working Papers and Addenda, Jews and Christians during and after the Holocaust, Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1989, vol. I, pp. 215-223. 3 Yad Vashem Archives (YVA), Microfilm copy, no. of document 2933300, stamp no. 8002527, by the Special Command of the Gestapo (Security Police) for Jewish Affairs, Saloniki-Aegean of 15. 4. 1943 by (Wislisceny, SS Hauptsturmführcr) page 1 in German, note by hand addressed to the commander Saloniki-Aegean KVR (rat: title), Dr. Merten concerning Great Rabbi Zvi Koretz. Page 2 and 3, date 16.4.43, Deutsches Generalkonsulat, signed by Dr. Sohonberg (no.2933391 and 2933392), addressed to Wislischeny, with the request to be read by Ambassador of the German Reich in Greece Ambassador Altenburg in Athens. 4 ¥VA, unclassified document of 1 June 1943 for the Sonderkommando der Sicherheitspolizei fiir Yudenangelegenheiten Salonik-Agais, signed by Wislisceny to Generalkonsul of Salomki, Dr. Schonberg-attached Dr. Schonberg letter forwarding the above on 2 June to Deutsche Gesandtschaft in Athens, concerning the list of Jews with citizenship of enemy powers. ^E. Benbassa and A. Rodrigue, Juifs des Balkans.,.,op. cit., pp. 282-283. 2

68

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

19 convoys consisting of 48,533 people had left the city. Of these, 37,387 were gassed on arrival in Birkenau; most of the others died in the labour camps in Auschwitz 1 . At the end of August 1943, Salonica, the Jerusalem of the Balkans, with more than 450 years of Sephardic life, had become judenrein. The Germans had fulfilled their patriotic mission exactly as ordered by Field Marshall Keitel on 16 December 1942 2 : '...take any measures without restriction even against women and children, if these are necessary for success. [Humanitarian] considerations of any kind are a crime against the German nation ....'

The Fate of Jewish Property From the moment the Jews were confined within the bounds of the ghettos, the Germans began confiscating their fortunes and transferring them to their own accounts. They were now free to take advantage of their victims' assets as well as to reward collaborators. To this end, already on 7 March, Dr. Merten had instructed the Governor General of Macedonia Vas. Simonides to set up an office named YDIP 3 , to assume the responsibility of assigning Greek 'custodians' to Jewish businesses. This task was given to Elias Douros, Director of the National Mortgage Bank. But in the meantime, there had already been so much looting by both Greek Orthodox citizens and German soldiers that when Douros took over he complained he was unable to inventory more then a third of the 1,898 Jewish premises 4 . The applications of would-be caretakers of the properties were considered by a special committee of members of the Chamber of Commerce. But Merten, who very often assisted the committee, overruled its authority in order to prioritize his protégés' applications5. It has been estimated that 12,000 collaborators took i Ibid. ^Mark Mazower, Inside Hitler's Greece. The Experience of Occupation, Yale University Press, London, 1993, p. 153. 3 Ibid, pp. 246-248. Founded by law 205/29 May, 1943, under the government of loannis Rallis (as of 7.4.1943), YDIP in Greek stands for "Service for the Management of Jewish Property"; see Alexios Menexiadis, "The Fate of Jewish Fortunes during and after the Occupation", in Greek, in the Proceedings of the Symposium 3-4 April 1998, Etaireia Spoudwn Neoellinikou Politismou ke Genikis Paideias, O Ellinikos Evraismos (Greek Judaism), Athens, 1999, pp. 293302. 4 YVA, File No. 7972, Onomastikos Katalogos twn Israilitikwn Katastimatwn Thessalonikis (ek tou germanikou katalogou) (Name and address list of 1,898 Jewish professionals based on the list submitted by the Jewish Community to the German authorities at the beginning of March 1943). 5 YVA, No. 2933305, TOP SECRET document by Dienstelle der Sicherheitpolizei und des SD in Athen dated 17.6.1943 by Minister Altenburg in Athens, sent on 21 June 1943 to Deutschen Generalkonsulat in Saloniki, to direct Dr. Kuhn, responsible for the attribution of Jewish shops, to hand over abandoned Jewish properties exclusively to Greek citizens of Thessaloniki, as had been agreed with Greek government.

GERMANY'S POLICY AGAINST THE JEWS OF

GREECE

69

advantage of this situation 1 . None of them were punished, and out of 600 real estate claims by a handful of Jewish survivors in 1945, only 30 were r e t u r n e d 2 . The OPAIE, established in 1949 3 , estimated the value of confiscated real estate in Thessaloniki at 102 million gold francs, and at 25 million gold francs in the rest of Greece, for which only 15% of its value was indemnified. It was also calculated that the value of the movable property stolen in Thessaloniki amounted to 169 million gold francs and 32 million in the rest of Greece. For this stolen movable wealth, Jews received only 1 % of its value 4 . In Athens the Gestapo had appointed the Great Rabbi Eliahu Barzilay as President of the Community. Barzilay, in contrast to his counterpart Koretz in Salonica, did everything in his power to hinder the Germans' plans. He dissolved the Community Council and formed a secret group of leading citizens to deal with the situation 5 . When the Germans took over the control of the Italian zone, they started with all the anti-Semitic measures that had been applied in the north. D. Wisliceny installed himself in the capital, instituted a Judenrat, and ordered Rabbi Barzilay to draw up a list of all the Jews, starting from Community records. Barzilay promptly burned all records and escaped from the city with the support and encouragement of communist Jews and their Christian companions, who conveyed him and his family to the centers of the Greek resistance. In October 1943, the Germans ordered the Jews of Athens to register themselves, but the majority refrained from doing so. Finally, in March 1944, the Germans arrested 800 Jews, the only ones in Athens they could lay their hands on, and deported them 6 . In the other cities of Grecce, including Ioannina, Arta, Preveza, Volos, Larissa, and Trikala, some Jews managed to save themselves thanks to help from the local secular and religious authorities or from Christian friends. There were, however, 5,200 that were arrested and deported to Auschwitz between March and April 1944. Approximately 1,800 Jews from Corfu and 1,700 from Rhodes were also deported in June 1944 7 .

^L. S. Stavrianos, "The Jews of Greece", Journal of Central European Affairs, vol. 8, no. 3, 1948, pp. 256-269. ^Rena Molho, "The Jewish Presence in Salonica", in Greek, art. cit. Organisation for the Rehabilitation and Welfare of Greek Jews. 4 Rena Molho, "The Jewish Presence in Salonica", in Greek, Paratiritis, Winter 1994, pp. 13-52. 5 Alex. Kitroeff, "Documents: The Jews of Greece, 1941-1944...", art. cit. 6 Alex. Kitroeff, War-Time Jews: The case of Athens, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, Athens, 1995. ^M. Molho and J. Nehama, In Memoriam..., op. cit., pp. 50-51, 53.

SALONICA

70

AND

ISTANBUL

It is true that it is difficult to be precise about the total number of Jewish losses during the Shoah. However, according to the statistics of the Central Committee of the Jewish Communities of Greece (KIS) just after the liberation, 87% of the pre-war population of 79,950 people had died 1 . This disaster for the Jewish communities of Greece represents one of the highest proportions in Europe, especially with regard to Salonica, which with a 9 6 % loss was one of the worst cases. Only 1,950 of the 56,000 Salonican Jews survived the war. Of the 31 Jewish communities in Greece, only 8 remained, with some numbering fewer than 100 members. T h e community of Athens was an exception, because its numbers increased with the refugee Jews who could never again join their own destroyed communities. The table that follows is indicative of losses throughout the country:

Table: Summary of the Deportations of the Jews in Greece 2

Regions

Situation in 1940

Number of deported people

Situation in 1947

Situation in 1959

Thrace Macedonia Thessaly Continental Greece Peloponnesus Epirus Islands

2,852 62,800 2,727 3,825

2,692 51,162 405 1,780

74 2,309 1,831 5,100

38 1,410 856 2,669

337 2,584 4,825

90 2,384 4,060

152 238 667

37 115 135

TOTAL

79,950

62,573

10,371

5,260

1 Central Zionist Archives, S-25-5282, undated list by the Central Committee of the Jewish Communities of Greece (KIS), probably drawn up in 1946. ^M. Molho and J. Nehama, In Memoriam..., op. cit., p. 326.

ÉTAT DE LA RECHERCHE

Il est relativement aisé de trouver de la documentation relative à la vie juive de Salonique. Ainsi, dans la très riche Bibliographie des Juifs de Grèce1 publiée par l'Institut Ben Zvi, il apparaît que Salonique est concernée par 270 des 2 290 titres présents, ce qui la place largement en tête des trente autres communautés juives qui vivaient en Grèce jusqu'à la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Dans ce travail monumental de Robert Attal, qui a recueilli ses matériaux dix ans avant la mise sur le marché des ordinateurs personnels, Salonique, en raison du grand nombre d'écrits la concernant, occupe un index thématique particulier qui se révèle particulièrement utile pour le chercheur. Le problème est toutefois qualitatif, dans la mesure où la plus grande partie des ouvrages présents dans ce recueil, mais aussi dans d'autres 2 , s'intéressent à des questions particulières, sans portée générale, et qu'ils ont souvent été écrits par des personnalités locales, non spécialistes, qui s'intéressaient à des problèmes théologiques ou décrivaient leurs expériences personnelles en tant que membres actifs de la Communauté. Il en résulte que leurs écrits possèdent plutôt un caractère journalistique ou de témoignage. Bien que présentant un intérêt certain, ils ne sont pas toujours fiables ni sur la précision des informations qu'ils transmettent, ni sur "l'objectivité" de leurs estimations 3 . En outre, vu que dans leur ensemble, ces écrivains constituent la dernière génération des représentants actifs de l'ancienne communauté juive de Salonique, soit comme journalistes, intellectuels ou employés administratifs, ' Robert ATTAL, Bibliographie des Juifs de Grèce, Institut ben Zvi, Jérusalem, 1984. .Steven BOWMAN Towards a bibliography of Greek Jewry, Athens, 1973, manuscrit (38 p.). Municipalité de Salonique, Vivila già tin Thessaloniki : Ekthessi sto fwayé tou kratikou theatrou, 10-20 Noemvriou 1980 (Livres sur Salonique : Exposition au Théâtre national, 10-20 novembre 1980), Thessalonique, 1980 (72 p.). Stella CHRISTODOULOU, Ekthessi vivliou: "I Thessaloniki sto vivlio (Exposition du livre : Thessalonique et le livre), Université Aristote de Thessalonique, "Bibliothèque", Thessalonique, 1985 (117 p.). Alexander KITROEFF, "The Jews of Modem Greece : a Bibliography", Modem Greek Society - A Social Science Newsletter, vol. 14, n° 1, déc. 1986, pp. 1-52. Maria KAVALA, "Evraioi sto plaissio tou ellinikou kratous, vivliographia" (Les Juifs dans le cadre de l'Etat grec, bibliographie), Synchrona Themata, 17e année, n° 52-53, juillet-décembre 1994, pp. 106-117. ^Léon ABASTADO, La perle de l'Egée, vol. I, Salonique, ce qu'elle fut, 1918 (162 p.) ; vol. II, Salonique pendant la Guerre mondiale, Salonique 1918 (174 p. + XXII p.). IDEM., L'Orient qui meurt (Salonique, ce qu'elle est), Salonique 1918, (104 p.). Jacob CAZES et David MATALON, Pour le congrès juif de Salonique. Première réunion publique organisée dans le temple Talmud Torà, Salonique, 1917, (16 p.). Sam LEVY, Les Juifs de Salonique : quelques considérations sur les origines et le passé des Juifs de Salonique, Salonique, 1933 (50 p.). IEiEM., "Mes mémoires (œuvres posthumes)", Tesoro de los Judios Sefardies, vol. 4, 1961, pp V-XXVI ; vol. 5, 1962, pp. XLIV-LXV ; vol. 6, 1963, pp. LII-LXXI ; vol. 7, 1964, pp. LXIXLXXXV ; vol. 8, 1965, pp. XLV-LXII ; vol. 9, pp. XLIII-LXXIV. 2

74

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

soit comme dirigeants religieux ou politiques, leurs textes s'apparentent davantage à des sources qu'à des essais historiques. Par conséquent, le chercheur qui les étudie ne devra les utiliser qu'en les recoupant avec diverses sources originales couvrant le champ plus large de l'ensemble de l'histoire du Judaïsme à Salonique.

Ouvrages généraux On peut citer comme exemple caractéristique de cette "bibliographie", Salonique, ville mère en Israël, publié par le Centre de recherches sur le Judaïsme de Salonique 1 . Ce livre de 358 pages, écrit en hébreu, comprend un grand nombre d'articles qui se répartissent en onze sections : 1. l'histoire de la Communauté ; 2. l'éducation et la culture ; 3. l'imprimerie et la littérature judéo-espagnole ; 4. la vie religieuse, le Shabbat et les fêtes ; 5. les organisations, associations et clubs ; 6. la Communauté et ses institutions ; 7. l'activité économique ; 8. impressions et souvenirs laissés par la ville ; 9. portraits de grands hommes qui ont honoré Salonique ; 10. l'extermination ; 11. les Saloniciens et leur action en Israël. A la fin de cet ouvrage, on trouve un résumé en français de 18 pages. Dans la mesure où les auteurs sont tous, à quelques rares exceptions près, des Juifs de Salonique installés en Israël, il est manifeste que ce livre a été publié pour affirmer et promouvoir leur propre identité culturelle, et plus généralement celle des Juifs grecs, à l'intérieur du cadre de leur nouvelle patrie. L'ouvrage en deux tomes de David Recanati 2 est du même type et rassemble aussi des contributions dus à d'anciens Juifs de Salonique (vivant ou ayant vécu en Israël). Chaque volume est composé de 625 pages en hébreu accompagné d'un résumé de 50 pages en judéo-espagnol (écrit en caractères latins). En plus de la variété impressionnante des thèmes abordés (de façon souvent fragmentaire, mais avec de nombreuses notes et références), cet ouvrage comprend une grand quantité de photographies d'événements et de personnalités, ainsi que des actes et documents qui sont accompagnés de précieux commentaires et de légendes bilingues. Malheureusement, l'origine des photographies n'est jamais mentionnée.

1 Salonique, ville mère en Israël, Jérusalem et Tel Aviv, 1967 (258 + 18 p.). ^Zikhron Saloniki : Grandeza i Destruyicion de Yeruchalayim del Balkan (Mémorial de Salonique : Grandeur et destruction de la Jérusalem des Balkans), El Commitato por la Edition del Livro sovre la Communita de Salonique, Tel Aviv, 1971-1986 (625 p.). Chaque volume est en hébreu avec une cinquantaine de pages en judéo-espagnol, et comprend plusieurs photographies.

ÉTAT

DE

LA

R E C H E R C H E

75

Il y a toutefois quelques Juifs de Salonique qui ont gagné le titre d'historiens et se sont distingués dans leurs œuvres par leur vaste savoir et leur rigueur historique, même si aucun d'eux n'était à proprement parler historien. Parmi ceux-ci, il faut notamment citer les rabbins Avraam Danon 1 , Itzhak Emmanuel 2 et Michael Molho 3 , et certains enseignants ou intellectuels tels que Mercado Covo 4 et Joseph Nehama 5 . Nehama, plus particulièrement, a public une œuvre très importante et fort diversifiée 6 , et il est le seul à s'être lancé dans la rédaction d'une histoire complète des Juifs de Salonique. Celle-ci comprend sept tomes et s'étend depuis la fondation de la Communauté dans l'antiquité jusqu'à l'intégration dans l'Etat grec moderne. Les deux derniers tomes, édités en un seul volume de 810 pages en 1978, sont particulièrement précieux pour comprendre les périodes les plus récentes. Le 6 e tome, qui couvre la période s'étendant depuis le milieu du XVII e siècle jusqu'au milieu du XIX e siècle, représente un outil indispensable pour connaître l'état des institutions et des activités éducatives et idéologiques de la Communauté, avant la modernisation et les transformations qui se produisirent dans le cadre de l'Empire ottoman à partir des Tanzimat. Cette réorganisation de la Communauté, à la fin du XIX e siècle (et jusqu'à l'intégration de Salonique dans l'Etat grec) est étudiée dans le dernier tome qui comprend 285 pages 7 . Bien que très riche au niveau de la variété des sujets abordés, ce dernier tome est assez synoptique et présente plutôt le caractère d'un résumé historique. Certaines questions, telles que l'éducation des femmes ou le mouvement sioniste ne sont mentionnées que brièvement, dans la mesure où elles ne rentraient pas dans les priorités ou les tendances idéologiques de l'écrivain, qui était en outre contemporain de l'époque décrite. D'autres questions, telles que l'antisémitisme populaire entre 1912 et 1913, la ^Avraam DANON, "La communauté juive de Salonique au XVIe siècle", Revue des Etudes juives, vol. 40, 1900, pp. 206-230, et vol. 41, 1900, pp. 98-117 et 250-265. ^Itzhak EMMANUEL, Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, tome 1 (140 av. J.C. à 1640) contenant un supplément sur l'Histoire de l'industrie des tissus des Israélites de Salonique, ParisLipschutz, 1935-1936 (304 et 67 p.). Le supplément traite du rôle des Juifs de Salonique dans la production des célèbres draps de laine (çuha) de Salonique, une spécialité des Juifs saloniciens du XVIe jusqu'au milieu du XIXe siècle. IDEM., "Los Jidios de Salonique", in Zikhron Saloniki, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 13-37. •'Michael MOLHO, Essai d'une monographie sur la famille Perahia à Salonique, Salonique, 1938 (87 p). IDEM., Usos y costumbres de los Sefardies de Salonica, Madrid et Barcelone, 1950 (341 p).IDEM., In Memoriam, hommage aux victimes juives des Nazis en Grèce, vol. 1, Salonique, 1948 (148 p.) et vol. 3, Buenos-Aires, 1953 (94 p.). IDEM., "Le judaïsme grec en général et la communauté juive de Salonique en particulier entre les deux Guerres mondiales", in Homenaje à Millas-Vallicrosa, vol. 2, Barcelone, 1956, pp. 73-107. ^Mercado COVO, "Contribution à l'histoire des institutions scolaires de la communauté israélite de Salonique jusqu'à la fondation de l'Ecole de garçons de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle", Almanach national au profit de l'hôpital Hirsch, Salonique, 8e année, 1916, pp. 97-103. ^.Joseph NEHAMA, Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, Salonique, 1935-1978,7 volumes. 6 R . ATT AL, Bibliographie..., op. cit., n° 1731 à 1762, pp. 139-142. 7 J. NEHAMA, op. cit., vol. 7, pp. 525-810.

76

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

propagande étrangère vis à vis des Juifs de Salonique au cours de la même période ou la politique grecque à l'égard des Juifs de Salonique après l'incendie de 1917, étaient parfaitement connues de l'écrivain si l'on se réfère à sa correspondance avec l'Alliance Israélite Universelle. Il a toutefois évité consciemment de les commenter dans cet ouvrage qui a été imprimé et qui a d'abord circulé en Grèce, car il redoutait vraisemblablement pour sa communauté le mécontentement des Grecs. Dans la catégorie des ouvrages historiques généraux qui traitent de la communauté j u i v e de Salonique, on trouve le livre d'A. Ch. Chamoudopoulou, Les Israélites de Salonique1, écrit en grec. Cet originaire d'Athènes arriva à Salonique en 1912 comme haut fonctionnaire de l'administration du ministère des Nouveaux Territoires, et il arborait, en parallèle, la qualité de journaliste, écrivain et historien. Son travail sur l'histoire de la communauté juive de Salonique, depuis sa fondation jusqu'en 1935, bien qu'assez bref, présente un grand intérêt, non seulement à cause du style assez objectif, si l'on excepte quelques souhaits personnels concernant son époque, mais aussi car l'auteur adopte un point de vue modéré et clair sur la place et le rôle des Juifs dans l'histoire de la ville, bien qu'il ait été un partisan de Venizelos. En cela il ne versa pas dans l'opportunisme politique, comme ce fut le cas en 1912-1913 pour d'autres hauts fonctionnaires du ministère, tels que G. Cofinas 2 et L. Maccas 3 . Le livre de l'espion J. Saias 4 , Juif au service du gouvernement grec, est une œuvre du même type mais guidée par une orientation opportuniste en faveur de la propagande hellénique. De même les écrits d'Aron Astruc G u é r o n 5 , "commerçant" bulgare, et d'un Serbe tel que le Dr. Milan Todorovitz 6 servaient manifestement la propagande de leur pays respectif. C'est encore, jusqu'à un certain point, le cas de l'ouvrage d'Alexandre Matkovsky 7 , qui insiste sur l'identité "macédonienne". Comme on va le voir, pour certaines questions particulières concernant l'histoire des Juifs de Salonique sous le gouvernement ottoman et, encore plus, sous le gouvernement grec, la bibliographie reste très limitée.

' Athènes, 1935, (48 p.). Salonique et son avenir, Athènes, 1913, (39 p.). 3 La Grèce et les Israélites, Athènes, 1913 (55 p.). 4 i a Grèce et les Israélites de Salonique, Paris, 1919 (79 p.). ^Salonique et son avenir, Sofia, 1913 (48 p.). ®La question balkanique, Paris, 1913 (53 p.). J The Jews of Macedonia, Skopje, 1982 (209 p.). 2

ÉTAT

DE

LA

R E C H E R C H E

77

Recherches sur la population de Salonique Concernant la démographie, seul un article d'Heath Lowry 1 s'intéresse spécialement aux Juifs de Salonique, en se limitant aux XV e , XVI e et XVII e siècles. Les autres mentions bibliographiques qui ont été relevées se contentent de citer quelques chiffres sur la population juive de Salonique 2 ou, plus généralement, de l'Empire ottoman 3 , sans commenter de manière satisfaisante les sources utilisées. De façon générale, les auteurs se sont attachés à d'autres questions que la démographie. L'étude de Paul Dumont 4 , remarquable en ce qui concerne l'analyse de la structure sociale de la Communauté, renvoie simplement aux données démographiques des différentes années du Bulletin de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle 5 et de l'Institut Cartographique de Sofia de 1901 6 . C'est de la même manière que procède Stephanos Papadopoulos 7 qui renvoie aux données démographiques d'un certain Arvanitis 8 . On trouve également une étude topographique de Salonique due à Vassilis Dimitriadis 9 . Elle est assez détaillée et renferme des données intéressantes concernant la démographie durant la période ottomane. Sont classés, selon l'appartenance ethnique, les quartiers, les églises, les écoles, les auberges, les cimetières, etc. Mais, comme l'auteur le reconnaît lui-même, les éléments sur les Juifs sont fragmentaires en raison des sources lacunaires qu'il a utilisées.

^When did the Sephardim arrive in Salonica? The Testimony of the Ottoman Tax-Registers, 1478-1613", in Avigdor LEVY, op. cit., The Jews in the Ottoman Empire, 1994, pp. 203-213. 2 Spyros LOUKATOS, "Politographika tis Thessalonikis, nomou ke polis sta messa tis dekaetias tou 1910" (Données démographiques sur Salonique, la ville et le département au milieu de la décennie de 1910), in / Thessaloniki meta to 1912 (Thessalonique après 1912), Thessalonique, 1986, pp. 201-229. Konstantinos KAKTIVAN. Engrafa ke simiossls ek tis protis ellinikis dioikisseos tis Makedonias, 1912-1913 (Documents et notes de la première administration grecque en Macédoine, 1912-1913), Thessalonique, 1951 (119 p.). Justin Me CARTHY, "Jewish Population in 1912-1913, during the Ottoman Period", in Av. LEVY, The Jews in the Ottoman Empire, op. cit., pp. 375-397. Kemal KARPAT, Ottoman Population, 1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics, Wisconsin, Madison, 1985 (242 p.). IDEM., "Jewish Population Movements in the Ottoman Empire", in Av. LEVY, op. cit., pp. 399-415. "The Social Structure of the Jewish Community of Salonica at the End of the Nineteenth Century", Southeastern Europe / L'Europe du Sud-Est, vol. 2 (1979), pp. 33-72. 5 1876, 1880-1885, 1886-1890, 1901. ®Carte ethnographique des Vilayets de Salonique, Cossovo, Monastir. ekpedefiiki ke kinoniki drastiriotita tou ellenismou tis Makedonias kata ton telefteo aiona tis tourkokratias (L'activité éducative et sociale de l'hellénisme pendant le dernier siècle de la domination ottomane), Thessalonique, 1970, p. 98. ®La Macédoine, s.l.n.d. 9

Topographia tis Thessalonikis kata tin epochi tis tourkokratias, 1430-1912 (La topographie de Salonique sous le régime turc, 1430-1912), Thessalonique, 1983 (566 p.).

78

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Malheureusement, jusqu'à présent, les chercheurs n'ont pas à leur disposition l'ensemble des sources existantes concernant la démographie. Il n'existe qu'une seule étude récente sur la population juive de Salonique 1 , qui ne peut être comparée avec l'étude de Meropi Anassiadou 2 sur la population orthodoxe de la même ville ou avec l'ouvrage d'Alan Duben et Cem Behar sur les Musulmans d'Istanbul 3 . Mais il est presque certain que vont bientôt s'ouvrir de nouvelles opportunités pour l'étude de questions telles que la composition et la taille des familles ou les taux de natalité, lorsque les archives de la communauté juive de Salonique, qui ont été conservées à Moscou et viennent récemment d'être achetées par l'Université de Tel Aviv, seront mises à la disposition des chercheurs.

Organisation et institutions de la communauté juive La bibliographie sur l'organisation institutionnelle et administrative de la Communauté au cours de la même période est moins pauvre. En dehors des œuvres d'Avraam Danon, d'Itzhak Emmanuel et plus spécialement de Joseph Nehama que nous avons déjà mentionnées, il existe des sources fondamentales, tel l'ouvrage en neuf tomes d'Avraam Galante 4 . Notons que le cinquième tome de cette œuvre monumentale comprend des traductions de documents ottomans de la période des Réformes sur les sujets suivants : les habitants non musulmans en 1839 ; l'historique et le règlement du Grand Rabbinat et la Charte constitutionnelle de la communauté juive dans VIradè du 1 e r avril 1864 ; les règlements particuliers de la communauté juive ; les revenus communaux ; les impôts communaux ; plusieurs autres détails sur la vie des Juifs ottomans, particulièrement à Constantinople 5 . Tout aussi important et détaillé est le Statut de la Communauté, publié en grec en 1923 6 . Dans la

^ Rena MOLHO, Oi evraioi fis Thessalonikis, 1856-1919: mia idiaiteri koinotita, (Les Juifs de Salonique, 1856-1919: une communauté hors norme) en grec, Themelio, Athènes, 2001, pp. 2952. ^"Yanni, Nikola, Lifder et les autres." Le profil démographique et socio-professionnel de la population orthodoxe de Salonique à la veille des Tanzimat", Südost Forschungen, 1994, pp. 73130. 3 Istanbul households, Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880-1940, Cambridge, 1991 (276 p.). 4 Histoire des Juifs de Turquie, Istanbul, 1985,9 vol. 5 Avraam GALANTE, Histoire des Juifs de Turquie, vol. V (350 p.), pp. 6-10, 10-26, 63-75, 8089 et 223-229. ^.Idrissis Israelitikis Koinotikos Thessalonikis. Epikyrossis Katastatikou aftis" (Fondation de la Communauté israélite de Salonique. Ratification de son statut), Journal du Gouvernement du Royaume de Grèce, Athènes, n° 195, 28 juin 1923, pp. 893-903.

ÉTAT

DE

LA

R E C H E R C H E

79

bibliographie contemporaine, on peut noter le travail de Minna Rozen 1 qui, en utilisant comme sources des textes en hébreu de jurisconsultes de Salonique, étudie la réorganisation de la société juive après l'expulsion d'Espagne, les rapports de dépendance et de liberté des individus au sein des diverses communautés auxquelles ils appartenaient lorsqu'il n'y avait pas encore d'administration communautaire centrale, les affrontements au sein des groupes dirigeants et l'aide apportée aux membres de chaque synagogue. Les ouvrages généraux de Walter F. Weiker 2 et d'Avigdor Levy 3 , et le livre d'Esther Benbassa et d'Aron Rodrigue 4 se prêtent à la comparaison, dans la mesure où ils examinent l'évolution institutionnelle des communautés ottomanes et balkaniques les plus importantes avant et après les Tanzimat. Les études d'Abram Amarillo 5 , de Moïse Ussiskin 6 , de Gabriel Habib 7 et du docteur Bracha Rivlin 8 donnent un certain nombre d'informations sur les fondations d'intérêt public de la Communauté. On trouve également les monographies plus anciennes de J. Perahia 9 et M. Molho 1 0 sur le Bikour Holim, un important dispensaire de soins médicaux. Enfin, il faut lire l'article de G. Habib 1 1 et l'Almanach national au profit de l'hôpital Hirsch de 191212 pour ce qui concerne le fameux hôpital Hirsch de la Communauté. Vassilis Dimitriadis 13 et Albertos Nar 1 4 ont traité de la localisation des quartiers juifs et des synagogues avant l'incendie de 1917. Aleka Yerolympou, spécialiste des questions du réaménagement et de la reconstruction de Salonique après l'incendie de 1917, a publié un important ouvrage sur ce sujet 1 5 . Par ailleurs, elle a traduit en grec et commenté une note qu'elle a

^'Individual and Community in the Jewish Society of the Ottoman Empire : Saloniea in the 16th Century" in Av. LEVY, The Jews..., op. cit., pp. 215-273. Ottoman Turks and the Jewish Polity, op. cit., pp. 151-168. 3 The Sephardim..., op. cit., pp. 6,176, 203-213, 215-274, 276,406-410, 519-527, 578, 582. 4 Juifs des Balkans: Espaces..., op. cit., pp. 11, 15. 5 "Hevrot Zdaka ve hessed" (Associations d'entraide et de charité' sociale), Sefunot, vol. 16, 1971-1981, pp. 106-133. 6 "PeiIout ha kehila beshtahim shonim" (L'activité de la Communauté dans divers domaines), in Salonique, ville mère, op. cit., pp. 211-215. 7 "Mossadot hessed shonim" (Diverses institutions de charité sociale), in Salonique, ville mère, op. cit., pp. 216-217. °"Mutual-aid societies in Greek-Jewish communities", Les Juifs en Grèce..., op. cit. pp. 95-101. 9 Los origines de lafondacion del Biccur Holim y la familia Perahia en Saloniea, Salonique 1953 (14 p.). Essai d'une monographie sur la famille Perahia à Salonique, Salonique, 1938 (87 p.). ^"Beit-holim Hirsch" (L'hôpital Hirsch), in Salonique, ville mère, op. cit., p. 218. 12 Salonique 1912, pp. 75,78,83-85. 13 Topographie de Salonique, op. cit., pp. 153-177. 14 7 synagoges tis Thessalonikis. Ta tragoudia mas (Les synagogues de Salonique. Nos chants) Thessalonique, 1985 (317 p.), pp. 13-91. 15 / anikodomissi tis Thessalonikis (La reconstruction de Salonique), Thessalonique, 1995 (246 p.). Alexandra YEROLYMPOS, "La part du feu", in Salonique 1850-1918..., op. cit., pp. 261270.Vassilis KOLONAS, "I anikodomissi tis Thessalonikis meta to 1917" (La reconstruction de Thessalonique après 1917), in Les Juifi en Grèce..., op. cit., pp. 231-254. 2

80

S A L O N I C A

A N D

I S T A N B U L

découverte dans les archives de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, qui concernait les conditions sanitaires dans le quartier du Vardari 1 . Vilma Hastaoglou, à partir d'éléments tirés des archives d'E. Morgenthau, a décrit la situation de la communauté juive après l'incendie de 1917 2 , y compris dans les nouveaux quartiers populaires qui furent alors créés et dont elle a donné des cartes très instructives.

Economie (commerce, metiers, industries,

banques)

La bibliographie sur la situation économique de la Communauté au cours de la même période est limitée et fragmentaire. L'article particulièrement important de Minna Rozen 3 traite du commerce maritime, mais à une époque plus ancienne. Dans l'ouvrage général de Charles Issawi 4 , on trouve un chapitre qui montre comment, durant les années 1870, les nombreuses activités économiques de la communauté juive purent protéger Salonique de la grave crise que connaissait l'Empire ottoman. Paul Dumont montre comment l'apparition de nouvelles activités professionnelles fit évoluer les structures sociales de la communauté juive à la fin du XIX e siècle 5 . Le processus par lequel Salonique se transforma en une grande métropole industrielle entre 1880 et 1914 est éclairé par les études de Donald Quatacrt 6 . Le rôle des banques juives est examiné dans l'ouvrage plus général de Vangelis Chekimoglou 7 qui, quelques années plus tard, a publié un essai sur l'affaire Modiano et le krach bancaire à Salonique en 1911 8 . On trouve encore d'autres références sur les activités économiques des Juifs à Salonique dans quelques bibliographies plus générales 9 , mais elles ne sont pas suffisantes 1

0 Paratiritìs; n° 25-26, hiver 1994, pp. 67-74. Synchrona Themata, n° 52-53, juillet-décembre 1994, pp. 33-44. 3 "Contest and Rivalry in the Mediterranean Maritime Commerce in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century: the Jews of Salonica and the European Presence", Revue d'études juives, vol. CXLVII (3-4), juillet-décembre 1988, pp. 309-352. 4 The Economic History of Turkey, 1800-1914, Chicago, 1980 (390 p.), pp. 103-108. 5 Paul DUMONT, "The Social Structure...", op. cit. ^"Premières fumées d'usine", in G. VEINSTEIN, Salonique 1850-1918..., op. cit., pp. 177-194. « The Workers of Salonica. 1850-1912" in D. Quataert and E.J. Zürcher, (eds) Workers and the Working Class in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic 1839-1950, London and New York, 1995, pp. 59-74. 7 Trapezes ke Thessaloniki, 1900-1936 (Les banques et Salonique, 1900-1936), Thessalonique, 1987 (156 p.). 8 lpothessi Modiano (L'affaire Modiano), Thessalonique, 1991 (67 p.). ^Georgios CHRISTODOULOU, I Thessaloniki kata tin teleftea ekatondaetia : Emborioviomichania-viotechnia (Salonique au cours du siècle dernier : commerce, industrie, artisanat), Thessalonique, 1936, (334 p.). Konstantinos VAKALOPOULOS, Ikonomoiki litourgia tou makedonikou ke thrakikou horou sta plessia tou diethnous emboriou (L'économie de Macédoine et de Thrace vers le milieu du XIXe siècle dans le cadre du commerce international), Salonique, 1980, (215 p.). Kostis MOSKOF, Thessaloniki 1700-1912: I tomi tìs metapratikis polis, op. cit. 2

ÉTAT

DE

LA

R E C H E R C H E

81

pour donner une image cohérente de leur influence dans ce domaine. Nous espérons que ce vide sera bientôt comblé avec la publication de la thèse d'Emilia Themopoulou 1 .

Structures éducatives et formation

idéologique

La bibliographie qui concerne la modernisation de l'enseignement juif à Salonique n'est plus aussi réduite et fragmentaire qu'elle l'était. Nehama 2 , alors jeune enseignant à Salonique, put réunir dans son livre un matériau assez important. Il fut en outre considéré comme le représentant par excellence du nouvel enseignement qu'offrait l'organisation internationale de l'Alliance qui le nomma "Inspecteur général des écoles du Moyen-Orient" et par la suite membre du Comité central 3 . Le petit livre de Moïse Ailatini, A Sketch of the State of Primary Education among the Jews of the East and especially among the Jews ofSalonica 4 , est également important dans la mesure où l'auteur fut l'un des principaux promoteurs du nouvel enseignement. C'est à la même période que s'attachent les articles d'enseignants tels que Mercado Covo dans l'Almanach national de l'hôpital Hirsch de 1916 5 et Itzhak Danon dans le Bulletin de l'Alliance de 1886 6 , et de l'historien français Salomon Reinach, qui visita Salonique en 1881, dans le Tesoro de los Judios Sefaradies1. De nombreuses informations sur les écoles de Salonique mais aussi de l'ensemble de l'Empire ottoman en 1912 nous sont données dans le Bulletin de 8 l'Alliance Israélite Universelle de 1913 . En 1993, j'ai moi-même utilisé ces différentes sources documentaires, en les complétant avec les archives de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, pour rédiger deux articles d'ensemble sur l'enseignement juif à Salonique 9 . Ce matériel a ensuite constitué la base d'une étude beaucoup

1Salonique, 1800-1875 : Conjoncture économique et mouvement commercial, thèse de doctorat de l'Université de Paris I, Paris, 1994 (1104 p.). 2 Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, op. cit., tome VII, pp. 663-710 et 753-756. 3 P a u l DUMONT, "La correspondance de Joseph Nehama avec l'Alliance Israélite Universelle", in Les Juifs en Grèce, op. cit., pp. 131-146. 4 A Sketch of the State of Primary Education among the Jews of the East and especially among the Jews ofSalonica, Londres, 1875 (33 p.). "'"Contribution à l'histoire des institutions scolaires de la communauté israélite de Salonique jusqu'à la fondation de l'Ecole de garçons de l'Alliance", pp. 97-103. ''"l'Ecole de garçons de Salonique", 2e sem., 1886, pp. 66-69. ^"Lettre de Macédoine. Les Israélites de Salonique au XIXe siècle", vol. X, pp. 68-72. 8 N ° 75. 9 Rena MOLHO, "Education in the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century", Balkan Studies, 34/2, Thessalonique, 1993, pp. 259-269.

82

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

plus détaillée publiée dans la deuxième partie de mon livre en 2001 ^ Il faut également signaler l'article d'Annie Benveniste qui examine la dimension idéologique de l'enseignement féminin dispensé par l'Alliance à Salonique 2 . En ce qui concerne les activités artisanales de la ville, le travail de Meropi Anastassiadou 3 présente un intérêt particulier. Soulignons enfin les ouvrages classiques d'André Chouraqui 4 et d'Aron R o d r i g u e 5 qui contiennent peu d'éléments sur Salonique mais donnent de bonnes informations sur la stratégie éducative de l'Alliance, ainsi que sur l'enseignement dans les autres communautés juives de l'Empire ottoman, éléments très utiles pour établir des comparaisons. Très peu de choses ont été publiées sur les activités idéologiques et culturelles des Juifs de Salonique. Les Bulletins anciens

élèves de l'Alliance

Israélite

annuels de l'Association

Universelle,

des

et plus particulièrement

ceux des années 1908, 1909 et 1910, imprimés à Salonique, contiennent évidemment de nombreuses informations, principalement sur l'activité de l'association en question. T o u t aussi utile est le n u m é r o de 1911 de l'Almanach

national

de l'hôpital

Hirsch6

dont une partie est consacrée aux

diverses associations juives qui existaient alors dans la ville 7 . Très précieux également sont les articles de P. Dumont 8 , M. S. Hanioglo 9 , R. M o l h o 1 0 et de Est. Benbassa 1 1 .

' Rena MOLHO, Oi evraioi tis Thessalonikis, 1856-1919... (Les Juifs de Salonique, 18561919...), op. cit. pp. 139-224. ^"Le rôle des institutrices de l'Alliance à Salonique", Combat pour la Diaspora, n° 8, juin 1982, pp. 13-26. Artisans juifs de Salonique au début du Tanzimat", Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée, n° 66,1992/4, pp. 65-72. 4 L'Alliance Israélite Universelle et la renaissance juive contemporaine : Cent ans d'histoire, Paris, 1965 (528 p.). 5 .Aron RODRIGUE, De l'instruction à l'émancipation : les enseignants de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle et les Juifs d'Orient, 1860-1939, Paris, 1989 (236 p.).IDEM., French Jews, Turkish Jews : The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Politics of Jewish Schooling in Turkey, 18601925, Bloomington, Indianapolis, 1990, (236 p.). ^Pages 99-148 (197 p. + une partie de publicités sans pagination). 7 Idem, op. cit. 8 Paul DUMONT, "La Franc-Maçonnerie d'obédience française à Salonique au début du XXe siècle", Turcica, (16), 1984, pp. 65-94. IDEM., "Une organisation socialiste ottomane : La "Fédération ouvrière", op. cit. ^"Jews in the Young Turk Mouvement to the 1908 Revolution", in Av. LEVY, The Jews..., op. cit., pp. 519-526. " ' R e n a MOLHO, "Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Salonica", Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, 13 (3-4), automne-hiver 1986, pp. 113-123. IDEM., "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation into the Greek State, 1912-1919, Middle Eastern Studies, 24 (4), oct. 1988, pp. 391-403. ^ " P r e s s e d'Istanbul et de Salonique au service du sionisme (1908-1914). Les motifs d'une allégeance", Revue historique, 276/2 (560), octobre-décembre 1986, pp. 337-365.

ÉTAT

DE

LA

R E C H E R C H E

83

On trouve également de très nombreuses informations, de type bibliographique, sur l'activité intellectuelle des Juifs de Salonique dans les ouvrages généraux d'Abram Yaari 1 , de Michael Molho 2 , d'Henri Besso 3 , de R. Attal 4 et d'Elena Romero 5 .

L'influence des Juifs de Salonique dans le monde social et politique La question de la bourgeoisie de Salonique, en tant que classe sociale, n'a curieusement été abordée par aucun auteur, alors que l'idéologie socialiste de nombreux intellectuels de la ville aurait permis d'imaginer le contraire. Il n'existe aucun travail descriptif sur cette classe bourgeoise, à part une étude sur l'un de ses clubs, "le Cercle de Salonique" 6 . On trouve toutefois certains livres qui renferment des informations sur les citoyens éminents de la ville, et leurs activités professionnelles et philanthropiques, mais sans perspective sociologique 7 . Un livre fondamental sur la création et l'évolution du mouvement sioniste en Europe est l'ouvrage désormais classique de l'historien Walter L a q u e u r 8 . Aucun ouvrage du même type n'a encore été publié sur le développement du mouvement sioniste dans les Balkans ou dans l'Empire ottoman. Il existe toutefois plusieurs travaux qui traitent, de certains aspects particuliers du mouvement sioniste dans cette région 9 . En ce qui concerne le mouvement sioniste à Istanbul et à Salonique, les articles de SolomonReuben

1Reshimat sifre ladino (Catalogue des livres en ladino), Jérusalem, 1934 (125 p.). ^Literatura sefaradita del Oriente, Madrid et Barcelone, 1960. 3 Henri BESSO, Ladino Books in the Library of Congress, Bibliographical series n° 7, Washington, 1963 (27 p.). IDEM., Literatura Judeo-Española, Bogota, 1962 (27 p.). 4 Bibliographie des Juifs de Grèce, op. cit. (125 p. + XXIV). 5 "E1 teatro entre los Sefardíes orientales", Sefarad, 1969-1970, pp. 187-205. 6 " L e Cercle de Salonique, 1873-1958 : Club des Saloniciens", en grec, dans les actes du Symposium de la Société pour l'études des Juifs de Grèce, Les Juifs en Grèce: Questions d'histoire dans la longue durée, Athènes 1995, pp. 103-127. 7 Georgios HADJIKYRIAKOU, Makedonia (Guide de Macédoine), Athènes, 1910 (153 p.). Georgios GAVRILIDIS, Megas odigos Thessalonikis ke perichron, 1932-33 (Grand Guide de Thessalonique et des environs, 1932-33), Thessalonique, 1933 (554 p.). Vassiiis DIMITRIADIS, "O plythismos tis Thessalonikis ke i elliniki koinotita to 1913" (La population de Salonique et la communauté grecque en 1913), Makedonika, 1983, vol. 23, pp. 88-115. Nikolaos S. STAMBOULIS, 1 zoi ton thessalonikeon prin ke meta to 1912 (La vie des Thessaloniciens avant et après 1912), Thessalonique, 1985, (558 p.). J. NEHAMA, Histoire des Israélites ..., op. cit., vol. 6 et 7. 8 Walter LAQUEUR, A History of Zionism, New York, 1976 (640 p.). 9 Isaiah FRIEDMAN, Germany, Turkey and Zionism, 1897-1918, Oxford, 1977 (461 p.).

84

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Mordehai 1 , de P. Dumont 2 et d'Esther Benbassa 3 sont particulièrement utiles. Nathan M. Gelber 4 et R. Molho 5 font également référence aux activités du mouvement sioniste à Salonique entre 1912 et 1919. Notons également les importants travaux d'intellectuels tels que Asher Moissis 6 , Avraam Recanati 7 et Shlomo-Reuben Mordehaï 8 . P. D u m o n t 9 et R. M o l h o 1 0 ont décrit l'effervescence qui précéda l'intégration de la communauté juive dans l'Etat grec. Enfin, la politique de la Grèce vis-à-vis des Juifs de Salonique, dans son contexte international, est évoquée dans un des livres de Dimitris Kitsikis' '.

1 Reuben MORDEHAI, "O evraikos typos sti Thessaloniki ke genikotera stin Ellada" (La presse juive à Salonique et plus généralement en Grèce), Chronika, juin 1978, pp. 1-20. 2 Paul DUMONT, "Un organe sioniste à Istanbul, La Nation, 1919-1920", in Tiirkiye'de yabanci Dilde Basin (La presse de langue étrangère en Turquie), Mayis, n° 16-17-18, Istanbul, 1985, pp. 191-225. Esther BENBASSA, "Presse d'Istanbul et de Salonique au service du sionisme (1908-1914)", op. cit. IDEM, "Le sionisme ou la politique des alliances dans les communautés ottomanes (début XXe siècle)", Revue d'études juives, vol. CL, 1-2, janvier-juin 1991, pp. 107-131. "^Nathan M. GELBER, "An Attempt to Internationalize Salonica", Jewish Social Studies, vol. 17, 1955, n° 2, pp. 105-120. ^Rena MOLHO, "Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Salonica", op. cit. IDEM., "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its incorporation into the Greek State, 19121919", op. cit. IDEM., "Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece", Jewish Social Studies, vol. L, n° 3-4, été-automne 1988/1993, pp. 253264. ^"El mouvimiento sionista en Salonique y en la otras sivdades de la Grecia", in D. Rekanati, Zikhron Saloniki..., op. cit., pp. 44-48. 7 "Le Maccabi - Epoca heroica en Salonique", in Zikhron Saloniki..., op. cit., pp. 38-40. ®"Hatnua hatzionit be Saloniki", (Le mouvement sioniste à Salonique), in Yehoudei Yavan ve Toldotam (Les Juifs de Grèce et leur histoire), vol. II, Tel Aviv, 1988, pp. 85-106. ^"La Fédération Socialiste Ouvrière de Salonique à l'époque des guerres balkaniques", op. cit. l®Rena MOLHO, "Venizelos and the Jewish Community...", op. cit. IDEM, "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation...", op. cit. IDEM., "Popular Antisemitism and State Policy...", op. cit. 11 Propagande et pressions en politique internationale : la Grèce et ses revendications à la Conférence de la Paix (1919-1920), Paris, 1963, pp. 423-436.

LE RENOUVEAU DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ DE SALONIQUE ENTRE 1856 ET 19191

JUIVE

Les années entre 1850 et 1918 constituent la dernière période au cours de laquelle le développement de Salonique et l'évolution de la communauté juive de la ville allaient encore de pair. La présence juive s'avéra décisive dans la quasi-totalité des secteurs d'activité qui contribuaient à l'épanouissement de la ville, et ce, non seulement pendant les soixante dernières années de la domination ottomane, mais également pendant les six premières années au moins de l'administration grecque. Celle-ci fut en effet obligée, pour pouvoir s'imposer, d'adopter une politique favorable aux Juifs. Au cours de ces années les Juifs représentaient la majorité de la population et ils ne participaient pas au mouvement général d'émancipation nationale des minorités balkaniques. Ils agirent comme une communauté autochtone qui avait imprimé sa marque à la physionomie de la ville. Il est vrai que, quelques décennies auparavant, l'aspect de Salonique reflétait une certaine décadence de la Communauté. Selon le consul français Ch. E. Guis, Salonique n'était plus que l'ombre de sa prospérité passée. Mais, après 1850, la pénétration économique des grandes puissances en Macédoine, ainsi que la fin de la guerre de Crimée et le début de la guerre de Sécession, provoquèrent l'établissement de nouveaux circuits commerciaux qui permirent à Salonique de devenir "l'entrepôt" de l'Europe. Les opportunités qui se présentèrent alors, de même que les réaménagements urbains et les réformes de l'administration ottomane, incitèrent certaines personnalités juives parmi les plus dynamiques à essayer de regénérer leurs compatriotes afin qu'eux aussi puissent mettre en valeur toutes leurs potentialités. L'essor économique de Salonique fut ainsi le moteur de la réorganisation sociale et du renouveau culturel de la vénérable communauté séfarade. Presque tous les voyageurs qui visitent Salonique au XIX e siècle soulignent que le trait le plus frappant de cette ville multi-ethnique est la prépondérance numérique de l'élément juif. Bien que les données démographiques fournies par les voyageurs ou par les recensements ne soient pas toujours exactes, il est tout de même significatif qu'elles convergent sur les rapports de pourcentages entre les communautés : selon presque toutes ces sources, les Juifs représentaient de 50 à 55 % de la population totale. 1 Article paru dans G. VEINSTEIN (éd.), Salonique 1850-1918 : La ville des Juifs et le réveil des Balkans, Autrement, Paris, 1992, pp. 64-78.

86

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

L'historien Fallmerayer, qui visita Salonique en 1842, proposait que la ville f û t nommée Samarie, car on y comptait 36 000 Juifs sur une population totale de 70 000 habitants. Selon un manuel scolaire de 1882 rédigé par le instituteur G.K. Moraïtopoulos, Salonique en 1870 comptait 90 0 0 0 habitants dont 50 000 étaient juifs, 22 000 turcs et "deunmé" et 18 000 grecs. Du premier recensement réalisé par l'administration ottomane entre 1882 et 1884 il ressort que la population de la ville comptait 85 000 habitants, dont 48 000 étaient juifs. Mais, m ê m e en 1902, alors que la population avait augmenté, le deuxième recensement montre encore que sur 126 000 habitants, 62 000 étaient juifs. Selon le premier recensement effectué par l'administration grecque en 1 9 1 3 1 , les Juifs représentaient moins de 5 0 % de la population mais continuaient à occuper la première place. Il était d'ailleurs spécifié que les 157 889 habitants de Salonique se répartissaient de la sorte : 61 439 Juifs, 45 889 Musulmans et 39 956 Grecs orthodoxes, avec une proportion beaucoup moins importante de Bulgares, d'Occidentaux et d'Arméniens. Enfin, le recensement mené par la communauté juive après l'incendie de 1917 en raison de la destructions de ses archives, et publié dans le journal L'Indépendant en 1919, faisait apparaître que, sur une population de 170 000 habitants en 1914, Salonique comptait 90 000 Juifs. Aucune des communautés juives des autres villes grecques ne comptaient plus de 5 000 membres, et, dans d'autres centres urbains de l'Empire ottoman, c o m m e Istanbul ou Smyrne, les Juifs ne représentaient pas plus de 5 à 10 % de la population. C'est dire la singularité de la physionomie juive de Salonique à cette époque Le parallèle peut être étendu à d'autres communautés importantes de l'Occident, celle de France par exemple, qui, au début du siècle, ne comptait pas plus de Juifs que la seule Salonique. Les

quartiers L a localisation de la c o m m u n a u t é j u i v e dans le secteur le plus

favorable de la ville, bien plus que le nombre élevé de ses membres, prouve le rôle primordial qu'elle jouait alors. Jusqu'à l'incendie de 1890, tous les quartiers j u i f s , ainsi que deux quartiers grecs et deux quartiers turcs, s'étendaient jusqu'à la partie nord-ouest de Salonique, occupant tout le centre de la ville, le bord de mer et le port. Cette zone surpeuplée et de superficie réduite constituait le secteur commercial de la ville et rassemblait la plus grande partie des activités professionnelles de la communauté juive. D e nombreuses rues portaient des ^Ce recensement ne fut jamais publié.

LE

RENOUVEAU

ENTRE

1856

ET

1919

87

noms judéo-espagnols de synagogues ou de rabbins, comme Castilla Havrasi Djadesi, Haham Asher, Haham Matalon, Boyadji Davi (etc.), noms qui furent conservés jusqu'à l'annexion de Salonique par la Grèce, donc jusqu'en 1913. La majorité des dix-sept quartiers juifs mentionnés dans les registres fiscaux ottomans portaient aussi des noms judéo-espagnols : Rogos, Pulia (Apulia), Baru (Baruh), Bedaron (Beit-Aron), Malta, Kulhan, Etz Haïm, Aguda, Leviye. Cependant, on trouvait des appellations d'origine ottomane pour les quartiers d'Aya Sofia, Djèdidè, Tophané, Findik, Kadi, Salhane et Yeni Havlu. Quant au quartier de Kaldirgôç, son nom était une déformation turque de "Kaal de los Gregos" (Synagogue des Grecs). Les quartiers des diverses congrégations portaient généralement le nom de leur bâtiment principal, temple souvent le plus représentatif ou le plus "paroissial". Trente-deux synagogues des quartiers juifs sur un total de cent pouvaient être considérées comme des centres paroissiaux puisque, malgré l'existence d'une administration communautaire centrale depuis 1680, elles conservaient certaines attributions, telles que la collecte des impôts ou l'enregistrement des naissances, et que leurs frais de fonctionnement étaient couverts par les cotisations de leurs membres. Voici une liste de leurs noms et années de fondation qui indiquent pour la plupart l'origine géographique et l'année d'arrivée de leurs membres, et confirment que Salonique fut pendant longtemps le refuge des Juifs pourchassés partout ailleurs. Etz ha Haïm, I e r siècle av. J.C. Ashkénaze ou Varnak, 1376 Mayorca, 1391 Provincia, 1394 Italia Yashan, 1423 Gueruch Sfarad, 1492 Castilia, 1492-3 Aragon, 1492-3 Catallan Yashan, 1492 Calabria Yashan, 1497 Sieilia Yashan, 1497 Mayorca Sheni, fin XVI e s. Catalan Hadash, fin XVI e s. Apulia, 1502 Lisbon Yashan, 1510 Talmud Tora Hagadol, 1520

Portugal, 1525 Evora, 1535 Estrug, 1535 Lisbon Hadash Otranto, 1537 Ishmael, 1537 Tciana, 1545 Nevei Tsedek, 1550 Yahia, 1560 Sieilia Hadash, 1562 Beit-Aron, 1575? Italia Hadash, 1582 Italia Sheni, 1606 Shalom, 1606 Har Gavoa, 1663 Mograbis, XVII e s.

88

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

L a démolition des remparts de Salonique en 1866 et les incendies de 1890 et 1917, qui détruisirent la partie la plus importante et la plus peuplée du secteur commercial ( 2 0 0 0 bâtiments juifs), modifièrent le caractère juif de la cité : les Juifs se dispersèrent dans toute la ville. L'installation des tramways à partir de 1891 facilita par ailleurs les communications avec le centre commercial et le port, tandis que l'implantation d'un grand nombre d'industries dans les faubourgs, majoritairement créées par des hommes d'affaires juifs, absorba une partie importante de la main-d'œuvre ouvrière qui s'installa à proximité. Il faut ajouter que l'application des réformes politiques de 1856, qui garantissaient l'égalité de tous les citoyens devant les autorités ottomanes, ainsi que les nouveaux rapports entre groupes sociaux qui résultèrent du redressement économique de la ville à la fin du X I X e siècle, concoururent à la création d'un certain nombre de quartiers mixtes, surtout bourgeois, à population j u i v e , musulmane et grecque orthodoxe,

et

d'agglomérations ouvrières que distinguait un pourcentage élevé de l'élément juif. Dans le nouveau quartier mixte, le plus aristocratique, celui de "Campos" ou "Campagnes", situé dans les faubourgs est, Fakima Modiano, épouse du riche philanthrope Saul Modiano, fit construire en 1898 la plus grande synagogue de la ville, portant le nom de Beit-Shaul. A la même époque, la classe moyenne habitait autour du centre, dans les quartiers chrétiens de Kamara et de Saint-Demetrios, ou encore dans le nouveau quartier d'Anghelaki, aménagé par la municipalité en 1917 pour accueillir les 5 0 0 0 0 Juifs victimes de l'incendie. L a nouvelle synagogue Beit-El fut construite dans le quartier de Saint-Demetrios situé près du bord de la mer. Deux quartiers à Vardari et un à Kalamaria furent aménagés par la Communauté pour recueillir les pauvres dont les maisons avaient été détruites par l'incendie de 1890. Elle en établit un quatrième près de la gare ferroviaire où, grâce à !a donation du baron Hirsch, les Juifs russes qui fuyaient en 1891 les pogroms de leur pays purent être logés. Parmi les victimes de l'effroyable incendie de 1917, beaucoup de Juifs des classes laborieuses s'installèrent dans les quartiers de Haghia Paraskevi, de Keramitsi et de Karagatch, dont ils modifièrent ainsi la composition ethnique. L a Communauté acheta également les terrains des camps militaires n° 6 et n° 151, ainsi que celui du camp Campbell en 1918, où elle fonda des quartiers ouvriers juifs. L e nombre élevé de quartiers ouvriers est révélateur de la composition sociale de la communauté j u i v e : elle comptait une importante classe populaire.

LE

RENOUVEAU

ENTRE

1856

ET

1919

89

L'aspect intellectuel et social Au milieu du XIX e siècle, l'absence totale de formation technique et professionnelle des couches populaires avait conduit la Communauté au marasme économique et social. Les rabbins, tout puissants, avaient été incapables de s'adapter aux conditions nouvelles et de moderniser l'enseignement - incomplet à tous points de vue - dispensé dans les écoles élémentaires, alors rattachées aux synagogues. Ces écoles étaient d'ailleurs en voie de disparition à cause du manque de ressources. Le Talmud Tora, célèbre séminaire rabbinique fondé en 1520, voyait ses effectifs augmenter, mais il s'agissait surtout de familles pauvres et sans logis, qui, en désespoir de cause, s'installaient dans les locaux de l'école, et non pas d'élèves ! De plus, le niveau des rabbins-enseignants, sous-payés, demeurait très bas, car d'après une ancienne réglementation le titre de maître au Talmud Tora était héréditaire. Aucun diplôme n'était ainsi exigé de ceux qui exerçaient des fonctions aussi importantes. Le bienfaiteur qui sauva les Juifs saloniciens de cette déchéance spirituelle, en se consacrant à la réorganisation de la Communauté en général et, plus particulièrement à la rénovation de l'enseignement, fut le docteur Moïse Allatini, homme riche et puissant, descendant d'une grande famille juive de médecins, rabbins et philosophes, originaire de Toscane, installée à Salonique à la fin du XVIII e siècle. Il fut envoyé faire des études de médecine à Florence et à Pi se, et il revint à Salonique après la mort de son père. Aidé par ses deux frères, il fit prospérer les affaires de la famille et s'associa avec d'autres Juifs pour créer les premières industries locales, dont une briqueterie modèle, une brasserie, un atelier de lithographie, une fabrique de sacs de tissu, une usine de machines agricoles, une fabrique de chaussures, divers ateliers de traitement du tabac et enfin la Banque de Salonique en 1888. Comme il offrait gratuitement ses services de médecin à tous les pauvres de la ville, indépendamment de leur confession, il eut l'occasion de réaliser à quel point ses coreligionnaires étaient en retard sur leurs concitoyens. C'est ce qui le poussa à s'atteler à la rénovation de l'école rabbinique du Talmud Tora. Il y fut encouragé par Saadia Halevy Ashkenazi, musicien et premier éditeur moderne de la ville, et fut épaulé par son beau-frère Salomon Fernandez, consul du grand-duc de Toscane et spécialiste des affaires maritimes, ainsi que par deux rabbins éclairés, Juda Nehama (éditeur du premier journal, El Lunar, en 1865), et Avraam Gattegno (secrétaire du tribunal supérieur religieux, Beit-din). Pour gagner les rabbins conservateurs à sa cause, il affecta une grande partie de ses revenus aux œuvres de bienfaisance et il fit part de ses projets au Grand Rabbin Asher Covo.

90

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

C'est ainsi qu'en 1856, appuyé par l'intervention des Rothschild et après avoir obtenu un décret impérial à cette fin, il fonda l'école Lippmann dans une des annexes du Talmud Tora. Il s'agissait d'une institution éducative modèle, plutôt destinée aux enfants de familles aisées à qui l'on enseignait le français et le turc. Le professeur Lippmann, rabbin progressiste de Strasbourg, essaya même d'initier les vieux maîtres d'école aux nouvelles méthodes d'éducation, déclenchant ainsi une guerre souterraine contre lui. Après cinq ans d'efforts, il fut obligé d'abandonner son établissement, qui ferma ses portes, et il retourna à Strasbourg, où il devint Grand Rabbin. Mais il avait réussi à former durant son séjour une pléiade de gens instruits en mesure désormais de correspondre aisément avec les firmes européennes et d'améliorer leurs relations avec leurs concitoyens musulmans. Un an après, en 1862, le docteur Allatini poussa son beau-frère Salomon Fernandez à fonder une école italienne, très embryonnaire, avec des subsides alloués par le royaume naissant d'Italie. La même année, Juda Nehama fut engagé par Adolphe Isaac Crémieux, alors à la tête de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) de Paris, pour créer des écoles modernes à Salonique, comme cela avait été fait à Tanger et à Bagdad. Cette organisation internationale juive, créée à Paris en 1860, introduisait un nouveau système éducatif qui combinait les enseignements religieux et laïc et enseignait à la fois un métier et la langue locale aux élèves démunis. Mais quand le Grand Rabbin apprit que l'école serait placée sous le patronage de l'ambassade de France, il mit fin au projet. En 1866, Haïm Salem, ancien élève de Lippmann, reprit la succession de son maître et fonda une école privée sur les mêmes principes éducatifs que ceux de l'Alliance. Le besoin d'institutions éducatives était tel que les missionaires étrangers n'eurent pas de peine à susciter la fondation de petites écoles privées où l'enseignement se dispensait, selon le cas, en français, italien, anglais ou allemand. Bien qu'ouvertes à tous, ces écoles étaient essentiellement fréquentées par des élèves juifs. Enfin, en 1874, alors qu'Avraam Gattegno, enthousiaste partisan des réformes, succédait au Grand Rabbin Asher Covo, l'école moderne tant attendue fut fondée grâce au docteur Allatini, président ad vitam du comité local et membre du comité central de l'AIU de Paris. La nouvelle école était subventionnée par l'AIU, l'Anglo-Jewish Association et la Communauté de Salonique. Ce fut une sorte d'âge d'or du savoir. Des écoles ne cessaient de se créer, les unes après les autres, tant dans le centre que dans les faubourgs. En 1912, l'Alliance avait doté la Communauté de neuf nouvelles écoles : des écoles maternelles, primaires, secondaires et professionnelles pour garçons et pour filles. On comptait 8 700 élèves en additionnant les effectifs de ces

LE

RENOUVEAU

ENTRE

1856

ET

1919

91

institutions et des sept écoles privées (Avr. Varrios, Léon Gattegno, Itzhak Altcheh, Haïm Pinto, Itzhak Benardout, Moïse Kazes et l'École francoallemande), qui suivaient elles aussi les programmes de l'Alliance. La fin des études était sanctionnée par un diplôme qui permettait aux élèves de suivre les cours des facultés suisses et françaises. Il ne restait que quatre ou cinq écoles rabbiniques dont le total d'étudiants ne dépassait pas 2 000. En 1912, plus de 6 000 élèves ayant dépassé l'âge de vingt ans avaient pu bénéficier de l'enseignement offert par l'Alliance. Ces hommes et ces femmes éclairés représentaient la quasi-totalité des employés du secteur commercial et bancaire (banques juives et ottomanes), et la majorité des négociants (au nombre de 400). On dénombrait en outre parmi eux 120 professeurs et institutrices, 18 médecins, 30 avocats, 15 journalistes, des gouvernantes, 450 artisans et 5 560 ouvriers qualifiés. Ils établirent, à eux tous, les fondements d'une société progressiste, en plein développement industriel. En 1880, l'ouverture de la ligne de chemin de fer reliant Salonique à l'Europe occidentale et la pénétration de diverses langues étrangères avaient donné un nouvel essor au commerce et aux contacts internationaux : ce fut l'occasion pour un certain nombre de jeunes gens de devenir commissionnaires ou importateurs de grandes firmes mondiales, ou de partir suivre des études universitaires loin de chez eux. A leur retour, ces jeunes ingénieurs, avocats ou médecins appliquèrent leurs nouvelles conceptions européennes dans les domaines de la politique urbaine et de l'hygiène publique. Ils introduisirent un esprit de libéralisme et d'émancipation qui occidentalisa la ville. C'est ainsi qu'au début du XX e siècle, les Juifs de Salonique jouaient un rôle déterminant dans la vie de la cité, d'autant qu'il exerçaient tous les métiers : ils participaient activement à toutes les branches de l'économie et étaient représentés dans toutes les classes sociales. De même, leur communauté étant largement majoritaire par rapport à chacune des autres nationalités, ils marquaient de leur présence la physionomie de la ville, dont tous les magasins, juifs ou non, fermaient le samedi et les jours fériés juifs (cela jusqu'en 1924, date à laquelle le dimanche devint le jour de fermeture obligatoire). Les Juifs déterminaient également les dynamiques sociales et politiques de la ville par le biais de leurs journaux dont le nombre de titres était impressionnant. De 1865 à 1918, quarante journaux et périodiques, dont trente-trois rédigés en judéo-espagnol et sept en français, exprimaient les diverses tendances politiques. Treize de ces publications - d'ailleurs les plus répandues - étaient satiriques, neuf étaient sionistes, quatre socialistes, une de tendance monarchiste, neuf d'intérêt général, et l'on comptait également quatre revues.

92

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Le rabbinat Malgré l'évolution générale, la première réforme du Talmud Tora, qui comptait 1 300 élèves, ne fut tentée qu'en 1880. Mais ce n'est que vingt-cinq ans plus tard, en 1910, qu'elle fut réellement appliquée. Ce retard était dû à l'intransigeance de la vieille garde rabbinique, qui craignait de perdre son pouvoir. Il est d'ailleurs significatif qu'en 1885 elle put obtenir la destitution du Grand Rabbin éclairé Avraam Gattegno par le Sultan. Il fut remplacé par un des siens, Shmuel Arditti, à qui l'entreprenant Yakov Covo succéda en 1888. Après sa mort en 1907, la Communauté fit venir de Palestine le Grand Rabbin Yakov Meir. Celui-ci confia la direction du Talmud Tora au rabbin Itzhak Epstein de Strasbourg qui, à son tour, opéra de réelles transformations dans l'école en faisant figurer langues étrangères et mathématiques au programme. Yakov Meir exerça ses fonctions pendant douze ans. Ce fut une période transitoire difficile, marquée par des guerres (les deux guerres balkaniques et la Première Guerre mondiale), au cours de laquelle il réussit, malgré l'antagonisme qui opposait Juifs et Grecs, à resserrer les liens entre les deux communautés. Jusqu'en 1887, conformément au firman impérial de 1836, le Grand Rabbin - haham bashi - exerçait un pouvoir illimité, aussi bien religieux que civil. Il était le principal représentant des Juifs auprès des autorités turques. Toutes les communautés juives de Macédoine relevaient de la juridiction du Grand Rabbinat de Salonique (l'un des cinq grands rabbinats de l'Empire ottoman). Le Grand Rabbin, à la tête d'un triumvirat rabbinique, administrait la Communauté, secondé par un Conseil de quatre rabbins et nommait un Comité de laïcs - Kolel - au rôle purement consultatif, mais auquel revenait la responsabilité de veiller au versement de la taxe d'exonération militaire, obligatoire pour tous les adultes. L'état-major rabbinique collectait les impôts et les contributions des membres aisés de la communauté juive, et appliquait restrictions et sanctions à l'encontre de ceux qui ne se conformaient pas à ses ordres. Il collaborait avec les autorités ottomanes, dont les actes d'arrestation et d'incarcération de réfractaires devaient être ratifiés par arrêt écrit du tribunal juif. La Communauté disposait de sa propre prison, ce qui était rare, et de tribunaux religieux. Elle possédait également une compétence civile, à laquelle avaient également recours des non-Juifs, attirés par l'impartialité des jugements et la rapidité de la procédure. Mais l'autoritarisme des rabbins, en dehors des services juridiques qu'ils rendaient, était si souvent accompagné de graves actes arbitraires que les autorités ottomanes furent obligées d'intervenir. En 1865 le gouvernement ottoman promulgua des réformes et institua une nouvelle charte concernant l'administration particulière de la communauté juive. Elle habilitait

LE

RENOUVEAU

ENTRE

1856

ET

19 19

93

officiellement les laïcs à gérer l'administration de la Communauté et elle limitait les fonctions des rabbins aux questions purement religieuses. Mais ces changements ne furent mis en pratique qu'après l'application de la loi sur les vilayets, en 1885. Le Grand Rabbin demeurait à la tête de la Communauté. Cependant, le triumvirat rabbinique ayant été aboli en 1887, c'est un Comité composé de rabbins et de laïcs qui procédait à son élection, celle-ci devant être validée par firman impérial au cours d'une cérémonie officielle. Le Grand Rabbin présidait un Conseil rabbinique - Mijlish Ruhani - qui jouait lie rôle de directoire spirituel et l'aidait à appliquer les sentences rendues par les tribunaux religieux qui continuaient, officieusement, à arbitrer également des litiges civils. Parmi ceux-ci, on distinguait : le Beit-Din le Yetomim ve Almanoth, qui statuait sur les questions de succession pour les veuves et orphelins ; le Beit-Din le Mamounoth, spécialisé en matière de droit civil et de divorces ; le Beit-Din le Hazakot ve le Hirei Shehinim qui jugeait des affaires ayant trait aux privilèges de priorité et d'autorité et aux problèmes de voisinages fonciers. A peu près cent rabbins étaient rattachés à l'administration rabbinique. En plus de leurs fonctions liturgiques, juridiques et éducatives, ils étaient chargés de divers autres services, surtout de nature religieuse. Selon le nouveau système, les délégués administratifs de la communauté étaient élus tous les quatre ans. Seuls ceux qui payaient la taxe communale (petcha) avaient le droit de vote, à savoir 1 300 chefs de famille sur 13 0 0 0 f a m i l l e s en 1912, c ' e s t à dire 1 0 % des m e m b r e s de la C o m m u n a u t é . Ils élisaient 7 0 représentants pour l'Assemblée générale (Assamblea generala), et celle-ci, dirigée par le Grand Rabbin, était l'organe législatif suprême. L'Assemblée générale élisait à son tour un Conseil administratif (Consilio comunal) de 12 membres, chargé du pouvoir exécutif et veillant au bon fonctionnement de la Communauté et de ses institutions. Elle élisait également un Conseil consultatif (Consilio consultativo) de 5-6 m e m b r e s (consejeros), habilité à émettre des avis en cas de problèmes dinanciers avec les autorités. Elle élisait enfin un Conseil économique de 9 m e m b r e s (Mijlish gashmi). L e personnel du secrétariat communautaire comptait 100 employés et un directeur nommé Canzelar. Voici quelle était la provenance des ressources de la Communauté : 1. taxe communale ou petcha, pourcentage basé sur l'impôt sur le revenu payé par tous les contribuables ; 2. impôts sur la consommation ou "gabelles", collectés chez les marchands de viandes, de poissons, de fromages, de vins, de sucre, de halva et d'azymes de Pâques, et qui représentaient un pourcentage sur le bénéfice, versé pour obtenir l'autorisation de la Kasherout ; 3. impôts prélevés sur les contrats de mariage, un pourcentage relativement bas ne

94

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

dépassant pas 0,25 % destiné à doter les jeunes filles indigentes ; 4. locations des biens immobiliers de la Communauté ; 5. donations, legs, collectes et subventions accordées par l'Etat.

Les institutions et associations philanthropiques

et culturelles

En 1885, la Communauté fut déchargée de la responsabilité collective du paiement des impôts à l'Etat, et son niveau de vie s'améliora, ce qui contribua à l'augmentation de ses revenus et lui permit de mettre en place tout un réseau d'institutions sociales et philanthropiques. Ainsi fut-elle en mesure de fonctionner comme une municipalité et de répondre à tous les besoins de la population juive. L'institution la mieux administrée et la plus ancienne, dont la création remontait au XVI e siècle, était l'hôpital Bikour-Holim, qui gérait aussi des cabinets médicaux dans les quartiers ouvriers. Ceux-ci offraient gratuitement soins, médicaments et nourriture aux nécessiteux. L'hôpital Hirsch, d'une capacité de 99 lits, construit en 1907 grâce à la donation du baron du même nom, réservait 49 lits aux pauvres, qui étaient hospitalisés gratuitement. Cet hôpital était d'ailleurs si bien équipé qu'il fut cédé en 1945 à l'État grec, après la destruction de la Communauté durant l'occupation nazie. Il fonctionne encore de nos jours en tant que Aghias Sofias ou Hippocrateion. Le "Matanot la Evyionim", fondé en 1901, assurait un repas chaud aux élèves désargentés et possédait des annexes à Kalamaria et à Vardari. Il existait également un asile d'aliénés ("Lieto Noah"), fondé en 1908 par le poète Salomon Shalem. Alors que les institutions de ce type étaient rares, voire inexistantes à l'époque, cet asile appliquait des méthodes thérapeutiques d'avant-garde et prônait la réhabilitation plutôt que l'enfermement des malades. La même année, l'orphelinat Allatini pour garçons vit le jour. Il fut créé par Charles Allatini, Moïse Morpurgo et Yakov Covo. L'hospice de vieillards Saiil Modiano date de la même période et existe encore aujourd'hui. Toujours pendant cette période, et grâce aux initiatives privées de particuliers influencés par l'esprit humanitaire de l'Alliance, de nombreuses associations philanthropiques furent créées ou modernisées. Elles couvraient un large éventail de besoins et bénéficiaient du soutien de la Communauté. Citons-en quelques unes : "Ozer Dalim" ; "Malbish Aroumim" ; la société "Hessed Olam ve Or ha Haïm", créée en 1853 par le docteur Allatini, qui réorganisa le "Bikour Holim" ; la société "Zdaka ye Hessed" ("Charité et Pieuse Miséricorde"), elle aussi fruit des efforts du Dr Allatini, qui rénova le Talmud Tora. Il faut également mentionner : l'association "Etz Haïm", créée par le rabbin Yakov Covo en 1874 et financée par une importante imprimerie

LE

RENOUVEAU

ENTRE

1856

ET

1919

95

du même nom, qui fournit les soins aux victimes de l'incendie et aux malades sans famille ; l'association "Hermandad", société des artisans israélites ; la Fondation Avr. Revah ("Koupat Yetoumot"), fonds destiné à doter les jeunes orphelines ; l'Union des bourses pour orphelins ("Agoudat Tomhei Yetoumim ve Yetoumot"). Parmi d'autres sociétés encore, "Agoudat Esra le Yoldot" assurait la distribution gratuite de vivres, de charbon, de vêtements et de couvertures aux accouchées sans ressources et aux orphelins. La "Hesscd ve Emet" fut fondée dans le but d'améliorer l'état des cimetières. Enfin, les sociétés "Tifereth Israël" et "Tora u Melaha" enseignaient les métiers manuels aux jeunes filles et garçons nécessiteux et assuraient la distribution de matériel scolaire. Au début du XX e siècle l'essor de la petite et moyenne bourgeoisie au sein de la Communauté, tout comme la laïcisation de l'éducation, contribuèrent au développement d'une classe moyenne et à sa prise de conscience culturelle et politique, comme en témoigne l'apparition d'associations répondant à ses nouveaux besoins. Leurs membres déployèrent une intense activité : organisation de bibliothèques, de conférences, de cours, de manifestations culturelles, de spectacles. Ils publièrent journaux et revues, et contribuèrent ainsi au développement culturel de leurs coreligionnaires. Pour se protéger des efforts systématiques de la Grèce qui encourageait la prépondérance politique et économique des communautés orthodoxes grécophones dans les territoires ottomans qu'elle revendiquait (la Macédoine, en particulier), deux associations furent constituées en 1873. Citons d'abord le "Club des Intimes" - dont la bibliothèque était fameuse - , qui fut fondé par un groupe d'intellectuels soucieux de protéger les professionnels juifs que la stratégie grecque avait durement frappés. Ce Club s'unit en 1890 au "Grand Cercle Commercial" dont l'objectif était identique(néanmoins le Club des Intimes fut recrée en 1908). En second lieu, le "Club de Salonique", mieux connu sous le nom de "Cercle de Salonique", avait pour objectif de promouvoir cordialité et fraternité entre les diverses communautés et minorités. Il était le fruit de la collaboration entre des personnalités saloniciennes, grecques et juives, qui préconisaient cette forme d'action plus constructive. Certains parmi ses membres, tel le docteur Allatini, concrétisaient cet esprit par des donations importantes à l'autre communauté. En 1897 fut fondée l'Association des anciens élèves de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle qui mit sur pied une importante bibliothèque musicale, une section sportive et un service de prêt. L'Association des Anciens élèves de l'Ecole franco-allemande, fondée en 1907, était du même genre.

96

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Les Juifs n'étant pas admis à l'époque dans les organisations professionnelles chrétiennes orthodoxes, l'une des activités les plus importantes des "Intimes"(I908) fut l'organisation des artisans et des ouvriers qualifiés, pour la plupart anciens élèves de l'Alliance, en corporations professionnelles juives. La création de ces dernières permit une prise de conscience politique chez le prolétariat juif qui adhéra à la première Fédération Socialiste de la ville. Probablement la plus importante organisation socialiste de l'Empire, la Fédération fut fondée en 1909 par, entre autres, Avraam Benaroya, Albert Dassa et Albert Arditti. Bien qu'il se soit agi là d'une initiative propre à l'élément juif de Salonique, la Fédération Socialiste, fidèle à son idéologie, publiait ses journaux (Solidaridad obradera, El Jornal del Lavorador etAvanti) en quatre langues, ce qui permettait d'exposer ses idées aux ouvriers des autres communautés de la ville, dont elle gagna la confiance et l'adhésion. En 1913 fut créée l'association "Ahdout" (Union pour la défense des droits politiques, l'assistance judiciaire et l'octroi de prêts sans intérêt aux Juifs). Cette organisation fut une préfiguration de la Fédération juive professionnelle, fondée en 1919 par la fusion de vingt et une associations corporatives juives, comptant 10 000 membres auxquels elle assurait le soutien mutuel, la défense de leurs droits et une aide à l'amélioration de la qualité de leurs produits. Le mouvement des Jeunes Turcs qui vit le jour à Salonique et qui comptait un grand nombre de sympathisants juifs, favorisa à partir de 1908 la création de nombreuses associations culturelles d'orientation sioniste qui témoignaient de l'apparition d'une conscience nationale juive. Les plus importantes publiaient des journaux et disposaient de bibliothèques richement pourvues. Toutes encourageaient le développement du sentiment national en organisant des conférences et des cours sur la langue et la culture hébraïque. Parmi elles, on peut citer la "Kadima" qui publiait le journal El Avenir (1897), la "Maccabi", à l'origine club sportif, qui créa par la suite une section pour la jeunesse et le scoutisme, la "Bnei Zion", la "Theodor Herzl", la "Tifereth Israël", la "Bialik", la "Gheoula", la "Max Nordau", la "Menora", le "Bnei Brit", le "Nouveau Club" qui éditait la Tribuna Libéra, "l'Hatehya", la "Shahar", la "Tnuat Tora ve Avoda", la "Mevasseret Zion", "l'Association des Jeunes Juifs" qui publiait le Pro-Israël, etc. La plupart d'entre elles furent créées après 1912. A la même époque, les sionistes surtout, mais également les partisans de l'assimilation (idée encouragée par l'Alliance), se mobilisèrent en faveur du projet d'internationalisation de la ville, craignant que son éventuel rattachement à la Grèce ne la réduise au rang de cité frontalière et ne la coupe de son hinterland balkanique dont les quatre millions d'habitants représentaient

LE

RENOUVEAU

ENTRE

1856

ET

1919

97

depuis des siècles le débouché le plus important pour ses négociants. L a communauté juive prévoyait que l'hellénisation de la ville entraînerait non seulement son déclin économique mais également la marginalisation de l'ensemble de ses m e m b r e s , qui seraient donc contraints d ' é m i g r e r massivement. Toutefois, la campagne de propagande que l'Autriche, la Bulgarie et la Serbie menèrent, après 1912, et principalement à Salonique, pour tenter de faire croire qu'elles partageaient les inquiétudes des Juifs quant aux conséquences de la souveraineté hellénique, incita l'Etat grec à adopter, sans retard, une politique projuive des plus inattendues. Celle-ci permettait d'apaiser la Communauté tout en détruisant les arguments des trois pays en question dont elle dévoilait par contrecoup les visées expansionnistes. En outre, l'annexion par la Grèce des zones sud de la Macédoine motamment la ville de K a v a l a (à la suite de la convention de Bucarest) p e r m i t d'agrandir considérablement la région de Salonique, qui se trouva ainsi dotée d'un arrièrepays rural. Pour couronner le tout, la Grèce faisait valoir que son alliance avec la Serbie allait profiter à Salonique en lui o f f r a n t des opportunités économiques supplémentaires. Le gouvernement grec renforça ce climat optimiste en satisfaisant toutes les revendications des Juifs, notamment en leur octroyant certains privilèges provisoires destinés à faciliter leur adaptation. L'arrivée des armées alliées de la Première Guerre mondiale provoqua par ailleurs un regain de l'activité commerciale. La réconciliation de l'élément juif avec le pays qui devenait sa nouvelle patrie fut aussi encouragée par les déclarations officielles du g o u v e r n e m e n t hellénique qui réservait à cette é p o q u e un accueil enthousiaste au rétablissement d'un État juif en Palestine. Grecs orthodoxes et Juifs sionistes partageaient, cela vaut d'être souligné, des revendications nationales communes visant au démembrement de l'Empire ottoman. Le faste déployé dans toute la ville en n o v e m b r e 1918 pour la célébration du premier anniversaire de la déclaration Balfour et le climat d'allégresse à l'occasion de ces cérémonies, qui ne connut pas d'équivalent dans les autres communautés juives d'Europe, constituent un indice des plus révélateurs du caractère juif de Salonique. Le fait que la Communauté, tout en ne cessant d'affirmer son identité propre, ait pu conserver son équilibre social et politique dans cette ville appartenant désormais à un Etat-nation, et non plus à un Empire, confirme le caractère exceptionnel de la présence juive à Salonique. La cité maintenait cette particularité qui avait incité quelques années auparavant les grands chefs sionistes tels que Ben Gourion, Ben Zvi et Jabotinsky à la visiter : ils voyaient en elle la société juive modèle dont devrait s'inspirer la Palestine.

LES JUIFS TANZIMAT1

D'ISTANBUL

AVANT

ET APRES

LES

Les Juifs sont présents dans la région de Constantinople depuis l'époque romaine 2 (environ 390 après J.C.) Ils furent sous l'Empire byzantin l'une des plus importantes minorités de la ville3. Contrairement cependant à leurs coreligionnaires de Salonique, ils vivaient dans les limites d'un quartier spécial, le Stenum, connu par la suite sous le nom de Fera4. Après la prise de Constantinople par les Ottomans en 1453, une politique de peuplement massif de la ville (ou surguri) fit venir de nombreux Juifs de tout l'Empire, et ils s'y établirent, volontaires ou contraints. Ils constituèrent le noyau de la plus importante communauté hébraïque de l'Empire ottoman, après celle de Salonique. L'expulsion des Juifs d'Espagne en 1492, et du Portugal en 1497, conduisit à une émigration massive des Juifs dans les centres urbains de l'Empire ottoman, particulièrement à Salonique et à Istanbul. La contribution des Juifs d'Espagne, Séfardim ou Séfarades 5 , à la vie économique, politique et culturelle de l'Empire fut importante : ils introduisirent de nouvelles techniques et de nouveaux métiers ; ils maintenaient des relations avec leur coreligionnaires d'Europe occidentale, connaissaient des langues étrangères et se distinguaient par leur niveau culturel élevé. On dit que Beyazid II, le 8 e sultan ottoman, leur permit de s'installer dans l'Empire, car il avait entendu parler du rôle dynamique qu'ils avaient joué dans l'économie et la culture des pays européens. Mais, avec l'écoulement du temps, les Juifs avaient perdu au XVII e siècle leurs contacts avec l'Europe, et ils cessèrent désormais d'être le fer de lance de l'Empire. A la faveur dont ils avaient fait l'objet au début de leur implantation succédèrent des mesures répressives de la part du gouvernement, dues à la pression des chefs religieux musulmans, les oulémas. 1 Article paru en langue grecque dans les Actes du Syndesmos ton en Athinais Megaloscholiton : "I parousia ton ethnikon meionotiton stin Konstandinoupoli ton 19° aiona" (La présence des minorités nationales à Constantinople au XIX e siècle), pp. 155-169. ^''Istanbul", Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, t. 5, p. 623. 3 Z. CEL1K, The remaking of Istanbul, Seattle, 1986, p. 21. ^A. SHARF, Byzantine Jews from Justinian to the Fourth Crusade, New York, 1971, pp. 153154. S.B. BOWMAN, The Jews of Byzantium, 1204-1453, Alabama, 1985, p. 52. 5 E n hébreu, Sefarad signifie "Espagne".

100

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Des catastrophes naturelles, des incendies et épidémies ajoutèrent à la détresse de la population juive. Ils se déplacèrent vers d'autres quartiers ou d'autres villes, ce qui provoqua d'importantes modifications démographiques. Ces événements eurent une dramatique influence à la fois sur l'équilibre démographique et sur l'organisation administrative de la Communauté. Par le passé, l'organisation c o m m u n a u t a i r e s'était f o n d é e sur des synagogues indépendantes et auto-administrées, qui s'étaient constituées en fonction de la région d'origine des fidèles et de la langue qu'ils pratiquaient, et qui avaient souvent conservé des formes de culte et des coutumes particulières. Les Juifs se voyaient à présent contraints d'adopter de nouveaux modèles culturels puisque dans leur nouveau lieu d'établissement il leur fallait prier dans des synagogues différentes qui fonctionnaient en tant que paroisses. Au XVIII e siècle, Balat et Haskoy étaient encore de grands quartiers juifs, mais d'autres virent le jour, comme le quartier juif de Galata, d'égale importance 1 . Durant cette période, et jusqu'au X I X e siècle, la communauté juive d'Istanbul perdit ses privilèges et subit les répercussions de l'effondrement de l'Empire. En 1833, il y avait 30 000 Juifs 2 dans la capitale. Ils étaient 55 000 3 à la fin du siècle. Parmi ceux-ci, 51 000 étaient des Séfarades, 3 000 étaient des Juifs Ashkénazes, et 500 étaient des "Karaïtes" 4 . Malgré le fait que les Séfarades étaient beaucoup plus nombreux, c o m m e ils l'étaient d'ailleurs à Salonique, ils ne purent jamais assimiler les autres minorités juives. Ainsi, les Karaïtes se virent reconnaître le statut de minorité religieuse - ou millet par l'Etat. Pour leur part, les Ashkénazes, qui appartenaient officiellement au même millet que les Séfarades, étaient régis, à leur demande, par des règles de fonctionnement statutaires spéciales et distinctes 5 . Cette situation provenait de ce que la communauté séfarade elle-même ne f u t jamais unifiée (y compris après les réformes de 1867) alors qu'elle était régie par une charte statutaire unique et qu'elle fonctionnait sous une administration communautaire centrale. Concrètement, parmi les quarante synagogues publiques 6 que comptait Istanbul, vingt environ fonctionnaient en tant que centres paroissiaux communautaires officiels ; ces derniers étaient indépendants les uns des autres et ils correspondaient aux différents quartiers où étaient rassemblée la ! a v . GALANTE, Histoire des Juifs d'Istanbul, Istanbul 1940, t. 1, p. 70. "Istanbul", Encyclopedia Judaica, t. 9, p. 1092. 2 "IstanbuI", The Jewish Encyclopedia, t. 4, p. 242. ^S. SHAW, "The population of Istanbul in the 19th century", International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 10,1979, pp. 266-267. 4Le Karaïsme est une hérésie juive qui vit le jour au VIII e siècle en Mésopotamie et se propagea principalement en Egypte et en Palestine. Les Karaïtes n'acceptent pas les commentaires sur la Bible, c'est à dire le Talmud, qui interprète la Loi orale. 5 Projet de statut organique des communautés juives de Turquie, Appendice, p. 4. Archives de l'Institut Ben Zvi de Jérusalem. 6 Av. GALANTE, Les synagogues d'Istanbul, Istanbul, 1937.

LES J U I F S D ' I S T A N B U L AVANT ET A P R E S LES TANZIMAT

101

population juive 1 . Dans la capitale, les différentes communautés juives - ou Ashgahot - étaient surtout reconnaissablcs par le nom des quartiers où elles vivaient (mélangées avec des Musulmans et des Chrétiens). On peut ainsi citer 2 : — Les communautés de Galata, Péra et Chichli. — Les communautés de Sirkedji, Makri-Keuy, Yedikoul et San Stefano. — La communauté de Balat et banlieue. — La communauté de Haskeuy et banlieue. — Les communautés de Haïdar-Pacha, Cadi-Keuy, des rives de Marmara et des îles aux Princes. — La communauté de Kouskoundjouk. — La communauté de Dag Hamam, sur la rive asiatique. — Les communautés de Beshiktash, Ortakeuy, des rives européennes et du Bosphore. — Enfin, la communauté des Ashkénazes, qui se trouvait aussi à Galata. Cette division des Juifs en de nombreuses communautés (ce qui, du reste, continuait la situation existant avant le XV e siècle) retarda sérieusement leur évolution et leur adaptation au monde moderne, y compris à l'époque des Réformes. La plupart des Juifs de la capitale étaient pauvres et appartenaient aux classes sociales les plus déshéritées. Us étaient avant tout petits commerçants, marchands ambulants, domestiques et bateliers. Les réformes de 1839, qui ouvrirent la voie du progrès aux non-Musulmans, laissèrent les Juifs indifférents. L'Ecole de médecine qui acceptaient toutes les minorités ethnico-religieuses n'attira les étudiants juifs que 34 ans plus tard. Aucune femme juive ne jugea intéressant de répondre à l'invitation officielle et publique lancée lors de la fondation de l'Ecole de sages-femmes, en 1842. Aucun écolier juif ne s'inscrit non plus au lycée officiel fondé à Galata-Saraïoù l'enseignement était dispensé en français, par des professeurs français puisque les parents n'étaient pas prêts à confier l'éducation de leurs enfants à des Chrétiens enseignant dans une école turque. Dans le même temps, la première école moderne juive qui ouvrit à Piri-Pacha en 1854, et fut placée plus tard sous la protection du comte Abraham de Camondo, devint la cible des réactionnaires, qui considéraient l'enseignement du français comme un péché, au point qu'ils obtinrent l'excommunication du

1

Projet de statut organique des communautés juives de Turquie, op. cit., chap. 8, p. 4. Ibid.

2

102

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

comte. L ' é c o l e de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle 1 , fondée en 1875, f u t également l'objet d'attaques similaires, ainsi qu'une une école rabbinique, en 1895, où il avait été question que l'enseignement soit dispensé en turc. Ces réactions étaient dues au médiocre niveau des rabbins, qui ignoraient les valeurs de réflexion critique du Judaïsme et n'étaient habités que de préjugés dogmatiques. A la même époque, Grecs et Arméniens progressaient car leur clergé s'efforçait d'avoir un haut niveau d ' i n s t r u c t i o n , tandis que les Juifs régressaient, administrés par des rabbins fanatiques et rétrogrades. Ces derniers tenaient les femmes pour responsables des fréquentes épidémies de peste, parce qu'elles participaient à des rassemblements publics où se trouvaient des hommes, parce qu'elles rendaient visite à leur fiancé ou encore parce qu'elles découvraient leurs cheveux. Ils allaient j u s q u ' à leur arracher des aveux sans fondement, qui provoquaient le plus souvent des séparations ou des divorces. M a i s les actions nuisibles des rabbins touchaient également d ' a u t r e s domaines. En tant que seuls tuteurs des orphelins mineurs, ils géraient les biens de ces derniers qu'ils dépossédaient la plupart du temps. Leur arrogance atteignit son paroxysme en 1859. Un rabbin se présenta chez le comte Abraham ( ' a m o n d o 2 et l'injuria. Bien qu'il ait été arrêté et emprisonné par les autorités ottomanes, les rabbins organisèrent une manifestation, encerclant de leurs barques le caique du Sultan Abdul Aziz (1861-1876) qui allait prier à la mosquée d'Eyub, et lui arrachèrent la promesse de l'acquittement et de la libération de l'agresseur 3 . Cet événement fut le signal de la rupture entre le clergé et les laïcs. La Communauté se divisa en deux clans, les conservateurs et les progressistes. Ces derniers prirent l'initiative de réorganiser la Communauté, selon l'exemple de la communauté arménienne qui avait déjà obtenu une charte statutaire par décret impérial en 1860 4 .

!Av. GALANTE, Histoire des Juifs de Turquie, Istanbul, réédition de 1985, t. 5, pp. 10-12. ^Abraham Cammondo (1785-1873) était issu d'une famille d'aristocrates juifs. Il avait réussi à faire venir une partie de sa fortune dans l'Empire ottoman. Au début du XIX e siècle, quand la plupart des membres de sa famille s'installèrent en France, le comte A. Cammondo fonda une banque qui connut un développement immédiat au point qu'elle put consentir des prêts importants à l'Etat ottoman. Il occupa également le poste de Conseiller économique de l'Autriche et de l'Italie. Il avait de nombreuses relations aussi bien en Europe que dans l'Empire. Son influence sur les milieux ottomans lui permit de venir en aide à la Communauté ainsi qu'à de nombreux particuliers. Grâce à son intervention, le marché immobilier de Péra fut accessible aux Juifs de la capitale, qui purent édifier et agrandir des synagogues, mais aussi rétablir l'institution du Grand Rabbinat. Plus importante encore fut sa contribution morale et financière à la modernisation de l'enseignement juif à Istanbul, ainsi qu'à la création et au fonctionnement de fondations philanthropiques. 3 Av. GALANTE, Histoire des Juifs de Turquie, op. cit., t. 5, pp. 10-12. 4

A . UBICINI et P. de COURTEILLE, Etat présent de l'Empire ottoman, Paris 1876, pp. 205206. Journal Israélite, Istanbul, 2 août 1863.

L E S J U I F S D ' I S T A N B U L A V A N T E T A P R E S L E S TANZIMAT

103

Le groupe progressiste présenta au gouvernement une proposition de charte statutaire de réformes pour le millet juif, conformément aux impératifs du Hatl-i Humayun (1856) qui appelait chaque communauté non musulmane à réexaminer ses droits acquis comme ses doléances, et à soumettre à la Sublime Porte un mémoire en conséquence. Par décret impérial - ou iradé - du 8 juillet 1867, les autorités ottomanes donnèrent pouvoir au Grand Rabbin de Andrinople (aujourd'hui Edirne), Yiakir Guéron, d'assurer l'intérim à Istanbul1, et de superviser le synode des représentants communautaires de l'Empire, pour la rédaction du statut de fonctionnement et de réorganisation du millet juif. La rédaction de la charte statutaire s'attacha à limiter le pouvoir rabbinique. Ce premier statut concernait les Juifs d'Istanbul, mais constitua en même temps un modèle pour les autres grandes communautés (comme par exemple celles de Salonique, Smyrne ou Bagdad) qui rédigèrent un an plus tard leurs propres statuts, adaptés à leurs diverses particularités2. Les réformes visaient à la création de nouvelles institutions législatives et exécutives, dotées de compétences concrètes. Un grand nombre d'articles suggéraient que le but principal du statut était la démocratisation de l'administration communautaire et la lutte contre la corruption. Le Grand Rabbin fut placé à la tête du millet juif de l'Empire, en tant que principal exécutant des ordres gouvernementaux et son représentant devant la Porte. Il devait être sujet ottoman, âgé de trente à soixante-dix ans, avoir un caractère exemplaire et de la moralité ; il devait posséder de l'expérience aussi bien en matière temporelle que spirituelle. Si le siège du Grand Rabbin était vacant, le Conseil religieux et le Conseil laïc devaient composer ensemble une liste de cinq candidats, à partir de laquelle le Conseil laïc choisissait le nouveau rabbin à la majorité absolue 3 . D'après le nouveau statut, le Grand Rabbin était responsable, au sein de la Communauté, de l'exécution des décisions du Conseil lai'c et du Conseil religieux. Ses pouvoirs se bornaient maintenant à avertir et dénoncer les membres du Conseil dont les agissements ne respectaient pas les lois. Ils pouvaient également prendre des initiatives en cas d'urgence ou lorsque le Conseil était dans l'impossibilité de tenir séance extraordinaire. Ses décisions devaient cependant toujours être tôt ou tard entérinées par le Conseil. Pour contrôler la corruption, le statut interdisait que soient engagés des parents du Grand Rabbin dans l'administration communautaire, tandis qu'il prévoyait simultanément la mise à jour du cadastre communautaire par chaque nouveau Grand Rabbin qui devait le remettre à son successeur.

^ Le Grand Rabbin d'Istanbul avait alors été destitué. ''Av. GALANTE, Histoire des Juifs de Turquie, op. cit., t. 5, pp. 10-12. 3 Voir I. Karmi, The Jewish Community of Istanbul in the Nineteenth Century, The Isis Press Istanbul 1996.

104

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

L'administration communautaire était le fait de l'Assemblée générale, dont les membres étaient élus par le corps des citoyens juifs payant l'impôt communautaire. L'Assemblée générale, composée de 80 membres (60 élus par les citoyens d'Istanbul et des environs, qui choisissaient à leur tour 20 autres membres dans le corps rabbinique), avaient des pouvoirs législatifs et élisaient par la suite le Grand Rabbin et les membres des Conseils communautaires. L'Assemblée générale était convoquée tous les deux ans pour procéder aux élections. Théoriquement le corps des électeurs était majoré de 40 membres supplémentaires pour l'élection du Grand Rabbin de l'Empire et des membres de l'Assemblée générale. Ces membres supplémentaires devaient représenter les communautés de Smyrne, Andrinople, Brousse, Salonique, Bagdad, Alexandrie, Jaffa et Jérusalem, principaux Grands Rabbinats périphériques. Mais en réalité de telles élections n'eurent jamais lieu. I ,e pouvoir exécutif central était assisté de deux Conseils, le Conseil spirituel et le Conseil laïc. Le premier était composé de sept rabbins nommés à vie par l'Assemblée générale. Ils étaient responsables de l'observance de la religion et de l'obéissance aux lois de l'Etat. Ce Conseil spirituel pénalisait ou destituait les rabbins qui s'écartaient de la ligne adoptée et avait le droit de censurer la publication de travaux qui portaient préjudice aux intérêts des Juifs et de l'Etat. Il était contraint de se réunir deux à trois fois par semaine, et ses décisions devaient nécessairement être parafées par le président et le secrétaire du Conseil. Les membres qui manquaient trois séances consécutives, sans justification sérieuse, étaient radiés, tandis qu'il leur était interdit d'accepter quelque rétribution financière que ce soit, hors le salaire qu'ils percevaient en tant que rabbin. Le Conseil laïc, était composé d'un président et de huit membres élus par l'Assemblée générale pour une période de deux ans. Dans le cas d'une vacance de siège, le Conseil spirituel et le Conseil laïc choisissaient un remplaçant en collaboration avec le Grand Rabbin. Mais si plus d'un siège était vacant, l'Assemblée générale devait alors être convoquée, pour que l'on procède à des élections. Les membres du Conseil étaient nécessairement remplacés quand ils manquaient plus de quatre sessions consécutives sans justification. Le Conseil avait le devoir de superviser les intérêts quotidiens et matériels du millet juif, de veiller à l'application des lois statutaires dans les communautés provinciales, de respecter les obligations économiques de la communauté locale vis à vis de l'Etat et de protéger les intérêts des orphelins. De plus, les membres du Conseil administratif devaient être appréciés aussi bien par le millet que par la Porte, et, pour cette raison, il était opportun qu'ils connussent à la fois l'hébreu et le turc. Enfin, ils n'avaient pas le droit d'utiliser l'argent de la paye des employés communautaires et ils devaient encore publier un bilan économique tous les deux ans, à l'attention de l'Assemblée générale.

LES J U I F S D ' I S T A N B U L AVANT ET APRES LES TANZIMAT

105

A I s t a n b u l , l ' a d m i n i s t r a t i o n c e n t r a l e mise à part, les souscommunautés de quartiers ou de paroisses étaient administrées par des conseils locaux (les vingt rabbins qui participaient à l'Assemblée générale étaient issus de ces conseils). Chaque conseil surveillait les activités culturelles, éducatives et philanthropiques du quartier, mais il ne détenait que peu de pouvoirs administratifs et politiques. Bien que le nouveau système ait accru le pouvoir des autorités laïques, les résultats pratiques des réformes ne f u r e n t pas immédiatement perceptibles. Le nouveau statut, d'ailleurs, n'avait été accepté que sous la forte pression du gouvernement, qui ne s'intéressa cependant pas à son application à partir du moment où il se f û t assuré de la présence d'un personnel légal avec lequel il était possible de négocier. Par ailleurs, la tradition de non-intervention à l'intérieur du millet n'étaient pas la préoccupation première du gouvernement ottoman. Pour toutes ces raisons et contrairement à ce qui eut lieu à Salonique, le statut ne f u t appliqué à Istanbul qu'en 1909, c'est à dire quarante ans après sa publication, grâce à l'élection du premier Grand Rabbin progressiste, Haïm Nahoum, qui le réédita en français. L'accès des Juifs à la modernité au cours de la m ê m e période y f u t pour beaucoup, tout comme la révolution des Jeunes Turcs qui marque le début d'une période de vie politique intense dans l'Empire ottoman 1 . Les ressources financières de la C o m m u n a u t é provenaient de la contribution c o m m u n a u t a i r e - aariha, pourcentage de l'impôt d'Etat qu'acquittaient surtout les Juifs fortunés, et de l'impôt de la gabelle que payaient tous les consommateurs de viande kasher2 et que la Communauté encaissait auprès des bouchers. Un autre apport important provenait de l'impôt que la Communauté percevait sur les dots et les transactions commerciales (entre 0,5 % et 1 %), et sur les fortunes des défunts sans enfants. A partir de 1870, la collecte des impôts communautaires, jusqu'alors effectuée par des collecteurs d'impôts professionnels, f u t prise en charge par des commissions spéciales d'employés communautaires ou de membres de divers conseils, choisis spécialement pour ce travail 3 . La modernisation de la communauté juive et la mise en pratique des réformes étaient directement liées à la réforme de l'enseignement. Mais les Juifs tardaient à s'intéresser à ce sujet, car ils n'étaient pas inspirés par une vision nationale, comme c'était le cas pour les millet chrétiens. La première tentative de régénération de leur éducation f u t le fait de l'Etat, soucieux d'augmenter la participation des Juifs — restreinte jusqu'en 1840 — dans ^W. WE1KER, Ottoman Turks and the Jewish Policy, University Press of America New York 1992, pp. 151-156. ^Les viandes de bétail et de volaille tuées selon les canons de la religion juive. Le porc et la venaison, interdits, n'étaient pas inclus. 3 Projet de statut organique des communautés juives de Turquie, op. cit., chap. 5, p. 2.

106

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

l'administration ottomane. Les autorités ottomanes exercèrent de fortes pressions sur la communauté juive afin que des élèves juifs s'inscrivent dans les écoles d'Etat. Mais les Juifs ne répondant pas, Abdiil-Mecid ordonna, en 1847, qu'un rabbin f û t embauché dans l'Ecole de médecine (créée en 1827) et qu'une cuisine spéciale fût créée où seraient respectées les règles d'alimentation de la religion juive. La même année, 15 élèves juifs s'inscrivirent à l'Ecole, en m ê m e temps que 300 Turcs, 4 0 Grecs et 2 9 Arméniens. Jusqu'en 1885, 9 9 Juifs d'Istanbul servaient dans l'administration publique, de m ê m e que 348 Grecs, 4 9 4 Arméniens et 150 Catholiques 1 . L'intervention de l'Etat dans la modernisation de l'éducation contribua à la création d'une couche sociale de Juifs éduqués et facilita le travail des organisations philanthropiques juives occidentales qui poursuivaient le même but. La plus importante de ces organisations - créée dans le but de civiliser les Juifs orientaux par la fondation d'établissements techniques et éducatifs juifs qui fourniraient une éducation occidentale - f u t l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, fondée à Paris en 1860. L'Alliance s'était donné pour but l'émancipation professionnelle et l'intégration sociale des Juifs dans les pays où ils résidaient. L'organisation fournissait une partie des fonds nécessaires à la création et au fonctionnement des écoles, des programmes scolaires, mais aussi des enseignants et des directeurs formés dans une école spéciale en France. En 1912, l'Alliance avait fondé 115 écoles dans l'Empire ottoman, dont 71 étaient destinées aux garçons et 4 4 aux filles. De 1874 à 1908 l'organisation fonda à Istanbul 11 écoles, 6 pour les garçons et 5 pour les filles. En 1912 les écoles de l'Alliance comptaient plus de 4 000 élèves des deux sexes dont la moitié seulement payaient des droits de scolarité 2 . L'impulsion donnée par l'organisation avait eu un retentissement tel qu'elle entraîna aussi la réorganisation de l'enseignement religieux dans les écoles des conservateurs. De ce point de vue on peut considérer que l'Alliance joua un rôle primordial dans l'accès des Juifs à la modernité.

LEVY, The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire, Princeton, 1992, pp. 108-115. R e n a MOLHO,"Jewish Female Education in Salonica at the end of the 19th century", Communication au 1er symposium du Bulletin of Judeo-Greek Studies, Cambridge, juillet 1995.

2

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS ESTABLISHED IN SALONICA FOLLOWING THE 1890 AND 1917 FIRES1

Until the middle of 1890, all the Jewish neighbourhoods, along with two Greek and two Turkish ones, extended as far as the north-eastern end of Salonica, taking up the entire centre of the town and the seafront. Limited in size and densely populated, this area was also the commercial centre of the city, the agora or marketplace, and the port, and thus contained the highest concentration of business and professional activity. Many of its streets had Judeo-Spanish, and sometimes Turcified names, in honour of local rabbis or synagogues, such as Castilia Havrasi Djadesi (Castilia Havrasi Caddesi = Castilia Synagogue Street), Haham Asher, Haham Matalon, Boyadji Davi (Boyaci David = David the Painter). Several of these names were still in use when Salonica was annexed to Greece in 1913. The majority of the seventeen Jewish quarters mentioned in the Ottoman fiscal registers 2 also had JudeoSpanish names: Rogos, Pulia (Apulia), Barou (Barukh), Bedaron (Beit Aharon), Malta, Kulhan, Ez Hayim, Agudah, Leviye (Leviyah), etc. The only exceptions were the neighbourhoods of Aghia Sofia (Sofia), Djedide (Cedide), Tophane, Findik, Kadi, Salhane, and Yeni Havlu, which had Ottoman names. 3 The demolition of the ramparts of Salonica in 1866, and especially the fires of 1890 and 1917, 4 which destroyed the most important and the most densely populated part of the commercial sector, forced the Jews to disperse all over the city. This change introduced a new dimension into the Jewish character of the city (maps 1 and 2). The study of the living conditions in the new working-class neighbourhoods enables us to investigate an aspect of the social structure of Salonica's Jewish society that is also inextricably linked with its institutional organization. Published in Minna Rozen, editor, The Last Ottoman Century and Beyond : The Jews in Turkey and the Balkans, 1808-1945, vol. II, ( Proceedings of the International Conference on The Jewish Communities in the Balkans and Turkey in the 19th and 20th Centuries through the End of World War II, the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center Tel Aviv University 5-8 June 1995), Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 2002, pp. 173-194.1 would like to thank Ph.D. candidate Devin Nar for re-editing the article. 2 V . Demetriades, Topografla tis Thessalonikis kata tin epohi tis Tourkokratias,1430-1912, in Greek, (Topography of Salonica during the Ottoman occupation 1430-1912), Thessaloniki, 1983. pp. 153-177. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid, pp. 458-459.

108

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The Fire of 1890. Communal Assistance to the Victims and the Refugees. Collection and Distribution of Funds On September 4, 1890,1 the poorer and the most crowded streets in the northwest and west of Salonica fell pray to flames that destroyed 2,000 houses, most of them shacks inhabited by Jews. 2 A group of fire victims found shelter in the central Talmud Tora haGadol building, which had recently been repaired. However, the majority of the victims, 25,000 people, were forced to camp in the streets, until the Community came to their aid. 3 The Communal Council, assisted by the Local Board of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and by the Grand Cercle Commercial,4 undertook an immediate campaign for the collection of funds; through donations, loans, and hastily gathered contributions, they secured the sum necessary for the relief of the victims of the fire. 5 However, during the period between April and September 1891, the trials and tribulations of the Salonica Jews intensified. The Community had barely come to grips with the disaster, when a wave of Corfiots and 2,000 Russian Jewish refugees — the victims of pogroms — arrived in Salonica seeking shelter. 6 The housing problem increased tenfold and, according to a local historian's eyewitness account,"The homeless made the city look like a military camp." 7 Salonica's citizens, already mobilized, again established societies 8 and special committees, and organized collections and fund-raising events. 9

1Archives de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle (hereafter: Arch, de l'AIU). Greece, VIII/E. 108, Letter by C. Allatini, 25 July 1893. Demetriades, Topography of Salónica..., op. cit., pp. 458-459; J. Nehama, Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, vol. 7 Thessalonique, 1978, p. 747. 3 Ibid. 4 Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, 25 July 1893. 5 Arch, de l'AIU, Greece. VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini. 9 July, 1896, J. Nehama, Israélites de Salonique, vol. 7. pp. 738-739. 6 Ibid.. pp. 739, 741; Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letters by C. Allatini, a)25 July 1893, b)23 Dec. 1896 and c)26 September 1897. 7 J . Nehama, Israélites de Salonique, vol. 7. pp. 738-739. S Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, of 9 Februaryl896. In his report on the Russian refugees and their problems, Allatini mentions the foundation of a society called "Ahavat Aher" (Aavat Aher = the love of the other). 9 Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, of 9 Februaryl896.

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

j^jj^m

109

Jewish neighborhoods Christian neighborhoods Muslim neighborhoods

j ' ' . i Commerical Secotr Boundary line of the burned area

Map 1. Salonica's Neighborhoods before 1890

My friend, Dr. Vilma Hastaoglou, Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, has kindly agreed to let me use her maps (1 & 2), first published in her article (in Greek) "On the State of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki after the Fire of 1917" ' Synhrona Themata, nos. 52-53, July-December 1994.

110

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Map 2. Jewish Neighbourhoods Created after 1890 & 1917

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

111

The double tragedy that had hit Salonica heightened public awareness, stimulating undifferentiated kindness towards the victims. According to Nehama, during that year the Jewish community received a large gift from the sultan, while the Greek and Italian governments, as well as Sir Rufus Isaacs, then Lord Mayor of London, sent other contributions. The Alliance Israélite Universelle collected significant sums in most Western European countries and in the United States, and presumably solicited the donations sent by the Hirsch family and by the Rothschilds of Paris, London, and Vienna. 1 In addition to the Central Board of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris, other Jewish societies, such as the Russian Committee of Frankfurt or the Russo-Jewish Committee, also sent contributions. 2 The total sum amassed was more than 40,000 Turkish lira. Half was used to provide for the victims of the fire and refugees, while the rest was invested in the purchase of land and the construction of new housing. 3 At first, two plots of land were acquired, amounting to 55,220 sq.m. One, a 19,740 sq.m. plot, was located east of the city in the suburb of Kalamaria; the other, a 35,480 sq.m. plot, was located in the north, in the suburb of Vardar. It was named after the Hirsch family, which was famous for its widespread philanthropic activity. The fact that Baroness Clara de Hirsch's contribution, which amounted to one-third of the building budget, was made in the name of Zadok Kahn, Great Rabbi of Paris, made no impression on Salonica's Jews, who never used this appellation. 4 The Kalamaria

Neighbourhood

We have no information about how long it took to complete the construction work nor do we know the exact date the new housing project was finished. But since funds were gathered promptly and, with winter approaching, housing the homeless was a matter of urgency, it can be assumed that the project was undertaken without delay. In any case, the new neighbourhoods must have been occupied by 1894, because the first available sources, dated 1897,5 mention a rent increase, which was customary after three years. 6 ' j . Nehama, Israélites de Salonique, vol. 7. p. 739. Arch. de l'AIU,Greece, V1H/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, of 9 February 1896. •'j. Nehama, Israélites de Salonique, vol. 7. p. 739. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid.; Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letters by C. Allatini, of 24 September 1897. This document consists of a letter by Charles Allatini, who was president of the Local Board of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Salonica at the time, and two reports describing the situation in the new neighbourhoods. Allatini was writing to the Secretary of the Central Committee in Paris asking him to apply to Baroness Hirsch for rent subsidies. To that end he included a detailed report in which he described what had been accomplished so far in each neighborhood, as well as the desiderata for each of them. 2

6

Ibid.; Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (hereafter: CAHJP), file 115, undated document — most likely pre-1924 — entitled "Rapporte de la Commission de estudio del projeta del Signor Daoud Levy por la reorganisation del systema de Adminstration de los quartieres communales".

112

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

According to the same source, seven years after the fire, the Kalamaria neighbourhood consisted of forty-one buildings of four apartments each. In fact, there were 164 identical apartments, each one consisting of a hallway, two rooms, a kitchen, a toilet, and a small courtyard. Though most of the families that settled there were large, they were given only one room each. Even though we do not have any data on the size of these rooms, one single room sometimes sufficed for a large family and an elderly widowed mother. Thus, 384 families were registered for the 324 available rooms. 1 In their reports, the communal notables, who had to collect the funds for the upkeep of the buildings, stressed the need to increase the number of apartments. Their aim was to provide two rooms for each family since they correctly believed that "crowding an entire family into one single room was harmful to their health as well as to their morality."2 This sounds more than reasonable at the end of the twentieth century, but at the end of the nineteenth these new apartments in Salonica were far more modem than others. Compared to the poor neighbourhoods of Istanbul or other Ottoman cities, 3 where it was common for ten to fifteen people to live in a single room with no attached facilities, the rooms in Salonica, housing a maximum of eight people each, were clearly superior. It should also be noted that, at that time, private toilets in working-class apartments were considered a luxury even in the cities of Western Europe.4 In addition, the Kalamaria quarter had its own boys' school, although the directors complained of the exiguity of its premises, judging them "inadequate for the 240 students attending it and those who were supposed to register." We ought to keep in mind, however, that the authors of these reports to the Alliance were trying to convince that organization to lend its support and also to use its influence to secure assistance from important

1

Ibid. Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, of 24 September 1897. 3 Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, of 24 September 1897. P. Dumont, "Jewish Communities in Turkey during the Last Decades of the Nineteenth Century in the Light of the Archives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle" in B. Braude and B. Lewis, eds., Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, vol. 1, New York, 1982, pp. 209-242. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letters by C. Allatini, of 24 September 1897; V. Colonas, "I epektassi tis Thessalonikis ektos ton teihon. Iconografia tis synoikias Hamidie", in Greek, (The expansion of Salonica outside the walls: illustration/portrait of the Hamidie Quarter (18851912) (Ph.D. diss., the Polytechnic School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 1991). p. 100. note 302. 2

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

113

benefactors. It was thanks to such vivid reports that in only six months 1 the neighbourhood committee acquired the funds for the establishment of a school for girls, many of whom until then had been "condemned to ignorancc and thereby exposed to the danger of taking the primrose path."2 Along with the grants from the Alliance, important benefactors, and the Community, a steady income should have flowed from rent for the apartments, fixed at one Turkish lira annually per room. However, since the families were all poor and most of them were unable to pay any rent at all, there was always a deficit in the neighbourhood's budget. Due to the lack of resources, the Special Committee was constantly in search of additional funds. In their reports to the donors, the committee members responsible for the care and maintenance of the schools repeatedly stressed their precarious financial situation. They estimated that their funds were inadequate for the establishment of new institutions, and were barely adequate to maintain the existing ones. The large number of sick individuals among the tenants compelled the committee to concentrate mainly on operations aimed at raising the level of public health, for example, by collecting garbage in the Kalamaria neighbourhood albeit via a poorly organized system.3 All the committee's care was not enough to protect the residents, many of whom were weak and undernourished, and therefore vulnerable to disease. In 1906, the members of the committee once again demonstrated their efficient decision-making abilities when an epidemic of meningitis broke out; fortyeight people in the neighbourhood were affected and three of them died. The president of the committee, Elie Benousiglio, alarmed by the threat of the epidemic's spread, gathered together the best doctors in town. They decided that the only way to prevent the disease from spreading was to evacuate from the quarter all those who had been infected. Benousiglio thought of the Hirsch Hospital, barely completed and not yet equipped. He took it upon himself to collect the necessary funds immediately. In the following days he had the patients transported there so that they could be treated quickly. 4

l

Arch. de I'AIU,Greece, VIII/E.109, Letter by J. Alphandary, 14 March 1898. Arch. de I'AIU,Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, 24 September, 1897. 3 Arch, de I'AIU,Greece, VIII/E.108, Letter by C. Allatini, 24 September, 1897. 4 E . Benousiglio, 35 chronia koinotikis zois (Thirty-five years of communal life) (manuscript preserved in the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, translated into Greek by the late president of the Jewish Community, David Benveniste), p. 1 2

114

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The Vardar de Hirsch Neighbourhood The Hirsch neighbourhood was constructed on the outskirts of the city, in an area near the train station at the opposite end of town from Kalamaria. In 1897, the Hirsch quarter consisted of 153 apartments of two rooms each, occupied by 285 families. Here, it would seem, some families had more than one room each. The 1.50 Turkish lira per room rent appears to indicate that this quarter was of a higher standard than the one in Kalamaria. Nevertheless, the report by the committee's secretary containing a table of the different categories of tenants, as well as an analysis of the quarter's budget, gives a different impression (Table I). 1 (This table is included here because it illustrates the composition of the neighbourhood and the financial situation of its inhabitants.)

Table 1. The 285 Families in the Vardar

in

de Hirsch

Neighbourhood

1897 —

Widows deprived of all means of existence who cannot afford their yearly rent

— — —

Disabled persons supported by public charity Poor able to pay only a small part of the rent Impoverished families (former merchants) barely able to afford half the rent Russian refugee families exempted from rent

—

85 45 54 39 62

For the sake of simplicity, the five categories of tenants can be divided into two groups: 93 families paid all or part of the rent (54+39) and 192 depended entirely on charity (85+45+62). The first group, one-third of the tenants, was the only one that contributed to the budget. The second group, two-thirds of the residents, was composed of widows, disabled persons, and Russian refugees, who were unable to work either because they had poor command of the language, lacked a trade or skill, or even because they had grown accustomed to living on charity; 2 all were cared for by the Community.

1 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report by the secretary of the neighborhoods committee, 26 Sept.1897, (signature cannot be deciphered). 2 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Letters by C. Allatini, a)25 July 1893, b)23 Dec. 1896 and c)26 September 1897. Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I/C.37, Letter by C. Allatini, 6 May 1895.

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS

115

NEIGHBORHOODS

This estimate is confirmed by data from the budget report of 1897 for the same quarter. 1 If each of the 285 families bad been in a position to pay the fixed rent of 1.50 Turkish lira (or 34.50 fr.) the income would have amounted to 9,832 fr. As Table 2 makes clear, the sum collected1 did not even reach 3,000 fr., or less than one-third of the total budget:

Table 2. The Vardar de Hirsch Neighbourhood Budget (in French francs) INCOME Rent from houses Rent from shops Communal contributions Alliance Israélite Universelle Total

—1897

3,000 650 3,450 1.000 8,100

EXPENDITURES Salaries of boys' school staff Salaries of girls'school staff Educational materials and school repairs Building repairs Salaries of rent collectors and doctors; medications, and medical expenses for the sick Clothing for students Total

4,000 600 15, 650

Total expenditures Total income Annual deficit

15,650 - 8.100 7,550

6,300 3,950 650 1,500

Though the rents in the Kalamaria quarter were lower, its budget deficit did not exceed 5,200 Fr francs. It is therefore possible that the standard of living in Kalamaria was better than in Vardar de Hirsch, while the difference in the rent could be due to Vardar's proximity to the centre. It should be noted, too, that Vardar's girls' school was housed in an unsuitable building and that the level of teaching was quite elementary, although the boys' school was identical to that of Kalamaria in both number of students and level of education.2

1 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report by the secretary of the committee of the Vardar de Hirsch neighborhood, 26 September 1897. 2 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report by the secretary of the committee of the Vardar de Hirsch neighborhood, 26 September 1897; CAHJP, file 229. school report by the school inspector covering the period between 6 Oct. 1920 until 3 Oct. 1921.

116

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

In Vardar de Hirsch the school also served as the synagogue. In addition, from the point of view of health, Vardar de Hirsch was in a worse part of town than any of the other working-class neighbourhoods. This, together with the social circumstances of its residents, made it fertile ground for the spread of epidemics 1

Hygienic Conditions in the Vardar Neighbourhood. The most widespread disease was malaria. Although it was not usually considered fatal, it could sometimes become very dangerous in only a few hours. It was this more life-threatening form of the disease that struck the neighbourhood at the end of 1897. Within three months it had decimated the population (30 schoolchildren died and the remaining 200 had become infected). Realizing that they were unable to eradicate the disease, communal leaders invited the best doctors in town to investigate the area's sanitary conditions.2 Thanks to the detailed, eight-page report prepared by Drs. Jacques Pacha Nissim (Ya'akov Pasha Nissim), Albert Sciaky, Isaie Sadoch (Yesha'ayah Zadoq), and Moi'se Misrahi, we know about the sanitary and social conditions in the Vardar neighbourhood. It was not the only neighbourhood to be hit by malaria. All the villages and small towns surrounding Salonica, as well as the entire city itself, including the wealthiest quarters, were affected. The cause of the disease was the periodic flooding of the Vardar river, which left swamps and small pools of dirty, stagnant water. Yet the Vardar quarter was even more vulnerable than the others. Situated near the railway station, it was right next to the disease-infested swamps, known in Salonica by the Judeo-Spanish name Bara (mud). 3 First and foremost, the investigation indicated that "pernicious fevers were rampant in the homes of the most destitute." This did not, however, refer to the Hirsch quarter, which was considered an "earthly paradise" compared to the other Vardar neighbourhoods such as Mustafa Efendi and Simtov Nahmias, 1 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. 2 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. This report mentions two other quarters in the suburb, one called Mustafa Efendi and the other Simtov Nahmias, which were located near the Vardar de Hirsch neighborhood. Unfortunately, there are apparently no other sources of information about them, even though they were densely populated: 500 families lived under much more precarious conditions than those in the Hirsch quarter. 3 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897.

JEWISH

WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

117

where people were living in shacks. These structures, which housed 500 families of more than ten persons each, were considered "unfit even for dogs." In addition to the poverty of the residents, the shacks themselves were rotting due to the constant dampness of the soil; this constituted a permanent danger to all the inhabitants of the suburb. Badly built, the shacks lacked even the elementary comforts of a few furnishings, blankets, a fire, or basic sustenance. This drove the doctors to protest that before protecting the inhabitants from malaria "we had to make sure that they did not die from hunger and cold." In addition, the drinking water, provided by a limited number of wells, was polluted because it came into contact with the cesspools. In this respect, the Hirsch quarter was not any safer, since even though each house had its own well, they were poorly maintained and were kept open and exposed. The inhabitants of this quarter carried their drinking water f r o m the railway station, while the residents of the other two neighbourhoods had to buy water of similar, inferior quality from water carriers. Finally, medical assistance appeared inadequate not only because of the lack of drugs, but also because the residents could not afford to pay the small tax on quinine prescriptions and had to wait until Saturday when the medicine could be obtained free of charge. 1 The most important part of the report, however, is the second chapter, which lists the remedial measures proposed by the medical team. It stated that the municipality must drain the swamps, clear the ditches, completely evacuate the Nahmias shacks, disinfect certain houses and wells in the other neighbourhoods, and, finally, provide potable water from the city's water company. The report urged the Community to give top priority to improving the standard of living and the health of the inhabitants of the Vardar neighbourhoods, even though the economic crisis had reduced the availability of communal funds. Since the medical team considered overcrowding to be the cause of numerous diseases, it recommended that the Community attempt to provide better housing for large families. Furthermore, it strongly suggested that the Community make a greater effort to provide nutritious food free of charge, at least for those who had been infected and were thus unable to work. Yet, first and foremost the communal board urged the renewal of the distribution of clothes and coal, "a praiseworthy ancient practice in the community, lately abandoned." In this way, the Community would be able to save on many kilos of quinine. In addition, the members of the medical team asked those responsible for the quarters to authorize the doctors and 1Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897.

118

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

pharmacists of the neighbourhood to prescribe more powerful doses of quinine,1 or to replace it with other, more effective drugs. 2 Finally, they asked that more patients be sent to the Italian hospital, where the community had the right to fifteen beds, 3 and urged it to establish a new dispensary in the Hirsch neighbourhood. It should be noted that the report's recommendations eloquently express the complementary activities of the Community and the municipality, established in 1869. 4 And, although the former's budget was more modest than that of the latter, the Community did not appear inferior in matters of organization. Salónica was the first Ottoman Jewish community to initiate working-class housing projects and it did so before any of the city's nonJewish communities. Moreover, by locating the new neighbourhoods in the previously undeveloped suburbs, it changed the face of the city.5 The number of people assisted by the Community represented almost half the Jewish population, i.e., one quarter of the city's inhabitants. The Community's ability to shoulder such burdens is undoubtedly convincing proof of its solid institutional and financial organization. In fact, it is impressive to note that in less than ten years the suggested solutions were implemented almost in full. In 1893, the municipality started to drain the Bara and installed a system for the distribution of drinking water. 6 A special donation from Baroness Hirsch was used to construct three new dispensaries, one in each of the working-class neighbourhoods. The Community took the welfare society, Matanot la-Evyonim, founded in 1901, under its auspices and distributed food and hot meals to the poor. Finally, the fact that Jews were sent to all the hospitals in town until the Community acquired its own facility in 1908, confirms the modernity of the Jews of Salónica, who appear to have been less strict on the subject of kosher food. ^ Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. Doses of 2 grams instead of 1.20 grams. 2 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. Such drugs as iodine, arsenic, and, most of all, powder of quinine and henecolte. Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. Ten of the fifteen beds were paid for by the generous contribution of the Baroness Hirsch. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, VIII/E.108, Report on the hygienic conditions in Vardar, 24 November 1897. "Le seul remède serait de dresser le sol de façon à empêcher la stagnation des eaux en faisant des nombreuses plantations, ce qui était hors des moyens de la Communauté." (The only remedy would be to prevent the formation of stagnating water by lanting numerous plants, which was beyond the means of the Community's budget.) P. Dumont, "Jewish Communities in Turkey." art. cit., pp. 210-216; A. Karadimos-Yerolympos, The redesigning and reconstruction of Salónica after the fire of 1917, in Greek, (Ph.D. diss., the Polytechnic School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 1985), p. 39. 6 P . Dumont, "Jewish Communities in Turkey." art. cit., pp. 210-216; A. Karadimos-Yerolympos, The redesigning.,.,op. cit., p.38.

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

119

The Problems of the Community Following the Fire of 1917 Unfortunately, the progress the Community achieved during the first two decades of the twentieth century suffered a serious setback after the fire of 1917, which destroyed the center of Salónica within a period of thirty-two hours. With the consequent exodus of the population to the suburbs, a chapter in the history of the city, a Jewish metropolis since the end of the fifteenth century, was closed. According to a census taken by the Greek government, the number of people dispossessed by the fire of August 18-19, 1917, reached 73,448; more than two-thirds, or 52,000, were Jewish, 1 while 4 0 , 0 0 0 of them were completely destitute. Many thousands were crammed into small rooms; 2,133 families were living in tents, and 695 families were sheltered in stables, wetrehouses, or in open fields. Of the 10,000 families who had been completely ruined, 8,000 had neither homes nor the means to earni a living. 2 The fire had reduced an area of 1,200,000 sq.m. to ashes, and 9,50010,000 businesses and homes were destroyed. 3 The financial loss totalled one billion francs or $200,000; 4 seventy-five percent of the ruined property belonged to the Jews of Salónica. 5 But the almost total destruction of the religious, charitable, educational, social, and cultural institutions hit the Community the hardest. The list in Table 3, 6 which was included in a report submitted to the Hoover committee, gives a more precise picture of this loss.

Arch, de I' AIU, Greece, VII/B. 27-33, Letter by J. Nehama, 15 October 1917. (11,000 were Moslem and 10.000 were Greek Orthodox); A. A. Pallis (former-director of the central assistance to the fire victims). Rapport sur la gestion de la Commission Central de Secours aux Sinistres jusqu'à la fin de 1918 (Salonique le 14 février, 1919). p. 5. 2 Arch. de V AIU, Greece, VII/B. 27-33, Letter by J. Nehama, 15 October 1917. •a J Karadimos-Yerolympos, The Redesigning..., op. cit., The author, who is a specialist on the subject, mentions 9,500, even though the Jewish executive report refers to 10,000. (Arch de l'A.l.UL, Greece, XVII/E. 202 Letters by J. Nehama, 15 Oct.1917 and 3 Dec.1918. Although it is difficult to determine the accuracy of this data without undertaking the necessary research, it suffices that the sources all agree that seventy-five percent represents the loss of Jewish property. * Arch, de I' AIU, Greece, XVII/E.202, Letter by J. Nehama, 3 Dec. 1918. 5 Arch, de I' AIU, Greece, XVI1/E.202, Letter by J. Nehama, 29 Oct.1917. A.Yerolympos, « La part du feu, » in G. Veinstein (editor). Salonique, 1850-1918. La 'ville des Juifs' et le réveil des Balkans , Paris, 1992, pp. 261-268. ^ Arch, de I' AIU, Greece, II/C.53-54, unsigned report, "Réponse au questionnaire de la Mission Hoover », (Answer to the questionnaire of the Hoover Mission).

120 Table 3

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Jewish Property Destroyed during the 1917 Fire

Property Value in drachmas 32 synagogues (all except one are communal synagogues) Synagogue furniture and equipment 17 communal oratories 65 private oratories 450 scrolls of parchment 1 clinic (Meydan de Lube) 1 electrical bakery for making matsot (azymes) 10 rabbinical libraries Buldings housing various philanthropic institutions 5 Alliance Israelite Universelle schools 3 communal schools 5 yeshivot and 1 seminary The premises of the Association of the Alumni of the A.L U. Building housing the clubs of the Intimes, Nouveau Club, the Kadimah society, and three other sports associations

TOTAL

2,050,000 195,000 340,000 750,000 360,000 140,000 150,000 60,000 940,000 750,000 300,000 180,000 200,000 90,000 6,505,000

Even worse, the prohibitive measures imposed by Venizelos' government made it impossible to begin reconstruction. The day after the disaster, under the pretext of ensuring the "modernization and decontamination" the city, the government took control of the reconstruction of the fire-damaged areas. A law was passed which legalized the expropriation of most of the sites on which the destroyed buildings stood in exchange for unguaranteed, long-term bonds. In this manner, Prime Minister Venizelos demonstrated his indifference to private property. 1 Not surprisingly, since the majority of the 4,101 affected property owners were Jewish, this measurewas seen not only as reactionary but also as anti-Jewish . 2 Furthermore, the law was unconstitutional and, therefore, rightfully considered to discriminate against the long-time inhabitants of the city. Moreover, the Jews confronted governmental intransigence on the issue of reconstructing the town according to its original plan. They realized that the Greek leaders' aim was to dispossess them of their property and push them out of the center of town in order to achieve their goal of Hellenizing the city. 3 At once the controversy took on an international dimension, which was not due to the fact that the Allied troops

1 Arch. de V AIU, Greece, XVII/E.202, Letter by J. Nehama, on 19 Sept. 1917. A. KaradimosYerolympos, The Redesigning..., op. cit., pp. 144-145 (contains the text of the Law no. 823/18.8.1917). ^A. Yerolympos," La part du feu", art. cit., p. 263. 3 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, XVII/E.202. Report by J. Nehama, 3 Dec. 1918

JEWISH

WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

121

stationed in Salonica had helped the fire victims. 1 To the contrary, the international intervention was above all the result of approaches made by the local Jewish community to Jewish organizations abroad, asking them to intercede with the Great Powers on behalf of Salonica. 2

The Neighborhoods Established after the Fire of 1917 The resulting publicity about the problems of the Salonica Jews, in addition to the delay caused by the dispute over the reconstruction law, 3 put the Greek government in an embarassing position. Nevertheless, determined not to give up their plan, both local and central governments became surprisingly eager to help rehouse the fire victims. 4 In all probability, the Greek leaders were not hoping simply to erase the bad impression created by the claims of the veteran residents; settling fire victims in the suburbs would ensure the government a free hand to efface the Jewish character of the centre. It is noteworthy that, of the seven new neighborhoods created for the victims of the fire (four by the municipality and the state and three by the Community), only one was situated relatively near the centre of town 5 (see Table 4). More specifically, between 1917 and 1920, the municipal authorities constucted the Anghelaki quarter near the center and the No. 6 quarter near the tramwayafter acquiring the French army's hospital. The state undertook the construction of housing in Aghia Paraskevi and Vardair, both near the old Vardar gate. At the same time, the Jewish Community built the Karagatch (Kara Agag [T] = the black tree) neighborhood near the Campagnes quarter and acquired the small Russian hospital, Nerechkine, which belonged to the French Red Cross, as well as the large No. 151 hospital, which belonged to l Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B.27-33, Letter by J. Nehama, 15 Oct. 1917; On his own initiative. Commander Denain, director of the Sanitary Stock, organized a camp for 1,500 fire victims, and also found a way of providing a daily hot meal for his charges. The French military authorities sold 30,000 mattresses to the Community for a nominal fee. The health services of the Allied armies made medicine for the sick available to the Bikur Holim Committee. In addition. General Sarrail and M. Godard made personal donations of 100,000 drs. and 60,000 drs. respectively. 2 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, XVII/B.27-33, Letter by J. Nehama, 15 Oct. 1917. Aside from the Alliance and the ICA, contacts were made with the Rothschilds in London, as well as the Jewish Community of Johannesburg. 3 On the long session of the municipal council with Papanastassiou, Minister of Transport and Communications and author of the expropriation law, see Arch, de I'AIU, Greece. XVII/E.202, report by J. Nehama, on 11 April 1919. In his report, Nehama draws attention to the minister's surprise when he realized that opposition to the law did not simply come from a small group of Jews, but from all citizens, whether Orthodox or Moslem. 4 A. A. Pallis, Gestion de la Commission Central de Secours.., op. cit., p. 5 5 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece. VII/B.27-28, report by J. Nehama on 10 March 1920.

122

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

the Italian army. These were located in the same area as the Hirsch hospital and 600 meters of tram lines. 1 (Table 4 shows the number of Jewish families housed in each one of the new neighborhoods, and indicates the type of housing.) Table 4. Jewish Neighborhoods Following the 1917 Fire Neighbourhood Municipal housing Aghelaki Former hospital No. 6

number of families 350

Type of construction Hastily built wood houses

350

45 detached brick buildings each containing two 2roomed apartments

Vardar

800

Aghia Paraskevi

200

Brick buildings - 1,028 rooms 228 rooms converted into kitchens 50 brick houses of 4 rooms each

State

housing

Community

housing

Karagatch

70

Former Nerechkine hospital

22

Former hospital No. 151

1,000

TOTAL

2,792

8 brick houses each containing 3 apartments consisting of 3 rooms plus a kitchen 3 solid wooden structures with double partitions 75 wooden structures and many brick and cement structures

Of these 2,792 families, 1,700 were housed by the Greek authorities. Yet two-thirds of the fire victims must have found lodgings on their own, since according to sources, only 550 families were still living in temporary shelters in 1920. Taken together, the 2,792 families, plus the 550 in temporary accommodations represented no more than one-third of the 10,000 Jewish families who had registered on the day after the fire. Since the reconstruction of the city did not begin until after 1920, it is not clear how the remaining two-thirds solved their housing problems.

1

Arch. de l'AIU, Greece. VII/B.27-28, report by J. Nehama on 10 March 1920.

JEWISH WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

123

We know, of course, that some people who had savings, as well as a profession and the ability to speak a foreign language, chose to emigrate. According to the local press, 3,000 to ,000 Salonica Jews, whose collective worth was estimated at 120 million francs, emigrated to Paris before 1 9 2 1 I t is also likely that others settled in Turkey or even in other Greek towns, although thus far no specific corroborating information has been discovered. Finally, it is certain that many of the home ess found refuge with their immediate families or rented accommodations in other neighborhoods while they waited for the city to be rebuilt. In any event, contemporary sources indicate that considerably fewer Jewish families were being cared for by the Community and its institutions in 1921 than in 1912. 2 However, since a large portion of the Community's resources had dried up, the task of organizing and improving the newly created suburban neighborhoods was in all probability more difficult.

The Administration and Development of the New

Neighborhoods

The most prominent and most comfortable of the new neighborhoods was the one the Community constructed in place of the old No. 151 hospital. Conveniently located near the tram lines, it was the most populous quarter and it was occupied by the largest number of families. It consisted of solid wood and brick structures ceded to the Community at a modest price by the Italian army. It also contained fifteen large concrete barracks that the Greek government had put at the disposal of the Community. In view of the condition of these buildings, the communal leaders launched an improvement program which was far beyond their means. The data concerning the financing of this project shown in table 5 illustrates the procedure generally used by the Community. Since the communal leaders hoped to cover the deficit "by new contributions and the revenue from rents, calculated to bring in 150,000 drs. annually," the 1,000 tenants were apparently expected to pay the sum of 150 drachmas per year, or 12,5 drachmas per month, which at that time was equivalent to the cost of one kilo of meat. 3

1 .L'Action, newspaper, Thessaloniki, April 13, 1932. 1912, 6.000 of the 13,500 Jewish families in Salonica were destitute and received communal aid on a permanent basis. 3 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, VI1/B.27-33, Report by J. Nehama, on 10 March 1920 and Arch, de 1' AIU, Greece, II/C.53-54, unsigned report, "Réponse au questionnaire de la Mission Hoover".

124

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

5. Budget for the Establishment of the "151 Quarter" Expenditures Payment to the Italian government Purchase of the plot Cost of improvements TOTAL Income Total previous contributions First community subsidy Contribution from the J.D.C.1 Deficit covered by the Jewish Community TOTAL

300,000 200,000 700.000 1.200,000

drs. drs. drs. drs.

120,000 100,000 300,000 680.000 1,200,000

drs. drs. drs. drs. drs.

The lack of information on rents in other areas makes comparative classification impossible. However, based on the description of the appartments in Table 4brick buildings that housed one family per room, we may assume that the new dwellings were of a similar standards. The only quarter that was an exception was Angelaki, the municipal neighborhood of wood structures hastily erected after the fire where "families were crowded without conveniences and in a pitiful state." 2 Nevertheless, because it was located near the center, many, especially working-class families, preferred it since it enabled them to get to their place of work more easily. The quarter's improvement depended on the pressure the Communal Council could bring to bear on the municipality, which was the landlord. 3 An independent fund, Cacha autonoma, had been established to manage the accrued surplus of the neighborhoods annual budget which probably came from rents, gifts, and contributions from the state, the municipality, and the Community. These funds were intended for the construction of new houses for other impoverished and homeless Jews. Unfortunately, since many residents of the quarter who could not pay their rent also received allowances from this same foundation, the fund could never meet its initial goals 4 The quarters were divided into three categories depending on their location and size and each one was managed by a subcommittee: one administered the "151 quarter," another, the Kalamaria, Karagatch and No. 6

l

Arch. de /' AIU, Greece,, XVII/E.202, Letter by J. Nehama on 5 Feb.1919. The JDC (American Joint Distribution Committee) is the organization whose representative, Miss Goldmann, came to Salonica in February 1919 to study the living conditions of the city's Jews after the great fire. 2 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B.27-33, Report by J. Nehama, on 10 March 1920. 3 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B.27-33, Report by J. Nehama, on 10 March 1920. 4 CAHJP, file 115, Undated report, that was written before 1924 since it does not mention the Campbell neighborhood established in the same year.

JEWISH

WORKING-CLASS

NEIGHBORHOODS

125

quarters, and a third, the Hirsch and Aghia Paraskevi quarters. 1 An eightmember central committee was the link between the sub-committees and the Communal Council. 2 The sub-committees included three to five members, who were also required to be members of the central committee, and one tenant chosen by the Communal Council. The sub-committee's functions were to: 1. Supervise the cleanliness and maintenance of the quarters; 2. Examine and evaluate the claims of the tenants; 3. Point out the necessary repairs and changes to the central committee: 4. Organize the collection of the rent; 5. Make sure that moral conduct was maintained; 6. Make sure that the quarter's communal officials carry out the central committee's instructions faithfully, and, more particularly, keep it informed about vacated rooms, in order to accommodate new families; 7. Prepare and submit the neighborhood budget to the central committee 3 In 1920, only three years after the catastrophic fire, each of the neighborhoods had its own boys' and girls' schools, a synagogue, permanent medical service and facilities, including a clinic and an adjacent communal pharmacy, public baths, and a food cooperative.4 They were doing so well that Joseph Nehama, who had taken a very pessimistic view of the disaster, wrote: Nearly all these working-class districts are in wonderful locations. The climate there is healthy. The roads are well designed and lead from the center of town. The lighting, the abundantly distributed water, and the good system of garbage collection guarantee a satisfactory standard of hygiene. When one compares the actual living conditions of the fire victims to those the day after the fire, one can see what Generally speaking, Jewish great progress has been achieved. families are now in better conditions than before the fire. In fact, in the old city, thousands of people lived underground and in caves, which had access to light only through miserable basement windows giving on to small, humid and muddy streets. In the new quarters the rooms arc airy and light. Nothing conducive to pcrfect hygiene has been neglected. 5

hbid. Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B.27-33, Report by J. Nehama, on 10 March 1920. ibid. 4 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B. 27-33, Report by J. Nehama, on 10 March 1920; CAHJP, file 229, school report by the school inspector covering the period between 6 Oct. 1920 until 3 Oct. 1921. 5 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B.27-33, Report by J. Nehama, on 10 March 1920. 2

126

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Conclusion Although in a single night the Jews of Salónica lost all the buildings and monuments that had given their city its unique character, they did not lose their communal organization abilities. Thanks to the institutional autonomy deeply rooted in Jewish historical tradition and reinforced under Ottoman sovereignty, the Salónica community was not only able to deal with innumerable hardships, but also managed to expand its operations and adapt itself to moderm conditions. The speed with which the communal leaders confronted the disaster cannot be attributed to their personal aptitude alone; it also stemmed from experience acquired through traditional communal practice. Both in 1890 and in 1917, the authorities' p r o m p t n e s s in organizing assistance for the victims of the fires, which was directed by the provisional governors, and involved the chief rabbi, the metropolitan, and an impressive number of notables of all religions 1 confirms the uniqueness of the city. At such times, the diverse and often antagonistic elements of Salonica's populace managed to unite and provide assistance to its Jewish inhabitants. The contrast between past and present described by N e h a m a raises questions that have been only partially investigated. If, in fact, the standard of living of the Salónica Jews had improved to such an impressive degree despite their lack of material means, what was it in their character that made them self-reliant and flexible, more willing to change their oriental way of living and adopt a progressive attitude?

l

ibid.

EDUCATION IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF SALONICA IN THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY1

The second renaissance enjoyed by the Salónica Jewish community in the beginning of the twentieth century owed much to the renewal of its educational system introduced by the establishment of the Alliance Israélite Universelle schools in 1873. This study deals with the external and internal factors that contributed to this renewal and the development of the new educational system and its institutions in Salónica. It also discusses the ideological and socio-economic impact that the new educational establishment exerted on the society and culture of this exceptional Jewish community which was to all Jews The Metropolis of Israel. Jewish influence, decisively noticeable in all aspects ofthe multiethnic Macedonian capital between 1850-1912, was especially challenged in the field of education. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the absence of technical and vocational training of the Jewish working classes in Salónica had not merely led the community into economic and social decay but also had contributed to the general decline of the city. The cultural and economic gains in the Greek and the Turkish local communities proved inadequate to change the general picture of misery. Ch. R. Guis, the French consul, described the city as a shadow of its past prosperity. And Mercado Covo, a contemporary local historian, wrote: "... Salonica's commerce was collapsing and the precarious state of affairs had seriously reduced the numbers of wealthy families in Salónica. People living miserably were counted by the thousands, and hundreds of children were wandering in the streets either begging or roaming. Poverty begot vices unknown in the past. Something ought to be done to remedy this pitiful state of affairs, to avoid compromising irreversibly this community's future". 2 T h e urgency of the matter became pressing especially after 1850. During this time the economic penetration by the Great Powers into Macedonia, the restrictions imposed on transit trade at the end of the Crimean 1 Published in Balkan Studies, 34/2,1993, pp. 259-269.1 would like to thank Ph.D. candidate Mr. Devin Nar for re-editing the article. ^Mercado J. Covo, "Contribution à l'histoire des institutions scolaires de la Communauté israélite de Salonique jusqu'à la fondation de l'école de garçons de l'Alliance." in L'Almanach National de l'hôpital Hirsch 1916, Salonique 1916, pp. 97-103.

128

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

War, and the Civil War in America turned Salonica into a European warehouse i. In view of emerging opportunities resulting from urban and political Reforms instituted by the Ottoman rulers, certain men of the Jewish elite undertook the educational renewal of their coreligionists in order to enable them to contribute to the general development. This created a controversy between the Jewish elite and the religious party which exercised complete control over all religious and secular matters concerning the community. At the time elementary education was limited to the Talmud Torà and other religious schools, and the level of the teaching rabbis remained extremely low. Not only were they seriously underpaid, but they were totaly inadequate as a result of an old rabbinical law which granted hereditary rights to Talmud Torà teacherswho were not required to possess a diploma before exercising such important functions. As the Greek immigrants from Europe had brought to their country the principles of the Enlightenment, in Salonica the westernized Jews introduced the principles of modern education. Moise Allatini, who had acquired an occidental culture while studying medicine in Italy,was the first benefactor to address the reorganisation of the educational system. Allatini gained the support of a small group of progressive Jews imbued with western ideas because of their occupations. By 1856, having gained rabbinical approval, Allatini managed to establish a school fund, Hessed Olam [People's Wisdom], to finance the first Jewish school in the western tradition which was organized by Dr. Lippmann, a progressive rabbi from France who had become the headmaster in the Talmud Torà. In three years, Lippmann was forced to leave, having met with strong negative reaction from his colleagues. The school closed down in 1861 but, in its five years of existence, it managed to educate a whole group of people who became capable of corresponding with the European firms and helped improve relations with their fellow citizens. More people were now becoming aware that the only salvation was through education. Foreign propagandists, vying to expand their influence in Salonica, established western type schools attended mostly by Jews. Simultaneously, private Jewish schools appeared, reflecting the rise in the demand for education. In the meantime, in 1862, the Alliance Israélite Universelle, usually referred to simply as the Alliance, began to establish the first secular Jewish schools in the Empire. Alliance education consisted of a combination of secular and religious instruction, the study of a European and the local language, as well as the teaching of a craft to poor students. Alliance schools, such as the one in neighbouring Volos, met with such spectacular success that

EDUCATION IN THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

129

even the Greeks asked to merge their school with it. This, however, made no impression on Ascher Covo, the chief rabbi of Salonica. On the contrary, though he had originally agreed to the establishment of the first Alliance school, as early as 1864, he soon cancelled the approval for fear that the school would be controlled by the French government. The Alliance had no way of positioning itself in Salonica, though it had already established a local as well as a regional board in 1862-63. The fact that the majority of the city's multiethnic population was Jewish prevented the occurrence of antisemitic incidents that had spurred the organisation's intervention in other communities. Nothing could be done while the rabbinical autocracy was in control of the political power of the community. But by 1873, havoc was created by the constant inflexibility of the rabbis who criticised the people for sending their children to foreign schools, while they themselves offered no alternative solution. Rebellious youth proceeded to shave their beards, and break the Shabbat or other Jewish laws while ignoring threats of excommunication. The controversy reached its peak with the intervention of the chief rabbi who had called the Turkish police to arrest a French Jew for publicly eating pork, taref. Obliged to assuage the anger of the French consul, the vali proceeded to revokie the rabbi's right of arrest. From that day the rabbi was no longer considered a temporal leader. The progressive group wasted no time, and the first French Jewish school for boys, better known as the Moise Allatini School, was opened in Salonica by October 1873. The school fund, which had been promptly reorganised as Sedaka ve Hessed [Justice & Wisdom], provided the first supplies. Evidently, in addition to contributions, the new school, like all the others created by the Alliance, was also supported by the organisation itself, the Anglo-Jewish Association and the local Jewish Community that imposed a special tax on commerce for this purpose. An additional source of income was tuition paid by about sixty percent of the student body who could afford it. The ideological underpinnings, which reflected equal opportunity for all and the reponsibility of rich notables for the development of their society, would constitute the guidelines for communal reorganisation and leadership, which was now controlled by laymen. One of the largest and most beautiful buildings iinthe Jewish quarter was rented, and once equipped, received its first 200 students, which reached close to 1,000 in 1912. To avoid the violent reaction produced in the communities of Istanbul, Edirne and Larissa, the lLocal Board employed former teachers of Hebrew and chose students from private schools or from the poorer layers of society. The policy of also accepting non-Jewish students was considered the best way of effacing ethnic antagonism, which was commonly

130

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

observed in games played by religious school children. The Alliance's initiative in establishing dialogue between different ethnicities introduced new moral values that benefitted Salonica more than any other Ottoman city. The beginning of this educational venture marked a return to the Golden Age. Schools were founded, one after the other, in Salonica. In the interval of 37 years, from 1873 to 1910, the Alliance alone created nine new schools for all levels. Among them three were clearly vocational schools, while six out of nine were girls' schools (Table I). The girls could not be excluded from the educational project since they were destined to be mothers and therefore long-time educators. The first School for Girls occupied the building next to the Boys' School and was founded in September 1874. The popularity enjoyed by the schools allowed its founders to raise the necessary capital to buy an imposing villa, conak, in 1876. It had a huge garden and spacious classrooms where the various subjects were taught. It also housed a kindergarten, Asile, established in 1881 with the support of the Hirsch family. Kindergarten children were taught while playing, according to the Pestalozzi principles, popular also in France. In the four years of elementary schooling, students were first taught Accounting, History and Foreign Languages, even more efficiently than in France. The language of instruction was French, since it had become the lingua franca in the East. Italian was also popular, especially in the Girls' School and wasreplaced by French only in 1889.

EDUCATION IN T H E BEGINNING O F T H E TWENTŒTH CENTURY

131

Table I: Jewish Schools in Salónica, in 1912 Name

Date of Establishmcn

Level 1

Alliance schools 1 M. Allatini School 1873 E-G-S 1874 E-S 2 Allatini Girls School 1881 K 3 Allatini Kindergarten'1 Vocational School 1877 V 4 5 Vocational School 1887 V 1897 E 6 Popular School 1897 E 7 2nd Popular School 4 1897 8 Popular School V Nouvelle E 9 1910 Communal schools, controlled by the Alliance Communal School 1904 10 E-V 11 Talmud Tora (1520) 1880 E-G-S Fused Schools 12 1911 K-E-6 1916 E 13 Regie'' Kalamaria E 14 1916 15 Aghia Paraskevi 1916 E Hirsch 1917 E 16 1917 E 17 No. 151 18 Caragatch 1917 E 19 No. 6 1917 E Private schools, controlled by the Alliance 20 H. Salem School 1866? E 21 Abr. Varrios 18677-1873 E 22 F. 1890 Gattegno 6 Pinto 23 1897-1941 E 24 Altcheh 1898 E-G Ovadia 1900 E 25 26 El Progresso E 1900? 27 Hahinouh 1900? E Zionist school 28 1 Ezra | 1910 | K-E |

Number Number Numbe Gender of of of Grades Student Personel 10 7 2 6 6 4 to 6 4 to 6 4 to 6 6

912 630 277 58 369 130 130 300 240

boys girls mixed boys girls girls girls boys girls

6 12 10 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

228 2460 2250 ? ? 9 ? ? ? 7

girls mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed

67 7 ? 7 7 7 7 7 ?

4 to 6 4 to 6 7 6 9 6 6 6

? 50 ? ?

boys boys boys mixed boys boys boys boys

7 ? 7 7 7 ? ? ?

2 |

?

1 ? ?

60 | mixed |

25+4=29 18+3=21 8+2=10 ? ? 9+1=10 ? 9+2=11 7 ?

?

1. K: Kindergarden, E: elementary, G: g y m n a s i u m , S: secondary, V: vocational, C: c o m m e r c i a l a n d class.: c l a s s i c a l section p r e p a r i n g s t u d e n t s f o r t h e university. 2. T h e second column represents the n u m b e r of school assistants. 3. T h e r e w a s a t e a c h e r f o r S e w i n g a n d a n o t h e r of H o m e E c o n o m i c s [G. H a d j i k y r i a k o u , Odigos tis Makedonias, Athens, 1910, p. 30]. 4. Schools no. 6. & 7. had the same teachers f o r Sewing. 5. Here the date refers to the earliest reference we have o n them Revue Francomacédonienne, Salonica, 1 M a y 1916. 6. Otherwise k n o w n as Franco-Allemande.

132

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

This limited curriculum, however, was defined only by commercial carreer requirements intensly pursued in Salónica, and did not meet the organisation's aim to westernize the mores of oriental Jewish society. In 1884 and again in 1903, the Central Board from Paris gave specific instructions to enrich the curriculum. The community of Salónica adapted to the new requirements as early as 1886, by substituting Ancient History with Ottoman History. 1 The teaching of local history did not simply consolidate the patriotic feelings of the students but became a popular subject of conversation between them and their parents. Once the dialogue among the two generations was established, the parents were more receptive to the western values of discipline and order, which their children acquired at school. Other subjects, such Arithmetic, Physics, Geography, Natural Sciences, World and Jewish History and Religion, were taught yearly in a concentric manner. Optional subjects, such as Painting, Music or Gymnastics, were taken only if the day's schedule did not exceed 6-7 hours. In the Girls' school, where Sewing, Linear Painting and Home Economics were mandatory, the time devoted to teaching Hebrew was reduced. By the end of the 19th c., Salónica had reached unprecendented commercial development which prompted foreign schools to establish separate commercial high school sections that attracted many Jewish students. Jewish schools were then forced to follow the trend. In 1904 J. Nehama organised and taught the commercial courses in the 3 higher grades of the Boys' School.2 When the schools were rebuilt in 1910, their gymnasium sections were recognised officially as establishments of secondary education, both by local and foreign university authorities. Salonica's schools were also considered to be model institutions among the 140 schools created until then by the Alliance, because the majority of the students reached their graduation at 18. A small number of graduates continued their studies on an academic level in French or Swiss universities. This educated elite, sharing the same motivation, values and ideals with the other Alliance graduates, now mostly in commerce, joined with the latter to become the future leadership of the community. The Alliance, however, dictated that the westernisation of the oriental Jewish society could only be attained by transforming its social structure through professional diversification. The poor Jews in Salónica were still facing enormous problems by not being adequately represented in the crafts Danon, "Ecole des garçons de Salonique", Bulletin de l'Alliance, 2ème sera. 1886, p. 66-69. Archives de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, hereafter Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, XVII/E.202, 2 July 1907. 2

EDUCATION IN THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

13 3

and by being limited to the most unhealthy and the least lucrative trades. Additionally, Greek Orthodox and other craftsmen were invading the city offering better quality and reduced prices in all crafts. Therefore, vocational training of the lower classes, amounting to 80% of the Jewish community members, became imperative.1 Salonica was the second city, after Istanbul, to acquire a vocational school, already established by the Alliance in 1877. Twenty-four different crafts were taught. But the long apprenticeship period prevented the poor from allowing their children to complete the course. Attendance of poor students rose thanks to the Local Board and the Community, who resolved to provide a small monthly allowance and a hot daily meal at noon, thereby alleviating the burden of maintenance carried by the parents. A set of tools to be received at the end of the course encouraged the apprentices to complete their training and become good artisans. Those who performed best were sent to Vienna or Paris to acquire further skills. In less than ten years, Jewish artisans reached a level that allowed them to earn money even while studying.2 Salonica Jews had a prejudice against manual crafts since those were underpaid compared to the commercial professions that offered better salaries after a shorter period of training. This prejudice was reduced after a long newspaper campaign, and the création of special societies such as the Alliance au travail or the Association d'Anciens Elèves (A.A.E.) and the Club des Intimes, all of which conccntrated in promoting the craftsmen. Also, the A.A.E., having created its own apprentiship division, organised special night school courses where, in addition to elementary subjects, the workers learned to calculate the cost of different arts and crafts, and were taught to read the newspapers. The prestige acquired by the artisans at the beginning of the century was confirmed by their high-class customers as well as by the success of their Arts and Crafts Exhibition, first organised in Salonica in 1909. In 1887 the Alliance also established the first clearly vocational Girls' School that was immediately filled to capacity with 368 students. Even though, or maybe just because, until then most women did not receive any schooling and were mainly occupied by sewing, knitting and carpet weaving at home, they were eager to get out and change their social status. In 1910, the popularity of vocational training led to the foundation of another school called Nouvelle. At those institutions, known as Ateliers, girls learned to make hats, girdles and bras, as well as dresses. The most capable among them became atelier head mistresses.3 l

Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, XVII/E.202, 14 July 1899. Danon, op. cit., p. 68. 3 Bulletin de l'Alliance, 75, 1913, p. 164.

134

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The success of the vocational schooling of the lower classes had its counterpart in the creation of "popular" schools. In 1897 the Local Board of the Alliance established 3 more schools in the new Jewish neighborhoods of Hirsch and Kalamaria. In 1904 it also took under its control one more school for Girls, directed by the Crosby missionary couple. Evidently the advantages of the Alliance education had impressed the people and soon everybody aspired to attend the new schools. Unable to withstand the pressures exercised by the Local Board and the Communal Council ,Yakov Covo, head of the Rabbinate in 1887, gave his consent to the reformation of the Talmud Tora. Extra taxes were approved, one on kosher meat and another on the communal contribution, petcha, while everyone, rich and poor, the non-Jews, the synagogues as well as the Alliance, raised money to assist the project. 1 The Talmud Tora teachers were now considered communal employees and were regularly paid. The headmaster of the M. Allatini School organised the progression of studies, the time schedule and the division of the student body into 5 grades, which was raised to 8 in 1892, when the School was rebuilt. Ottolenghi, a progressive Italian rabbi, became the headmaster. Although he made great efforts to replace the teaching of Hebrew with tables instead of by chant, and introduced Hebrew Grammar, Italian Arithmetic and even Turkish, the resistance of the old teachers, melamedim did not allow the school to progress. Graduates still had to attend a special course at the Alliance to complete their education. Ottolenghi was followed by Bemardout, an excellent Hebrew teacher who introduced modern Hebrew. He produced the best teachers in Salonica. who established the first Zionist organisation Kadima.2 It was only in 1910 that the Talmud Tora underwent radical change. Dr. Itzhak Epstein, the new headmaster from France, believed that culture should precede knowledge. He therefore adopted the same courses that were taught at the Alliance schools, while giving equal weight to the teaching of Hebrew studies. This was, however, a short- lived success, due to his untimely departure in 1913, and the upheaval caused by the Balkan Wars. Meanwhile, the new educational attitude had also influenced the kindergardens' system. 3

l

Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, VII/B.27-33, 21 April 1914. Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, XVI/E.202, 11 May 1899, III/C, 9 January 1903 and VII/B.27-33, 21 April 1914. 3 Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem, hereafter CAHJP, File 229,/6 October 1920. 2

EDUCATION IN THEBEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

135

At the same time, the Alliance system influenced all the other schools in the city that were interested in holding onto their Jewish students. NonJewish schools, such as the Italian, but also private ones such as the Gattegno, the Ovadia, and the Pinto, opted for the French Jewish educational method. By 1917, the Alliance had also taken under its control all the communal schools of Regie, Kalamaria, Aghia Paraskevi, Hirsch, "151", Caragatch and "No. 6" quarters. The upkeep of their financial support depended on the trimestrial report of school inspectors who saw that the Alliance instructions were duly followed 8 . Last but not least, the Alliance also extended its influence to the pivate religious educational sector. This was composed of 28 one-room schools, hederim and hevroth, comprising 3,000 students, taught under deplorable conditions. In 1911, at the intervention of an Alliance teacher and with the support of the chief rabbi and the Ottoman authorities of Public Education, 24 of the old schools fused into 7 new establishments, and followed the Talmud Tora model. Their financing was raised by the Alliance, the Ottoman government and the Community, in order to prevent the new schools from falling under Zionist influence. The fused schools comprised 2,250 students out of which 780 were girls. They were divided into 49 classes of 40 students each, taught by 67 men and women teachers, who were responsible for kindergarten, elementary and high school education. This was to be accomplished in eight years of study according to a specific schedule provided by the Alliance. Unable, however, to follow the requirements, the owners, who treated the whole operation as a commercial enterprise, closed the schools downby 1914, when the Alliance withdrew its financial support.1 At the end of the ninteenth century Jewish educational establishments in Salonica had imposed French culture to such a degree that the French considered them to be the most perfect centers of their propaganda. However, desiring to extend French influence to the non-Jewish population of the city, in 1906 the French government established the Lycée Français, consisting of a complex of educational institutions of all levels, attended also by Jews. Nevertheless, the Young Turks insisted on employing only Jewish French teachers in their schools. 2 French was even taught in the German Zionist school created by the Hilfsverein in 1910, since Zionist leaders visiting Salonica had realized that local Jews had an irreversible and mystified respect for French civilisation.

l

Arch. de l'AIU, Greece VII/B.27-33, 28 May 1914. Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, XVII/E.202. 19 June 1911 and VI/B.25-26, 2:8 July 1911.

2

136

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Given that the educational and social activities of a people in an area constitutes the best proof of their cultural consciousness, the Frenchification of the Jews of Salónica confirmed the latter's convinction to western ways and values. They were now educated enough to see that it was the French enlightenment doctrine of fraternity, equality and freedom that had allowed the French Jews to create the Alliance, and they were deeply attached to the organisation. Not only were they indebted to it for its financial support, but they were also aware that if not for the Alliance they could have never risen from their backward isolation; neither would they be equipped to participate in the modernisation of their hometown, as did their fellow citizens who were backed by their motherland. The Central Board visitors from Paris were delighted to observe that the Alliancc had accomplished its purpose in Salónica 11 . Indeed, the Macedonian capital had undergone a tremendous change by the turn of the twentiwth century and was considered to be a modern commercial center, second only to Istanbul. This has been mainly attributed to the Jews who had become the primary animators of the city's economic and social activities 12 . In the interval of 35 years that the Alliance had operated in Salónica, it had managed to educate 8.500 children. The Alliance students all found work upon graduation, holding the best positions in the banks, the shops, the administrationand other services. Education became the primary concern of the community, now able to promote it, since even the poor paid tuition, and received only partial communal assistance . In contrast to other oriental Jewish communities, the occupations and work of the Salónica Jews was uniquely complex. From a report drawn for the Hoover Mission, in 1918, we learn that 33,000 working Jews representing forty-two percent of the Jewish population were divided as follows: 7,750 were artisans and workers, 9,000 were dockers, boatmen and coachmen, 7,450 were office employees, 6,100 were small merchants, 1,900 were businessmen and 750 exercised liberal professions. The socio-professional transformation attained was the equivalent ofa revolution. Jews were found now in every profession, and represented all social strata; they were not simply responsible for the smooth functioning of the city, but also determined its social and political dynamics. Liberalism as a result of westernisation became of paramount importance to the Jews. The success of the Young Turk revolution, first manifested in 1908, had been mainly attributed to their support. They had developed their first Zionist and assimilationist associations asserting the pluralism of their society. Most importantly, however, they were the main founders of the Socialist Federation of Salónica, the most prominent at the

EDUCATION IN THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

137

time in the Empire. The fact that it drew its members from all the ethnicities in the city reflects the climate of good understanding that prevailed now in Salonica, which later facilitated the absorption of the Jewish population into the Hellenic state. The pluridimensional effect produced by Alliance education in the transformation of the Salonica Jewish community cannot be covered by one study 1 . As Sam Levy pointed out, it should constitute the subject of many Ph. D. dissertations. Indeed, the Archives of the Alliance, in Paris, have an extraordinary collection of documentation thanks to which we were able to reconstruct the institutional and ideological framework that enabled the Salonica Jews to play the leading part in the city's development.

Rena Molho, Oi evraioi tis Thessalonikis, 1856-1919: mia idiaiteri koinotita, (The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856-1919 : a unique community), in Greek, Themelio publications, Athens, 2001, pp. 137-224.

FEMALE JEWISH EDUCATION IN SALONICA AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY1

I attempted, in an earlier study, to outline in broad strokes the influence of the Alliancc Israelite Universelle on the educational and ideological development of Salonica at the beginning of the 20th century. 2 This article concerns the educational and social activities of the Sephardic women of Salonica and offers a further exploration of that first study. From 1860 onwards, the Alliance Israelite Universelle took on the task of "regenerating" Eastern Jewish communities. Founded in Paris by a group of recently-emancipated French Jews, the Alliance's aim was to "offer effective support to those who suffer for being Jewish". In order to realise its aim of "working everywhere towards the emancipation and progress of Jews", the Alliance concentrated on the creation of a vast educational network in the Balkans, the Near and Middle East, and North Africa. Although its civilising education programme—built largely on the secular Western model —was identical in all the newly-founded institutions, the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire did not all benefit from it in the same way. Receptivity to the Alliance's schools and especially to the new moral principles depended on the position and the level of development of the individual communities. The character of these various communities was particularly evident in the area of the education and emancipation of women. Female education was a key element of the Alliance's programme for the "regeneration" of the Eastern Jewish communities, and was the single most revolutionary agent of change in traditional communities. The founders of the Alliance had clearly defined their principles: woman must be the equal of man, his companion in life. The education of girls was therefore seen as vital to the improvement of the condition of women in the Sephardic world. However, since the inculcation of moral values in children had always been the role of mothers, the Alliance intended to further elevate their role as educators. The instructions of 1903 are clearly insistent on this point: 3 Translated from the French « L'activité éducative et sociale des femmes dans la communauté juive de Salonique à la fin du 19ème siècle» by François Matarasso. I would like to thank Ph.D. candidate Mr. Devin Nar for proof-reading the article. 2 Rena Molho, "Education in the Jewish Community of Salonica in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century", Balkan S wt es. 34/2, pp. 259-269. 3 Aron Rodrigue, De l'instruction à l'émancipation, Paris, 1989, p. 80.

140

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

To the qualities we hope to develop in all our children — rectitude, love of truth and the common good, goodness, devotion to others — must be added in girls a few special qualities: gentleness, modesty, simplicity of dress, the wish to shine other than through a ridiculous display of jewels and petticoats, a sense of the equality between rich and poor, etc. [...] The faults of character and education of women in the East and in Africa arise from a social condition already too old to be changed overnight; but women have such a marvellous gift of assimilation, and perceive subtleties so distinctly, that it will take relatively little time to secure good results, and we could not overstate this moral aspect of your task. We know that in general, moral education holds a higher place in Girls' schools than in Boys', so these lines are designed only to encourage you to persevere along that path. 1

While several Jewish communities in the East were reluctant to put the process of female emancipation into effect 2 , one is struck by the readiness of the Salonica community to adopt it. This reaction prompts investigation of the conditions favouring the institutionalisation of female education in Salonica. It is also interesting to examine the extent to which the Alliance managed to achieve its goal in Salonica. However, before evaluating the conditions which led the Salonica community to apply the female education programme introduced by the Alliance, it is necessary to look at the place of women in the Jewish society of the day. (It would also be necessary to assess whether their position was different from that of women in other centres of the Ottoman world where Sephardic Jewish and Judaeo-Arabic communities were more subject to the influence of Islamic society.) In fact, the Salonican woman had little in common with her sisters in North Africa, or the Near or Middle East, who were treated more or less as slaves. 3 Although the Salonican Jew was also the official head of the Sephardic household - as he remains, incidentally, today- he did not impose his "superiority" through conduct that was any more despotic than that of the contemporary Western man. 4 Salonican customs 5 and literature6- which merit a study in their own right - reveal women in a very different role from that of a servant. The superiority of their social status, compared to that of JudaeoArabic women, is also confirmed by some revealing local proverbs, for example: ' [hid. A.I.U, Instructions générales pour les professeurs Paris, AIU, 1903, p. 99. ^Aron Rodrigue, De l'instruction ..., loc.cit., pp. 82-87. 3 Ibid. 4 Annie Benveniste, « Le rôle des Institutrices de l'Alliance à Salonique », Combat pour la diaspora, no. 8 Juin 1982, pp. 13-26. 5 Michael Molho, Usos y constumbres de los Sefardies de Salonica, Madrid-Barcelona, 1950, 341 p. 6 Leon Sciaky, Farewell to Salonica, New York 1946, 213 p.

FEMALE

JEWISH

EDUCATION

141

Tanto es la reyna para el rey, tanto es la mujer para su marido (As the queen is to the king, so is the wife to her husband.) El consenjo de la mujer es flaco, ma el que no lo toma es loko. (The advice of women is worth little, but only lunatics don't follow it.) AI marido bueno dos cuemos; al negro tres y quatro (Two horns for a good husband, three or four for a bad one.) Al marido como lo ambezades; al fijo como lo criates (You train your husband; but you shape your son).' It would therefore seem that in Salonica, and probably also in other large Balkan towns, women enjoyed a degree of respect f r o m their husbands, despite being mostly poorly educated. Although their social status was relatively low, the proverbs suggest that they were nonetheless able to exercise some influence in local society. The position of Greek women, who were their principal minority fellow-citizens, might have been considered at this time as preferable, since the Greek Girls' School had been the first to be established in Salonica, in 1845. 2 Incidentally, it is likely that some middle class Jewish girls attended this school, although there are no sources earlier than 1891 to confirm this. 3 It is also possible that Jewish pupils attended the school the Sisters of St. Vincent founded in 1857 4 , since it is known that in the Girls' School founded in 1857 by a missionary couple named Crosby, most of the pupils were Jewish. 5 T h e Jewish community, despite being the largest, was doubtless subject to the influences of its multi-cultural environment. This is reflected in the consistency with which progressive community leaders used the Greek example to persuade donors to support them in establishing a Girls' school in Salonica. 6 The presence of Jewish girls in Greek schools is also corroborated by the frequent gifts by Jewish benefactors, which continued even after the creation of the first private Jewish Girls' School by the Polish Countess Farnetti in 1867. 7 ^Georgiou K. Zografaki, Parimies ton evraion sefardi tis Ellados (Proverbs of the Sepharadic Jews of Greece) ed. Dodoni, Thessaloniki, 1984, pp. 23-27 proverbs nos 377, 245, 265 and 298. ^Stephanos I. Papadopoulos, Ekpedeftiki kai kinoniki drastiriotita tou ellinismou tis Makedonias kata ton telefteo eona tis Tourkokratias (The Educational and Social Activity of Hellenism during the last century of Turkish Rule) Thessalonique 1970, p. 99. ^Vassilia Abatzidou 'I periptosi tis Astikis Scholis Thileon Thessatonikis' (Le Cas de l'Ecole Normale des Filles de Thessalonique). in Ta ellinika scholia sti Thessaloniki kata tin Tourkokratia, Actes du Colloque: |The Greek Schools of t hessaloniki during the Last Century of Turkish Rule] Thessalonique, 1994, pp. 179-87. ^Georgiou Hadjikyriakou, Odigos tis Makedonias (Guide to Macedonia), Athens 1910, pp. 2931. ^Joseph Nehama, Histoire des Israélites de Salonlque, vol Vil, Thessalonique 1979, p. 666. 6 Moïse Allatini, A Sketch of the Primary Education among the Jews of the East and especially among the Jews of Salonica, London, 1875, (33 p.) ^.T. Nehama, op. cit., p. 666.

142

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The progressive attitude of Salonica's Jewish middle classes towards female education is confirmed by their promptness in establishing a Girls' School after the creation of the first modern Boys' School in 1873, with the support of the Alliance. The Community opened, also thanks to the Alliance, the Girls' School on September 5, 1874. 1 This new institution became one of the first of a half-dozen schools created with the same aim by the organisation after 1868. 2

The Location and Development of the School From the start, the decision to locate the Girls' School in a building adjoining the Boys' School, was a sign of its progressiveness. During their second year of existence, the two new schools re-located to the first floor of a conak acquired by the President of the Local Committee, Moise Allatini, with funds donated for its purchase. From 1874 to 1889 the Girls' School was run by Stella Orvieto Caro, an Italian Jewish teacher. 3 In her reports to the Alliance, 4 she seems to have given particular attention to the numbers of pupils enrolled. At first the school had 105 pupils, probably divided into two classes. In the course of the second year, the roll swelled by 49 new pupils. By 1879, the total had reached 200, or a growth of 86 pupils in 5 years. Fourteen years later, in 1898, the number of pupils exceeded 300, in 6 classes, of whom 163 paid fees and 139 were exempt. 5 Finally, in 1912, with 630 pupils of whom 183 were exempt, the school was the fourth largest supported by the Alliance in the Eastern Jewish world, behind Istanbul with 853 pupils, Adrianople with 790, and Baghdad with 785. It should ,however, be noted that according to table 1, drawn up to compare the position of education in the seven most important Jewish communities of the Empire in 1912, Salonica had the largest number 1Archives of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, hereafter Arch, of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, report by Stella Caro dated 18 April 1876. ^A. Rodrigue, op. cit., Table II, pp. 24-30. According to this table, the first communities to receive schools were Tetouan in 1868, Adrianople in 1870, and Choumla, Larasche, and Tangiers in 1874. It should be noted that Rodrigue, who compiled his table by correcting that drawn up by P. Silberman, In his study An investigation of the Schools Operated by the Alliance Israélite Universelle from 1860-1940, doctoral thesis. University of New York, 1973, pp. 248254, omitted to correct the date of the foundation of the first school in Salonica which he puts as 1875. 3 This choice may be attributed to the influence of Salonica's original Jewish aristocracy which was distinguished by its Italian culture. 4 Arch. de 1'AIU, Greece, X/E145, reports of Stella. O. Caro: 18 April 1876,9 July 1879, 29 August 1883, 29 July 1884,21 September 1887,6 April and 11 June 1888; reply of the Secretary of the Central Committee addressed to St Caro, dated November 1884. 5 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, IX/E.131, table of fee-paying and exempted pupils drawn up by L Bomstein, 28 June 1898.

FEMALE

JEWISH

EDUCATION

143

of Girls' schools— twice as many as its Boys' Schools— with a higher number of pupils enrolled. 1 Table 1.1912 statistics on Girls' and Boys" primary schools founded by the Alliance in the 7 largest Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire. 2 City Jewish Pop. BOYS'SCHOOLS GIRLS'SCHOOLS GIRLS TRAINING Founded No [FP/E]3 Founded No. Founded No. ADRIANOPLE BAGDAT

ISTANBUL

JERUSALEM SALONICA

IZMIR

TUNIS

20,000 (1867) 1.099' 50,000 (1865) 731 (1902) 337 (1905) 189 1.257 TOTAL 65,000 (1874) 510 (1875) 690 (1879) 217 (1879) 226 (1882)223 (1901) 245 TOTAL 2.111 40,000 (1882) 286 90,000 (1873) 912 (1897) 300

1.212 TOTAL 35,000 (1873) 320 (1879) 230 550 TOTAL 40,000 (1878) 869 (1910) 1,064 1.933 TOTAL

(1870) 790 ['147/3431 (1893) 788 (384/404) (1909) 284 (67/217) 1.072 (1877) (1879) (1880) (1882)

(451/621) 502 (361/141) 853 (405/448) 288 (202/86) 301 (233/86)

(1890) 126

(1908)

9

1.944 1201/743) (1906) 358 (187/171) (1875) 630 (447/183) (1887) 369 (1897) 130 (100/30) (1910) 240 (1897) 130 (100/30) (1904) 228 (?/?) 609 1318 (667/243) (1878) 384 (209(1898) /175) 384 (1882) 612 (47/515) (1901)

10

62

612

As the table makes clear, Salonica's Jewish community was distinguished among other communities by a better distribution of poor girls in vocational schools, while the number of non-fee-paying girls in primary schools seems to have been lower. Since attendance at vocational schools was virtually free, the high number of Salonican apprentice girls can only be taken to imply their intention to follow a trade at the end of their studies. In the absence of figures on the number of women practising various trades, one is at 1 Bulletin de I'Alliance, 75,1913, pp. 123-165. 1 Details which are not relevant to the present study have been omitted. •^FP-Fee paying; E-Exempt

144

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

least obliged to underline that parents in Salonica seem to have been concerned to ensure the vocational education of their daughters. In this respect they differed significantly f r o m their coreligionists in other communities of the Ottoman world. Table 2 analyses the percentages of the female population of school age attending primary school, alongside the percentages of educated women in the same communities. Table 2: Percentages female population City

Jewish Popul.

of

girls

in

Fem. Popul.

school

and

School girls

1,053 2,419 3,271 2.013 3,857 1,761 2,013

%l Adrianople Bagdat Istanbul Jerusalem Salonica Izmir Tunis

200,000 50,000 65,000 40,000 90,000 35,000 40,000

10, 886 25,000 33,800 20,800 39352 18,200 20,000

54,4 50.0 52.0 52,0 44.3 52.0 52.0

% % % % % % %

of

the

educated

Schoolage Girls

% Educ. Worn.

% at school

790 1,190 1,953 358 1,927 394 674

75 % 50% 60% 18 % 50% 22% 33 :

7.3 % 4.8 % 5,8 % 1.7 % 4.8 % 2.2 % 3.25 %

According to this table (2), Salonica lay in third place in respect to the numbers of girls in school and of educated women. H o w e v e r , it is not possible to state that these figures represent an objective reality, since we do not possess precise figures on the numbers of girls attending mixed schools which were subsequently created. On the other hand, it is likely that additional sources referring to the number of pupils attending private girls' schools in Salonica would alter our calculations if comparable sources existed for the private Jewish schools of other cities. Whatever the case, the high number of 685 girls in the 14 private Jewish Girls' Schools in 1895, are recorded in table 3.

^Kemal H. Karpat, Ottoman Population 1830-1914, (Table IV. 4 Percentage of Males and Females in the Ottoman State), Wisconsin 1985, p. 211.

FEMALE

JEWISH

EDUCATION

145

Table 3: Private Jewish Girls' Schools In Salonica In

1895. 1

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Name of school Samuel MODIANO Yoseph BERNARDOUT Jacob BERNARDOUT Jacob SCHMUEL Jacob UZIEL

6. 7.

Simtov MATARASSO Samuel ATTAS

8.

Joseph DAVID

30

9. 10.

H. Abhraham SALEM David SAIAS

50 50

11. 12.

Joseph BERAHA Baruh MODIANO

30 75

13. 14.

Yakov MODIANO Abraham ASSEO

60 50

Female

Number of pupils 60 40 45 45 70 50 40

Education

T o return to primary schools, it should be understood that until 1889, when French was officially introduced in the first Girls' School in Salonica, the language of instruction was Italian. Pupils with no prior knowledge of French learned the spoken and written language, alongside handwriting, arithmetic, mythology and history, cosmography and Judeo-Spanish; then, a little later, the basics of Hebrew, and finally drawing and singing. 2 Pupils with a prior knowledge of French studied it from the second year onwards. 3 Until then, apart f r o m the study of Turkish, the programme was identical to that of the boys, 4 indeed to the point that it attracted the criticism of the Central Committee. Precise instructions were handed down to the head teacher. The Committee asked that the time allocated to science education be reduced f r o m five hours to two in the upper classes. In keeping with the spirit of the age, which distinguished between the social roles of the sexes, the secretary wrote that girls only needed a very basic grounding in this field. 5 Apart f r o m this, the female curriculum differed from the boys' in including l

Arch. of the AIU, Greece, VII1/E. 108, Report by Charles Allatini dated 19.7.1895.

2

Arch, of the AIU, Greece X/E.145, letter from St. Caro dated 29 July 1884. 3 Ibid. 4 A . Rodrigue, op. cit., pp. 35-37. 5 Arch, of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letter by the Central Comittee dated November 1884.

146

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

sewing and embroidery lessons and, later, classes in the education of women and children 1 , in decoration 2 and in ironing 3 - all areas of knowledge which, according to the views of the time, were "necessary 4 for girls destined lor motherhood". 5 However, from 1879, dressmaking was taught in the same school, now with equipped workshops and professional staff to train 17 apprentices. 6 Not long after, linen, lace and embroidery workshops were also established. 7 The success of poor girls in setting up and earning their living comfortably led the local Committee to create a proper training school.

Schools and Vocational Training In this new establishment, developed from 1887 onwards and termed "Young Women's Workshop", students could learn sewing, embroidery, millinery, and the manufacture of bras and dresses, alongside a general education. The most capable were trained as workshop mistresses. 36 A public exhibition of needlework took place at the end of the year. 8 Of course, the workshop could meet the educational needs of only a tiny number of the girls of poor families. The miserable position of poor girls who were led to convert to Islam — or more often to life as a "working girl" — triggered private initiatives.

Social Activity Becomes Involved in Female Education In 1896 a number of Salonica Jews addressed the problem of educational and employment opportunities by founding a benevolent society called Tifereth Israel (Seamstress of Israel), 9 with the aim of offering craft training to poor girls as "a sign of gratitude for the work of the Alliance". 10 Having won the support of the Alliance, the Tifereth soon transformed itself

1

Arch. of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letter by St.Caro, dated 29 August 1883. Arch, of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letter by St.Caro, dated 29 July 1884. 3 Arch. of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letter by St.Caro, dated 21 September 1887. A Arch. of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letter by St.Caro, dated 18 April 1876. 5 Arch, of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letter by St.Caro dated 9 July 1879. 6 Arch. of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, letters by St. Caro dated 21 September 1887 and 11 June 1888. 7 J . Nehama, op. cit., Vol.VII, p. 666; Bulletin de 1'AIU., 75,1913, p.164. ®A Benveniste, art. cit., p. 18. ^Hebrew term meaning 'Seamstress of Israel'. 10 Central Archives for the History of the lewish People, (hereafter CAHJP)\ Microfilm HM2/6391,29.12.1896 2

F E M A L E

J E W I S H

E D U C A T I O N

147

into a small apprenticeship school, with preparatory classes and workshops. Its students even earned small salaries which the local Committee placed in the savings bank on their behalf. At Pessah, according to custom, dresses were given to all the sheltered pupils. 1 In 1897 the popularity of these apprenticeship schools led the Alliance to establish two so-called "Popular" Girls' schools in the new suburbs of Hirsch and Kalamaria. A second, exclusively vocational, school, known as the "Nouvelle" (New), appeared in 1910. Finally the only Girls' school established by the community, in 1904, placed itself promptly under the umbrella of the Alliance. The remarkable development of educational activity for women in Salonica was reinforced by the social activities of middle and upper-class women. This is evidenced by the solidarity with which the ladies of the local Committee supported Stella Caro during her period of tenure, from 1874 to 1889. These ladies visited the school systematically in turn, twice a week, and met monthly to plan improvements in the teaching and the premises. 2 These patronesses also intervened in the area of moral education, and encouraged the wealthier pupils to form a society dedicated to the redistribution of dresses, shoes and money to their poorer classmates. 3 Through societies such as the Bienfaisance (Benevolent, est. 1891 |?1), the Tiferet' or Association d'anciennes eleves de l'Alliance (the Association of Alumni of the Alliance, est. 1899), they took on the supervision and financing of poor girls, and served as role models to the pupils with whom they maintained close relationships.

Did the Alliance Achieve its Goal in Salonica? In their turn the pupils contributed through their diligence to the progress of education, and achieved remarkable results. A mere two years after the establishment of the elementary school in 1876, four of the 165 pupils qualified to participate in the scholarship contest of Baron Hirsch. 4 The progress made by pupils had also attracted the attention of authorities such as Yannis Pantassidis, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Athens 5 , and Michele Chevalier, inspector of the Italian schools in Turkey. 6 Both visited the institution to study the teaching methods introduced by the Alliance. The

1

CAHJP Microfilm HM2/6391,154.1898 Arch. of the A.I.U., Greece, X/E.145, moral report by St. Caro, dated 11 June 1888.

2 3

Arch, of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, moral report by St. Caro, dated 6 April 1888. J . Nehama, op. cit, p. 680. Baron Hirsch, passing through Salonica In 1875, donated 600 Ltqs for the first two pupils. 5 Arch, of the AIU., Greece, X/E.145, letter by St. Caro, dated 21 September 1887. 6 Arch. of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, report by St. Caro, dated 11 June 1888. 4

148

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

real moral influence of the school was an important aspect: the young girls who attended were notable in their dress and manners. As early as 1879, the head teacher recognised that they had acquired all the qualities subsequently mentioned in the circulars of 1903: "They are clean, modest, do not venture any proposition, nor any reprehensible overture, speak with a submissive tone and in measured terms, and those who have left school continue to bring satisfaction to their families". Stella Caro also reported with satisfaction that this moral influence had its effect on the behaviour of parents, who became conscious of the superiority of their educated daughters. 1 Since this development had also contributed to the improvement of relations between Jews and Greeks, it could, according to Stella Caro, bring about a transformation of social structures. Archbishop Joachim and M. Allatini jointly encouraged friendship between the ethnic communities, inviting people to send their children to schools of the other faith. They liked to say that churches and synagogues were the only places where the religions should stay separate. 2 Stella Caro, impressed by this behaviour, held up Salonica as a model city, where the civilising work of the Alliance could easily be reproduced. Indeed, the particular nature of Salonica Jewish society, exposed to the progressive ideas of female education held by its Greek neighbours, was closely linked to local conditions. If there was still a placc where it is certain that Jews did not suffer for their Jewish identity, it was undoubtedly Salonica. 3 On the other hand the ease with which Salonican Jewish society accepted and encouraged the new model of womanhood can only be explained by its compatibility with the local, traditional model. Although neither the Sephardic w o m a n of Salonica, nor her Greek sister, had won complete equality with their husbands, at least they both subscribed to the model of equality promulgated by the Alliance. But, if school drew young women out of their closed environments, it was so that they could return to it as accomplished mothers. The thinking of the Alliance, in keeping with the age, conceived of female education and its resulting emancipation only in the context of social utility. It is true that the progressive spirit of the Alliance contributed to the development of social manners, and helped Salonica Jewesses approach the intellectual level of their husbands. Previously left in their ignorance, they had had no active role outside the family. 4 B u t until the vocational emancipation of women in Salonica has been more fully studied, it would appear that the widespread education of primary schools succeeded only in modernising Sephardic women to the extent illustrated by this song f r o m the 1930s.

1

Arch. of the AIU, Greece, X/E.145, report by St. Caro, dated 9 July 1879. Ibid. 3 Arch. of the AIU, Greece, XV/E.190, letter by J. Matalon, dated 12 October 1894. Benveniste, op. cit. pp. 20,26. 2

FEMALE

JEWISH

Con un cante muy alegre vos vo a dizir Sí querech sintir por vos divertir Mi embolios de familia cuandos eyos son Papico con mamica a su fason: Mama quere rami y sin querer permi Papa por s'escusar la toma a caresar Diz de la hupa que sufre mi papa Es un sinema lo de mi mama Los caprichos que tiene mi madre Al comple se los paga mi padre Sin azer djuzgar lo de mi mama Nunca con Papa so están en pas Mama es « toilette » y papa con siklet Las vidas de sar son para papa Al dentiste cada dia mamica se va Papa con torva traje zarzava Se la munda, se la enchangua, se la aze hazir Ma eya tiene siempre que dizir Papa que es tito le paga el oto Y por se descansar la toma caresar Esto ve mama se aze egzijir Povero papa no save que rijir Le demanda demandos de palo Cada noche teatros y balo Sin azer djuzgar lo de mi mama Nunca con Papa non están en pas Mama es « toilette » y papa kon siklet Las vidas de sar son para papa Las faturas y los cuentos se van al buró Papa me djuro que bayla horo De ver lo que mama gasta para se vistir De ver la sumas le toma batir al trocar la sezon Papa piedre razón Papa da sin contar, mama esta a demandar Esto ve mama empessa a egzijir Povero papa no save ke rijir Le demanda demandos de palo Cada noche teatros y balo Sin azer djuzgar lo de mi mama Nunca con Papa no están en pas Mama es «toilette » i papa kon siklet Las vidas de sar son para papa

EDUCATION

149

With a cheerful song I shall describe: 2 My family troubles to entertain you. Little Papa and little Mama: each has his ways. Mama loves the rummy and plays without leave; Papa to excuse himself gives her a caress. Ever since they married. Papa suffers, You should sec the performance that Mother puts on: It's Father who pays for her whims in the end. I won't speak ill of my Mana's ways But I can say life's no picnic for Papa. For Mama it's dressing up, and for Papa it's worries: The problems of life are really just for him Every day my dear Mama trots off to the dentist. Papa has to carry the bags of vegetables, Peels, washes, prepares and cooks them for her. But Mama, as usual, grumbles all the same. Papa, who's generous, pays for a taxi, And to get some peace, he takes her in his arms. When Mama sees that, she becomes demanding My poor little Papa doesn't know what to think. She makes completely unreasonable demands, Like going nightly to the theatre or a dance. But I can say life's no picnic for Papa. For Mama it's dressing up, and for Papa it's worries: The problems of life are really just for him Her bills and accounts all arrive at the office. My Papa swears it drives him nuts to see

ljudeo-Spanish version of a French song by George Milton entitled Les vieux pyjamas c'est pour ma maman. Information and text provided by the late David Benbassa, entrusted to him by the late M. Beruhiel-Saidon. 2 Translated in English by François Matarasso. Translator's note: the assistance of Robert PringMill in producing this transcription is gratefully aknowledged

150

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

What Mama spends on dressing up: When he adds it up, his heart begins to hammer. When seasons change he goes off his head. He gives without restraint, but it's never enough, Mama's always demanding that much and more. My poor little Papa doesn't know what to think. She makes completely unreasonable demands. Like going nightly to the theatre or a dance. But I can say life's no picnic for Papa. For Mama it's dressing up and for Papa it's worries: The problems of life are really just for him.

LE "CERCLE DE SALONIQUE" (1873-1958) CLUB DES SALONICIENS*

Le "Cercle de Salonique", ou "Club de Thessalonique" (comme il fut nommé en 1914), fut fondé en 1873 et disparut en 19.58 lorsqu'il fusionna avec le "Cercle commercial" de la ville. Il s'agissait d'un cercle de convivialité dont les membres composaient un ensemble où se trouvaient réunies, de façon exemplairement représentative, toutes les communautés ethniques qui constituaient la population de Salonique. Cette caractéristique essentielle est à l'origine de notre intérêt pour le Cercle de Salonique, qui représentait une exception parmi les diverses associations de la ville (amicales comme professionnelles), dont la plupart étaient ethniquement homogènes 1 . Une recherche historique sur le Cercle s'impose dans la mesure où, durant quatre-vingt-cinq ans, il a su préserver son caractère, et cela aussi bien durant les périodes d'affrontements entre minorités (par exemple, au début du X X e siècle) que lors des changements démographiques brutaux qui modifièrent l'identité multi-ethnique de la ville (par exemple, après 1923 et 1945).

Sources En recherchant des éléments susceptibles d'élargir notre étude, nous nous sommes heurté aux problèmes que rencontrent habituellement les chercheurs dans leurs efforts pour reconstituer l'histoire de Salonique, notamment quand il s'agit de la présence juive. Ainsi, bien que nous ayons effectué des recherches dans la plupart des archives concernées, en Grèce comme dans d'autres pays 2 , nous n'avons pas réussi à assurer un enchaînement

H; Article paru en grec aux Actes du Premier Symposium de la Société pour l'étude de Juifs de Grèce : Les Juifs en Grèce: Questions d'histoire dans la longue durée, Athènes 1995, pp. 103127. ^Des 200 associations environ qui ont déposé leurs statuts au Tribunal de Première Instance de Thessalonique, jusqu'en 1920, seules trois sont caractérisées comme "internationales", tandis que deux seulement mentionnent le regroupement de Juifs et de Chrétiens. La plupart des autres se classent en "nationales", "grecques", "juives" ou autres qualificatifs similaires. Il est en outre fréquent que deux associations ethniquement différentes aient le même objet. 2 Les Archives du Tribunal de Première Instance de Thessalonique (TPI.Th) ; les Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères (IAYE) ; la Bibliothèque Benakis (B.B) ; l'Association commerciale de Thessalonique (AC.Th) ; le Cercle commercial de Thessalonique (CC.Th) de 1935 à 1969 ; les Archives centrales sur l'Histoire du Peuple juif à Jérusalem (CAHJP) ; les Archives de l'Institut Ben Zvi (BZJ) à Jérusalem ; les Archives de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle (Arch. de l'AIU) à Paris.

152

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

satisfaisant des sources qui permettrait de tirer des conclusions définitives. Nous avons, en outre, été obligée de nous limiter aux trois des cinq statuts de l'association. Le plus ancien que nous avons trouvé date de 1887 et il est en français 1 , tandis que les deux autres, de 1915 et de 1936 ont été remis dactylographiés en grec au Tribunal de Première Instance de Thessalonique2. Dans les Archives centrales sur l'histoire du peuple juif, nous avons trouvé certains comptes-rendus annuels, parfois incomplets, rédigés par les assesseurs pour les années 1918, 1919, 1932, 1934, 1939 3 , ainsi que les procès-verbaux de la dernière Assemblée générale de 19584. En outre, nous avons trouvé dans l'ancien Cercle commercial de Thessalonique l'unique registre des procès-verbaux du Conseil d'administration qui comprend 48 séances, de mai 1939 à novembre 19465. Dans des documents annexes des statuts ou des votes des assemblées générales, nous avons également trouvé certaines listes des membres du Cercle, datant de 1887, 1936e et 19587, ainsi que d'autres qui contiennent les noms des fondateurs 8 , ainsi que la composition de certains Conseils d'administration9.

Fondation et statuts du Cercle 1873, l'année de fondation du Cercle, coïncide avec l'adoption de nouvelles lois ottomanes qui retiraient les pouvoirs politiques qui avaient jusqu'alors été confiés aux autorités religieuses des différentes communautés ethniques. Leur compétence était désormais limitée au seul domaine spirituel. En revanche, les pouvoirs politiques étaient confiés aux notables laïcs des communautés qui, suivant les Réformes des Tanzimat et l'iradé impérial de 1867, furent organisées pour la première fois en Conseils communautaires ethniques. De plus, on créa un Conseil de l'administration provinciale ainsi

' B Z / : Statuts du Cercle de Salonique, Statut de 1887. TPI.Th : Dossier 63. 3 CAHJP : Dossier 97. 4 TPI.Th : Dossier 63, Procès-verbaux de l'Assemblée générale du 14 décembre 1958. -'CC.Th. Il s'agit du seul volume des procès-verbaux des assemblées du Conseil d'administration du Cercle de Thessalonique qui ait été conservé. Il renferme les procès-verbaux de 48 assemblées du 18 mai 1939 au 29 novembrel946. 6 CAHJP : Dossier 97, 22 janvier 1936, Liste des membres du Cercle. 7 TPI.Th : Dossier 63, Procès-verbaux de l'Assemblée générale du 14 janvier 1936. 8 TPI.Th : Dossier 63, 19 février 1915, Tableau des fondateurs avec leur adresse et la composition du Conseil d'administration du Cercle en 1915. 9 BZJ : Statut de 1887, p. 1. TPI.Th : Dossier 63, Statut de 1915. CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposés divers et Conseils d'administration du 4 mars 1934 du 23 février 1936 et du 7 mai 1939. TPI.Th : Dossier 63, Demande du Conseil d'administration du Cercle de Thessalonique du 31 janvier 1959. 2

LE

"CERCLE

DE

SALONIQUE"

153

qu'un Conseil municipal de la ville 1 , auxquels participaient des membres laïcs des Conseils communautaires. Ce n'est donc pas un hasard si quatre des membres fondateurs du Cercle que nous étudions étaient des personnalités connues, vraisemblablement membres du premier Conseil municipal de Salonique. Il s'agit de Hugo Allatini, lossif Misrahi, Samuel Modiano et Periklis Chatzilazarou. Le consul britannique John Blunt et le banquier John Chasseaud complètent la liste des membres fondateurs 2 . Le caractère pluri-ethnique de cette composition ne devrait pas soulever de questions si nous considérons qu'à cette époque un grand nombre de personnalités juives et grecques entretenaient des relations sociales de ce type, parce qu'ils possédaient soit une identité diplomatique, soit (plus fréquemment) une nationalité étrangère, leur permettant de bénéficier des exemptions d'impôts qu'offrait le système des "capitulations" élaborés pour les sujets étrangers de l'Empire ottoman. Les contacts qu'entretenaient les Saloniciens éminents avec les personnalités étrangères de la ville étaient renforcés par la participation active de ces derniers dans les activités socioéconomique locales. Il est particulièrement significatif que les trois statuts que nous avons étudiés confirment et explicitent cette ouverture sur l'extérieur, et cela aussi bien en 1887 et en 1915 qu'en 1936 3 . Plus précisément, en 1915, il est indiqué que - en plus du Gouverneur général de Macédoine, du Gouverneur militaire et du Vice-Gouverneur - l'on considérait comme membres honoraires du Cercle, en raison de leur qualité, les consuls généraux, les vicc-consuls et les chefs de poste et de carrière des consulats de la ville, conformément au dernier alinéa de l'article IV. La distinction entre membres actifs et honoraires et la définition de leurs compétences furent clairement établies dans le Statut de 1887. C'est ainsi que dans le nouveau statut on note que les membres honoraires participent aux assemblées générales sans avoir de compétences administratives, ni le droit de vote. Seuls ceux qui avaient été autrefois membres actifs du Cercle n'étaient pas soumis à cette restriction 4 . Ce fut éventuellement le cas du consul John Blunt, vraisemblablement inspirateur de la création du Cercle qui, dans le 1 Stanford J. SHAW et Ezel Kural SHAW, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, 1808-1975, Cambridge, 1977, pp. 83-93 et 127-128. 2 TPI.Th : Dossier 63. BZf: Statut de 1887, p. 1. • BZJ : Statut du Cercle de Salonique, dans la continuité du Statut de 1887. TPl.Th : Dossier 63, Statut de 1915. A l'exception des statuts de 1915 et 1936, on trouve dans le dossier une déclaration certifiée du président P. Hadjilazarou datant du 19 février 1915 concernant la perte du Statut de fondation (1873) et le dépôt du Statut de 1915 selon la traduction du Statut de 1904. 4 BZJ : Statut de 1887, p. 4, note à l'article Hl.

154

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

même Statut de 1887 apparaît comme son président, alors que le président honoraire est le Vali du Vilayet, Galib Pacha. Il est également intéressant de noter une disposition particulière qui donne accès au Cercle pour les visiteurs étrangers, après proposition d'un membre actif, et moyennant une petite cotisation, si ceux-ci séjournent dans la ville durant au moins trois mois 1 , tandis que les commandants, les commissaires et les médecins des navires étrangers sont accueillis gratuitement2. Comme nous le verrons par la suite, l'objectif recherché n'était pas l'augmentation des rentrées d'argent. La création du Cercle, d'après les informations disponibles, visait à créer un espace qui offrirait à ses membres la possibilité de recevoir certains visiteurs étrangers importants qu'ils étaient désireux d'honorer ou de présenter à leurs relations, quand bien même ils se soient connus à un niveau personnel. Le caractère représentatif et neutre du Cercle qui était formellement garanti aussi bien par les statuts que par les membres eux-mêmes, ainsi que le luxe et l'agencement de l'espace, offraient en outre la possibilité d'accueillir spontanément des visiteurs étrangers dont l'intérêt était reconnu 3 . Malgré le caractère cosmopolite de Salonique, cette pratique est soulignée par Hadjikyriakou dans son Guide de 1910 comme tout à fait unique et comme une caractéristique particulière du Cercle. Précisons enfin que le Cercle n'avait aucun lien ni rapport avec les loges maçonniques. L'hellénisation de la ville et le changement de régime en 1936 apparaissent dans le statut révisé de la même année, le dernier qui ait été conservé. A la liste des membres honoraires s'ajoutèrent les autorités judiciaires, administratives et militaires (dont la participation fut fortement augmentée), qui étaient tout à fait représentatives de l'élite dirigeante grecque4. Le fait que ces changements furent considérés comme évidents au point de ne pas être inclus dans la liste des amendements que présentait le nouveau statut,

1 L'accord du Conseil d'administration du Cercle de Thessalonique était indispensable. Il délivrait en outre, suivant la cotisation, une carte d'entrée spéciale, valable de 15 jours à trois mois. Cette disposition est mentionnée dans les trois statuts. 2A la condition qu'ils viennent en tant qu'invités de l'agent local qui était parallèlement membre du Cercle. Cette disposition est inscrite sous la même forme dans tous les statuts. 3 CC.Th. Dans les procès-verbaux du Conseil d'administration du 22 janvier 1942 et du 4 février 1942, on trouve un inventaire complet de la fortune mobilière du Cercle, suite à sa réquisition partielle par les Allemands. Aujourd'hui, malgré l'abondance qu'offre notre époque, on ne trouve dans aucune salle publique de la ville un tel luxe et une telle organisation.CA//JP : Dossier 97. Le soin et l'amélioration de l'espace sont commentés dans tous les exposés que nous avons mentionnés. 4 TPI.Th : Dossier 63. Le Statut du 22 mars 1936, article IV, mentionne le Gouverneur général de Macédoine, le Commandant du corps d'armée de Thessalonique, le Préfet, le Maire ainsi que les généraux de division. Article IX :" ... Les officiers supérieurs de l'armée de terre, de la marine et de l'aviation, en service actif, ainsi que le Président de la Cour d'appel et le Procureur général, tout comme les juges de la Cour d'appel sont acceptés comme membres, après demande écrite des intéressés adressée au Président du Cercle, sans que leur candidature ne soit soumise à un vote."

LE

"CERCLE

DE

SALONIQUE"

155

révèle les préférences politiques des personnes qui constituaient le public du Cercle 1 . La composition des membres du Cercle Une analyse de l'appartenance ethnique et des professions des membres du Cercle répondrait éventuellement aux nombreuses questions qui se posent, dans la mesure où elle permettrait de définir avec précision les caractéristiques et éventuellement les objectifs communs de l'ensemble en question. Les listes nominatives conservées révèlent l'origine ethnique des membres du Cercle, alors que parallèlement elles mettent en valeur les pourcentages entre les différentes communautés, qui évoluent au gré des modifications démographiques que connaît la ville en 19232, de même qu'après 1945 3 . TABLEAU 1 Année Membres Juifs Grecs Allemands Italiens Musulmans Français Slaves Anglais Arméniens Scandinaves

1887 142 63 19 15 14 11 6 6 4 3 1

1936 129 57 60 1 2 5 — —

1 3 —

1958 91 6 83 — — — — — —

2 —

Dans ce tableau 1, on constate la base pluri-ethnique du Cercle, et plus particulièrement en 1887 lorsque la physionomie de la ville se caractérisait par un mélange de peuples divers. On constate aussi qu'en 1887 la majorité juive de la ville se reflétait dans la composition du Cercle. La base pluri-ethnique du Cercle fut maintenue jusqu'en 1936 et même jusqu'en 1958. En cette dernière année, bien que Thessalonique se soit hellénisée, le Cercle conservait son caractère composite (même s'il ne comportait plus de ressortissants étrangers). TPl.Th : Dossier 63, Liste des amendements de l'Assemblée générale extraordinaire du 22 février 1936 de l'Association reconnue sous le nom Le Cercle de Thessalonique. Les modifications concernent : le droit d'élection des membres inscrits depuis trois ans ; la dispense du droit d'entrée au Cercle pour les officiers supérieurs ; un service d'une durée de trois ans pour chaque membre élu du Conseil d'administration ; la question du remplacement des membres du Conseil d'administration par leurs suppléants, également élus à la majorité. ^Avec l'échange de populations en 1923, près de 100 000 réfugiés s'installèrent à Thessalonique. ^

J

Des 56 000 Juifs saloniciens persécutés par les Nazi entre 1941 et 1943, seuls 1.950 revinrent à Thessalonique en 1945 dont plus de 1.000 s'installèrent dans d'autres régions de Grèce ou à l'étranger.

156

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

En 1936, alors que la majorité s'était trouvée modifiée en faveur des Grecs, la participation des Juifs demeurait remarquablement élevée, dépassant largement le pourcentage des 20 % qu'ils représentaient à cette époque dans l'ensemble de la population locale. Cela pouvait être dû à la nécessité de resserrer les liens entre les deux communautés en raison des actions antisémites que l'on observe durant la période de l'entre-deux guerres, mais aussi au fait que les changements démographiques d'après 1923 ne réduisirent pas de manière significative le pourcentage des Juifs à l'intérieur de la bourgeoisie locale. TABLEAU 2 Année Membres Médecins Banquiers Commerçants Propriétaires fonciers Diplomates Industriels Assureurs Représentants Avocats Armateurs Ingénieurs Hauts fonctionnaires Changeurs Peintres Politiciens Militaires Entrepreneurs Comptables

1887 109 21 19 14 11 7 7 7 6 5 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 —

1936 100 8 4 29 10 2 4 9 13 6 —

3 9

1958 79 4 2 36 5 —

7 4 9 5 — —

4

—

—

—

—

1

—

—

—

2 —

1 2

Il nous a été plus difficile de découvrir l'activité professionnelle de la plupart des 362 membres des trois listes afin de déterminer leur position sociale. Mais nous pouvons en avoir une idée par les noms des notables et des dirigeants connus dans la ville, comme par exemple Anghelakis, Allatini, Abbot, Zannas, Kapandjis, Misrahi, Modiano, Fernandez et autres 1 . Ce 1

Georgios HADJIKYRIAKOU, Odigos tis Makedonias tou 1910 (Guide de la Macédoine tou 1910). G. GAVRIILIDIS, Megas Odigos tis Thessalonikis ke ton proastion, 1932-33 (Grand guide de Thessalonique et des environs, 1932-33), Thessalonique 1933. Vassilis DIMITRIADIS, "O plythismos tis Thessalonikis ke i elliniki koinotita tis to 1913" (La population de Thessalonique et la communauté grecque en 1913), Makedonika, tome 23, pp. 88-115. NIkolaos G. STAMBOULIS, / zoi ton Thessalonikeon prin ke meta to 1912 (La vie des Thessaloniciens avant et après 1912), Thessalonique, 1912. Joseph NEHAMA, Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, tomes 6 et 7, Thessalonique, 1978. Exposé inédit de 1942 d'un dirigeant de la communauté juive de Thessalonique, Daoud LEVI: Notas Historikas sovre la Communidad Judia de Thessalonikis, extrait des archives non-classées de la communauté juive de Thessalonique. Des passages de cet exposé ont été publiés par Albertos NAR, "Mia anekdoti ekthessi tou 1942 ya tin domi tis israelitikis koinotitas stin periodo 1912-1940" (Un exposé inédit de 1942 sur la structure de la communauté israélite de Thessalonique entre 1912 et 1942), Thessalonique après 1912, Thessalonique, 1986, pp. 303-322.

LE

"CERCLE

DE

SALONIQUE"

157

deuxième tableau présente les activités professionnelles des membres du Cercle, lorsque cela nous est connu. Dans le tableau 2, nous observons que les médecins, les banquiers, les grands commerçants, les propriétaires fonciers, les industriels et les diplomates constituaient en 1887 la majorité écrasante des membres par rapport aux autres branches professionnelles. De plus, c'étaient des catégories qui jouissaient d'un prestige certain dans l'échelle professionnelle. Nous constatons également qu'au cours de cette période, le Cercle comprenait les représentants les plus actifs de la haute bourgeoisie, parmi lesquels apparaissaient un comte, un baron, deux pachas, quatre chevaliers, six beys, etc. : ces 18 personnalités portant un titre représentaient plus delO % de l'ensemble des membres. Parmi eux, on trouvait un pourcentage équivalent de notables avec 15 Juifs et 3 Grecs 1 . Parmi les Grecs, la plupart sont connus pour leur activité nationaliste, sans que cela soit source de conflits avec les membres des autres groupes ethniques 2 . Cinquante ans plus tard, en 1936, nous observons une baisse remarquable du nombre des membres du corps médical. Nous constatons une diminution similaire dans la catégorie des banquiers, principalement duc à la crise économique de l'entre-deux guerres et à l'émigration de nombreux Juifs détenteurs de capitaux 3 . Nous notons également une diminution générale dans les professions de la haute bourgeoisie et parallèlement une importante augmentation de la branche des commerçants. Ces changements n'influèrent toutefois pas sur l'éclat aristocratique du Cercle qui conservait, même en 1932, la langue française comme moyen d'expression. Les ressources économiques du Cercle, malgré la crise générale étaient toujours florissantes, ce qui lui permit de connaître un nouveau développement, comme nous allons le voir, et plus particulièrement au cours de cette période 4 . Il est également important de noter qu'à cette date les notables grecs et juifs atteignaient le pourcentage de 18 %. Malgré

W . DIMITRIADIS, "La population de Thessalonique...", op. cil. et l'exposé de Daoud LEVI de 1942, art. cit. A. V. METALLINOU, Ipalaia Thessaloniki (L'ancienne Thessalonique), Thessalonique. 3 CAHJP : Dossier 97, Rapport du 4 mars 1934. V. CHEKIMOGLOU, Trapezes ke Thessaloniki (Les banques et Thessalonique), Thessalonique, 1987 4 CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposé non-daté, vraisemblablement de décembre 1931.

158

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

l'augmentation des industriels dans la liste partielle des membres qui participaient à la dernière Assemblée générale de 1958, l'augmentation des commerçants et des représentants dont la plupart appartenaient à l'Association commerciale de la ville contribua au changement social que connut le public du Cercle 1 . Sa fusion ultérieure avec le Cercle commercial apparaît donc comme une suite naturelle. Ce dernier Cercle fut fondé en 1901, d'abord sous le nom de Nouveau Cercle de Thessalonique, suivant le modèle du Cercle de Salonique. En 1935 il prit le nom de Cercle commercial de Thessalonique mais quelques années après la dissolution du premier Cercle de Salonique, en 1969, il adopta, pour des raisons évidentes, sa nouvelle dénomination. Il fonctionne aujourd'hui comme Cercle de Thessalonique au numéro 63 de l'avenue Nikis 2 .

Fonctions et activités A l'origine, l'objectif du Cercle était la création d'un "centre de réunion qui offrirait à ses membres les moyens dont disposerait un tel lieu, c'est à dire la possibilité de favoriser toute communication sociale et autres entre les Saloniciens" 3 . Jusqu'alors, la communication entre les différentes minorités ethniques se limitait à certaines occasions ou certains lieux : des espaces commerciaux tels que le grand marché ; quelques quartiers d'habitation mixtes tels que le quartier des Campagnes ; les écoles des différentes missions étrangères et quelques écoles privées ouvertes à tous. Le Cercle avait donc pour fonction d'appuyer et d'élargir la nouvelle collaboration instituée entre les différentes communautés pour l'administration commune de la ville. Dans le Statut de 1915, le Cercle est défini plus précisément non comme un centre de réunion mais de "délassement"4. La raison de cet ajout est peut-être que le mot "délassement" permettait de désamorcer certaines critiques d'ordre politique qu'on aurait pu formuler contre le Cercle, qui était un lieu de

1 AC.Th : Liste des membres en 1957. Il s'agit des membres qui participèrent à la dernière Assemblée générale extraordinaire de 1958 où, suivant l'article spécial des statuts, relatif à la dissolution du Cercle, 50% des membres devaient être présents. En 1958, le Cercle avait donc plus de 100 membres. AC.Th : Statut du Cercle de Thessalonique (Ancien Cercle commercial). Vote de l'Assemblée générale du 30 mars 1969, Thessalonique, 1969. *BZJ : Statut de 1887, article 1. 4 TPI.Th : Dossier 63, Statut du 19 février 1915, article 1.

LE

" C E R C L E

DE

S A L O N I Q U E "

159

rencontre entre des membres de communautés que l'on estimait, après le rattachement à la Grèce, appartenir normalement à des camps opposés 1 . En 1936, le terme "délassement" fut remplacé par "divertissement" et, dès le premier article, il était précisé que ce mot concernait l'usage "d'une salle de lecture avec bibliothèque et salon de réunion", bien que ces facilités étaient déjà offertes depuis longtemps 2 . D'autre part, dans le Statut de 1887, la bibliothèque était distinguée des autres activités comme une partie importante du Cercle et était régie par un règlement particulier 3 . On distinguait de même une section médicale qui f o n c t i o n n a i t avec son propre r è g l e m e n t intérieur et qui avait vraisemblablement été créée à cause du pourcentage élevé de médecins, membres du Cercle en 1887. Le statut est malheureusement endommagé et les seuls passages de la description que l'on puisse distinguer nous informent que la section médicale du Cercle n'était pas limitée à un nombre donné de membres, mais que tous ceux qui souhaitaient assister aux réunions étaient simplement tenus de se conformer au règlement intérieur 4 . Cette section n'est plus mentionnée après 1904, soit en raison de la diminution progressive du nombre des médecins qui, après 1936 sont moins de huit (Tableau 2), soit parce que cette section cessa de fonctionner lorsque les médecins créèrent leur propre association professionnelle. Les autres activités qui sont mentionnées ont un caractère essentiellement de divertissement. Il y avait en effet des salles particulières pour les jeux de cartes et des salles de billard, mais les jeux de hasard étaient interdits. Il y avait également un restaurant et un bar, une salle d'attente, des bureaux et des cuisines. Enfin, sur décision de l'Assemblée générale, on pouvait organiser des bals et des fêtes, mais uniquement pour les membres du Cercle et leur famille 5 . L'assiduité des membres était particulièrement encouragée car, en plus des cotisations semestrielles, le Cercle touchait des droits individuels sur chaque jeu qui, s'ajoutant aux bénéfices obtenus par la consommation des boissons et des repas, venaient renforcer les caisses du Cercle 6 .

^Rena MOLHO, "Popular Antisemitism and Sate Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece", Jewish Social Studies, vol.L, nos. 3-4, Summer-Fall, 1988-1993, pp. 253-264. 2 BZJ : Statut de 1887, article XXV, p. 17. •l Idem. 4 BZJ : Statut de 1887, article XXVII, pp. 18-19. 5 B Z / : Statut de 1887, article XXVI, p. 18. Pour les jeunes garçons qui n'étaient pas membres, l'âge limite était de 21 ans. Dans ce statut, cette limite fut relevée à l'âge de 25 ans. Suivant tous les statuts, les membres pouvaient aussi inviter des veuves de la classe bourgeoise qu'ils accompagnaient avec leurs familles. b CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposé non daté, vraisemblablement de décembre 1931.

160

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Le Conseil d'administration, qui avait la responsabilité de la coordination des activités, était chargé de la rénovation et de l'entretien de l'espace qui abritait le Cercle, de sorte qu'avec l'aide d'un personnel qualifié il lui assurait un fonctionnement parfait et une apparence luxueuse 1 . 11 s'occupait également de la gestion financière et pouvait avec l'accord de l'Assemblée générale collecter de l'argent à l'occasion de bals ou de banquets, ou encore faire des emprunts 2 .

Localisation du Cercle Durant la plus grande partie de ses quatre-vingt-cinq ans de fonctionnement, le Cercle se trouva installé dans le centre-ville, ce qui était censé faciliter la venue régulière des membres 3 . Après les destructions provoquées par l'incendie de 1917, l'espace qui l'abritait, bien qu'ayant subi d'importants dégâts, fut réquisitionné par les forces françaises alliées, et le Cercle fut transféré près du parc de l'avenue Vassileos Georgiou 4 . Le fait de demeurer en-dehors du centre-ville durant dix-huit ans a peut-être contribué à la diminution du nombre de ses membres qui chuta alors à 88 5 , alors que durant de nombreuses années il atteignait 150. En 1934, les membres du Cercle réussirent à obtenir sur l'avenue Nikis, au palais Koniordou, un espace de 600 m 2 qui occupait tout le premier étage. De plus, comme la construction de cet édifice n'avait pas encore été achevée, ils eurent la possibilité d'aménager cet immense espace de la façon qu'ils souhaitaient 6 . Nous apprenons qu'à cette occasion un nouvel espace fut ajouté qui servait de salon d'attente pour les épouses des membres, lesquelles pouvaient, suivant une nouvelle disposition, se retrouver au Cercle deux jours par semaine 7 . Il est important de noter qu'après 1935, lorsque le Cercle fut définitivement transféré au centre, les adhésions connurent une constante augmentation, atteignant ainsi le nombre de 172 membres en 1939 8 .

1 Mentionné dans tous les statuts. ^Mentionné dans tous les statuts. 3 CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposés du 11 mai 1918 et du 8 mars 1919. De même, durant l'occupation allemande, époque où le Cercle dut déménager sept fois, il rechercha toujours un local dans le centre. 4 . CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposés du 11 mai 1918 et du 8 mars 1919. ^ CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposé non-daté, vraisemblablement de décembre 1931. En 1930, il y avait seulement 88 membres. 6 CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposé du 4 mars 1934. 7 CAHJP : Dossier 97, Projet de l'exposé de 1937. Q Idem.

LE

" C E R C L E

L'épreuve durant l'occupation

DE

S A L O N I Q U E "

161

allemande

On peut souligner que le Cercle, sous la présidence de K. Angelakis fonctionna durant toute la période de l'occupation allemande, bien qu'il soit devenu la cible des forces d'occupation. Outre l'appartement et la plus grande partie de sa fortune mobilière au palais Koniordou, les Allemands réquisitionnèrent successivement chacun des sept appartements où le Cercle fut obligé de déménager par la suite, bien qu'il s'agissait d'espaces sans intérêt p a r t i c u l i e r 1 . Cela est dû, sans aucun doute, au fait que le Conseil d'administration non seulement n'expulsa pas les membres juifs du Cercle mais en accepta de nouveaux. Ce n'est qu'en février 1943 que les Juifs furent obligatoirement rayés des listes de toutes les organisations de la ville, après une loi édictée par les Allemands. Il faut encore noter que, même après leur radiation officielle, le Conseil d'administration continua à correspondre avec les Juifs, tant qu'ils demeurèrent à Thessalonique 2 .

L'objectif du Cercle Ces informations confirment différents exposés des assesseurs qui sont assez révélateurs de la raison d'être du Cercle. Ces exposés font largement allusion à l'œuvre sociale du Cercle et à son rôle intercommunautaire. Nous présentons ici un extrait du compte-rendu de l'Assemblée générale du 11 mai 1918 qui précise, entre autres, que jusqu'alors, le Cercle a réussi à surmonter tous les instants difficiles qu'il a dû affronter, et que, "en conservant haut son rang, sa situation morale et intellectuelle est toujours allée avec le temps en s'améliorant". Quelques lignes plus bas, on lit : "Il n'est pas d'homme politique ou de la haute société grecque ou étrangère qui, en mission dans notre ville ou mobilisé dans les armées alliées, n'ait manifeste le désir de fréquenter notre Cercle. Et c'est une gloire pour notre Club d'avoir offert l'hospitalité à tant de personnages illustres. Quel merveilleux tableau que celui de cette foule d'élite se mouvant dans le cadre imposant et magnifique de notre ancien local et qui 1 CC.Th : Procès-verbaux des réunions du Conseil d'administration du Cercle de Thessalonique du 9 décembre 1940, transfert à l'Hôtel Majestic ; 28 août 1941, transfert au numéro 35 de la rue Tsimiski ; 17 octobre 1941, transfert au numéro 39 de la rue Kalapothaki ; 22 mars 1942, transfert au Palais Boton ; 22 avril 1942, avant même de s'y être installés, l'appartement qu'ils louaient rue Filikis Etairias fut réquisitionné ; 3 juin 1943, transfert au numéro 101 de la rue Mitropoleos ; 15 octobre 1943, transfert rue Katouni ; 27 juillet 1946, installation au numéro 3 de la rue Tsiroyannis. 2

CC.Th : Procès-verbaux du Conseil d'administration du Cercle de Thessalonique du 27 février 1943. La déportation des Juifs de Thessalonique eut lieu entre le 15 mars 1943 et le 2-3 août 1943.

162

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

donnait à nos réunions quotidiennes un air de grande fête ! Rarement, il a été donné de voir un milieu aussi hétérogène et où cependant on respirait une atmosphère d'harmonie, de cordialité et de fraternisation. Notre cercle exerçait, en effet, une grande attraction par la distinction de ses membres, par son emplacement exceptionnellement avantageux, le grand confort de son aménagement, sa bibliothèque abondamment fournie, enfin par la création récente d'un service de restaurant."1 Cette description de 1918, renouvelée à plusieurs reprises jusqu'en 1939 , nous aide à comprendre que les objectifs et les ambitions des créateurs et des membres - de communautés différentes - du Cercle étaient d'assurer un lieu commun de rencontre, apte à recevoir les personnalités les plus en vue de Salonique, un lieu qui favoriserait éventuellement le débat et la résolution des problèmes communs. 2

Par le passé, le combattant nationaliste grec Hadjiantoniou avait été libéré grâce à l'intervention d'Allatini et de Benveniste. Mais l'initiative de médiation qu'entreprirent avec succès les membres du Cercle pour apaiser les passions qui se déchaînaient entre les communautés adverses durant les jours qui suivirent le rattachement à la Grèce, en 1913, fut commenté avec soulagement par un document du ministère des Affaires étrangères grec 3 . Bien qu'il n'existe pas de données précises concernant une autre action sociale de ce type, cette dernière pose à l'heure actuelle davantage de questions qu'elle ne donne de réponses. Nous pouvons évidemment supposer qu'il y eut d'autres cas de ce type, comme par exemple l'intervention directe concernant l'accusation de meurtre rituel contre S. Benrubi en 1888 4 , la résolution de conflits entre certains Grecs et Juifs au cours des festivités organisées par les Jeunes-Turcs en 19085, ou encore l'interruption de la campagne antisémite des journaux Faros et Nea Alithia en 1909 6 . Comme le commentent les sources, ces affrontements furent résolus "après une intervention commune des notables des communautés ethniques respectives". Il me paraît raisonnable de penser que ces derniers devaient faire partie des membres du Cercle. De même, en 1927, alors que la lenteur de l'assimilation culturelle des Juifs grecs servait de prétexte à la campagne antisémite de certains journaux, certains membres du Cercle, tels que M.I. Mavrogordatos, un homme politique très connu, proposèrent la création d'associations mixtes du 1

CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposé du CAHJP : Dossier 97, Exposé du 3 A . V. METALLINOU, Ipalaia Rapport du 23 novembre 1912. 4 Arc h. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C. 37 5 Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C. 46 6 Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C. 48 2

11 mai 1918. 11 mai 1939. Thessaloniki, op. cit., p. 25. IAYE : 1912/11 Kapa./Th.ita/101, : Lettre d'Avraam DANON du 23 mars 1888. : Rapport de Moïse BENGHIAT du 1er déc. 1909. : Rapport de Moïse BENGHIAT du 1er déc. 1909.

LE

" C E R C L E

DE

S A L O N I Q U E "

163

même type, afin de résoudre les conflits intercommunautaires. Mavrogordatos savait, par expérience, que cela contribuerait à l'intégration normale des Juifs, grâce à la possibilité d'une communication sociale et d'une acceptation mutuelle 1 . D'autre part, malgré les tracas que subirent les membres du Cercle durant l'occupation, ils firent à plusieurs reprises des dons financiers importants pour des actions humanitaires et notamment pour la fourniture de nourriture aux enfants orphelins ou mal nourris 2 .

Conclusion A la lecture et à l'examen des listes nominatives des membres (tableau 2), il est manifeste que ces personnes représentaient l'élite de la bourgeoisie de Salonique. Organisés au sein du Cercle, dont le cadre convivial supprimait les tensions et les oppositions, ils purent développer une action politique indirecte au cours de la période de transition qui suivit la prise de pouvoir par les Grecs. L'acceptation a priori des pouvoirs politiques qui se succédaient, sans distinction idéologique ou sans autre réserve, qui est confirmée dans tous les statuts, pourrait être attribuée par ailleurs au contrôle exercé par la haute bourgeoisie sur le pouvoir officiel, en général, et plus particulièrement en périodes de crise. Une semblable relation a dû, entre autres, être établie avec les puissances économiques et politiques étrangères qui participèrent à l'histoire récente, fertile en événements, de Salonique, à l'exception des forces d'occupation allemandes. Cela n'était pas simplement dû au fait que certains membres possédaient des intérêts communs avec des personnes étrangères, aussi bien en ville qu'ailleurs, mais surtout au fait que les membres du Cercle constituaient dans leur ensemble un des facteurs, peut-être le plus important, de stabilité dans de longues périodes d'incertitude. S'ils ont effectivement fonctionné comme trait d'union entre les puissances qui se sont succédé,

1 "Grecs et Juifs, une lettre de M.J. MAVROGORDATOS", journal Le Progrès, Thessalonique, 25 mai 1927. o '•CC.Th : Procès-verbaux des réunions du Conseil d'administration du Cercle de Thessalonique-, 5 mars 1939, augmentation de la contribution à la Société Philanthropique de Thessalonique', 17 décembre 1940, importante donation en faveur de la Collecte Nationale de Prévoyance et deux autres donations en faveur du Paquetage du Soldat et de la Croix-Rouge grecque; 4 février 1942, donation de 100.000 drachmes à la Croix-Rouge grecque pour la nourriture d'enfants sans ressources; 30 mai 1942 et 2 juin 1942, établissement d'un comité spécial pour l'organisation "du ravitaillement des enfants mal-nourris"; 15 juin 1942, le Cercle achète 50 billets d'une valeur de 60.000 drachmes pour soutenir le concert de la station de radio de Thessalonique en faveur des "enfants mal-nourris"; 23 décembre 1942, donation de 100.000 drachmes à la Métropole de Thessalonique et de 400.000 drachmes au comité central des enfants mal-nourris; 20 décembre 1942, donation de 5.000.000 à la Métropole de Thessalonique en faveur d'œuvres de bienfaisance; 29 novembre 1946, donation de 100.000 drachmes pour VAsile de l'enfant.

164

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

comme il semble que ce fut le cas, il est impossible qu'ils n'aient pas influence, - vu qu'ils étaient les principaux représentants des Saloniciens - la destinée houleuse de leurs concitoyens et plus généralement les événements dans des périodes critiques de l'histoire de cette "ville convoitée". Conscients qu'ils étaient de leur responsabilité sociale, ils se sont mobilisés, mettant en pratique un message de compréhension et d'entente entre les différentes communautés ethniques. Le Cercle fut dissous en 1958, non parce qu'il affrontait quelque problème économiques mineur, mais parce qu'avec le changement de sa composition sociale et l'hellénisation complète de la ville, il n'avait plus de raison d'être. Sans conteste, l'exemple du Cercle de Salonique a été imité directement ou indirectement. Je ne parle évidemment pas de la "Fédération socialiste" (qui était à l'opposé, sur le plan social, de ce club mis en place très tôt par la haute bourgeoisie) ni du "Nouveau Cercle de Thessalonique", mais bien du "Cercle de commerce helléno-israélite", de la "Ligue d'entraide entre Juifs et Chrétiens", de "l'Association de danse internationale", de "l'Association internationale des ouvriers boulangers", de "l'Association internationale des négociants en tabac" et d'autres que nous avons pu omettre 1 . Il serait sûrement intéressant de leur consacrer des recherches avec toute l'attention à laquelle a eu droit jusqu'à présent une association politique comme la Fédération socialiste.

1

TPl.Th : Dossiers 353,50, 296,481, 297, 324 et 43 (dans l'ordre où ils sont mentionnés).

THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT UP TO PANHELLENIC ZIONIST CONGRESS1

THE

FIRST

Zionism as an ideology made its first appearance in Europe about a hundred years ago. If it differed from other national movements, this was mainly because the Jews seemed to have largely lost their defining characteristics and constituted a nation without a homeland. In fact, after the French Revolution, political emancipation had led the Jews to move deliberately towards integration, which became the dominant ideology throughout the nineteenth century. But dawning awareness that persecution and antisemitism were resurfacing in central and eastern Europe in the same measure as the Jews assimilated into the new nation states made their revival of national cohesion inevitable 2 . Zionism was the response of the assimilated Jews of the Enlightenment when they realised that antisemitism, like any other kind of racism, grew from the principle of ethnic homogeneity that was the defining characteristic of nationalism. The Jewish national idea initially developed in two stages: the cultural, oriented towards restoring national cohesion by returning to traditional Jewish values; and the political, which asserted that national identity could not be secured unless a national homeland was established in Palestine 3 . In the Ottoman lands, the spread of Zionism was associated with those Western interventions and influences that reached the Empire in the nineteenth century via the national liberation movements affecting most of its ethnic and religious minorities 4 . Early in the century, the spread of Zionism in the Empire was also considerably encouraged by the establishment of European 2'ionist leaders in influential Ottoman centres (Istanbul above all), where they strove to persuade the local Jewish communities to act as a bridge by which Jewish national demands might reach the Ottoman authorities 5 . Published in the Proceedings of the conference The Jewish Communities of Southeastern Europe from the 15th Century to the End of World War I I , Thessaloniki 30 Oct.-3 Nov. 1992, pp. 327-350.1 would like to thank Ph.D. candidate Mr. Devin Nar for re-editing the article. Rena Molho, Ta problimata tis sionistikis ideologias stous evraious, in Greek, [The problems of assimilationist ideology among the Jews], KIS, Athens,1990. ^Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism, New York 1976. 4 William W. Haddad, "Nationalism in the Ottoman Empire" in W. W. Haddad and L. Clschenwald (editors), Nationalism in a Non-National State, Ohio 1977, pp. 3-23. 5 Esther Benbassa, "Presse d'Istanbul et de Salonique au service du sionisme (1908-1914: les motifs d'une allégeance", Revue historique, 560 (October-December 1986), pp. 337-365.

166

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The conditions conducive to the development of Zionism in Salonica have not been thoroughly analysed. The first local Zionist associations were formed between 1899 and 1919, when the Jewish community experienced its second great cultural and economic revival 1 . Throughout these twenty years of transition and turmoil, a period that was marked by the Y o u n g Turks' revolution and, above all, by the Greeks' final victory in the clashes between different national groups, the Jewish presence continued to define the profile of multi-ethnic Salonica to such an extent that the city became known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans2. The tolerant policy of the Turkish and the Greek governments, which allowed the Jewish community to maintain its leading role in a city that was fiercely contested, confirmed the c o m m u n i t y ' s distinctive status 3 . Under these favourable circumstances, the response of Jews of Salonica towards the Zionist concept is particularly interesting especially sincethis community was the dominant ethnic minority in the city right up to 1923 and therefore the pressures that led most other Jewish communities to embrace the movement were minimal 4 . It is therefore necessary to investigate what led to the awakening of national feelings in this particular Jewish community, a sentiment which, unlike that of most other Jewish communities in Europe, did not arise f r o m antisemitic persecution 5 . This paper examines whether the expressions and the development of Zionism in Salonica were typical or whether the local Jews embraced Zionist ideology under different conditions and f r o m different perspectives.

The Birth of the Zionist Movement

in

Salonica

T h e first Zionist association in Salonica was called Kadima,

which

means 'forward' or 'eastward' (i.e. towards Palestine). It was founded by twenty young Talmud Tora graduates in 1899, a year after that newly modernised theological school had burnt down. The twin aims of the founders ( w h o included the fervently militant David Florentin, editor-in-chief of the Zionist

' Rena Molho, "Le Renouveau", in Gilles Veinstein (editor), Salonique, ville des Juifs et le réveil des Balkans, 1850-1918, Paris 1992, pp. 64-78. 2 Ibid. Gilles Veinstein, "Un paradoxe séculaire", in G.Veinstein, (editor), Salonique, ville des Juifs..., pp.41-64. 3 R . Molho, "Le Renouveau", art. cit., Rena Molho, "Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Salonica, 1912-1919", Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, vol. XIII, 3&4 (1986), pp. 113-123. Laqueur, op. cit. 5

Rena Molho, "Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece", Jewish Social Studies, vol. L, 3-4 (1988/1993), pp. 253-264.

THE Z I O N I S T

MOVEMENT

167

newspaper El Avenir1, Abraham Gattegno, and Beniko Ben-Yakov) were to develop Hebrew as a modern language that could be used to educate the illiterate masses, and to strengthen religious faith through Jewish culture and Jewish learning 2 . Despite the assimilationists' patronising comments about the organisation's popularity, Kadima soon had seventy members, as many as the assimilationists' own organisation, the Association d'anciens eleves de VAlliace israelite universelle*, which had been founded two years earlier. Kadima was therefore allowed to use part of the large communal premises of the old Chief Rabbinate, the Haham Ha/ie4. There the members assembled a library, which by 1903 comprised 350 works in modern Hebrew and 1,500 volumes of Talmudic and rabbinical literature 5 . They now no longer had to resort to French or Italian works, because the library's modern Hebrew publications and translations covered their basic needs. In 1910 Kadima managed to unite all the city's smaller libraries of such works into a single library of 7,000-8,000 volumes. They called it the Kadima Jewish Library6. Kadima promoted its aims by lending out these books, holding evening classes in Jewish history and Hebrew language, and organising public readings, discussions, and lectures (always in Hebrew) on subjects connected

Solomon Ruben-Mordechai, " O evraikos typos sti Thessaloniki ke genikotera stin Ellada ", in Greek, [The Jewish press in Thessaloniki and in Greece generally], off-print from Chronika, No 1, June 1978, pp. 1-20. David Florentin was born in Thessaloniki in 1874 and attended the Talmud Tora and the Alliance schools, where he acquired a broad education in both Jewish and Western studies. In 1897 he began to publish the newspaper El Avenir in an effort to diffuse Jewish national ideas among the Jews both of Salonica and of the Empire as a whole. He led the Zionist movement in Greece for many years. He visited Palestine three times and represented Greece at eleven international Zionist congresses. From 1930 to 1933 he was an elected member of the Executive Committee of the World Zionist Organisation in London, as Director of the Council of the Eastern Countries. It is thought that it was from this position that he arranged for Salonica's Jewish longshoremen to emigrate to Palestine. In 1933 he settled in Tel Aviv himself, where he helped to found the agricultural co-operative Moshav Tsour Moshe i ti honour of the Greek Zionist Moshe Coffina. 7 Thessaloniki Court of the First Instance (hereafter TCFI), File No 7; and Archives de l'Alliance israelite universelle (hereafter Arch, de l'AIU), Gr.I/G.3, letter by Joseph Nehama, 19 May q'1916. -The Alliance Israélite universelle (hereafter Alliance) was founded in Paris in 1860 by a group of French Jews who believed that discrimination against the Jews could be ended only by their economic, professional, and social emancipation and assimilation into Western culture. In an effort to modernise Jewish education, which had hitherto been based on religion, between 1862 and 1914 they created a modern network of schools in Mediterranean towns and cities. The Alliance schools provided both boys and girls with a combined Jewish and, particularly, Western education, based on the French language and French culture. The Alliance also founded technical training and agricultural schools, which provided poor children with a skill or an occupation. From 1873 onwards, thanks to the Alliance, and with the help of local agencies and other Jewish organisations, nine such schools were established in Salonica. In 1897, twentyfive years after the first school came into being, the Association d'anciens éléves de l'Alliance israélite universelle was founded. 4

Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by Joseph Nehama 19 May 1916. Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by Joseph Nehama 13 January 1903. è TCFI, f. 7. 5

168

S A L O N I C A

A N D

I S T A N B U L

with religion, ideology, and culture (Moses Mendelssohn, for instance, or the ideology of assimilation, or the Bible). At first, the community leaders took a favourable view of the new association. This changed, however, when the publication of one of Kadima's books was halted because it had aroused the suspicions of the Ottoman authorities. They also became aware that Kadima members were rejecting religious doctrine and embracing the Zionist messages of certain newspapers and visiting speakers as though they were "the commandments of Jewish law or the prophets" 1 . In other words, Kadima was a cultural and nationalist faction that did not identify with the religious community from which it had sprung. The first stirrings of the Salonica Jews' national awakening undoubtedly owed much to the modern education disseminated by the Alliance schools and, above all, to what were perhaps their first experiences of antisemitism. Such incidents as the blood-libel accusation levelled against Benrubi in 1888, the arrival of Russian and Corfiote Jews seeking refuge after the pogroms of 1889 and 1891 respectively, and the attack launched by the newspaper Acropolis, which published the antisemitic ravings of the Dreyfus affair as a counter to the pro-Turkish stance of some Jews during the GreekTurkish War of 1897, caused tremendous agitation in the community 2 . Nor can it have been fortuitous that some young people from Salonica met Theodor Herzl in 1898, when the founder of political Zionism visited Athens with other prominent figures in the movement 3 .

The Second Phase of the Development

of Zionism in Salonica

No other association with Zionist aims was founded during the next ten years, not only because the Ottoman government banned nationalist associations in 1904, but also because Zionists all over the world were in disarray after Herzl's death 4 . A further inhibiting factor was the dominance of the assimilationists in the community's councils and institutions 5 . l

Arch. de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 13 January 1903. Arch. de I'AIU, Gr.I/C.1-52, letters Avraam Danon 23 and 26 March 1888, and by Moise Morpurgo 1 May 1888 ; Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/C.1-52, Charles Allatini 6 May 1895. Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/C.1-52, letter by Charles Allatini 2 May 1897, Acropolis, Athens, 2 May 1897. The fact that a handful of Jewish louts ridiculed the Greek prisoners of war who arrived at the Salonica railway station was perceived as "community-wide celebrations" at Turkey's victory. 3 Ascher Moissis, "El mouvimiento sionista en Salonique y en las otras sivdades de Grecia", in D.Rekanati, (redaktor), Zikhron Saloniki, Grandeza y Destruktion del Yerushalayim del Balkan, vol. 1, Tel Aviv 1972, pp. 44-48. Laqucur, op. cit., pp. 136-207. 5 Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 28 June 1911. 2

THE

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

169

Meanwhile, the changes that followed the Young Turks' revolution of 1908 and the restoration of civil liberties opened the way for many of the Empire's minorities' aspirations towards national liberation. With the aim of defending their national values, the Ottoman Empire's various ethnic groups now began to establish associations that promoted their national ideals. At the same time, an outburst of antisemitism provoked by the Greeks in Salonica between September 1908 and March 1909 gave considerable impetus to the creation of the first Jewish national and Zionist associations. In 1908, a group of Jewish intellectuals, former Alliance students with assimilationist tendencies, founded the Intimes association with the twofold aim of checking the Greeks' attempted boycott of Jewish traders and workers and taking a stand against the antisemistic campaign launched by the newspapers Pharos and Alithia1. The Jews had now begun to react against local antagonism. The diffusion of Zionist ideas was greatly assisted by the new Chief Rabbi, Yakov Meir, who came from Jerusalem in 1907, and by Rabbi Dr Itzhak Epstein, who became Director of the Talmud Tora in 1910 2 . They were both ardent Zionists and from the positions they held in influential cultural centres that were not controlled by the assimilationists, they were easily able both to spread and to implement their ideas. In 1908, with the help of the pro-Zionist Hilfsverein^, Rabbi Meir founded Salonica's first German-Jewish school. Though it was equivalent to the educational establishments run by the Alliance, the school was staffed by German teachers who had been stamped by their years of training in Palestine. They taught Jewish and Zionist ideals, and at the same time offered an alternative secular education to those who had not been able to attend the French-Jewish schools 4 . Dr Epstein, an impassioned teacher and the chief organiser of Jewish national propaganda, addressed a similar public through religious education. He disseminated Zionist ideology outside the Talmud Tora, too, giving impressive lectures in various cultural associations at a number of venues. An accomplished orator, he used statistical data, technical details, and diagrams in his talks to illustrate how the Jewish national idea should be introduced into education in order to steer young people towards "a

l

Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by Moïse Benghial 17 June 1909, and Alithia, Salonica, 12 May 1909,13 May 1909, 14 May 1909, and 20 May 1909. Both newspapers published in instalments the antisemitic Greek novel The Devil in Turkey, which insinuated that the Jews were working with foreign powers to undermine Turkey's integrity. 2 Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.1-52, "La situation grave et les regrettables malentendus entre les divers elements en Macedoine", Le Journal de Salonique, Salonica, 27 January 1910. ^The Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, or simply Hilfsverein, was a German-Jewish organisation founded in 1901 to improve the social and civic conditions of the Jews of Eastern Europe and the East. The Hilfsverein created an educational network in the Ottoman Empire comparable to that of the Alliance. In the Balkans, Hilfsverein schools were used as a means of diffusing Zionist ideology through the German language and German culture. ^Esther Benbassa, "Le sionisme ou la politique des alliances dans les communautés ottomanes (début XXe siècle)", Revue d'études juives, CL, 1-2 (January-June 1991), pp. 107-131.

170

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

b e a u t i f u l , f a s c i n a t i n g l i f e " 1 . H e also influenced a n u m b e r of rabbis, community officials, and journalists with w h o m his position brought him into contact. When the Russian Zionist leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky, visited Salonica in 1908, the Bnei Zion association was founded at Dr Epstein's instigation 2 . It should be noted, however, that, although these "Sons of Zion" chose a specifically Zionist name, and although they identified with the Central Zionist Organisation's policy of establishing a sanctuary for the Jewish people in Palestine 3 , the association's founders (Ascher Mallah, David Florentin, Josef Uziel and Josef Hassid) declared that their initiative sprang from their sympathy with "the deplorable situation of the greater number of our fellow-Jews all over the world", clearly implying that they themselves were not included in this persecuted category 4 . This may also explain why most of Salonica's Jewish community spurned Zionism, being justifiably wary of an ideology that the Ottoman authorities might regard as unpatriotic and an unwarranted provocation. It also accounts for the negative attitude of the Community's Council, which, among other dimissive gestures, issued an official statement to the effect that it neither supported nor participated in the Zionist movement 5 . A similar reaction was commonplace in many Jewish communities in Western Europe as well as in the Ottoman Empire. As in Europe, so too in Salonica, most of the disaffected belonged to the large Jewish working class, many of w h o m joined the Fédération Socialiste at this time. The organisation's founders, who in Salonica were themselves Jews, offered solutions to the Jewish problem through their own ideology 6 .

1 Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 19 May 1916. ^Vladimir Jabotinsky was the wunderkind of Russian Zionism and its greatest orator. He was of considerable help to Victor Jacobson, the Zionist movement's official representative in Istanbul from 1908 onwards. Shlomo Reuven-Mordehai, "Hatnua hatzionit besaloniki" [The Zionist movement in Salonica], in Yhoudei Yavan ve Toldotam [History of the Jews of Greece], vol II, Tel Aviv 1984, pp. 85-106; A. Moissis, art. cit.,. 3 TCFI, f. 60. Bnei Zion identified with the CZO's programme that was adopted at the First International Zionist Congress in Basle on 29 August 1897; see also W. Laqueur, op. cit., p.106. 4 TCFI, f. 60. 5 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by M. Benghiat 17 June 1909. The great Zionist leader, Victor Jacobson, never succeeded in establishing a Zionist bank in Salonica, despite having secured the support of some important associations. Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by Dr.Modiano 20 December 1910. After a lecture by David Florentin on his impressions of a visit to Palestine, a member of the community council named I. Misrahi resigned. Indeed, the reaction was so sharp that Dr. Modiano asked the Alliance in Paris to send him the relevant literature so that he could write a criticism of Zionism. Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.XVII/E.202, Letter 2 February 1911 by J. Nehama, president of the Association d'anciens éle'ves de l'Alliance Israélite universelle. J.Nehama refused to provide Jacobson with a room when he came to Salonica to speak in 1911. 6 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.V/B.26, Letter by J.Nehama 31 August 1913. Avraam Benaroya, I proti stadiodromia tou ellinikou proletariatou, [The first career of the Greek proletariat], Athena 1975. Paul Dumont, "Une organisation socialiste Ottomane: la Fédération ouvrière de Salonique, 1908-1912", Études balkaniques, 11, No 1 (1975), pp. 76-80. Paul Dumont, "La Fédération socialiste ouvrière de Salonique à l'époque des guerres balkaniques", East European Quarterly, XIV, No 4 (Winter 1980), pp. 383-410.

THE

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

171

The propaganda organ ol' Bnei Zion and Kadima was a newspaper called El Avenir [The Future]. Though they numbered no more than a hundred, the members of Bnei Zion would mingle wherever there were large numbers of people — synagogues, talks or other gatherings — and join in discussions in order to influence people and recruit new members. Shortly after Bnei Zion was founded, a women's branch was established, B'not Zion [Daughters of Zion], with sixty members 1 . Another Jewish national organisation founded towards the end of 1908 was a sporting association called Maccabi. This was triggered by a visit by one hundred members of a Zionist association of the same name from the city of Plovdiv who were part of the Bulgarian delegation to Salonica's celebrations after the Young Turks' revolution 2 . Maccabi had special sports sections for young people, a scouts section ( Z o f e i Maccabi) from 1916 onwards, a hundred-member mixed choir, and a forty-member wind orchestra. With its total of 250-400 members, it was the most popular of all the Zionist associations. Its founders, Haim Vcnezzia, Aaron Pardo and Avraam Matarasso, believed that promoting the sound physical condition of the younger Jewish generation was directly related to national ideals and the development of the new Jew. Maccabis' popularity was also related to the fact that the Alliance schools tended to neglect physical education, although they later followed the Zionists' example by establishing a scout group at the Moise Allatini high school 3 . Aaron Pardo, known as maestro [teacher], trained the youngsters and organised public gymnastics displays. Maccabi members sang nationalist songs in Hebrew and Judaeo-Spanish, and various prominent figures in the Zionist movement made speeches. Aside from football and basketball, in which Maccabi teams competed against teams from other towns and local teams of other nationalities, the association's activities included lectures on Jewish subjects, cultural exchanges and meetings with representatives of foreign associations, educational campaigns and excursions, and courses on Zionism. The choir also sang at various local events and the association staged plays 4 . MaccabVs ceremonies and parades, in which the members wore a special uniform and carried a flag bearing the motto A healthy mind in a healthy body, were well recei ved nol only by the

l Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, J.Nehama, 19 May 1916. Itzhak Emmanuel, "Los jidios de Salonique", in Zikhron Saloniki, art. cit., p. 29; Avraam Benaroya, "El Empessijo del mouvimiento socialista", in Zikhron Saloniki, art. cit., p. 42; A. Moissis:, art. cit., p. 45. ^ Avraam Recanati, "La Maccabi — Epoca heroica en Salonique", in Zikhron Saloniki, pp. 3840. 3

Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.TV/B.26, letters by J. Nehama 31 August 1913. and XVII/E.202, 23 April 1916. The scout group was set up in 1916 with the help of Professor A. Danon. 4 Elena Romero, "El teatro entre los sefardíes orientales", Sefarad, year 29 (1969), pp. 197-

172

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

Jewish community in Salonica but also by Zionist associations in other towns, which copied them1. In 1910, when the Young Turks' tolerance of the Ottoman minorities' aspirations toward national liberation changed, the Maccabis considered it opportune to place greater emphasis on their sporting activities. The problem of the lack of competent coaches was temporarily resolved when a lawyer named Haim Allaluf joined the association in that year. He drew up MaccabVs new charter and devoted himself to the movement. In 1911, Maccabi was reorganised. Avraam Recanati, a journalist who was elected secretary that year, played a decisive part in the reorganization and rapidly became the leader after acquiring a close circle of admirers and associates. His lectures were attended in large numbers by members of other ideological groups—Socialists, for example —with whom open disputes would break out, degenerating on occasion into fist-fights. These would often end, according to the Zionists at least, in "Maccabi victories". Recanati seems to have been a man of contradictions: an imposing presence, profoundly religious, and yet with radical ideas. He promoted the concept promulgated by Vladimir Jabotinsky of "total Zionism"— namely that Palestine should be colonised by the Jews en bloc, not selectively by trained pioneers, farmers, or professionals, etc. After 1920, this view, known as Revisionism, was embraced by many of Salonica's Zionists, who joined new associations with a Revisionist outlook, many of them founded by Recanati himself 2 . After the liberation of Salonica in 1912, the character of Maccabi changed. It now became a broad popular movement, offering Hebrew evening classes to the students of foreign schools and setting up a girls' branch, which had 120 members from the very beginning. By 1913 the association was 600 strong, and the committee started to produce an annual sixty-page bulletin called El Maccabeo, containing political articles and literary essays. MaccabVs membership increased still further after 1913, and new sports teams and new branches were established. In 1915, however, ideological differences arose among the association's leaders, some of whom thought they should join the Central Zionist Federation, while others, led by Recanati, preferred Maccabi to remain independent, as its charter stipulated, so that it would continue to attract young people who were unaligned. When the committee voted for Maccabi to join the Central Zionist Federation, Recanati

' a . Recanati, art. cit., pp. 38-40. Sh. Reuven- Mordehai, art. cit., pp. 85-106.

2

THE Z I O N I S T

MOVEMENT

173

and the other dissenters resigned and founded other, chiefly Revisionist, associations. This ideological crisis, coupled with the problems of the First World War and the havoc the great fire of 1917 wrought on MaccabV s premises, library, and sports equipment, hastened the association's decline. In 1919, together with Kadima, Mevassaret Zion, and other Zionist organisations, Maccabi set up a local federal Zionist organisation, named Theodor Herzl', Maccabi confined itself thereafter to sports and athletics 1 . In 1926, when it was reorganised, Maccabi opened its doors to non-Jewish members; on this basis, it remains active today 2 .

The Zionist Movement in Salonica from

J908-1913

Meanwhile, the community was undergoing an ideological crisis, provoked by the heightened political uncertainty that had followed the Young Turks' revolution, together with the birth of Zionist and other political organisations, such as the Fédération socialiste (1909) 3 . It was in fact the first time that dissenters from the middle and working classes had taken action against the oligarchic line of the community's leaders. Just before the Jewish community elections of June 1911, the Zionists and Socialists, who were both demanding that the franchise be extended to all social classes, provoked street fighting against the assimilationists who at that time constituted the majority of the community's leadership. This clash caused considerable turmoil and division even among members of the same organisation. A ease in point was the Intimes, whose Zionist members broke off and, helped by Rabbi Epstein and his associates, started a new scholarly, scientific and literary association called the Nouveau Club4. Its purpose was to organise events of a specifically Jewish nationalist nature and to collect money in order to support certain international Jewish charities that were helping Jewish émigrés in Palestine 5 .

^A. Recanati, art. cit., pp. 38-40.

2

TCFL f. 6. ^Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J.Neharaa 28 June 1911. There was a similar crisis in 1913.

Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.51-52, letters by J. Cohen 3 May 1913, and I/G.3, J. Nehama 28 May 1913 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 19 May 1916. ^Ibid. Some of these charities, such as the Jewish Colonial Association (1891), had nothing to do with the movement, having been founded in order to help Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe to start a new life in other countries, particularly America. Others, such as the Jewish National Fund (Keren Hayessod) (1902) and the Jewish Colonial Trust (1901), levied contributions from their members or sold shares either to buy land or to meet the needs arising out of the first Zionists' emigration to Palestine.

174

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The creation of this new association turned the Intimes' headquarters into a hotbed of fanatical anti-Zionists, who not only wrote fiery newspaper articles against the Jewish nationalists, but also denounced them to the Ottoman authorities. They even went so far as to force the resignation of Chief Rabbi Meir, who supported the Nouveau ClubK The situation remained unchanged until the Balkan Wars, when new conditions arose, partly resulting f r o m antisemitism after the city's liberation by the Greeks in 1912, but chiefly becausc of the economic and social impasse the Jews of Salónica faced after the loss of the Balkan hinterland. After the war, the future of Salónica under the control of one of the newlyestablished Balkan nation states was regarded as an unmitigated disaster by Jews of all classes and political factions. The fact that the drawing of national frontiers would rule out the possibility of maintaining the city's commercial relations with the Balkan hinterland and with Turkey — which had hitherto been the basis of their economy — united the Jews, who regarded it as a national disaster 2 . U p until this point, the port of Salónica on the Thermaic Gulf had been the major entrepôt for the entire region. Specifically, having the monopoly on communications abroad, Salónica was the main supplier for Albania, Epirus, Old Serbia, Macedonia and Thrace. These areas and the city were mutually interdependent, not only because the various agricultural products were channelled to Salónica for export, but also because the city was the port of entry for essential colonial and industrial products imported into European Turkey. As a result, as various community leaders pointed out in their correspondence, Salónica was "both the brain and the heart of the region" 3 . It was only natural, then, that the 75,000 Jews, who not only made up the majority of the population, but also were professionally involved in one way or another with all the activities of the port (as bankers, merchants, shipping or insurance agents, street vendors, porters, dock-hands, sailors, and bargemen), should believe that the drawing of national borders would inevitably mean a dramatic reduction in Salonica's commercial range. The distress of the Jewish population, who had made their living for four hundred years serving this market of four million customers, reached its apex when they realised that Salónica would be further downgraded to a frontier town 4 . 1 Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 28 June 1911, and VI/B.26, letter by J. Nehama 31 August 1913. 2 Rena Molho, " I evraiki koinotita tis Thessalonikis ke i endaxi tis sto elliniko kratos 1912-1919" [The Jewish community of Salónica and its integration into the Greek state, 1912-1919], in I Thessaloniki meta to 1912 [Thessaloniki after 1912], Thessaloniki 1986, pp. 285-301. 3 Central Zionist Archives (hereafter CZA), Z3/119, letters by David Florentin 15 December 1912 and 15 January 1913. Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, J. Nehama 28 May 1913. 4 Ibid.

THE

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

175

Their alarm was underlined when the German, Spanish, and later, Austrian governments offered, through their consuls, to grant the Jews citizenship of their respective countries "in order to protect them" 1 . Furthermore, the various Balkan states also intensified their propaganda in an attempt to gain Jewish support for their sovereignty in Salonica 2 . The interest shown by these participants made it appear that the Great Powers' decision would be heavily influenced by the political will of the Jewish population and confirmed the importance of the Jewish role in Salonica. But, precisely because the problem arose out of the creation of new nation states that were competing for sovereignty over Salonica, none of the solutions promulgated by foreign powers served the interests of the Jews 3 . Although all these blandishments prompted the Greek government to implement a pro-Jewish policy and to agree temporarily to the privileges the community was seeking in order to help it adjust to the new situation, the local Jews remained dubious of Greek rule 4 . This was partly because the city's annexation by Greece, which already had two well-established ports in Piraeus and Volos, would restrict even further the already limited range of Salonica's commercial activity, but mainly because of their well-founded fear of Bulgarian threats of an economic blockade and the national conflicts to which the region would inevitably be subjected 5 . For some of the same reasons, they rejected the city's annexation by Bulgaria, even though that would serve them much better from an economic point of view. The Jews also rejected the notion of a joint sovereignty by a condominium consisting of the three Balkan states, which would in theory guarantee Salonica's autonomy. This solution, too, they believed would lead to a precarious balance that could not avert the hatred and nationalist clashes that would be bound to ensue. Similarly, they were equally mistrustful of the creation of an autonomous region or autonomous state in Macedonia. What mattered most was that within six months they were forced to relinquish even the option of the Austrian proposal to make Salonica an independent and neutral city under international guarantee, although this solution was supported by both the Donmes and the Greek Orthodox Christians, who sent Venizelos a joint memorandum to this effect 6 . Even thoughthe Prime Minister himself, under l Arch. de I'AIU, Gr.I/D.3, letter by Prat from Pera, Minister of Spain in Istanbul, letters by J.Nehama 23 November 1912 and 12 December 1912, and GR.I/C.34-51, letter by J Nehama 24 November 1912. 2 Rena Molho, "Salonique après 1912: propagandes étrangères et la communauté juive" Revue historique, CCXXXVII/1, pp. 127-140. 3 lbid. Arch, de l'AIU, I/C.34-51, letter by J. Nehama, 10 December 1912. 4 Ibid. R. Molho, "Venizelos and the Jewish Community...", art. cit. 5 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.50, letter by Elie Carmona, 29 May 1913. 6 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.XVII/E.202, letter by J. Nehama 6 May 1914.

176

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

pressure from the Great Powers, finally had accepted the solution of internationalisation, the Jews could not ignore the hostile Bulgarian reaction when news of the plan was published in the international press 1 . Having launched an intensive and many-pronged propaganda campaign to win over the local Jews, Bulgaria was at the same time seeking to intimidate them with the threat of an economic blockade by promising to provide all necessary supplies to landlocked Serbia 2 . A blockade was the only way Bulgaria could counter the favourable commercial conditions that would otherwise follow Salonica's conversion into an international city. Forced yet again to confront the problem, the Jews of Salonica then proposed the creation of a politically neutral state, which would comprise the city and the Balkan hinterland, have no armed forces, and be protected by international guarantees. On the economic front, they pointed out, the region could be subject to the joint dominion of three Balkan nations, with Salonica a free city. The new bufferstate between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia would thus help to even out those three countries' conflicting economic interests, while Salonica would be assured not only of their support, but also of its own peace of mind 3 . Setting aside the Socialists, who initially opted to maintain the status quo , the assimilationists' and Zionists' unexpected agreement to cooperate was greatly influenced by articles in the British and French press. The press maintained that Britain, on behalf of the Entente, and Germany, on behalf of the Triple Alliance, were about to sign an agreement handing Salonica over to the Jews so that it could be turned into a unique commercial port between Greek and Slav territory5. To ensure the success of this plan, the British Jewish writer, journalist and Zionist, Israel Zangwill, who was one of the first to support territorial Zionism (the creation of a Jewish national home outside Palestine), suggested that the Jews of Salonica contact the major Jewish organisations in Europe and ask them to bring their influence to bear upon the international diplomatic community and thus gain support for their proposals 6 . At first this counsel was received with circumspection, both by the assimilationists, who poured scorn upon the naivety of such European Zionist dreamers, and by the Zionists, who perceived the paradox of asking the Central Zionist Organisation to intervene on behalf of the Jews of Salonica, and help them 4

1

Le Radical, Paris, 14 December 1912. R . Molho, "Salonique après 1912...", art. cit., pp. 133-135. 3 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.50, letter by Elie Carmona 29 May 1913. 4 P . Dumont, "La Fédération socialiste", p. 383. 5 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.34-51, letters by J. Nehama 27 November 1912, and I/G.3, 28 May 1913; CZA, Z3/119, letters by David Florentin 15 December 1912 and 3 January 1913; Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.34-51, letter by J.Nehama 30 November 1912, and I/G.3, 19 May 1916. 6 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, J. Nehama 14 March 1913, and 19 May 1916. 2

T H E

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

177

not to be the first to emigrate to Palestine but to remain in a city of the diaspora1. Nonetheless, the possibility of the city's being internationalised or denationalised had not been contested — indeed, it had been publicly confirmed both by Venizelos and by some of his ministers 2 . This, along with a simultaneous outburst of antisemitism in the Athenian press, which was spreading unfounded rumours to the effect that two Jewish community leaders were to set up a company so that members of the local community could buy out Salonica, led the representatives of the various Jewish factions to agree for the first time ever to f o l l o w a common policy 3 . In turn, the Jewish associations approached their respective central organisations in Europe, and asked them to promote their case in the international community to whom it was widely known, moreover, that a solution that safeguarded Salonica's commercial status would also be supported by Turkey, Britain, France, and most of all Austro-Hungary, which had long been seeking an outlet into the Mediterranean 4 . A s well as to the Central Zionist Organisation, the Zionists also submitted a memorandum to the Vienna and Budapest Chambers of Commerce 5 . This defensive concord between the warring Jewish factions only served to underline the tragic nature of the Jewish question in Salonica. It also reflected young people's general impatience with the conciliatory, irresolute approach of the older members of the community, left leaderless for quite some time because no one was prepared to shoulder responsibility for dealing with the crisis6. With the official consent of the assimilationists, who had no specific political manifesto, it was inevitable that the Zionists would prevail. Hebrew became all the rage and, thanks to Zionist lobbying, which made the most of the abolition of Turkish, it soon became the most popular foreign language on the school syllabus. The language question also lay behind an ongoing confrontation between the Zionists and the Socialists in the form of two mutually antagonistic lcctures each week, one by each faction 7 .

' C Z A , Z3/119, letters by D. Florentin 15 December 1912, and 17 December 1912. 2

i e Radical, Paris, 14.12.1912; R. Molho, "Salonique après 1912", art. cit., p.132.

3Arch,

de l'AIU,

Gr.I/C.34-51, letters by J. Nehama 30 November 1912, 2 December 1912, and

(5 December 1912; C Z A , Z3/119, 6.1.1913. 4 C Z A , Z3/119, letter by D.Florentin 6 January 1913. •'CZA, Z3/119, 15.12.1912, memorandum drafted by the lawyer M . Cohen, who represented Salonica at the Ninth Zionist Congress in Hamburg in 1909. 6Arch,

de l'AIU,

nArch.

de l'AIU,

1913.

Gr.I/C.34-51, letter by J. Nehama 30 November 1912. Gr.XVII/E.202, letters by J. Nehama 13 January 1913, and I/G.3, 14 March

178

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Zionism's current popularity in Salonica was confirmed by the visits of David Ben Gurion, Itzhak Ben-Zvi, and other leading Zionists, all of whom saw in the city's Jewish community a model for the Jewish state 1 . Among their number were Paul Nathan, Allan Adler, and M. Kahn, all of whom spent a whole week in Salonica2. Adolf Friedman, a special envoy from the Central Zionist Organisation, also came to the city to establish whether the Jews, who were now under Zionist leadership, had good reason to be alarmed about Salonica's change of status3. Despite the Central Zionist Organisation's decision not to intervene in Greek affairs because the Jews were receiving the same treatment as the rest of the citizenry4, further Zionist associations were set up by middle-class people. One such association was the local branch of Bnai Brith (1912) 5 , which prominent members of the community joined; it later acquired a women's branch, Bnot Israel. Both recruited their leading cadres exclusively from the Nouveau Club and their political advisers "straight from Berlin", where the C Z O was based at the time 6 . In addition, during their visits, Ben Zvi and Ben Gurion, whom Avraam Benaroya had invited to address the Fédération socialiste, had introduced the line that Socialism and Zionism were not incompatible, This, of course, meant that the Zionist associations were able to spread into the suburbs and recruit members from the working classes 7 . One such new organisation was Nordau8, the result of a merger between three local Zionist sports associations: Pirhei Zion [Flowers of Zion], Atikva [Hope], and Ahvat Ahim [Brotherly Lovel, which had one hundred members in 1912. Nordau in turn merged with Bnei Zion to form Mevasseret Zion [Messenger of Zion],

^A. Moissis, art. cit., pp. 44-48. Arch, de l'Ail], Gr.XVII/E.202, letters by J. Nehama 27 January 1913, and I/G.3, 19 May 1916. ^Arch, de l'MU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 14 March 1913. 4 Nathan M. Gelber, "An Attempt to Internationalize Salonica (1912-1913)", Jewish Social Studies, 17 (1955), pp. 105-120. % h e name, which has the dual meaning of "Sons of the Circumcision" (i.e. the Jews) and "Sons of the Covenant", was initially adopted by a Jewish organisation founded in America in 1843. Its purpose was to defend the peace, democracy, unity, and security of the Jewish people, and preserve Jewish cultural values. At the end of the nineteenth century, Bnai Brith joined the Zionist movement. 6 Arch. de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 19 May 1916. 7 A . Benaroya, "El Empessijo...", art. cit., p. 42. ® Max Nordau was a celebrated philosopher and sociologist. He joined the Zionist movement in 1896 and became the second Zionist leader, after Herzl. In 1913 he published an article in the 1914 edition of Graecia titled "Les Israélites de Salonique" (pp. 363-70), in which he explained the Salonica Jews' misgivings about Greek sovereignty and the importance of the Jewish presence in the city, and argued that it was possible for Jews and Greeks to live in harmony. The article was subsequently published in the Salonica newspaper Macedonia on 11 January 1914. Moshe Najari (A1 Nes), "Societa Sionista 'Max Nordau' ", in Zikhron Saloniki, p. 49. 2

THE

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

179

which had 220 members by 1916\Ohavei Zion [Lovers of Zion], a branch of Mevasseret Zion in Kalamaria, had about one hundred members in 1914 1 . The pro-German feeling that suffused the Zionist movement as a whole at that time, coupled with the movement's popularity in Salónica, created the right climate for a direct assault on the assimilationists. In an effort to win over the petite bourgeoisie and solid middle classes, the Zionists launched a campaign against the Alliance schools, which, despite their pro-Jewish educational trends, were accused in the Zionist press of "de-Judaising" the community's young people, and their popularity fell accordingly. At the same time, prominent members of the community repudiated their former ideology and joined the Hilfsverein. Furthermore, since, through the German consulate, the Hilfsverein was supporting the Salónica community more than any other Jewish charitable organisation at that crucial period, the sharp contrast between the Zionist organisations' activity and the Alliance's inertia allayed many assimilationists' prejudices against the movement 2 . A manoeuvre by the most prominent Zionists, who, on the eve of the community elections in May 1913, allied themselves with some assimilationists in the Interclub in support of the restricted franchise, prompted many members of the middle classes to turn to Zionism. The subsequent victory of the Zionists, who were in the majority on the new community council for the first time ever, confirms that many prominent members of the community had embraced Zionist views 3 .

The Zionist Movement in Salónica during the First World War,

1914-1919.

With the outbreak of the First World War and the early German successes, everyone's hopes were pinned on an eventual Austro-German victory, which would abolish the borders of the new states and re-unite the Balkans. Since the German-Jewish schools funded by the Hilfsverein were in danger of closing down as a result of the war, the Nouveau Club stepped in and officially undertook their financial support 4 . Like all the other associations, the Nouveau Club was now playing an active part in the country's political life, an unprecented situation in the history of Greek Jewry. In the elections of 1915, indeed, the associations l Arch. de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, tellers by J. Nehama 16 May 1916 and 4 July 1919. hbid; and Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.XVII/E.202, letters by J. Nehama 4 April 1913 and I/C.34-51,24 November 1912. 31 Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.III/C, letters by J. Cohen 20 Mayl913, and XVII/E.202, 5 May 1913. 4 Ihid„ and Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/C.51-52, letters by J. Cohen 4 February 1912, XVII/E.202, J. Nehama 27 August 1914.

180

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

organised a pre-election campaign in support of Greece's neutrality through the pages of their organ, Courrier de Salonique. This had the effect of influencing the results in Salónica in favour of the Opposition party leader, Dimitrios Gounaris; and four of the five Jewish MPs elected were Zionists. However, during the course of the war, the Zionists' pro-German stance underwent a complete change at the international level. After 1916, in particular, it was realised that Germany and Austria supported Zionism only in theory and only insofar as it served their expansionist policy in the Mediterranean. At the same time, Germany and Austria refused to commit themselves to any policy that would effect their Alliance with Turkey, nor did they do anything to discourage the appalling wave of antisemitism that was swamping Germany. On the other hand, at America's instigation, the allied forces of the Entente had begun to implement a direct interventionist policy to secure the autonomy of the Ottoman Empire's minorities in the Middle East — in Palestine, for instance, where they were trying to incite the minorities to rise up against increasing Turkish oppression1. This attitude turned the international Zionist movement decisively towards the Entente. It also ensured the support of the Jewish community, which had been set on its feet again, financially speaking, by the arrival of the Allies in Salónica. The community's swing towards the Entente was also influenced by a financial scandal involving the Nouveau Club. After the 1915 elections, it was discovered that, in order to finance their own newspaper, the Club's management kept to themselves a large proportion of a donation of 40,000 francs that a Jewish banker named Solomon Meir had given to all Salonica's Zionist associations to secure their support when he stood as parliamentary candidate in Larissa 2 . The rift between the Nouveau Club and the "honest" Zionists, who suddenly found themselves not only on the defensive, but also leaderless to boot, was irreparable. The outraged representatives of the other Zionist associations began a campaign of lectures and newspaper articles demanding their share of the donation, exposing the perfidy and corruption of the pro-German Nouveau Club, revealing Germany's hypocrisy towards the movement, and arguing that the salvation of Zionism was in the hands of the Entente 3 .

l

Ibid„ and H. M. Sachar, The Course of Modern Jewish History, Cleveland 1958, pp. 89-105. Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, Letter by 19 May 1916. 3 Ibidand Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.II/C.53-54, letters by J. Nehama 18 August 1916, and XVII/E.202, 11 April 1918. 2

THE

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

181

Furthermore, thanks to the French education of many of Salonica's Jews, especially friendly relations developed with France, and with the other Allies, as was evidenced by the lattcr's regular participation in social — and particularly Zionist — events within the community 1 . Although the Allies requisitioned the Nouveau Club, the Zionists' rehabilitation in public opinion was confirmed by the formation of two new associations. One was Hatehya [Rebirth], which was established in 1916 on the initiative of A. Recanati by amalgamating Mevasseret Sioti's 220 members and Maccabi's 350 members (100 women and 250 men). With the purpose of keeping the Allies informed, in mid-1917, Hatehya issued the first French Zionist newspaper Pro Israel. The other was the Association des Jeunes Juifs, which was also founded in 1916, again on the initiative of Rccanati, who had recently left Maccabi. The Association continued to campaign against the Alliance assimilationists 2 . Statements made by the Greek Foreign Minister, Nikolaos Politis, further reinforced the Zionist movement's legitimacy. In April 1917, on the occasion of a preparatory meeting of all the Jewish associations, who were organising a Panhellenic congress, Politis expressed his support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine (several months before the Balfour Declaration in Britain). He also gave his consent for 300 Jewish volunteers from Salonica to fight alongside the British in the Middle East 3 . Regardless of hether the government's pro-Jewish policy in favour of the Zionist movement was due to the common aim of dismantling the Ottoman Empire, or because of its conviction that such a stance would help the Greek position in the international community, it also signalled that Greece did not feel threatened by the cthnic differentiation of the local Jewish community 4 . However, the congress, which had been planned for September 1917 to support the civil rights of the Jews in Romania and Russia, was postponed because of the great fire. The postponement was a relief to the assimilationists and the Socialists, who had tried and failed to have it cancelled 5 . The assimilationists did, however, admit their own shortcomings, while

l

Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.XVII/E.202, letters by .1. Nehama dated 23 April 1916 and 19 November 1916, and I/G.3, 19 May 1916. 2 Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama, 19 May 16. See also Doudoun Ricanati, "Hatehya" in Zikhron Saloniki, p. 42. 3 Pro Israel, Salonica, 1 July 1917. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Gr.I/C.34-51, letter by J. Nehama, 10 December 1912. Rena Molho, "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation into the Greek State", Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 24, No 4 (1988), pp. 391-403; R. Molho, "Venizelos and the Jewish Community..." art. cit. 5 Arch, de l'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letters by J.Nehama 19 May 1916 and 29 June 1917. (Fifteen thousand voters elected seventy-nine representatives, sixty of whom were Zionists.) M. J. Cazes and M. D. Matalon, Pour le congrès juif de Salonique, Première réunion publique organisée dans le Temple Talmud Tora le samedi 29 Nissan 5677-21 avril 1917, Allocution du président M. J. Cazes, Discours du secrétaire M. D. Matalon, published by El Avenir, Salonica 1917.

182

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

continuing to make negative remarks about the Zionists. The Socialists were unable to achieve very much without their organ, Avanti, which had been closed down by the Allied authorities 1 . Meanwhile, the Zionists, who let no opportunity pass them by, concentrated on helping the victims of the fire. They also won people's confidence by protesting, through the Great Rabbi, against the discriminatory treatment the Greek authorities were meting out to the Jewish and the Greek Orthodox fire victims 2 . Their specific complaints concerned the expropriation of Jewish property and the delays in rebuilding the city, which were forcing the Jews either to remain in tents or to pay inflated rents at a time when they had no income. They also censured the authorities' discriminatory approach to caring for the victims, maintaining that almost all the Orthodox Christian refugees had been rehoused, while there were many more Jewish victims, only ten percent of whom had been resettled, leaving twenty thousand still homeless 3 . Analysts of the Zionist phenomenon in Salonica have commented that the Zionists became the mouthpiece of the Jewish population since they were the only ones who were prepared to stand up to the authorities. Their popularity was also strengthened at this time by the rumour that the Zionists' influence could give rise to a referendum that would determine the political preferences of the people of Salonica prior to the forthcoming Peace Conference 4 . In this way, although only a very small proportion of the city's Jewish population was actively involved in Zionist associations, Salonica's Zionists now held the majority of the seats on the community council and were also amassing, if not money, at least large numbers of sympathisers at their events 5 .

^ Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Benroubi 4 July 1919 Arch. de I'AIU, Gr.I/C.53-54, letter by J. Meir, Great Rabbi of Salonica on 26 February 1919. •2 ibid. ^The chief analysts of the Zionist movement in Salonica were two prominent assimilationists, Joseph Nehama and Joseph Benrubi. Apart from the frequent reports they sent to the Alliance headquarters in Paris, commenting on events and issues pertaining to the Jews of Salonica, they also wrote short studies on the evolution of Zionism in the city. It was a problem that sparked considerable soul-searching, for it went against their whole ideology. Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, 19.5.1916 (Nehama), and 4.7.1919 (Benrubi). 5 Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.VI/B.26, letters by J.Nehama 31 August 1913, and XVII/E.202, 5 December 1913; I/G.3, 19 May 1916, 4 July 1919. The available data indicate that there were no more than a thousand card-carrying Zionists in Salonica. The size of a community's delegation at the international Zionist congresses was determined by the sale of coupons: in 1919 only two thousand coupons were sold in Salonica. 2

THE

Z I O N I S T

M O V E M E N T

183

Their popularity was confirmed by the presence of twenty thousand demonstrators at the celebrations in Salonica that marked the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Held on 2 November 1918, it was an event of exceptional splendour not only in Greek but in European terms, too 1 . A considerable part was played in the organisation of these celebrations by the recently established Fédération sioniste de Salonique, which published the weekly newspaper La Esperanza [Hope] and whose 700 members belonged to most of the city's Zionist associations 2 . The president was David Matalon and the Vice-Prcsident, David Florentin, a tireless organiser of cultural events in association with Jewish foundations in Palestine, such as the Bezalel School of Fine Arts. The Fédération also organised special Yom Hashekel [Donation Day] events, when coupons were sold. The members were expected to buy these, bccause every two hundred coupons they bought gave the Fédération the right to send one representative to the congresses held abroad 3 . Another opportunity for celebrations was Yom Haivri [Jewish Day], when National Fund bonds or shares in the Jewish bank that was to be established in Palestine were sold. In 1919, thanks to the efforts of Chief Rabbi Meir, 12,000 National Fund bonds and 19,000 shares in the Palestine bank were sold 4 . It is worth noting, however, that, from the Central Zionist Federation's point of view, the sums raised in Salonica were negligible, for they never came up to even their lowest expectations in proportion to the size of the community 5 . One innovation introduced by the Zionist Federation was an information bureau, which it opened in Salonica in December, 1918, in order to provide oral and printed information to those interested in anything pertaining to Palestine — though it never precipitated any great wave of emigration to Palestine 6 . Thanks to the Federation's efforts, discussions were resumed with Jewish and Zionist associations in other towns for the congress that had been postponed. The congress was now planned for 10 and 11 March, 1919, and was the occasion for the creation of the General Zionist Federation of Greece (GZFG), based in Salonica; the Zionist Federation of Salonica changed its name to Theodor Herzf • The governing board of the GZFG consisted of thirteen representatives of the country's major Jewish 1 CZA, Z4/2088 II, letter by David Florentin, 4 November 1918, contains a full account of the celebrations. 2 Arch, de I'AIU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama, 4 July 1919. 3 A . Moissis, art. cit., pp. 44-8. 4 Arch. de I'AIU, GR.I/G.3, fetter J. Nehama, 4 July 1919. S CZA, Z4/2088 II, letters from the London central Zionist Bureau to David Besanchi, 10 and 24 June 1919. b Arch. de I'AIU, GR.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama, 4 July 1919. 1 Ibid.

184

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

communities and was to meet in Salonica every six months. A seven-member council of Salonica residents was appointed to act as the Federation's central committee 1 . The First Panhellenic Zionist Congress was indeed held on 10 and 11 March, with Prime Minister Venizelos' approval, in the White Tower Park Theatre. It was the most important event in the entire history of Jewish communities in Greece: although they had maintained contact with each other, they had never before come together in this way. While the congress was meeting, the city was decked with Greek and Allied flags and portraits of major Zionist leaders, the shops closed, and the workers held an enormous demonstration2. Fifteen of Greece's twenty-four Jewish communities sent a total of eighty representatives to take part in the proceedings. They included the communities of Kavala, which had an important Zionist association called Or Zion [Light of Zion]; Drama; Serres; Fiorina; Kastoria; Lagadas; Volos, whose Socialist Zionist organisation was called Poalei Zion [Workers of Zion]; Chalkida; Lamia; Athens; Arta; Preveza; Corfu, whose association was the Tikvat Zion [Hope of ZionJ; and Chios. Delegations from the various towns, and representatives of women's and other Jewish organisations took part in the conference;there were five hundred invited guests, including all the representatives of the local Greek and consular authorities3. The congress opened with a speech in Judeo-Spanish and French by Chief Rabbi Y. Meir, who briefly outlined the topics the congress members would be discussing4. Meir's introduction was followed by an address by a notary from Volos named Samouilidis, who analysed in Greek the relationship between Greek and Jewish culture and ended by acclaiming Great Greece and the Republic of Israel 5 . The next speaker was the Zionist M P David Matalon, who, as President of the General Zionist Federation of Greece, analysed the reasons why it was necessary to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, with reference to Wilson's fourteen points and the mutual agreement of the Allied Powers 6 .

]

Ibid. CZA, Z4/2088 II, letter by D. Florentin 18 March 1919, and Pro Israel, Salonica 21 March 1919. 3 CZ4, Z4/2088 II, letter by D. Florentin 18 March 1919, and Arch, de l'AIU, GR.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 4 July 1919. 4 Pro Israel, Salonica, 21 March 1919. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 2

THE

ZIONIST

MOVEMENT

185

The proceedings ended with a number of resolutions, which were lodged with the Committee for the forthcoming Paris Peace Conference. These reflect the views of the Greek Zionists, who demanded: 1) international guarantees of social, civil, and religious equality for Jews all over the world; 2) a pledge by the Peace Conference to create the political and economic preconditions for the re-establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, within the historical borders defined in the Bible, and under the supervision of Great Britain, acting in the name of the League of Nations; 3) that the Jewish people, as a unified nation, be allowed to join the League of Nations on an equal footing with all the other members; and 4) that the administrative bodies of all Jewish communities that so wished be given the right to internal autonomy 1 . The first three resolutions confirm, at least in theory, that the Greek Zionists shared the views of the whole movement. But under the guidance of the representatives of Salonica they set out their own position in the fourth resolution, which expressed their desire and determination to integrate into the Greek nation, provided that the state officially and legally safeguarded their separate ethnic identity. The most important aspect of the whole affair, which is particularly of interest to lawyers, is that the government actually granted such a request. This means that Greece is the only country in the world that recognises its Jewish communities as legal persons of public law under Law No 2456 of 1920. At its deepest level, this resolution re-defined the national identity of Salonica's Jews and at the same time confirmed their determination to integrate into the Greek state, in which they recognised the value of their treatment as equal citizens. Submitting this motion to the Peace Conference was intended not only to ensure their own future security in Greece, but also to underline the possibility of similar treatment for the Jews living in other countries, where their equality with the rest of the citizenry was not safeguarded. For the same reasons, they naturally supported the idea of rcetablishing the Jewish state in Palestine, though this did not presuppose that they would necesssarily go to this second homeland; nor was it in any way incompatible with their national consciousness as indigenous Jews of Salonica or even as Greeks. Their belief in a dual ethnic and national identity was perfectly acceptable to the Greeks, who shared a similar experience with their own Diaspora.

1

Ibid.

186

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Conclusion L i k e Socialism, Zionism developed in Salonica out of an increasingneed to democratise the Jews' social organisation. Operating in terms of modernising the community and in the light of the political changes of 1908 and, particularly, 1913, the movement prevailed more as an ideology than as an actual practice by politically activating the broader masses, who had most to lose from these changes. The movement's rise was essentially due to a general reaction to the political instability and insecurity that characterised the whole decade following the Young Turks' revolution. But it was also considerably boosted by the dismay provoked by bureaucratic hostility towards the Jews of the city who felt they were being treated as aliens, whereas they regarded Salonica as their homeland: "What is this Palestine you're telling us about now? This is Palestine"1. The local version of Zionism, which focused not on Zion but on Salonica — the only true Jerusalem in existence — attested to the community's special relationship with the city, a relationship that decisively influenced Greek policy too. Unlike most of the Jews of the Diaspora, the Jews of Salonica had never lost their sense of national pride; for this reason, they perceived Zionism as a stage in the natural evolution of the Jewish world. Like Ahad Haam, the ambassador of Jewish cultural nationalism and the chief opponent of Herzl's political Zionism, they believed that the primary purpose of the Jewish national movement was to inspire other nations with respect for the Jewish people and its supporters with a deeper love of Jewish tradition and a fervent desire to see the Jews thriving and prospering. These were precisely the achievements most characteristic of Jewish life throughout the period of Ottoman rule, in Salonica at least. The internal autonomy of the various minorities that had formerly been made possible by the millet system could easily be reproduced in modern Salonica if the Greek authorities applied — and why not? — the same preconditions as those laid down by the Balfour Declaration for the Jewish state in Palestine: i.e. that the new nation state would be supported only as long as it safeguarded the civil and cultural rights of the existing non-Jewish — or, in our case, Jewish — communities.

1

Arch. de I'AiU, Gr.I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama 4 July 1919; R.Molho, "I evraiki koinotita tis Thessalonikis... " ,art. cit..

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF SALONICA AND ITS INCORPORATION INTO THE GREEK STATE 1912-1919 1

Unlike the Jewish communities of other Greek towns 2 which had established contact with the Central Zionist Organization (CZO) as early as 1903, the Jewish community of Salonica did not begin communicating until December 1912. 3 Then, the CZO received six different reports from the Jews of Salonica within a single month, detailing at length their concern about the consequences for them of the annexation of the city to the Greek state. 4 The fact that the community chose this specific moment to establish contact not only with the CZO but also with other Jewish organizations reveals the community members' need to define their national identity and reflects their preoccupation with the loss of their autonomy. 5 Nevertheless, the content of this correspondence suggests that the main reason for these contacts stemmed from their fear of the immediate practical consequences that would follow any alteration in the status quo.

^Published in Middle Eastern Studies, 1988, vol. 24, pp. 39-403. I would like to thank Ph.D. candidate Mr. Devin Nar for editing the article. ^•Central Zionist Archives (hereafter CZA), Jerusalem: file Zl/418 contains various documentary correspondence of the Jewish community of Volos which dates from 1903, and of the community of Chalkis, which began a similar correspondence on 1911. In file Z2/509 the documents of the Corfu Jewish community, dating from 1906, are kept. Finally file Z 2 /510 contains the documents of the Jewish community of Candia (Helaklion) dating from 1910. •'However, it should be noted that the Jewish community of Salonica kept up a voluminous and interesting correspondence with the central offices of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris from 1863 (Archives de V Alliance Israelite Universelle, hereafter Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, III.B.20), even before the first schools of this progressive international Jewish organization were founded in Salonica (1874). 4 CZA. fileZ3/U9: a) Letter from D. Florentin, chief editor of the newspaper El Avenir and president of the athletic and Zionist club Maccabi, addressed to the Central Zionist Organization in Berlin on 15 December 1912. b) Letter from A.S. Recanati, president and founder of many Zionist associations and later founder of the newspaper Pro Israel (1917), also addressed to the CZO in Berlin on 16 December 1912. c) Letter from D. Florentin, addressed to the president of the CZO, Professor Warbourg on 17 December 1912,. d) Letter from D. Florentin, with a similar content to letter (a) summarized, addressed to the CZO as a reminder, on 3 January 1913. e) Letter from D. Florentin, addressed to the CZO in Berlin, on January 1913. f) Letter from the Rabbi and director of the Talmud Tora Hagadol religious seminary, Dr I. Epstein, on 15 January 1913, with an attached memorandum on the situation faced by the Jews of Salonica written by a well-known lawyer, M. Cohen. 5 CZA, file Z 3 /119, letter of 17 December 1912 (note 3c), mentioning the following Jewish organizations where the Jews of Salonica sent the memorandum of 15 January 1913 (note 30: Hilfsverein, Bnei Brith, Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris, Anglo-Jewish Association, Alliance Israélite Universelle in Vienna and Jewish Colonization Association.

188 The Eve of Greek

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

Annexation

The annexation of Salónica to a national state within defined borders would cut the city off from the surrounding hinterland: Albania, the rest of Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus and the remainder of the Ottoman Empire, representing a market of four million people. 1 It was hardly surprising, therefore, that the seventy thousand Jews, who not only constituted the largest percentage of the population but whose professional skills - as bankers, merchants, agents, pedlars, porters and sailors 2 -covered the main activities of the port, realized that creating national borders would seriously curtail the range of their commercial activities. 3 Moreover, the city's isolation from the Balkan hinterland, which for centuries had constituted the principal partner in their economic activities, could not and would not be replaced by compensatory trading opportunities within the confines of Greek territory where the ports of Volos and Pireus were already established. The transformation of Salónica into a border city of primarily strategic interest would affect its purely commercial character, accelerating its economic decline and replacing the peaceful co-existence of the different autonomous ethnic groups - Jews, Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, Serbs, Armenians, etc. -with newly introduced and undesirable tensions. 4 More immediate dangers existed, too: the huge debts that the Turks owed to Jewish merchants would almost certainly be left unsettled, as had happened during the annexation of Thessaly, which resulted in the bankruptcy of many Jewish businesses. 5 Special concern was expressed for the poorer sectors of the populace who were obviously directly threatened in the event of economic breakdown. 6 It should also be noted that a majority of the Jewish working class was active in socialist organizations and it was clear to them that the dissolution of the l

CZA, file Z 3 /119, letter from D. Florentin addressed to the CZO in Berlin, on 15 January 1913. CZA, file Z 3 /119: letter from D. Florentin addressed to the CZO in Berlin, on 15 January 1913. b. memorandum from M. Cohen 15 January 1913; see also Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3, letter from J. Nehama, director and teacher of one of the seven Alliance educational institutions in Salónica, addressed to the president of the AIU in Paris, where reference is made to rumours spread on account of Raktivan's (political governor of Macedonia after the annexation of the city) census indicating that between 85,000 and 92,000 Jews resided in the city. It is probable, however, that this number includes the 15,000 Donme who also lived in Salónica at the time, 28 May 1913; Pro-Israel, 5 July 1920. 3 CZA, file Z 3 /119, letters by D. Florentin and addressed to the CZO, on 3 January 1913 and on 6 January 1913, as well as memorandum by M. Cohen dated 15 December 1912. 4 CZA, file Z 3 /119, letters by D. Florentin and addressed to the CZO, on 3 January 1913 and on 6 January 1913, as well as memorandum by M. Cohen dated 15 December 1912. Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama addressed to the president of the AIU, on 29 May 1913. 5 CZA, file Z 3 /1 19, letter by D. Florentin who mentions that the Turkish debt to the Jews was estimated at 3,000.000 Turkish pounds or 70,000 French francs, on 15 December 1912. ®CZA, file Z 3 /119, letter by D. Florentin where it is stated that of the 14,500 Jewish families in Salónica only 1,500 paid the communal tax; the remaining 13,000 were regarded as the poorer working class, while the community assisted 6,000 destitute families, on 15 December 1912. 2

I N C O R P O R A T I O N

INTO

THE

G R E E K

S T A T E

189

Ottoman Empire eliminated any hope for a confederate state. Consequently, the Jewish proletariat came to reject the newly created establishment and to consider it as 'foreign occupation'. 1 Furthermore, the Jews suspected that annexation would be followed by the systematic settlement in the city of Greeks, given special distinctions and privileges as inducements, so that the Greek element would finally prevail and become dominant in the social, economic and cultural life of the city. 2 As not only the majority community but also through their own national-religious structure, resistant to assimilation, the Jews feared that they would be systematically set aside and finally forced into mass emigration in search of new means of survival. 3 As a result, the Jewish community embraced the Austrian plan for the internationalization of the city, seeing it as the only way to preserve the city in its present form and meet the expectations of the working class. 4

The Austrian Plan for

Internationalization

The Austrians, who, parallel to their expansionist policy of Drang nach Ôsten, had important interests in the Balkans, believed that the internationalization of Salonica would ease their peaceful penetration of the area. 5 It should be noted in passing that the Austrians did not have a strong cultural influence in Salonica, although many merchants preferred Austrian products for their quality and because of the proximity of Austrian territory. French and Italian, however, were established languages in Salonica, while few people understood German. The German school had only a few hundred ^Avraam Benaroya, 1 proti stadiodromia tou ellinikou proletarialou, (The First Stages of the Greek proletariat), Olkos, Athens, t975, pp. 33-34. 2 CZA, file Z 3 /119, letter by D. Florentin addressed to the CZO in December 1912, describing the situation: "Greeks behave as the uncontested and definite masters of the place, taking care to settle their own in Salonica with the intention of taking hold of the administrative positions and of controlling the federal services; ... The government will concentrate its efforts on the immediate Hellenization of the city; and this because a large Jewish population would naturally put the borders of the state in danger." See also Arch, de I'AIV, Greece, I/G.3, letter by J. Nehama to the director of the AIU in Paris, on 28 May 1913, which notices: "... Apart from the foreigners the city is flooded by a large number of Greeks from the rest of Greece, and there is ;reat confusion." CZA, file Z 3 /l 19, letter by D. Florentin to the CZO, pointing out on 15 December 1912: "...The only solution left for the salvation of the Israelites would be mass emigration." 4 C Z 4 , file Z 3 /119, letter by D. Florentin to the CZO, on 3 January 1913: "...The most favourable regime for the Israelites of Salonica would be the internationalization and neutralization of the town in conjunction with a small stretch of land in its surrounding area...."; see also memorandum by M. Cohen to the CZO, on 15 January 1913: "...The Jews and Donme of Salonica are in total agreement on one single issue, the internationalization of their city"; see finally, M. N. Gelber, "An Attempt to Internationalize Salonica", Jewish Social Studies, Vol. XVII (1955). No. 2, p. 106. CZA, fileZ /119, memorandum by M. Cohen addressed to the CZO, on 15 January 1913.

190

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

pupils; the French ones had over fifteen thousand. There was no German newspaper, and even the merchants addressing letters to Austrian and German companies wrote in French. The Austrians realized that their presence in the area would be minimized by the creation of a Balkan state which would naturally try to control the economic potential of the area for its own advantage. As a result, Austria would be deprived of a considerable market and simultaneously of an important foothold in the Mediterranean.1 As a solution to this problem, the Austrian proposals, especially that of Baron J. Schwegel, advocated an internationalized and neutral region of Salonica under international auspices with a free zone for Austria. In addition, within Austrian diplomatic circles it was also mooted that Austrian penetration would be better achieved if the city had a Jewish mayor who would guard its autonomy. It is worth noting the principal details of this plan as well as the way they were expressed. The internationalized and neutral region of Salonica, extending 400-460 square kilometres, would comprise a multiethnic population of 260,000 inhabitants. The Great Powers on the one hand and the Balkan states and Turkey on the other would guarantee the established order of this small autonomous state while its government and police force would be entrusted to various local agents who would be supervised by Swiss and Belgian specialists. In addition, the port would be free and open to all nations, with a separate free zone for Austria, and the town would be neither Greek, nor Bulgarian nor Turkish, but

Jewish?

By adopting this plan, the Salonica Jews considered that they would be ideally suited since they would secure the support of the powerful Austrian Empire, whose economic interests would be promoted by maintaining the autonomy of the Jews. Furthermore the Jews welcomed and were eager to come under Austrian influence rather than that of any Balkan people.3 While addressing themselves to the Central Zionist Organization, which had just been transferred to Berlin, the Salonica Jews requested that the organization use its diplomatic connections with the Austrian government to submit this proposal to the approaching Peace Conference in London, assuring the Austrians that they would have the support of the whole Jewish population of the city. 4

1

ibid,. CZA, fileZ 3 /119, memorandum by M. Cohen addressed to the CZO, on 15 January 1913. M.N. Gelber, "An Attempt...", art. cit.; CZA, fileZ 3 /119, letter by D. Florentin to the CZO, on 3 January 1913; in the same file memorandum by M. Cohen addressed to the CZO, on 15 January 1913. 3CZA. file Z 3 /119, memorandum by M. Cohen addressed to the CZO, on 15 January 1913. 4 ibid.

2

I N C O R P O R A T I O N The Attitude of the Zionist

INTO

Organization

THE

GREEK

to the Political

STATE

Future of

191

Salónica

The Central Zionist Organization, however, had dealt with the problem of the Salónica Jews as early as November 1912, setting aside the numerous reports and efforts of Dr A . Friedman, its specially appointed delegate, and deciding after extensive deliberations to reject the community's request and publish the following resolution: 1 Concerning the future of Salónica, the internationalization or neutralization of the city would best serve the interest of the Jews. However, it is too soon to take action towards that end. When it becomes clear that Salónica is to be annexed to some particular state or that it is to be neutralized and internationalized, it will be incumbent upon the Zionist Organization, in conjunction with other Jewish organizations, to secure for the Jews full equal rights and consideration for their national claims.2

The Attitude

of the Greek

State

Meanwhile, the Greek government, by adopting a special policy towards the Salonica Jews after the annexation of the city, thereby saving them from acts of anti-Semitic violence on the part of the army and the local Greek population, had not only revoked the need f o r such interventions but surprised both the local Jewish community and the Jews abroad. 3 The prefect, Periclis Argyropoulos, addressing a group of Jewish representatives, declared: I am trying with all my heart to prevent all anti-Semitic incidents that unfortunately blackened our glorious entry to Salonica. The Jews can rest assured that in me they will find a firm protector. I also declare, even at the risk of being criticised, that, were discrimination to be operated it should be done in favour of Israelites, and should it be necessary for their benefit to commit an injustice, I would do it because I feel that we owe them some sort of recompense.^ I1 CZA, file Z-7119 of the C Z A contains at least 30 long reports written by Dr Adolf Friedmann, referring to the issue of the internationalization of Salonica. M.N. Gelber. " A n Attempt...", art. cit.; •^Gelber, " A n Attempt to Internationalize Salonica", Jewish Social Studies, Vol. X V I I (1955). No. 2, pp. 105-120. Gelber quotes the Smaller Actions Committee minutes of 26 November 1912. p. 110. The translation of the above mentioned resolution, written originally in German, is by M . N. Gelber. A l l the other cited sources have been translated by the author. ^Unsigned, «Israélites d ' O r i e n t » , Bulletin de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, Vol.74 (1912) pp. 57-60; see also Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, I.C/47, unsigned letter from Lausanne, 22 January 1913. A

Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, I.C/51-52, letter by M . Cohen 4 December 1912. It is worth noting that the term 'Israelites' is still common in polite usage in Greece. This may be indicative of past religious prejudice which still survives in Greece, unlike other European countries where it has been replaced by the more general term 'Jews'. The writer is the first to use the term "Jewish" or "Jewish community" in a Greek bibliography.

192

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Consequently, the Jews commended the official Greek attitude in their correspondence, excerpts of which were published in the local and international press, so that any negative impression of the Greeks should be refuted, a necessary condition for the maintenance of the government initiative aimed at establishing a new rapport between the two antagonistic minorities. 1 In addition to its positive initial dispositions, the Venizelos government, having promptly understood the position of the Jews, also applied practical measures in order to regain the confidence of the local Jewish population and at the same time secure the support of international Jewry. 2 The declarations stressing the benefits of Greek sovereignty made by a Jewish committee representing other Greek cities who visited the Salonica community at Venizelos's instigation, was simultaneously confirmed by the special privileges the Salonica Jews were granted: 3 1. Exemption from military service in return for payment, for a period of three years after the arrival of the Greek army, without loss of voting rights; 2. The preservation of the Shabath in the city of Salonica; 3. The right to participate in public administration; 4. The right to continue keeping accounts in their own language (JudeoSpanish); 5. The freedom of their press; 6. The possibility of collaboration between civil veterinary officers and the specially appointed shohet ensuring the observance of Jewish dietary laws; 7. Government allocations of 1,200 drachmas to Jewish communities in Greece numbering more than 50 families, as well as government allowances to various exclusively Jewish associations, such as the athletic and Zionist Maccabi club; 8. Exemption from all taxes on imported unleavened bread used on Passover, etc.

^D. Florentin's signed article in the local newspaper Boz del Pueblo of 31 July 1919; J. Saias. La Grèce et les Israélites de Salonique, Paris 1919, pp. 14-20 (included are eight letters written by Jews from Salonica and others living abroad, as well as the papers in which some of these letters had been published between 1915 and 1919). 2 J . Saias. La Grèce et les Israélites de Salonique, Paris 1919, pp. 14-20; Saias refers to the two articles published on the occasion of the Paris Peace Conference in 1918 — article 12 of 8 January 1918 and article 4 of 4 February 1918 -guaranteeing the internal and cultural autonomy of minorities living in the Ottoman Empire. The next article discusses how Venizelos took up the proposal of the general secretary of the Zionist committee in Istanbul, Dr Auerbach, for friendly co-operation between the three main minorities of Asia Minor — Christian, Jewish and Armenian — since he also believed that this was an essential move for safeguarding their autonomy. 3 CZA, file Z3/119, letter from D. Florentin to the CZO on 15 December 1912; Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, I./G3, letter from J. Nehama of 19 March 1913: "...Meantime the Greek authorities are totally dedicated in their care for the Jews, hoping to gain their confidence"; see also J. Saias. La Grèce et les Israélites de Salonique, Paris 1919, pp. 5-79.

INCORPORATION Intercommunal

INTO

Crisis over National

THE

GREEK

STATE

193

Identity

The absence of anti-Semitic or prejudice on the part of the Greek government did not succeed in defusing the growing conflict within the community, which came to a head after the annexation of Salonica to the Greek state. The crisis had been building up before the Greek occupation. On the eve of the communal elections of June 1911, the Jewish working class, strongly influenced by the ideology of the Fédération Socialiste, had mobilized against the communal council and the predominantly bourgeois party and demanded the extension of the right to vote to all social classes. 1 When this attempt fell through, the Zionists, who were few in number but most active, exploited the disenchantment of the majority which had been ignored by the re-elected bourgeois party by including these demands in their increasingly vocal nationalist propaganda. 2 Thus, when Greek troops entered the city, the Jewish community was divided into two opposing camps, the Jewish nationalists and the adherents of the Alliance Israélite Universelle or assimilationists. 3 Confusion was intensified by the resignation of the communal president which left the community leaderless until the next communal elections. The dissolution was accelerated by the fact that many affluent Jews swiftly changed citizenship, thus not only depriving the party of their vote, but also the community of their financial contribution. In the six months after the city was annexed, 450 Jews took Austrian citizenship, 750 becamc Spanish and 1,200 Portuguese, in the hope of securing the protection of the relevant country as foreigners living in Greece. 4 Characteristic of the ideological ferment and re-evaluations fostering this communal crisis was the emergence in 1913 of Inter club, a federal representative committee which enlisted a number of the city's Jewish

1

Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 28 June 1911: "...There were battles in the streets because the young wish to participate in the community's administration and though at first all power belonged to the Club des Intimes, the Zionists have now developed an especially aggressive national consciousness and are organized in the Nouveau Club, which in fact contributed to the creation of a violent anti-Zionist movement acting with reactionary fanatism." 2

Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 28 June 1911. Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 28 May 1913: "One month before the communal elections are to take place, the community is in a state of pre-election agitation due to the fact that there are 1,300 candidates for 70 seats in the General Assembly... The communal council stands against the Zionists and the extension of the voting right..." 4 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 28 May 1913: "Also, for the time being the community is left headless, because there is no one willing to take such responsibility in those critical moments that the city of Salonica is undergoing". 3

194

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

associations known f o r their opposing ideologies. 1 This peculiar event occurred shortly before the communal elections of June 1913, when four of the most popular clubs — the Nouveau Club, the Association cVAm iens

Elèves de VEcole Franco-allemande, the Maccabi and the linei Zion — chose to support the limited franchise over-ruling their previous commitments and their beliefs, in an attempt to ensure a majority. 2 N o less surprising was the fact that two of the main opposing parties, the Nouveau Club and the Club des Intimes, were aligned during the same elections in spite of their enormous ideological differences. 3 These basically contradictory actions are not only typical of the accord shown by people when their very being is threatened, but they also indicate that the religious differentiation, which up until then satisfactorily defined the national identity of the Jews, had begun to be a doubtful indicator.

Zionist Development The rise of Balkan nationalisms and the subsequent incorporation of the Jews into national states overturned their Ottoman entity and forced them to seek modem and parallel ideological patterns in order to relocate themselves within the (by now) Greek Salonica, which the Jews had previously identified as 'City and mother of Israel'. As already stated, the equivocal position of the Jewish population in this transitional phase was exploited by the small number of Zionists, who gained popularity, at first primarily due to their contacts with international

' CZA, file Z 3 /119, letter from D. Florentin addressed to the CZO in Berlin on 17 December 1912: "It is worthwhile mentioning that due to a long period of preparation [he refers to Zionist propaganda] and simultaneously an opportune coincidence of circumstances, a special federation was created having as members many associations and clubs of Salonica. We are represented in the a/m federation by the Zionist club of the Maccabi and the athletic center of the Maccabi, also pro-Zionist, the Nouveau Club and by the Association dAnciens Elèves de VEcole Franco-Allemande (a private Jewish institution), who are also members and have a friendly attitude towards Zionism; also members of this federation are the Club des Intimes and the organization of the Anciens Elèves de IAlliance, considered to be primarily anti-Zionist centres two years ago. This federation has created an Interclub committee composed of two representatives from every club or association. It must be pointed out that these organizations have a pro-Zionist attitude today and do not react except in cases of troublesome propaganda methods, which anyway we do not make use of." 2 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 28 May 1913: ' T h e Nouveau Club and three other Zionist associations, the Association Franco-Allemande, Bnei Zion and Société Maccabi, support the nationalists (Zionists) and stand on behalf of the limited voting right since in this way they secure a somewhat larger majority." 3 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 28 May 1913: "The Club des Intimes supports the Nouveau Club once it has agreed to include in its list of candidates some members of the Intimistes".

INCORPORATION

INTO

THE

GREEK

STATE

195

Jewish organizations, but mainly because their nationalist ideology offered ready-made patterns for a new Jewish national identification. 1 As a result, in this period we can observe an impressive increase in the number of Jewish national clubs. Moreover, they spread out to the suburbs, where f r o m 1912 to 1919 many new Zionist associations were founded and supported by members of the lower social classes. 2 The Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi visit to Salonica in 1911, and their delineation of the concept of a possible coexistence between socialist and Zionist ideals, had a powerful influence on the demands of the working classes. 3

Political Choices during the First World War T h e prevalence of Zionist ideas and associations over the other political tendencies and organizations within the Jewish community became evident in the community's political choices during the elections of 1915 and 1916. The Salonica Jews' first participation in Greek elections considerably influenced the vote in the city, which favoured Gounaris and the King, even though the Jewish upper classes either voted in favour of Venizelos and the Entente or abstained. In line with the wishes of the largest class of voters, Gounaris, unlike Venizelos, was unconditionally committed to Greek neutrality. The same demand was put forward by the Workers' Federation. 4

l Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 13 March 1913: "The Jewish schools are in fashion and the Zionists are trying to introduce a more active approach to Hebrew in the schools of the AIU in order to draw more people to their side". See also letter of 19 May 1916, between the same parties: "The Zionist movement has gained pace in recent years. ... [Annexation of Salonica by Greece] contributed to an extraordinary rise in Zionism, while its leaders became extremely popular and its institutions bloomed...". Similarly, see letter by J. Benrubi of 19 August 1919 to the AIU in Paris: "While there were only very few Zionists before 1914, there is now no Jewish family which docs not have one Zionist, that does not necessarily mean that they are all organized in Zionist associations".

Emmanuel, "La era sionista" in D. Recanati (editor), Zikhron Saloniki - Grandeza y Destruktion del Yerushalaim del Balkan, Vol. I, Tel-Aviv, 1972. p. 29; also A. Moissis, « El mouvimiento sionista en Salonique y en las otras sivdades de Grecia » in D. Recanati I, Zikhron Saloniki, loc. cit., p. 45. t\. Dcuaioya, "El empessijo del mouvimiento socialista", p. 42 (it is worth noting that the visits of Ben-Gurion and Ben Zvi were organized in 1911 by A. Benaroya, also that the above Zionist-socialist leaders also spoke, as would be expected, to the members of the Fédération Socialiste), see also article by A. Moissis, in D. Recanati (editor), Zikhron Saloniki, loc. cit., p. 413. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Greecc, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 19 May 1916: It is pointed out in this letter that at least four out of five Jewish deputies who were elected during the Greek national elections in 1915 were Ziomsts. It is also noted that during the Greek national election of 1916, the Zionists tried to influence the undecided Jewish population to vote on behalf of Gounaris and the king, and they apparently succeeded.

196

S A L O N I C A

A N D

I S T A N B U L

Regardless of French influence stemming from education in the French schools of the Alliance and their attachment to the French language and culture, the Salonica Jews, like the rest of their co-religionists in Europe, could not at that time identify with an alliane that included the Russians, whose anti-Semitism was notorious. Moreover, a possible German victory was perceived as a guarantee that Austrian influence in the area, which had seriously diminished as a result of the annexation and the war, would be reasserted. Finally their position was consistent with the general Zionist perception that Vienna and Berlin that were pro-Zionist. 1 However, during the course of the war, especially after 1916, it became obvious that Austria and Germany were supporting Zionism only to the extent that it served their expansionist policy, avoiding committment to official declarations or notions which could compromise their alliance with Turkey, while at the same time doing nothing to discourage the violent wave of anti-Semitism that had developed within their borders. 2 On the other hand, the Powers of the Entente had begun, at the instigation of the United States, to propound an indirect policy favouring the autonomy of minorities within the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, as happened in Palestine, for instance, where they tried to rouse the different minorities against increasing Turkish oppression. 3 It was this attitude which decisively turned the Zionist movement towards the Entente. At the same time it determined the change of opinion in the Jewish community with regard to Salonica. 4 Also, the arrival of the Allies in the city had revived commercial activity, which helped to ameliorate economic conditions for some of the population. At the same time, some especially friendly relations emerged through the regular participation of the Allies in Jewish social and Zionist events. 5

1 Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter f r o m J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 19 May 1916. Evidently the Jews of Salonica believed that if Germany won, the frontiers of Salonica with the remaining Balkan States would be abolished; see also letter f r o m J. Benrubi to the AIU, on 19 August 1919: "During the war the political awareness of the Jewish population focused on Zionism". 2 I . Friedman, Germany, Turkey and Zionism, 1897-1918, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1977, pp. 268-88. 3 H.M.Sachar, A History of Israel, Alfred A.Knopf, New York, 1982, pp. 89-105. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 19 May 1916: It seems that after 1916 the Salonica Zionists visited various Jewish associations where they lectured on the German stand vis-a-vis the Jews and the Zionist movement, exposing Germany's hypocrisies. Similar articles were published in the local newspaper Esperanza. 5 Arch, de l'AIU, Greece, I/G.3 letter from J. Nehama to the AIU in Paris, on 19 May 1916; see also D. Recanati, "Hatehia" in D. Recanati (editor), Zikhron Saloniki, loc. cit., p. 42.

INCORPORATION The First Panliellenic

Zionist

INTO

THE

GREEK

STATE

197

Congress

T h e Jews of Salonica were further prompted to accept their new country by the official a n n o u n c e m e n t of the G r e e k Foreign Minister, Nikolaos Politis. In June 1917, he publicly supported the idea of the crcation of a Jewish national state in Palestine, five months before Britain announced the Balfour Declaration. 1 This event, combined with the prompt response of the Greek government to the great fire in Salonica in 1917 and swift assistance to the victims (52,000 of whom were Jews), as well as a renewed pro-Zionist statement by the Venizelos government following the Balfour Declaration, strengthened the ties between the Jews of Salonica and the Greek authorities. 2 The willingness of the Jews to incorporate themselves into the Greek state was directly evidenced during the festivities f o r the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in November 1918. Twenty thousand Jews took part, a small percentage of them organized Zionists, while the whole city was specially decorated for the occasion. 3 It should also be noted that in March 1919, at the initiative of the Zionist Federation and with a savoirfaire almost unknown to most European Jewish communities, the First Panhellenic Zionist Congress was held in Salonica. A s well as the local associations, delegations f r o m the Jewish communities throughout Greece participated; all local Greek authorities were also represented. 4 The decisive choice of the term "Panhellenic" suggested not merely the beginning of the first co-operation between the country's Jewish communities but at the same time denoted the organizing community's identification with its new country. (Unsigned), « L'opinion de M. Politis, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères sur la creation d'un Etat-Juif en Palestine », in Pro-Israel of 1 July 1917, p.l: "...Ce sera, dit-il, le triomphe de l'esprit liberal et le couronnement de la civilisation". 2 J. Saias. La Grèce et les Israélites..op.cit, pp. 52-56. Included in his text is a report written by M. A. Pallis, former director of the committee for the relief of the victims: "As we can see concerning the measures that were taken for the rescue of the fire victims there was no discrimination between the different minorities on the part of the Greek authorities. In addition it must be pointed out that the victims were not encouraged to emigrate to other Greek cities"; see also CZA, Z 4 ' 2088.11, Reuter's telegram from the deputies M. Coffinas, D. Matalon and H. Cohen to the CZO of 20 March 1918, whereby the declaration of foreign minister N. Politis is reconfirmed. 3 CZA, file Z 4 / 2088.11, Reuter's telegram of 3 Novemberl918, commenting briefly on the grandeur of the ceremony. In the same file see letter from the Zionist Federation of Salonica of 4 November 1918, addressed to the CZO of London giving a full report on the ceremony and describing in detail the celebrations for the first Balfour anniversary. 4 CZA, Z 4 ' 2088.11, letter from the Zionist Federation of Salonica addressed to the London Zionist Bureau on 18 March 1919: "Fifteen out of the 24 Jewish communities of Greece have sent 80 representatives in order to participate in the work of the a/in congress. Among them were the community of Kavala- which has a big Zionist organization, the Or Zion, of Drama, Serres, Fiorina, Kastoria, Langada, Volos's - Poaiei Zion -. Larissa - Ohavei Zion -, Athens, Lamia, Chios, Arta, Preveza. Chalkis - Ohavei Zion -, and Corfu - with Tikvat Israel ..."; see also unsigned report describing the works of the congress in Pro Israel of 9 May 1919: ' T h e Greek authorities were represented by the archbishop, the prefect, the mayor, the chief of police and the government press attache. The ambassadors of the USA, of Britain, of France, of Italy and of Spain were also present".

198

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

In conjunction with the issues dealt with at the Congress and the decisions taken, these events defined the national identity of the Jews of Salonica at the time and also determined the final stage of their incorporation within the Greek state. 1 In these resolutions, which were submitted as requests f r o m Greek Jewry to the Pcace Conference to be held in Paris, the Jews of Salonica and the rest of Greece demanded: 1.

That the social, political and religious equality of the Jews should be ensured by the constitution of all states and internationally guaranteed.

2.

T h a t interna] a u t o n o m y should be granted to the communities of different countries who requested it.

3.

That the Conference should create the necessary political and economic conditions for the reconstruction of the Jewish state in Palestine, within the historical limits defined by the Bible, under the supervision of the British who should act in the name of the League of Nations.

4.

That the Jews, who constituted a nation, be granted the right to participate in the League of Nations on equal terms with other nations.

Jewish

The Jews of Salonica, constituting the majority of the participants in the Panhellenic Congress, declared that they appreciated the value of their fair treatment by the Greek state while suggesting the possibility of similar treatment for Jews in other states, where problems of equality had arisen. At the same time they were trying to guarantee their future security in Greece. In addition, it was clear that though they naturally supported the idea of the reconstruction of a Jewish state in Palestine, this did not necessarily indicate their wish to immigrate to this second future motherland, nor did it

l CZA, Z 4/ 2088.11, letter by the president of the Salonica Zionist Federation, Mr. Besantchi, addressed to the London Zionist Bureau, on 18 February 1919. In the same file, CZA, Z 4 ' 2088.11, see also document no. 48: "The Resolutions of the First Panhellenic Zionist Congress of 10-11 March 1919, as they were submitted to the Commission at the Peace Conference in Paris."

INCORPORATION

INTO

THE

GREEK

STATE

199

signify the incompatibility of their simultaneous Greek and Jewish national consciousness. 1 T h e adoption of this dual national identity prevailed during the subsequent Zionist congresses which took place in Salonica. It was confirmed even more by the fact that almost all the Jews remained in the city and, though Hellenized, did not become assimilated within the Greek element. They reacted to mounting Zionist propaganda for emigration to Palestine in a similar fashion: on the one hand, they offered financial support to the Zionist cause, and on the other, they demonstrated their intention to stay in the land of their forebears, characteristically stating: 2 "What Palestine are you talking about? Palestine is here!"

Conclusion Though it may seem strange, it is significant that the incorporation of the Jews into the Greek state was not accomplished until they themselves reached the point of expressing and asserting their national differentiation. This process presupposes a reciprocal acceptance between Greeks and Jews, which was attained in the following manner. Initially, the establishment of the right of differentiation did not suggest the need for any kind of political independence within Greece, which would obviously have created a conflict between the two nationalities. Their claims came down to the preservation of their cultural autonomy and political equality reflected not only their acceptance of the sovereign right of the 1 CZA, Z 4 '2088.11, letter by the president of the Salonica Zionist Federation, Mr. Besantchi, addressed to the London Zionist Bureau, on 25 April 1919. This letter contains a description of special events organized for the collection of contributions for Zionist purposes and funds that had been concentrated at the time the letter was written; although they seem impressive, they represent only a very small percentage of the Jewish population of Salonica. CZA, Z 4 / 2088.11, letter from the London Zionist Bureau to Mr D. Besantchi, 24 June 1919. The CZO in London thanked the community of Salonica for the dispatch of certain sums and suggested that in it should augment those sums during the following year. CZA, Z47 2088.11, letter by the Zionist organization, Iannina-Amelei Zion, to the CZO in London where mention was made of a plan for the creation of a Central Hellenic Zionist Federation which would help with the coordination and projection of Zionist aims, on 7 June 1919. However, this organization, which was created on 12 June 1919, concentrated its activities mainly on the wider diffusion of Zionist ideology rather than on the organization of immigration. D. Florentin, "The first colony of Greek Jews", Israel: 45, Cairo, March 1937. Florentin's article informs us that in 1933 an immigration organization was created, having as its main task the selection and preparation of 'volunteer immigrants'. No mass immigration had taken place from Salonica until the middle of 1931. Between 1932-34, after the Campbell pogrom on the 3 0 " June 1931, ten thousand Jews left Salonica for Palestine.

^This was mentioned to me by Mr Leon Amariglio (born 1899), who was an active member of the Zionist club Association de Jeunes Juifs, and remembered collecting funds as a twentyyear-old, in 1919.

200

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

established nation but also their appreciation of Greek policy towards them. This latter followed the same line as the provisions included in the Balfour Declaration referring to the policy of the Jews towards minorities in the future Jewish state. Unlike most Jews in other European countries, as well as those in the Balkan states who had tried to integrate culturally within the sovereign states and become accepted as regular citizens of their adopted countries, the Jews of Salonica eventually rejected the precedents of Western nationalism and kept their cultural differentiation. In this way, they supported the policy of the Greek state, which, in accordance with its own specific national claims, suggested a new attitude towards national minorities. The Greeks not only understood this seemingly contradictory f o r m of acceptance, but considerably encouraged it themselves. Having perceived that this was the only policy which could avert the interference of the familiar 'protector' countries, constantly on the watch for similar opportunities, the Greeks also understood that this policy might create a positive attitude on the part of the Great Powers towards Greek sovereignty in the disputed region of Macedonia. There were, in addition, common points in the political priorities of the two nations which dictated this particular line of Greek nationalism, and which in turn resulted in the successful rapprochement of two formerly diverging minorities: they both aimed at the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire due to the fact that they were commonly defined through clearly outlined national-religious characteristics. This mutual goal was determined by their national claims, which stemmed f r o m similar historical rights in neighbouring regions within the Ottoman Empire, viewed by both nations as the cradle of their respective civilizations. In the Ottoman area there were towns known for their high percentage of Greek population: the comparison between the Jewish minority of Salonica and the Greek minorities of Smyrna, Bursa and Istanbul was therefore obvious. It is thus clear that the Greek state introduced a new political reality vis-à-vis the Jews according to which the sovereign state was not threatened by the different minorities within it, while it embraced t h e m as equal members; in so doing it suggested a similar attitude towards all Greek minorities, especially those in the Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, this awareness served as a basis for friendship and mutual support between the two principal minorities of the Empire, whose cooperation was essential in their struggle to acquire an analogous right of cultural independence in areas where the first signs of Turkish nationalism had already been manifest.

INCORPORATION

INTO

THE

GREEK

STATE

201

At this point, Greek nationalism appeared to be a unifying force as opposed to the Western model, which was violently disruptive. It would be of utmost interest, both for those specialising in Jewish history or nationalism, to examine the position of the Jews within the Greek state following the Asia Minor catastrophe, when the political priorities of the two emerging nations ceased to overlap and Greek nationalism developed strongly on the exclusive Western pattern rather than according to the earlier, inclusive model 1 .

Rena Molho, "I antievraiki nomothesia tou Venizelou sto mesopolemo ke pos I dimokratia borei na ginei arogos tou antisimitismou", (Venizelos's Anti-Jewish Laws in the Interwar Period and How Can a Democracy Contribute to Antisemitism), in Greek, in Synchrona Themata Athens, no. 82, June 2003, pp. 53-59.

SALONIQUE APRÈS 1912 : LES PROPAGANDES ÉTRANGÈRES ET LA COMMUNAUTÉ JUIVE1

Les modifications territoriales survenues au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale ont contribué à des déplacements massifs de populations qui, dans le cas des minorités juives, ont souvent été accompagnés de persécutions, plus connues sous le nom de pogroms 2 . Cependant, la communauté juive de Salonique, qui à la même époque avait été intégrée à l'Etat grec, a fait exception à ce phénomène général de persécution des Juifs, qui s'est produit dans la majorité des régions disputées par plusieurs ethnies ou plusieurs pays 3 . Après 1912, l'Autriche-Hongrie, la Bulgarie et la Serbie menèrent à Salonique une campagne de propagande visant à faire croire aux Juifs de la ville qu'elles partageaient leurs craintes concernant les conséquences de la souveraineté hellénique. Alors, le gouvernement grec décida, à son tour, d'adopter une politique projuive tout à fait inattendue, qui permettait à la fois de détruire les arguments des Etats en question et de dénoncer leurs visées expansionnistes 4 . En étudiant la propagande étrangère qui visait la cité de Salonique, je mettrai en lumière les menaces auxquels l'administration grecque devait faire face après la première guerre balkanique (1912). En même temps, je montrerai par quelle politique l'Etat grec sut gagner la confiance des Juifs saloniciens, au cours de ces six années cruciales qui vont de 1913 à 1919. Tout ceci permettra de comprendre comment la Grèce put obtenir l'approbation des grandes puissances quant à l'annexion finale de cette ville qui avait été pendant des siècles "le cœur et le cerveau de la Macédoine". On sait que les 75 000 Juifs de Salonique jouaient un rôle déterminant dans la vie de la cité, non seulement parce qu'ils constituaient la plus grande partie de la population, mais également parce qu'ils participaient à presque tous les secteurs de l'économie. Ils étaient industriels, banquiers, hommes 1

Article paru dans la Revue historique , vol. CCLXXXVII, n° 1, 1992, pp. 127-140. FRANKEL, "An Introductory Essay. The Paradoxical Politics of Marginality : Thoughts on the Jewish Situation during the Years 1914-1921", Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. IV, The Jews and the Européen Crisis 1904-1921, New York, 1988, pp. 3-21. 3 R. MOLHO, "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation into the Greek State, 1912-1919", Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 24, 4,1988, pp. 391-403. 4 Archives de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle (Arch, de l'MU), Grèce, I / C. 49 : "Rapport de M. Cohen, grand avocat de Salonique, adressé au président de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, le 4 décembre 1912".

204

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

d'affaires, commerçants, courtiers, fonctionnaires, employés et artisans, mais également, porteurs, marins et ouvriers. Représentant ainsi toutes les classes sociales, ils n'étaient pas seulement responsables du fonctionnement régulier de la ville, mais ils en déterminaient largement les dynamiques sociales et politiques 1 . Bien é v i d e m m e n t , les Juifs se sont vite rendu c o m p t e que le rattachement de Salonique à la Grèce, ainsi que les nouvelles frontières nationales, allaient couper la ville de son arrière-pays balkanique qui constituait depuis des siècles un vaste débouché pour ses négociants, ce qui contribuerait inévitablement à réduire leurs activités commerciales. L a transformation de Salonique en une ville frontalière peuplée de militaires en garnison allait entraîner sa dépréciation économique et miner sa tranquillité quotidienne. De plus les Juifs avaient raison de craindre que l'annexion de Salonique ne fût suivie d'une hellénisation systématique et donc de l'exclusion de leur propre communauté, et qu'ils ne fussent ainsi obligés d'émigrer massivement afin de trouver de nouvelles ressources 2 . U n e telle éventualité, a j o u t é e à certaines actions antisémites provoquées par l'armée et la population grecque locale, poussa les Juifs de S a l o n i q u e à se m o b i l i s e r p o u r s o u t e n i r le p r o j e t a u t r i c h i e n d'internationalisation de Salonique qui garantissait le maintien du "statu quo" 3 . Parallèlement à sa politique expansionniste Drang nach Osten, l'Autriche avait des intérêts importants dans la région des Balkans. Dès 1883, elle avait passé un accord avec la Turquie qui lui assurait les droits de construction d'une ligne de chemin de fer qui aurait relié Vienne à Salonique, via Budapest. L'Autriche acquérait ainsi une débouché sur la Méditerranée, qui lui permettait en même temps d'exercer un certain contrôle économique sur les Balkans. L'Empire austro-hongrois était fasciné par l'Empire ottoman qu'il courtisait publiquement tout en conspirant pour le remplacer comme puissance suzeraine de la région. Le projet d'internationalisation de la ville de Salonique f u t élaboré par le baron Joseph Schwegel qui s'était déjà penché sur la question des Juifs des Balkans lors du congrès de Berlin de 1878. Dans le cadre de la pénétration pacifique de son pays dans les Balkans, il déposa, auprès du ministre des A f f a i r e s étrangères d'Autriche, un projet, dans lequel il proposait que Salonique

1 P . DUMONT, "The Social Structure of the Jewish Community of Salonica at the End of the Nineteenth Century", South-Eastern Europe / L'Europe du Sud-Est, 5 Pt, 2, 1979, pp. 32-72. Archives sionistes centrales (CZA) : "Lettre de D. Florentin à l'Organisation sioniste centrale à Berlin (OSC), 15 janvier 1913". 2 R . MOLHO, "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation ...", art. cit. 3 Ibid.

SALONIQUE

APRÈS

1912

205

soit proclamée ville libre et neutre, et placée sous garanties internationales, et aussi qu'on y aménage une zone franche pour l'Autriche. Par la suite, d'autres diplomates du ministère des Affaires étrangères complétèrent cette proposition en y ajoutant des projets prévoyant que la région internationalisée et neutre de Salonique couvrirait une superficie de 4 0 0 à 6 0 0 kilomètres carrés et engloberait une population de 260 000 habitants. L e statut de cette petite communauté autonome serait garanti, d'une part par les grandes puissances et, d'autre part, par les Etats balkaniques et la Turquie. L'administration et la police seraient prises en charge par divers agents locaux sous la surveillance de spécialistes suisses et belges, tandis que le port serait libre et ouvert à toutes les nations ; quant à la ville, elle ne serait ni grecque, ni bulgare, ni turque, mais juive i 1 Naturellement, l'adoption de ce projet servait admirablement les intérêts des Juifs de Salonique qui pensaient pouvoir ainsi s'assurer du soutien de l ' A u t r i c h e - H o n g r i e , alors toute p u i s s a n t e 2 . Ils s'adressèrent donc à l'Organisation sioniste centrale qui siégeait auparavant à Vienne et venait de se transférer à Berlin, et ils lui demandèrent d'utiliser les liens étroits qu'elle avait su nouer avec le gouvernement autrichien. Il s'agissait d'assurer à ce dernier le soutien de toute la population juive de Salonique s'il faisait le même genre de proposition à la C o n f é r e n c e de la Paix qui devait se tenir prochainement à Londres 3 . Bien que la question des Juifs de Salonique fût déjà une des préoccupations de l'Organisation sioniste centrale depuis novembre 1912, celle-ci rejeta en séance plénière la demande qui lui était faite, après en avoir longuement délibéré, et elle rédigea la motion suivante : "En ce qui concerne l'avenir de Salonique, son internationalisation et son statut de neutralité serviraient les intérêts des Juifs. Cependant, en ce moment, toute action menée dans ce but serait intempestive. Quand il aura été décidé si Salonique devrait être annexée à un Etat précis, ou si elle deviendrait neutre et internationale, il sera alors absolument nécessaire que l'Organisation sioniste centrale, en collaboration avec d'autres organisations juives, assure la pleine égalité des droits des Juifs et sauvegarde leurs revendications politiques." 4 L a décision de l'Organisation sioniste avait été dictée par la nécessité d'éviter toute immixtion politique dans cette question puisque, de toute manière elle ne pouvait exercer aucune influence sur les décisions des grandes puissances. D'autre part, elle considérait que Salonique allait devenir grecque et ' N . M. GELBER, "An Attempi to Intemationalize Salonica", Jewish Social Studies, vol. XVII, n° 2, 1955, pp. 105-120. CZA : Dossier 731119, "Mémorandum par M. Cohen, adressé à l'OSC, le 15 janvier 1913". hbid. 4 N . M. GELBER, "An Attempt...", art. cit., p. 106. 2

206

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

que, par conséquent, toute intervention de sionistes en ce qui concerne l'internationalisation ne ferait que nuire aux Juifs. De plus, elle était opposée à l'internationalisation, car elle savait que, même si la ville était proclamée internationale, ce seraient les partisans de l'assimilation et autres antisionistes parmi les Juifs qui exerceraient le pouvoir. Enfin, elle prévoyait que l'internationalisation ne serait qu'un statut provisoire, puisqu'il était évident que les Etats balkaniques rechercheraient toujours l'annexion de Salonique, tandis que la situation des Juifs, qui auraient ainsi provoqué l'hostilité des Etats concernés, irait en empirant. L'intervention des sionistes ne serait justifiée qu'à partir du moment où les droits des citoyens juifs seraient attaqués 1 . Cependant, au même moment, les Grecs (exposés au mécontentement des consuls anglais et français qui, en intervenant et en garantissant la sécurité des citoyens à Tashin Pasha avaient obtenu la capitulation de la ville sans résistance) recherchaient anxieusement le soutien de la communauté juive. Les consuls avaient d'ailleurs prévenu les Grecs que s'ils ne parvenaient pas à maîtriser eux-mêmes la violence et à rétablir l'ordre dans la ville, ils seraient alors dans l'obligation de faire appel aux forces armées de leurs pays 2 . Face à cette situation, certains représentants du gouvernement, parmi lesquels le roi Georges, la reine Olga, le préfet P. Argyropoulos et le chef des services financiers G. Cofinas, rencontrèrent immédiatement des délégations juives de Salonique auxquelles ils firent une série de déclarations, aussi bien dans le but de rassurer les Juifs sur la position officielle de l'Etat à leur égard, que pour inciter les autres Grecs à adopter la même attitude 3 . Parmi ces déclarations, dont la plupart furent publiées dans la presse locale, juive et grecque, ainsi que dans la presse internationale, une grande importance fut donnée aux interviews accordées par G. Cofinas 4 . Celles-ci concernaient aussi bien la politique économique mise en place par le gouvernement dans les nouveaux territoires que le comportement social adopté vis-à-vis des minorités. L'interview la plus importante fut la première que G. Cofinas accorda au journal grec Ne,a Imera les 27 et le 28 Décembre 1912. Il y exposait longuement la politique démocratique et projuive que son gouvernement se proposait d'adopter et il expliquait, en plus, les raisons d'un tel choix politique 5 .

l

Ibid. Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C.49 : "Rapport de M. Cohen...", op. cit. 3 N. M. GELBER, "An Attempt...", art. cit., p. 106. 4 G. N. COFINAS, Salonique, son avenir, Athènes, 1913. 5 Nea Imera, Athènes, 27 et 28 décembre 1912. 2

SALONIQUE

APRÈS

1912

207

Tentant en quelque sorte d'adoucir les préjugés de ses concitoyens hellènes contre les Juifs, et de les rééduquer, Cofinas soulignait le rôle primordial joué par les Juifs à Salonique dans le passé et il faisait ressortir leur loyauté constante vis à vis des autorités de l'Empire ottoman. Il analysait ensuite l'attitude hésitante qu'ils avaient tout d'abord adoptée vis-à- vis de la souveraineté grecque. Il ne s'agissait là, expliquait-il, que d'une réaction prévisible face aux rumeurs malveillantes qui avaient circulé contre eux à l'arrivée de l'armée grecque, et face aux difficultés économiques auxquelles ils risquaient d'être confrontés après le changement de statut. Il ajoutait que les Juifs, qui entre-temps avaient eu l'occasion de bénéficier de la justice et de l'impartialité de l'administration grecque, étaient prêts, à présent, à accepter la souveraineté grecque, à condition que celle-ci adopte une politique qui sauvegarde leurs intérêts économiques, d'ailleurs intimement liés à l'avenir de Salonique. Répondant à la question concernant la politique qui serait mise en place par le gouvernement afin de combler le vide dû à la perte de l'arrière-pays balkanique, Cofinas répondait que le changement de statut allait permettre au commerce de Salonique jusqu'alors essentiellement orienté vers l'importation, de se transformer en commerce de transit. Pour y parvenir, le gouvernement passerait des accords commerciaux avec un certain nombre d'Etats de façon à ce que les produits exportés de Salonique ne soient imposés qu'une seule fois, et dans leur pays de destination finale. Il annonçait également qu'une zone franche serait créée dans le port de Salonique et il faisait remarquer qu'il serait souhaitable qu'une union douanière soit mise en place entre les pays balkaniques, qui conviendraient d'une taxation douanière commune. G. Cofinas soulignait ensuite que l'annexion de la ville ne provoquerait pas la dépréciation du port de Salonique par rapport au port du Pirée puisque celui-ci se spécialisait dans le commerce des produits importés pour la consommation locale, et que, par conséquent, les deux ports pourraient coopérer. Le Pirée approvisionnerait Salonique en produits manufacturés, tandis que Salonique, de son côté, fournirait Le Pirée en produits agricoles et d'élevage. Il ajoutait aussi que, puisque Salonique allait se transformer en ville frontalière, elle pourrait également servir de base militaire ou de chantier naval, ce qui favoriserait son commerce. En ce qui concerne la possibilité d'internationalisation de Salonique, G. Cofinas soutenait de façon convaincante, se rangeant aux côtés de la "Central Zionist Organisation" (OSC), qu'il ne s'agissait là que d'une utopie, ou du moins que d'une solution provisoire car, même si cette internationalisation se faisait, elle ferait naître un conflit permanent entre les pays frontaliers, menaçant ainsi la sécurité et la stabilité de la ville et, donc, celle du commerce aussi.

208

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Un article publié à la même époque dans le journal parisien Le Temps incita la presse grecque à imputer la remise sur le tapis du projet d'internationalisation à des initiatives françaises intempestives. Les intérêts français à Salonique représentaient alors une valeur de 2 milliards de francs (Compagnie du Port, Compagnie du Chemin de fer Salonique-Dédéagats, Banque de Salonique, importations d'articles de luxe venant de France, etc.), tandis que la culture française ne cessait de se renforcer (35 écoles francophones dans la ville, des librairies vendant des livres français, etc.). C'était la raison pour laquelle le journaliste parisien recommandait de maintenir l'autonomie de Salonique qui servait les intérêts français alors que ceux-ci auraient, bien évidemment, été lésés par toute politique d'intégration nationale. Après avoir brièvement mentionné les thèmes abordés dans l'article du Temps, le journal Makedonia du 12 janvier 1913 écrivait que les propositions du journaliste français étaient identiques à celles des Juifs et il insinuait qu'elles provenaient de Sam Modiano, Président de la Communauté. Ensuite, le Makedonia soutenait que le statut d ' a u t o n o m i e et d'internationalisation ne garantirait pas les limites de la ville, mais risquerait même d'en réduire la superficie, et plus encore que si celle-ci était placée sous autorité bulgare 1 . Bien sûr, la prise de position du Makedonia était contraire à celle de Venizelos publiée quinze jours plus tôt dans le journal français Le Radical2. Le premier ministre de Grèce y reconnaissait justement que l'annexion de Salonique à la Grèce allait créer des problèmes de débouchés sur la Méditerranée aussi bien aux autres puissances balkaniques qu'au reste de l'Europe et, plus particulièrement à l'Autriche-Hongrie. Il déclarait donc que, bien que l'internationalisation de cette ville, entourée d'une population purement héllénique, représenterait un grand sacrifice pour les Grecs, ils pouvaient y consentir dans le cadre des concessions mutuelles des Etats balkaniques, aussi bien pour maintenir la coopération entre eux que pour servir les intérêts de l'Europe. Néanmoins, il précisait avoir été informé du fait que ce projet avait été élaboré par des membres importants du gouvernement de Budapest qui, sous prétexte de servir les intérêts des Juifs, ne faisaient en réalité, que servir ceux de Vienne. De plus, il remarquait que ce projet risquait de raviver les feux de l'enfer macédonien qui n'avaient pu être éteints que grâce aux victoires de l'alliance balkanique (Grèce, Bulgarie, Serbie, Montenegro) sur l'Empire ottoman. Il indiquait aussi que si les Grecs étaient obligés de sacrifier Salonique, il serait indispensable de compenser cette perte par l'annexion de Monastir qui, alors qu'elle avait été conquise par les Serbes, se 1

Makedonia, Salonique, 9 janvier 1913. Le Radical, Paris, 14 décembre 1912.

2

SALONIQUE

APRÈS

1912

209

trouvait à présent aux mains des Bulgares. C'était d'ailleurs la seule façon de contrôler les visées expansionnistes bien connues des Bulgares, qui étaient également encouragées par l'Autriche en ce qui concerne l'occupation de la Macédoine. Ce n'était pas un hasard si, à la même époque, les Bulgares eux-mêmes essayaient d'approcher les Juifs 1 , tandis que leurs journaux démentaient ironiquement les informations diffusées par la presse grecque. Une brochure de propagande bulgare d'une cinquantaine de pages, rédigée en français, publiée à Sofia au début de l'année 1913, est bien révélatrice. Cette brochure intitulée Salonique et son avenir (titre commun à cette époque pour la plupart des publications de ce genre concernant Salonique), porte aussi un sous-titre sur la page de garde, avec lequel elle s'adresse directement aux Juifs de la ville 2 . Les méthodes de son rédacteur, A. Guéron, commerçant de Roushtouk, constituent un échantillon représentatif des visées expansionnistes de la Bulgarie. L'auteur commence par inciter les Juifs à prendre une part active dans la vie politique de Salonique afin qu'ils puissent exercer une influence sur son évolution future ; il insiste aussi sur leur droit d'intervention, tout en leur faisant craindre les conséquences catastrophiques que pourrait avoir pour eux le fait d'être placés sous un statut établi sans leur participation. Faisant un retour en arrière dans l'histoire de Salonique, Guéron allègue que, pendant de longues années, les Juifs contribuèrent au développement de la ville, laquelle dépendait totalement de ses liens économiques avec les pays balkaniques, notamment la Bulgarie, la Thrace occidentale et la Macédoine. Il procède à une étude historique des relations entre les différents peuples, d'où il ressort que l'amitié et la coopération caractérisaient les liens entre Bulgares et Juifs, tandis que les Grecs n'étaient pas capables de se départir d'une attitude de rivalité envers les Juifs, destructrice pour ces derniers. Il tente ensuite de renforcer ce climat d'angoisse en décrivant les conséquences fatales pour les Juifs et pour Salonique d'une annexion éventuelle de la ville à la Grèce : la jalousie des Hellènes allait provoquer la ruine économique de Salonique, car ils préféreraient faire transiter tout le commerce import-export par les nombreux autres ports de la Grèce. En ce qui concerne la coopération entre les pays balkaniques, c'est-àdire l'union douanière proposée par G. Cofinas afin de maintenir la richesse économique de Salonique, les Bulgares menaçaient, non seulement de ne plus coopérer avec les Grecs, mais également de chercher à isoler Salonique en canalisant leur commerce vers Serrés et Kavala, et en même temps, d'imposer des tarifs protectionnistes aux chemins de fers bulgares, comme ils l'avaient ^Bello Morìe, Sofia, 27 novembre 1912.

9A. A. GUERON, ' Salonique et son avenir, Sofia, 1913.

210

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

d'ailleurs fait pour Varna et pour Burgas. Ils excluraient de cette façon Salonique de la zone bulgare, et la Serbie aurait alors tout intérêt à développer son propre port sur l'Adriatique. Les Bulgares vouaient ainsi Salonique à la ruine économique et sociale. Pour toutes ces raisons l'auteur proposait que la Grèce renonce à Salonique au profit de la Bulgarie qui accorderait, en échange, des conditions avantageuses à ses activités commerciales, du moins jusqu'à ce que des ports sur l'Adriatique soient construits et que ses installations ferroviaires en Thessalie et sur la ligne Volos - Le Pirée, soient achevées. Je ne m'étendrai pas sur les autres arguments invoqués par lesquels les Juifs étaient incités à soutenir la souveraineté bulgare. D'une part, parce qu'ils constituent en substance l'inverse des arguments avancés en faveur de la souveraineté grecque et, d'autre part, parce que les Juifs de Salonique avaient exclu cette solution-là. Bien que les Juifs de Bulgarie aient appelé de leurs voeux ce rattachement car ils entretenaient des relations séculaires avec leurs frères situés plus au Sud, les Juifs de Salonique avaient compris que les Grecs ne toléreraient pas longtemps le joug bulgare et que la région se transformerait rapidement en champ de bataille 1 . D'autre part, ils avaient récemment fait l'expérience de "l'amitié bulgare envers les Juifs", quand les événements antisémites qui avaient suivi l'occupation de Stromnitsa, de Serrés et de Kavala avaient conduit de nombreux Juifs de ces régions, en proie à la violence et aux préjugés des Bulgares, à se réfugier à Salonique2. Entre-temps, les Juifs de Salonique avaient pu apprécier la sincérité des déclarations projuives du gouvernement grec, qui avaient été accompagnés d'instructions ad hoc à l'adresse de l'administration locale ainsi que de diverses mesures dont l'application avait efficacement mis fin aux actes de violence3. Il est intéressant de citer à cet égard quelques impressions de Juifs de Salonique se référant à l'attitude projuive du gouvernement. Dans une lettre adressée à l'Organisation sioniste centrale, on peut lire : "Depuis quelque temps, l'attitude des autorités supérieures grecques envers les Israélites dénote un extrême souci de nous être agréables et de prévenir nos moindres désirs" 4 . Et, dans une autre lettre "...Ils ont réprimé avec une complaisance ostentatoire les menées antisémitiques qui se sont produites au début de l'occupation. Le premier ministre Venizelos a délégué ici les Israélites les plus marquants de Grèce 1 Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C.50 : "Rapport sur Salonique, rédigé par un groupe de négociants de Salonique, le 12 mai 1913". ^"Israélites d'Orient", Bulletin de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, vol. 74, 1912, pp. 57-62, et vol. 75,1913, pp. 78-84. CZA, Z 3 /119 : "Lettre d'Avram S. Recanati, du 16 décembre 1912". ^Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C 49 : "Lettre de J. Cohen à l'A.I.U, du 4 décembre 1912". A Ibid.

SALONIQUE

APRÈS

19 12

211

afin de semer la confiance dans les milieux dirigeants de la Communauté et de les convaincre des bienfaits de la domination hellénique." 1 Dans le reste de la Grèce, chez les Juifs mobilisés par cette question, une grande publicité f u t faite aux déclarations des Juifs de Chalkis. Ceux-ci avaient considéré de leur devoir, dans le passé, de démentir par des déclarations écrites en faveur de la souveraineté grecque avant le Congrès de Berlin en 1878, la rumeur selon laquelle les Juifs de Thessalie auraient vécu dans une situation précaire 2 . Il semble que le Grand Rabbin de Salonique se sentit obligé de faire une déclaration similaire après la publication, dans les journaux européens, d'une information malveillante, selon laquelle les Israélites de Salonique auraient protesté à la Conférence des ambassadeurs à Londres contre l'annexion de Salonique à la Grèce 3 . Je tends à penser q u ' u n e telle rumeur est plutôt erronée dans la mesure où nous n'avons aucun témoignage qui confirme le déplacement d'un Juif à Londres à cette époque de crise. D'autre part, l'on connaît bien la position de la Communauté qui avait décidé de rester neutre et de ne pas prendre parti, ce qui l ' a v a i t d'ailleurs poussée à demander l'intervention de l'Organisation sioniste centrale. De même, celle-ci, ayant jugé qu'une intervention à la Conférence serait inopportune et préjudiciable aux Juifs, leur avait recommandé d'adopter un comportement analogue 4 . Cependant, malgré le démenti du rabbin, cette rumeur n'était pas complètement dépourvue de fondement. Les Juifs de Salonique, tout en reconnaissant l'attitude positive du gouvernement, restaient encore hésitants et ne faisaient aucun geste en faveur de la souveraineté grecque, contrairement aux Juifs de Chalkis. L'information selon laquelle les grandes puissances ne s'opposeraient pas à la proposition de l'Autriche renforçait leurs espoirs quant au maintien du statu quo5. Néanmoins, la fragilité de la situation et l'information selon laquelle l'Autriche soutiendrait les revendications de la Bulgarie en cas de non-agrément des grandes puissances sur l'internationalisation de la ville amenèrent la Serbie à diffuser à son tour sa propre propagande. C'est ainsi qu'un opuscule en f r a n ç a i s , intitulé Salonique et la question balkanique, qui exposait les positions serbes, circula à Paris au début de 1913. Son auteur, Milan Todorovitch, économiste et docteur ès-sciences sociales, traitait le sujet avec une approche scientifique qui se voulait dépassionnée. Dès le début de son ]

C Z 4 , Z 3 / 1 1 9 : "Lettre de D. Florentin à l'OSC du 15 décembre 1912". Journal Makedonia, Salonique, 22 janvier 1913. 3 Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I /C 49 : "Lettre du grand rabbin de Salonique, du 26 novembre 1912, adressée au prince Nicholas de Grèce". 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C 4 9 : ibid. N. M. GELBER, "An Attempt...", op. cit, p. 106. 5 Ibid.

212

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

étude, il suggérait que le problème de Salonique ne pouvait être résolu qu'envisagé sous l'angle économique et non pas national. Mais, tout en faisant semblant de rejeter toute argumentation culturelle, il est évident qu'il s'adressait directement aux Juifs de Salonique, lesquels constituaient la seule minorité de la ville dépourvue d'intérêts nationaux 1 . Prenant pour point de départ la préservation de la situation économique de la ville, Todorovitch proposait que la cité de Salonique soit annexée à celui des pays balkaniques qui utilisait son port plus que tout autre, c'est-à-dire celui pour lequel Salonique revêtait la plus grande importance et celui qui, en conséquence, saurait le mieux contribuer à la prospérité et au développement de la ville. Par des tableaux comparatifs et des données statistiques, dont la validité ne relève pas de la présente étude, l'auteur prouvait que la plus grande partie du commerce d'importation et d'exportation passant par Salonique se faisait avec la Serbie. Ceci était dû au fait que la Bulgarie comme la Grèce utilisaient beaucoup moins le port de Salonique, puisque ces deux pays disposaient d'autres ports par lesquels ils étaient desservis. La Serbie - argumentait l'auteur - dépendait totalement de Salonique, qui était en même temps un havre plus sûr que tout autre port qui serait éventuellement construit sur l'Adriatique. En outre, Todorovitch soutenait que les changements qui résulteraient du partage territoriale proposé par la Conférence de Londres ne modifieraient pas les estimations statistiques qu'il avait faites. A savoir que si, conformément à l'accord passé entre les Etats balkanique au début de la guerre, chacun annexait les terres qu'il avait conquises, la Serbie obtiendrait 48 000 km 2 , la Bulgarie 16 250 km 2 et la Grèce 12 500 km 2 . En conséquence, il faisait observer que l'annexion éventuelle de Salonique par la Grèce ou la Bulgarie serait un luxe qui ne profiterait en rien à ces deux Etats, alors qu'au contraire l'intégration de la ville à la Serbie constituait une condition fondamentale pour l'indépendance de ce pays. La revendication de la Serbie se justifiait donc pleinement, car la possession du port de Salonique était vitale pour son économie. Après avoir mis en valeur les intérêts économiques communs de Salonique et de la Serbie, l'auteur envisageait le problème du point de vue politique. Toutes les propositions en faveur d'un autre statut pour Salonique étaient examinées, et toutes étaient évidemment rejetées. L'argumentation de l'auteur partait des conséquences que provoquerait une frontière établie le long de la rive droite du Vardar, ainsi que le recommandait la Bulgarie. Un grave problème se créerait dans la zone du triangle Veles-Monastir-Salonique. La Serbie serait exclue de cette région, qui deviendrait forcément soit un territoire grec, soit un territoire bulgare, soit un territoire en cosouveraineté entre les deux pays. Par conséquent, la vaillante 1

M. I. A. TODOROVITCH, Salonique et la question balkanique, Paris, 1913.

SALONIQUE

APRÈS

1912

213

nation serbe qui, pendant la récente guerre, avait fait tellement plus de sacrifices que ses voisins, risquait de subir une injustice tant économique que politique, qui compromettrait obligatoirement ses relations avec la Bulgarie. L'annexion de cette même région à la Bulgarie détruirait l'équilibre territorial, jugé indispensable pour le maintien de l'alliance balkanique, et elle placerait la Serbie dans une situation défavorable du point de vue géographique. Plus précisément, ce pays serait entouré de tous côtés par des Etats hostiles : au nord, par l'Autriche-Hongrie ; au sud, par l'Albanie et la Bulgarie, toutes deux sous influence autrichienne. Ce faisant, la garantie de la paix dans la région passait impérativement par l'octroi à la Serbie de frontières méridionales avec la Grèce. Enfin, étant donné que la Serbie était rentrée dans cette guerre dans le but de s'assurer un port sur l'Adriatique et, en même temps, de se libérer de l'Autriche-Hongrie, l'annexion de la région de VelesMonastir-Salonique à son territoire constituait une petite compensation par rapport aux efforts douloureux qu'elle avait dû assumer. Cela montre à l'évidence, sans qu'il soit nécessaire de s'étendre davantage que les revendications de la Serbie à l'égard de Salonique reflétaient une position défensive, tant contre la Bulgarie dont l'agressivité menaçait de bouleverser l'équilibre des Balkans, que contre l'Autriche-Hongrie qui cherchait à s'assurer le contrôle économique de toute la partie européenne de l'Empire ottoman. La Serbie prédisait ainsi la reprise de la guerre des Balkans si les grandes puissances ne parvenaient pas à fixer des frontières claires et satisfaisantes pour répartir entre les vainqueurs les régions récemment acquises. Mais il semble que la proposition serbe - contrairement aux autres n'éveilla pas le moindre intérêt chez les Juifs, et elle ne provoqua aucun commentaire parmi eux. Après la déclaration de la deuxième guerre des Balkans (mai 1913) et la déclaration de la Première Guerre mondiale (juillet 1914), les prévisions cidessus de la Serbie quant aux dangers que représentait la question balkanique se sont révélées prophétiques. Cependant, ce que la Serbie ne pouvait pas prévoir, c'était que ces deux guerres auraient des conséquences positives pour Salonique. Avec la Convention de Bucarest (août 1913), la région de Salonique se trouva agrandie de façon importante par l'acquisition de la Macédoine méridionale, de l'Epire et de la région à l'est de Kavala. L'alliance de la Grèce et de la Serbie contre la Bulgarie permit l'octroi à Salonique de meilleures possibilités économiques et elle créa une ambiance rassurante, notamment pour les Juifs. Ce climat fut consolidé par le fait que le gouvernement grec accepta de satisfaire les exigences des Juifs, qui avaient été consignées dans un document de la Communauté daté du 30 janvier 1914. Les

214

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

dispositions prises facilitaient l'adaptation des Juifs à la nouvelle situation politique, mais aussi leur acceptation de la souveraineté grecque 1 . Les premiers indices de l'intégration progressive des Juifs de Salonique f u r e n t l ' a u g m e n t a t i o n du n o m b r e d'associations nationales non confessionnelles qu'ils créaient et leur participation aux élections de 1915. Mais, malgré le fait que ce soit le gouvernement de Venizelos qui ait été à l'origine de la politique d'intégration pacifique de la communauté juive de Salonique, cette dernière ne vota pas pour lui et elle prit position en faveur de Gounaris, qui militait contre la participation de la Grèce à la Grande Guerre. Les Juifs de Salonique, comme d'ailleurs leurs coreligionnaires en Europe, malgré leur admiration pour la civilisation française, ne pouvaient pas se ranger aux côtés des Russes qui étaient connus à cette époque pour leur politique antisémite. Par ailleurs, beaucoup souhaitaient la victoire de l'Allemagne, d'abord car ils imaginaient que cela les ferait rentrer dans la zone d'influence autrichienne et les libérerait de la tutelle grecque, ensuite car ils fondaient leurs espoirs pour le futur sur la politique apparemment prosioniste de Vienne et de Berlin2Cependant à partir de 1916 l'Allemagne et l'Autriche s'avérèrent ne promouvoir le sionisme qu'en théorie et surtout dans la mesure où ceci servirait leur politique expansionniste, mais sans s'engager par des déclarations officielles ou des actions qui ébranleraient leur alliance avec la Turquie. En plus, ces deux Etats ne s'opposaient pas au terrible antisémitisme qui s'était entre-temps manifesté à l'intérieur de leurs frontières. Par ailleurs, les forces alliées de l'Entente avaient commencé, à l'instigation de l'Amérique, à soutenir les minorités ethniques du Proche-Orient qui réclamaient leur autonomie à l'intérieur de l'Empire ottoman et réagissaient contre l'oppression turque qui ne cessait de croître 3 . Cela était, par exemple, le cas de la minorité chrétienne de Palestine. Tous ces éléments amenèrent le mouvement sioniste international à se rallier aux pays de l'Entente, et ils provoquèrent un revirement similaire de la communauté juive de Salonique. D'ailleurs, l'arrivée des forces alliées dans la ville permit de réactiver le commerce, ce qui apaisa les angoisses de la population juive. Parallèlement, des relations particulièrement amicales se développèrent entre les militaires étrangers (notamment français) et les Saloniciens : la participation régulière des Alliés aux manifestations sociales

Archives du ministère grec des Affaires étrangères (IAYE), 1914 / A / 5a : "Référendum de la communauté juive de Salonique signé par le président, le grand rabbin et le Conseil communal, adressé à M. Venizelos le 30 janvier 1914". 2 r . MOLHO, "The Jewish Community..art. cit. 3R. MOLHO, ibid; Arch, de l'AIU, Grèce, I / C 49 : "Rapport de M. Cohen, adressé au président de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, le 4 décembre 1912".

SALONIQUE

APRÈS

1912

215

et sionistes j u i v e s en constitue le meilleur t é m o i g n a g e . D e plus, la réconciliation de l'élément juif avec sa nouvelle patrie f u t encouragée par l'annonce officielle du ministre grec des Affaires étrangères N. Politis qui, en juin 1917, se prononça en faveur de la fondation d'un Etat juif national en Palestine, cinq mois avant que le ministre britannique des Affaires étrangères, Arthur James Balfour, ne publie sa célèbre déclaration (novembre 1917). Le fait le plus significatif demeure la célébration, l'année suivante, du premier anniversaire de la déclaration Balfour, avec un faste exceptionnel et dans un climat de détente qui n'eut pas son équivalent dans les autres communautés juives d'Europe 1 . Un élément décisif pour la victoire de la Grèce contre la propagande étrangère f u t la politique d'intégration pacifique de la communauté juive de Salonique, qui représenta sans doute un phénomène unique dans l'ensemble des pays d'Europe connaissant des situations similaires. L a situation de la communauté juive de Salonique était intimement liée à la prospérité de la ville, ce qui a été confirmé, aussi bien par la propagande étrangère qui a essayé d'atteindre ses objectifs en exploitant les inquiétudes de cette minorité, que par la politique grecque qui a réussi à réconcilier les deux communautés rivales. En outre, les options du gouvernement hellénique f u r e n t facilitées par la concordance du sionisme et du nationalisme grec, qui impliquaient tous deux le démembrement de l'Empire ottoman.

1Ephimeris ton Valkanion, Salonique, 20 octobre 1918.

POPULAR ANTISEMITISM AND STATE POLICY IN SALONICA DURING THE CITY'S ANNEXATION TO GREECE, 1912-19191

Greece is usually considered to have resisted the infection of political antisemitism which was manifest in most European and Balkan states during the period of their emerging nationalism. The high percentage of Jewish civilian losses recorded in Greece during World War II, however, calls this general statement into question and thereby presents a challenge for further research. This study is an attempt to analyze one of the few cases of antisemitism manifested in Salonica during its annexation to the Greek national state. Until the Second World War, two-thirds of Greek Jewry lived in Salonica. The city had been predominantly Jewish during the 500 years of Ottoman rule and remained so during the first ten years of Greek rule, from 1912-1923. Jews, in fact, accounted for more than half of the city's multiethnic population at the time of its capture by the Greek army in 1912. The Jewishness of the city, nowadays conspicuously ignored by most Greek historians, could have been a factor in the delayed rise of national sentiment in the area. It also determined official Greek policy toward the Salonica Jews. Salonica was vital to the well-being of the Macedonian economy. It was one of the principal towns of the Ottoman Empire, the junction of an important rail network connecting with Istanbul and other European centers. This fostered both industrialization and trade, which met the needs of the local population and those of the Macedonian hinterland. The 75,000 Salonica Jews did not merely constitute the largest percentage of the city's population, they were also the undisputed masters in almost all sectors of its economy. They represented all social classes and Jews were to be found in every profession. They were industrialists, bankers, businessmen, merchants, middle-men, agents, as well as peddlers, porters, sailors and skilled and unskilled workers 2 . Thus the Jews were not only

^Published in Jewish Social Studies, vol L, nos. 3-4, Summer-Fall 1988/1993, pp. 253-264. "'Paul Dumont, « The Social Structure of the Jewish Community of Salonica at the End of the Nineteenth Century», South-Eastern Europe/L'Europe du Sud-Est, 5 pts.(1979), 33-72.

218

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

responsible for the smooth running of the city's economy, but to a large extent they also determined its social and political dynamics. This had been grasped by specially appointed Greek agents who visited Salonica even before 1908. Charged with investigating the possibilities of realizing the «Megali idea», the political unification of the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire 1 , these agents soon became aware that the Greek sector carried little weight in the economic activity of the area. As a result, they engaged in numerous organised efforts to replace Jewish influence with their own 2 . To this end they had already established Greek banks at the turn of the century. Later on they sought to replace the Jewish middle-men who occupied key positions in the distribution of local agricultural produce drawn by Greek farmers. Their constant failures were caused by the solidarity of the Jewish greengrocers, who showed their resolute support of their coreligionists by refusing to conduct business with anyone else 3 . The determination of the Greeks was undiminished, the intensification of the battle for the hellenisation of Macedonia, and Salonica in the main, culminated in a growing hatred toward the unyielding Jews which went far beyond the bounds of economic antagonism. After the Young Turk revolution and the reestablishment of the constitution of Midhat pasha in July 1908, extraordinary scenes of fraternisation took place between the different minorities which constituted Salonica's population. The city also received several Turkish, Greek and Serbian delegations; they had come to salute the cradle of freedom. By the beginning of September, however, the atmosphere had changed and when the Bulgarian delegation was announced the Greeks refused to take part in the festivities. Although in the end the Greeks were forced to participate because of the outcry of all the other sectors of the population that had welcomed the Greek delegation, they turned their anger against the Jews alone. When a Greek cafe waiter deliberately overturned a canteen trailer owned by a Jew, provoking a wholesale fight between Jews and Greeks, the Turkish authorities had to intervene4.

Ijoannis Koliopoulos, «The Macedonia Struggle» (Greek), Istoria tou Ellinikou Ethnous (History of the Greek Nation), vol. XIV, Athens, 1979, pp. 215-245; Archives de l'Alliance Israelite Universelle (hereafter Arch, de l'Ali]), Greece, I-C.48, report by M. Benghiat of 1 Dec. 1909, to the President of the Aliance Israelite Universelle in Paris. hbid., I. Koliopoulos, «The Macedonian Struggle». ^Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, I-C.48, report by M. Benghiat of 1 Dec. 1909, to the President of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, I-C.48, report by M. Benghiat of 1 Dec. 1909, to the President of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris.

P O P U L A R A N T I S E M I T I S M AND S T A T E P O L I C Y

219

Soon after this incident the Greek newspaper Pharos tis Thessalonikis (Salonica's Lighthouse), published articles prompting the Greeks to declare economic war on the Jews. The Jews had been prepared for this economic boycot and in 1908 had reorganised their trade corporations into a common association, known as the Club des Intimes. From its inception, the club dynamically confronted conflicts that arose between Greek and Jewish cart drivers, porters, bankers, tailors and cobblers. Pharos, and the only other Greek paper Nea Alitheia (New Truth) counterattacked by serializing — on May and July 1909 — an old libel known as «The Devil in Turkey». Harking back to old slanders such as ritual murder, the story also insinuated that the Jews were the devils in Turkey, having sold themselves to a foreign power whose aim was the dissolution of the Empire. As expected, the Jewish papers retaliated, reminding the public that the Club des Intimes, which had become the target of the attack, had given active proof of its patriotism. Ill-will grew in Salonica, though the Turkish authorities had stopped the press campaign and the notables of both Greek and Jewish communities tried to minimize the effects of the conflict 1 . The friction between Greeks and Jews continued and deepened until the capture of Salonica by the Greeks in October 1912. The entry of the troops in the city was viewed as a major disaster. Jews feared that the annexation of Salonica to a national state within defined borders would cut of the city from the surrounding hinterland: Albania, Epirus, the rest of Macedonia, Thrace and the remaining of the Ottoman Empire, representing a market of 4 million people. The city's isolation from the Balkan hinterland, which for centuries had constituted the principle partner in the economic activities of the Jews, could not and would not be replaced by compensatory trading opportunities in Greece, where the ports of Pireus and Volos were already established. Salonica's economic decline within the Greek state would be accelerated by its transformation into a border city, primarily of strategic interest. Huge debts that the Turks owed to the Jews would be left unsettled, resulting in the bankrupcty of Jewish businesses. The poorer sectors of the population, representing the largest part of the Jewish community, were obviously directly threatened in the center of an economic breakdown. Most of them were actively organised within socialist unions and it was clear to them that the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire thwarted any hopes of a confederate state. In addition, the Jews feared that the annexation would be followed by a systematic settlement of Greeks, who would be induced to come to the city by the granting of special distinctions and priviledges. As a result the Jews in l Arch. de l'Ali], Greece, I-C.48, report by M. Benghiat of 1 Dec. 1909, to the President of the Alliance Israelite Universelle in Paris.

220

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Salonica would be impoverished and would be forced eventually into mass migration in search of new means of survival 1 . Owing to this, they had good reason to endorse Austrian plans for the internationalisation of Salonica 2 . Therefore, it is not difficult to see how the J e w s ' consistently reluctant attitude became the focus of the mounting anger of the Greeks, who attributed their repeated failures at Hellenisation of the city mainly to Jewish hostility. On October 27 1912, the very day Greek troops entered the vicinity of Salonica this small article appeared in a Greek newspaper 3 : "The reason why most of our fellow-citizen israelites have, due to the corruption of their souls, tried sabotage our national aspirations and have diligently tried to poison our joy caused by the arrival of our Greek brothers is their self interest. It is this consideration of personal interest which forced them to appear compassionate and encouraging to the defeated, since they are convinced that it is only possible to live with them, given that the Turks were tolerant of all their frauds and rewarded all their dishonesties. It is for this reason that we request our fellow Greek citizens not to seek revenge on account of the contemptible behaviour of our fellow Israelite citizens. Instead they should look down upon them, since they are only worthy of disdain. Greeks, known for their pride, should not belittle themselves in remembering these deceits by the Jews, who will undoubtedly become aware, under the new government, that they have made a bad appraisal of the situation, having feared the subjugation of Salonica to the Greeks." It should be added that the same paper which published the article under the pretext of an appeal to the generosity of the Greeks, also published in the same issue another article spreading the rumor that the Jews were responsible for the poisoning of some Greek soldiers 4 . Eventhough the accusation proved false following a police investigation, nevertheless it served as the fuse to ignite the Greeks accumulated frustrations 5 .

1 Central Zionist Archives (hereafter CZA) File Z3/119, report by David Florentin, well known journalist and Zionist leader in Salonica, to the Commitee of the Zionist organisation in Berlin, 15 Dec. 1912. ^Nahum M. Gelber, «An attempt to Internationalize Salonica, 1912-1913», Jewish Social Studies, 17(1955), pp. 105-120. ^(unsigned), probably written by the newspaper's editor Dimitris Kalapothakis, «Our Jews», Emhros (Forward), Thessaloniki, 27 Oct.1912. 4 A . Grohman, «Die Ausschreitungen in Saloniki», Neu Frei Press, 21 Nov. 1912; Arch, de I'AIU., Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen, a well-known Salonica lawyer to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912 and I-C.47, letter by Sam Levy, Jewish journalist from Salonica in Lausane, to the President of the AIU, 22 Jan.1913. 5 A . Grohman, «Die Ausschreitungen in Saloniki», art. cit.

POPULAR A N T I S E M I T I S M AND STATE POLICY

221

As a result, during the whole week following the entry of the Greek army into Salonica the Greek populace, unrestrained, and often assisted by Greek soldiers, enacted scenes of violence with all the characteristics of a pogrom. More than 50 women were raped, while all 400 Jewish shops and more than 300 Jewish houses were pillaged 1 . At the same time Jewish citizens were attacked in the middle of the street by armed men, who stripped them of their belongings in broad daylight. T w o of them, who seem to have resisted, were murdured, others were beaten, while still others were locked up for many days without due process of law 2 . The crowd was also carried away by its rage to the point of attacking the personnel of large foreign businesses and utilities. The new authorities proved so remarkably weak that the various consuls felt obliged to warn the Greek government that if it did not manage to re-establish order within 2 4 hours, they would be forced to disembark regiments of their national infantry and marines f r o m the battleships and take the matter into their hands. The French and English consuls were particularly irritated by the feebleness of the Greek authorities and the horrors committed by their troops. They had good reason to feel compromised because they had stopped Tahsin pasha f r o m continuing the battle within the walls of the city and had guaranteed him the safety of its inhabitants and their belongings. Instead, 60 Moslems had been massacred, as was reported by the European press, where the atrocities inflicted on the Turks and often on the Jews were described in detail. At the same time the press deliberately refrained f r o m revealing the engagements binding the consuls 3 . Given that the protests of the flourishing local Jewish press were stifled by the Greek authorities who dismissed them as «naggings of the Israelites», it is certain that the consuls' ultimatum, inviting the respective governments to interfere for the sake of security, had an immediate effect. Venizelos's government promptly made a series of statements and took steps toward establishing certain measures aimed at informing the Jews what official stance was to be adopted toward them. At the same time, it seems, the local government was given explicit orders which, promptly enacted, instantly and effectively ended all acts of violence against the J e w s 4 . At the Community's

i Arch. de l'AIU., I-C.47, letter by Sam Levy to the President of the AIU, 22 Jan. 1913 ^Unsigned, «Israélites d'Orient», Bulletin de l'Alliance, LXXIV (1912), pp. 57-60; Arch, de l'A.I.U., Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. 3 Arch. de I'AIU., Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912.

222

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

request, the prisoners of war, as well as the Jews who had been confined without cause, were immediately released1. Salonica's prefect, Perikles Argyropoulos, when addressing a group of Jewish representatives who visited him at the end of November 1912, was the first to dcclare the policy openly 2 : "I am trying with all my heart to prevent all antisemitic incidents such as unfortunately blackened our glorious entry to Salonica. The Jews can rest assured that in me they will find a firm protector. I also declare, even at the cost of being criticised, that were a discrimination to be operated, it would be in favor of the Israelites, and should it be necessary for their benefit to commit some minor injustice, 1 would do it, because I feel that we owe them some sort of indemnity."

Following the incorporation of Salonica into the Greek state, the royal family, obviously in accordance with government policy, increased its visits to the Jewish neighborhoods of Salonica. It is said that Queen Olga deliberately sought the company of ladies of the Jewish bourgoisie, and at the same time applied herself to welfare activities which made her popular among the Jewish lower classes 3 . King George, addressing a seven-member delegation of Salonica's Jewish dignitaries, whom he received with extraordinary warmth, declared4. "I am a great friend of your nation because I have personal friends among your coreligionists, both in Greece and in Copenhagen. Whenever I visit Larissa, I stay at the home of a Jew, my friend Haimatchi Cohen. I will say it again, the Jews have in me a great friend."

After an audience of a half-hour the king reminded the Jewish representatives that they should address themselves to him on any occasion, whenever the need arose, and declared he would be given the chance to prove his friendly feelings toward the Jewish nation. Still more specific was the declaration Venizelos made to the Jewish Chronicle when he was in London for the conference after the Balkan war 5 .

1

Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. 3 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. 4 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. ^Unsigned, «Venizelos and the Jews of Greece» (Greek), Israelitiki Epitheorissis, nos.10,11,12, Dec./Jan. 1912-1913, pp. 136-37. 2

POPULAR ANTISEMITISM

AND STATE P O L I C Y

223

"I am totally empowered to reassure you that all the Israelites who live in places which have been incorporated into Greece as a consequence of the war will enjoy the freedom and equality and every political and civic right, in exactly the same way as they are enjoyed by the rest of the Greeks." The Greeks, however, did not only want to win the sympathy and trust of the Jews. With the forthcoming Peacc Conference in mind, they had become aware of the political dangers involved in a possible condemnation by European public opinion which would influence the Great Powers' decision on Salonica's political future 1 . T o this end they tried to erase the stains of their conduct by embarking on a series of contradictory actions which they believed would exhonerate them. In pursuit of this, Prince Nicolas, who was military governor of Salonica at the time, paid a visit to the Chief Rabbi of the city, rabbi Yakov Meir, requesting official repudiation of the calamities laid at the door of the Greeks and promising him that this would remain confidential. The encounter had regrettable consequences f o r the rabbi, however, not only becausc the prince broke his promise and had the rabbi's letter published in the newspaper Makedonia only a few days later, but also because the rabbi who had kept his promise to the prince, was compromised as a result 2 . The Communal Council naturally demanded his resignation because he had deliberately avoided bringing this crucial issue to their attention 3 . The resulting controversy naturally divided the Jews into two c a m p s , adding a new problem to the ones already c o n f r o n t i n g the c o m m u n i t y 4 . It is nevertheless interesting to study the text of the rabbi's letter, which reflects not only a typical subtle quality distinguished by a conciliatory attitude in seeking peaceful solutions, but also mostly his determination not to betray his folk 5 . "Your Highness, I have just been informed that certain organs of the French and English press have published news of Constantinople and Salonica according to which the Greek soldiers were accused of having pillaged and destroyed the synagogues of the Jews of our town, ... were accused of having raped young Israelite girls and spread terror among my flock. These same papers added that following this state of affairs I appealed to the ambassadors of France and England in Constantinople asking their protection. 1

Arch. de l'AIU., Greece, I-C.49, report by Moise Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912. Arch, de I'AIU., Greece, I-C.49, letter by the Chief Rabbi Yakov Meir to Prince Nicolas of Greece 26 Nov. 1912. 3 Lucien Sciuto, «Rebi Jacob Meir démenti par Rebi Yacob Meir», L'Aurore, Istanbul 13 Dec 1912. 4 Arch. de l'AIU., Greece, I-C.49, report by Moïse Cohen to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912; Unsigned, «Israélites d'Orient», Bulletin de l'Alliance, LXXIV (1912), pp. 57-60 and XXV(1913), pp. 78-84. 5 Arch, de l'AIU., Greece, I-C.49, letter by the Chief Rabbi Yakov Meir to Prince Nicolas of Greece 26 Nov. 1912. 2

224

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

It is my duty and I owe to the truth to declare that I have not nor have I ever considered taking any such steps to any embassy to Constantinople. In addition, I must make it clear that the Chief Rabbinate has not written anything, either to the Rabbinate in Constantinople nor to anyone else, whoever it may be, since the entry of the Greek army into Salonica. Regarding the specific complaints that were addressed to me during the first days of the occupation, among which there was nothing relative to the destruction and pillage of the synagogues, neither by the military nor by the civilians, I officially declare that I have brought these complaints directly to the Greek authorities, who, I would like to certify, have come to our assistance, with great attentiveness and with the best good will, to find a remedy which would help to re-establish order in the city. It is due to this benevolent attitude of the authorities, for which I will never know how to thank them enough, that order was re-established and that some days after the occupation my flock has no longer any complaints to address to me. While authorizing your Highness to make of my present letter the use you would judge proper, please accept the expression of my absolute respect and complete devotion." The rabbi, as was shrewdly observed by the author of this report, J. Cohen, who was one of his supporters, did not in his letter deny the violent acts of rape, abuses and other afflictions which had been visited on the Jews. Given that he only denied the sacriledge and destruction of the synagogues, his silence over the other evils can be interpreted as an accusation '. The Greeks continued their campaign for what they claimed was the «reestablishment of the truth» 2 . They did so in part by unconvincingly laying the atrocities at the door of the Bulgarians, notorious for their savageries in other parts of Macedonia; they also acquired the support of various established philohellenes, such as a certain Al. Berl, who published articles defending the Greeks in well-known European papers 3 . The accusations reported in the Greek press against the Bulgarians did not square with the aforementioned acts of antisemitism, since only one of them refered to a Jew 4 . At the same time Sam Levy, a capable Jewish ^The Jews did not need to address themselves directly to any diplomatic authority, either in Istanbul or elsewhere. It should be noted that on the eve of the occupation of Salonica, many Jews had swiftly changed citizenship. This move had been legally supported by the different consulates of the city, which not only profited from selling documents to them, but thereby also gained arguments validating their imperialist designs. These new foreign citizens, who now came under the protection of the Great Powers, offered them a convenient excuse for interfering and thus for augmenting their control of this most coveted area. At the same time, the personnel of the consulates, some of whom were Jewish, acted as a convenient filter for the formulation of Jewish claims, reported in the international press. 2 A . Grohman, «Die Ausschreitungen in Saloniki»,ari. cit;Arch. de I'A.I.U., Greece, I-C.49, report by Moi'se Cohen, to the president of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912 and I-C.47, letter by Sam Levy, Jewish journalist from Salonica in Lausane, to the President of the AIU, 22 Jan. 1913 3 A . Grohman, «Die Ausschreitungen in Saloniki»,art. cit.; Arch, de 1'A.I.U., Greece, I-C.47, letter by Sam Levy to the President of the AIU, 22 Jan. 1913. ^Unsigned, «Series of atrocities and abuses by the Bulgarian soldiers and comitadjis», (Greek), Makedonia, 27 Nov.1927.

POPULAR

ANTISEMITISM

AND STATE POLICY

225

journalist from Salonica, while in Switzerland, disproved Berl's commentary in Le Temps by exposing the contradictions in his arguments to the detriment of the Greeks 1 . There can be no doubt, however, that at this stage the Greek leadership was resolved not only to restore its reputation but also to appease and regain the trust of the Jews. Their combined efforts did not remained unnoticed by the notables of the community. In perplexity and surprise they commented on the Greek government's attitude in all their reports to the different Jewish organisations 2 , which they believed could act as their spokesmen whenever the status quo was upset 3 . Another incident, however, which took place in August 1913, vindicated the doubts of the Jews vis-a-vis the official state policy, which they knew did not quite reflect the mood of the Greek population in Salonica. Eight months after the occupation, during the night of the 18th of August 1913, a group of 12 people broke down the doors of peaceful homes in a Jewish neighborhood, claiming to be searching for a small Greek girl who was allegedly concealed there. Following the courageous resistance of one owner who protested his innocense, a fight broke out between the parties, with the mob resorting to calling in a police officer. At his insistence, the Jew opened the doors to the enraged crowd which, in its determination to locate the child, went as far as dismantling the wooden floor. Having found nothing, the crowd left, but did not disperse until the girl was found taking a walk with members of her family near the waterfront 4 . As the writer of the subsequent report commented, the Jews, who were just beginning to be converted to Hellenic patriotism, once more began to doubt the sincerity of the governmental statements and appeals for harmony. They wondered if their security were not forever in jeopardy. The Communal Council sent a telegram to King Constantine appealing for his benevolence and requesting that he should issue a decree condemning blood libel accusations5.

l

Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.47, letter by Sam Levy to the President of the AIU, 22 Jan.1913. Arch. de I'A.I.U., Greece, I-C.49, Report of Joseph Cohen, headmaster of the Gymnasium Allatini to the President of the AIU, 4 Dec. 1912; CZA, File Z3/119, report by David Florentin to the Commitee of the Zionist organisation in Berlin, 15 Dec. 1912; Arch, de 1'A.I.U., Greece, IC.50, letter by the Alliance school teacher Leon Carmona to the General Secretary of the AIU, 29 May 1913. % e n a Molho, «The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation into the Greek State», Middle Eastern Studies, XXIV, no. 4 (Oct.1988), pp. 391-408. 4 Arch. de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.52, report by Moise Tovi to the president of the AIU, 20 Aug. 1913. 5 Arch, de I'AIU, Greece, I-C.52, report by Moise Tovi to the president of the AIU, 20 Aug. 1913. 2

226

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Although such a decree was never issued, shortly after the blood libel incident occured in Salonica, in late August 1913 a very interesting article entitled «Greece and the Israelites» appeared in the newspaper Messagero in Athens. The author, Leon Maccas, a Ph.D. in Law, had been posted to Salonica at the time of the annexation by the ministry of the interior. His article, surely compiled under the direction of his government, elucidated the reasons for the philosemite stance adopted by the State, which the government felt compelled to explain to the Greeks of Salonica in order to eradicate their persistent anti-Jewish prejudice. In this report, Maccas emphasized the strength of the Jewish presence in Salonica and explained the negative attitude at first adopted by the Jews, who as a result of the First Balkan War felt threatened by a probable economic breakdown. He then went on to explain how the changes resulting from the redistribution of the conquered territories at the end of the Second Balkan War had reassured the Jews of their economic stability. This in turn had given them the necessary confidence to reciprocate «as their part of the bargain» with respect for and collaboration with a state which had given active proof of its pro-Jewish attitude. Finally, in what seems to be an unprecendented attempt at a reeducative analysis of Jewish practices and thought, he explicitly directs the Salonica Greeks to take upon themselves the responsibility of the peaceful incorporation of their fellow Jewish citizens, who, as he had established, «constitute a decisive factor in the well-being and future of Macedonia»1. The positive intentions of the government, previously confirmed by declarations stressing the benefits of Greek sovereignty made by a Jewish delegation representing other Greek cities, were soon to materialize 2 . After a short interval, the government, announced special priviledges and measures which substantiated Prime Minister Venizelos's promises 3 . These decrees met and satisfied all the Community's requests, which had been submitted in a two-page referendum on January 19144.

^Leon Maccas, La Grèce et les Israélites, reprint form the newspaper Massagero, Athens, 1913. ^CZA, File Z3/119, report by David Florentin to the Commitee of the Zionist organisation in Berlin, 15 Dec. 1912. ^Joseph Saias, La Grèce et les Israélites, Paris, 1919, pp. 11.-13. 4 Archives of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (hereafter IAYE), File 1914/a/5a, Referendum signed by the president of the Community Mr. Sam Modiano and the Chief Rabbi Yakov Meir to Venizelos, 30 Jan.1914. They were: 1 .Exemption from military service for a period of three years in return for payment, without loss of voting rights. 2. The preservation of Shabbath in the city of Salonica. 3. The right to be employed in public administration. 4. The right to continue keeping accounts in Judeo-Spanish. 5. The freedom of the Jewish press. 6. The possibility of collaboration between state veterinary officers and the specially appointed shohet by the rabbinate ensuring the application of Jewish dietary laws. 7. Government allocations of 1,200 drachmas to Jewish communities numbering more than 50 families, as well as governmental allowances to various exclusively Jewish associations, such as the athletic and Zionist Maccabi club. 8. Exemption from all taxes on imported unleavened bread used during Passover, and so forth. (Joseph Saias, La Grèce et les Israélites, op. cit.).

POPULAR ANTISEMITISM

AND STATE

POLICY

227

It is evident that V e n i z e l o s was f u l l y a w a r e that the t o w n ' s harmonious functioning and organisation owed an enormous debt to the large Jewish community. H e was also concerned that after 1912, Austria, Bulgaria and Serbia had all tried to bolster their own claims to the region by exploiting Jewish anxieties about the future of Salonica under Greek rule. For these reasons, he had urged the state to adopt a pro-Jewish policy, since this would add additional weight at the international level to arguments for the ratification of Greek control 1 . The outbreak of the First World War and the political priorities that emerged in Europe at its close made Salonica's Jewry aware that no other options for the city existed except its incorporation to the Greek state. Since 1916 Austria, formerly pro-Zionist, appeared now indifferent to the Zionist cause by its alliance to Turkey and Bulgaria was also aligned to the Axis P o w e r s 2 . M e a n w h i l e the Jews had seen the reliability of V e n i z e l o s ' g o v e r n m e n t since, in accordance by the priviledges granted to them temporarily, they were relieved at not being drafted and had participated in the general elections both in 1915 and 1916 on terms of full equality with all the other Greeks. In addition, five months before the Balfour declaration was announced, the Greek government had officialy expressed its support for the creation of a Jewish national h o m e in Palestine. Also, in Nov. 1918, the Balfour Declaration anniversary was celebrated throughout Salonica and the whole city was decorated for the occasion.

Conclusion Venizelos'goal, the peaceful incorporation of the Jewish population of Salonica was materializing. The Greek government's success was widely noticed both in Europe and Turkey where efforts were being made for a cooperation between the formerly antagonistic Greek, Jewish and Armenian minorities 3 . This prospective rapprochement can be easily understood, since both the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine and the liberation of Greek cities in Asia Minor, not to mention the rightings of Armenian wrongs, could only be realised through the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. In the treatment of the Salonica Jews showing that a sovereign state need not be threatened by the different minorities within its borders, the Greek ^Rena MoJho, «Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Hellenic Diaspora, XIII, nos. 3-4 (Fall-Winter, 1986), pp. 2 Ibid. J Rena Molho, «Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Hellenic Diaspora, XIII, nos. 3-4 (Fall-Winter, 1986), pp.

Salonica, 1912-1919», Journal of the 113-123. Salonica, 1912-1919», Journal of the 113-123.

228

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

government introduced a new political reality. In embracing Jews as equal members it suggested its desire that a similar attitude could be endorsed toward the Greek minorities in the Ottoman Empire, especially in cities like Smyrna and Istanbul, which had very large Greek communities. It is clear, on the other hand, that this success would not be possible had it not been for the particular stature and confidence that distinguished the Jewish community of Salonica from all others in Europe. It was a community which had not known ghettos or persecutions, either under the Byzantines or under the Ottomans. The Jews of Salonica had enjoyed a history of at least 500 uninterrupted years of freedom in a city which had been both maintained and developed because of their contribution. As as result, it was natural that these people maintained their self-confidence despite this unusual experience of antisemitism. It is noteworthy that the orchestrated efforts of the Greek government to restore the faith and trust of the beleguered minority met with success only because the Salonica community did not have the self-image of a marginal, persecuted target group, which had inevitably defined many others. This is proved on one hand by the fact that the Salonica Jews took action in the conviction that they could influence the political future of their city after the entry of the Greek army and, on the other, by their confidence in addressing their demands to the Greek authorities and their expectation that they would be satisfied. So little significance was attached to these antisemitic incidents that they are not mentioned in the numerous bibliographies, contemporary of later, for the period in question. It is therefore evident that the Greek government's aim to not only incorporate the Jews but also to efface the anxieties over their changed status, which could and perhaps should remained in their consciousness, met with what appears total success. It must, nevertheless, be noted that Greek nationalism, which at this point appeared creatively unifying, in opposition to the disruptive western model, did not wholy measure up to the challenge when the priorities of the two emerging nations ceased to overlap. The Asia Minor catastrophe, and the arrival of 100,000 Greek refugees in Salonica in 1923, presented the Greek state with pressing new problems of incorporation, and caused dramatic demographic changes within the city. The subsequent neglect and often indirect or direct oppression of the Jews, which was now implemented by the state, was more in line with popular sentiment as manifested at the time of the city's annexation.

LA LÉGISLATION ANTIJUIVE DE VENIZELOS ENTRE LES DEUX GUERRES OU COMMENT LA RÉPUBLIQUE PEUT VENIR AU SECOURS DE L'ANTISÉMITISME1

La circonspection presque unanimement exprimée par les Juifs de Salonique envers la politique systématiquement projuive de Venizelos furent immédiatement justifiées après l'incendie de 1917 2 . En effet, au cours des premières années du rattachement de la ville à la Grèce, période pendant laquelle la souveraineté d'Athènes n'était pas encore assurée, la priorité de Venizelos avait été de s'assurer le soutien de la population locale. Mais les véritables objectifs politiques du chef du Parti libéral se manifestèrent par son attitude intransigeante dans la mise en œuvre du projet de reconstruction de la zone incendiée, où 75 % des dommages touchaient les habitants juifs, et par son refus radical de rencontrer les représentants de leur communauté. L'occasion inespérée d'helléniser massivement la ville prévalait face à tout principe démocratique, d'autant plus que les victimes appartenaient à la communauté juive, la seule minorité qui n'était soutenue par aucune entité étatique 3 . C'est ainsi que les journaux juifs qui protestaient au nom de la Communauté furent systématiquement censurés et que les citoyens qui se permirent quelque critique à l'égard des options gouvernementales firent de longues peines de prison 4 . L'autoritarisme non dissimulé du gouvernement fit naturellement renaître le doute vis à vis des précédentes déclarations de son chef en faveur de la minorité juive.

' r . MOLHO, Article paru en langue grecque dans la revue Synchrona Themata, juin 2003, n° 82, pp. 53-59. 2 Arch. AIU, Grèce, I / C. 49 : Lettre de J. COHEN du 4 décembre 1912. Arch. AIU, Grèce, I / C. 50 : Rapport de Elie CARMONA du 29 mai 1913; Lettre de J. NEHAMA du 27 novembre 1912 ; Lettre de J. NEHAMA du 30 novembre 1912. CZA, Z3/119 : Rapport de David FLORENTIN du 15 décembre 1912 à l'Organisation centrale sioniste à Berlin. -'Rena MOLHO, Oi Evraoi tis Thessalonikis, 1856-1919; Mia idiaiteri koinotita (Les Juifs de Salonique, 1856-1919 : Une communauté hors norme), livre paru en grec, Athènes Themelio, 2001, pp. 120-130. ^(Article non signé), "Lettre ouverte à M. Eleutherios Venizelos, Président du Conseil", colonne censurée, journal Pro Israël, Salonique, 15/10/1917, pp. 5-6. L'on y souligne l'injustice insupportable de l'emprisonnement du secrétaire de Maccabi, Isaac Alvo, condamné à 6 mois de prison par le tribunal militaire, pour avoir exprimé librement son opinion sur l'expropriation des terrains dans la zone incendiée. La condamnation de Alvo provoqua la surprise et le malaise de la population juive de la ville qui se demandait si les droits fondamentaux inscrits dans la Constitution du pays, c'est à dire la liberté de pensée et de parole, n'étaient pas une simple clause de style. La lettre demandait la libération de Alvo, afin de dissiper l'impression d'un arbitraire prévalant sur la loi, sauvegardant ainsi la réputation et le renom de la Grèce.

230

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Le revirement de la politique de Venizelos, projuive jusqu'alors, créa un climat propice au retour des préjugés populaires qui s'étaient exprimés, les premiers jours de l'annexion, contre les Juifs considérés comme "allogènes". Ainsi fut perturbée l'atmosphère de coexistence pacifique que le gouvernement - à l'instigation de Venizelos lui-même 1 - avait réussi à instaurer, avec tant de patience, pour faciliter l'intégration de Salonique dans la Grèce. Dans ces circonstances, une pièce de théâtre présentée en octobre 1917, qui mettait en scène le stéréotype négatif traditionnel du Juif et se moquait de la population israélite, connut un succès exceptionnel. La suprématie de la nouvelle nation souveraine, qui allait à présent de soi, était ainsi confirmée 2 . Aucun particulier ou organisme ne protesta contre l'influence catastrophique qu'exerçaient de tels spectacles sur les relations déjà tendues entre les populations juives et chrétiennes 3 . Il était évident que l'intégration pacifique des Juifs avait cessé désormais de constituer une priorité pour les autorités grecques de Salonique. Ceci était c o n f i r m é également par les mesures accordant, parmi les victimes de l'incendie, un régime plus favorable aux Chrétiens qu'aux Juifs, bien que ces derniers eussent été davantage lésés 4 . C'est dans ce cadre que s'explique la mobilisation des sionistes locaux en vue de la Conférence de Paix de Paris, tout c o m m e l'impressionnante participation de la population juive aux manifestations du premier anniversaire de la déclaration Balfour à propos de la création d'un Etat juif en Palestine 5 . Il faut noter qu'assistèrent également à ces manifestations des représentants du gouvernement, ainsi que les autorités militaires et diplomatiques qui se trouvaient dans la ville du fait de la guerre. A cette époque, il y avait encore peu de véritables militants sionistes à Salonique, aussi la présence de 50 000 participants à la célébration du 2 novembre 1918 démontre l'influence qu'ils avaient pu gagner en peu de temps. Il est vrai que, par cette participation massive, les Juifs de Salonique exprimèrent aussi leur protestation contre le gouvernement.

! r . MOLHO, Les Juifs de Salonique, 1 8 5 6 - 1 9 1 9 . . o p . cit., pp. 246-279. ^NÉMÉSIS (pseudonyme), "Le rôle de la presse" (colonne censurée), journal Pro Israël, Salonique, 30/10/1917, p. 8. Frangiski ABATZOPOULOU, O allas en diogmo (L'autre persécuté) , Themelio, Athènes, 1998. 3 NÉMÉSIS, idem. 4 Arch. AIU, Grèce, II / C. 53 : Lettre du Grand Rabbin J. MEÏR du 26 février 1919. Spiros MARKETOS, "I ensomatossi tis sefaraditikis Thessalonikis stin Ellada : to plaisio, 1912-1914" ("L'intégration de la Thessalonique séfarade à la Grèce : Le contexte, 1912-1914"), dans O Ellinikos evraismos (Le judaïsme grec), Actes du symposium scientifique de la Société des Etudes de la Culture Néo-Hellénique et d'Education Générale de l'Ecole Moraïtis (3-4 avril 1998), Athènes, 1999, pp. 65-92. 5 R . MOLHO, Les Juifs de Salonique, 1856-1919..., op. cit., p. 283. (Article non signé), "La fête nationale du 2 novembre à Salonique - Importante manifestation juive à la Tour Blanche", journal Pro Israël, Salonique, 30/11/1918, p. 3. Outre 50 000 personnes, toutes les associations participèrent ainsi que les autorités militaires, administratives et diplomatiques.

LA

LÉGISLATION

ANTIJUIVE

DE

VENIZELOS

231

Dans ces conditions il était logique de supposer que les Juifs voteraient à nouveau contre le Parti libéral lors des élections législatives suivantes. Afin d'éviter cela, en novembre 1920, le gouvernement regroupa les Juifs dans quatre bureaux de vote distincts, séparés des bureaux de vote des Chrétiens, alléguant la nécessité de "protéger" les électeurs non chrétiens 1 . Toutefois, il faut noter que de pareilles mesures n'avaient pas été prises pour "protéger" les Musulmans de Thrace. Lors de ces élections, un grand nombre de Juifs n'allèrent pas voter, soit parce qu'ils avaient rencontré des obstacles dans l'obtention de leur livret électoral, soit parce qu'ils refusaient ce traitement discriminatoire imposé par l'Etat qui, à travers la constitution de bureaux de vote spécifiques, réduisait à néant le principe du vote secret 2 . Malgré cela, les Juifs furent accusés, plus tard, d'avoir eu un rôle déstabilisateur lors des élections de 1920, précipitant la défaite de Venizelos et, par conséquent, déclenchant la chaîne d'événements qui aboutit à la défaite de l'armée grecque lors de l'expédition en Asie Mineure de 1923 3 . Il est cependant certain qu'en 1920 les Juifs n'eurent pas une grosse influence sur les élections, car les résultats de deux des quatre bureaux de vote juifs furent annulés, à cause d'irrégularités signalées 4 . L'imposition par le gouvernement de bureaux de vote séparés faisait transparaître ses craintes concernant le prétendu pouvoir électoral de la Communauté et, avec le temps, elle prêta une légitimité à cette accusation qui fut utilisée comme mot d'ordre pour attirer des voix lors des confrontations électorales qui suivirent, attisant ainsi les tensions entre Chrétiens et Juifs . Peu de mois après les élections de 1920, le 15 avril 1921, le jour même de Pâques, une accusation de meurtre rituel fût déclenchée par les cris d'une Chrétienne devant la maison d'une Juive dont elle accusait les coreligionnaires d'avoir pris sa petite fille. Parmi les passants qui se ]

Arch. AIU, Grèce, Il / C.53 : Lettre de J. NEHAMA du 10 novembre 1920. (Article non signé), "Les carnets électoraux / Difficultés sans nombre", journal L'Indépendant, Salonique, 18 février 1920, p. 1. IAYE, dossier 1921 / B / 59-6 (sous numéro 220 très confidentiel) : Lettre du Gouverneur général A. Adossidis du 12 février 1920 au Ministre des Affaires étrangères. J 'Nikos THEDOSIOU, "Den theloun oute tous nekrous mas : I politiki tou kratous apenandi stous evraious" ("Ils ne veulent même pas de nos morts : La politique de l'Etat envers les Juifs grecs"), Marxiïtika Tetradia, mai 1995, pp. 34-47. L'auteur cite une déclaration du ministre de l'Intérieur et rédacteur de la loi électorale G. Papandreou en 1923 : "...il n'était pas permis que les ennemis de la Nation altèrent le résultat électoral, comme cela eut lieu en 1920, lorsque les Turcs élirent tous les partis anti-Venizelos". Sam. HASSID, "I allothriskos psifos stis ekloges tou 1920" ("Le vote des autres groupes religieux aux élections de 1920"), dans Ch C O N S T A N T O P O U L O U , L. M A R A T O U - A L I P R A N D I , D. G E R M A N O S et TH. 1KONOMOU, "Emeis" kai oi "Alloi" ("Nous" et les "Autres"), Ethniko Kentro Koinonikon Erevnon, Ed. Tipothito, Athènes, 1999, pp. 363-37.Le jour suivant le dépouillement des buttetins électoraux du deuxième tour de scrutin de juillet 1933, il semble que Venizelos ait dit que les Juifs avaient "contribué" à sa défaite et indirectement à la catastrophe d'Asie Mineure. 4 Arch. AIU, Grèce, II / C.53 : Lettre de J. NEHAMA du 10 novembre 1920. Sam. HASSID, " Le vote des autres groupes...", art. cit.

232

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

bousculaient autour d'elle se trouvaient des réfugiés résidant dans une mosquée proche, mais aussi des soldats. Tous agressèrent cette femme juive, jetant des pierres et brisant les vitres de sa maison. Certains réussirent à entrer chez elle, et ils détruisirent les meubles et démantibulèrent le plancher. Ils menacèrent de la pendre et de la brûler vive si elle ne rendait pas l'enfant. Les voisins juifs qui accoururent pour aider la pauvre femme subirent eux aussi l'agression de la foule tout comme celle des forces de l'ordre. Entre-temps, bien sûr, la petite fille fut retrouvée en train de jouer dans le voisinage, et elle rentra un peu plus tard à la maison avec sa mère. Il est pourtant significatif que l'incident ne se soit pas terminé là, et que, malgré les ordres du Procureur, les exactions aient perduré de longues heures, les citoyens juifs continuant à être maltraités par des Chrétiens qui se rendaient à cet effet dans les quartiers juifs. L'ordre ne fut rétabli que grâce à l'intervention du Commandant de police qui se rendit sur place par mandat du Gouverneur général de Salonique, après appel du Président de la Communauté 1 . Si l'on considère l'attitude réactionnaire des journaux grecs au lendemain des incidents du 15 avril 1921, alors que dix ans de tranquillité s'étaient écoulés depuis des incidents similaires qui s'étaient produits peu après l'annexion de la ville 2 , force est d'établir un rapport entre ces faits répréhensibles et la politique arbitraire du gouvernement Venizelos envers les Juifs, depuis l'incendie de 1917. Pendant la décennie qui suivit, l'importante communauté juive continua de faire l'objet d'un ostracisme toujours plus intense de la part des gouvernements de l'entre-deux-guerres, ce qui permit aux éléments réactionnaires de la société grecque de procéder en toute impunité à des actes humiliants et criminels, qui aboutiront au pogrom de 1931. A partir de novembre 1923, la Commission Révolutionnaire (E.E.) 3 imposa la création d'un "collège électoral" distinct à Salonique, dans lequel les

^(Article non signé), "L'accusation de meurtre rituel", Paix et Droit, magazine mensuel de l'AIU, avril 1921, pp. 9-11. (Articles non signés), "Le gouvernement et les incidents de vendredi", "La calomnie du meurtre rituel à l'Assemblée nationale, belles paroles du Président du Conseil", L'Indépendant, Salonique, 20 avril 1921. 2 R e n a MOLHO, " Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salónica during the City's Annexation to Grccce", Jewish Social Studies, vol. Nos 3-4, Eté-Automne 1988/1993, pp. 253264. 3 L a Epanœstatiki Epitropi (EE) - Commission Révolutionnaire - fut créée le 11 septembre 1922 à Chios par des militaires vénizélistes qui attribuèrent la défaite de l'armée grecque en Asie Mineure à la trahison des responsables monarchiques et à l'entourage du Roi Constantin. Les membres de EE désiraient renverser le gouvernement monarchique et chasser le roi, pour sauver ainsi la Grèce et "laver l'affront de la défaite". En quelques jours, le général Plastiras, réunissant autour de lui plusieurs personnalités, y compris des militaires royalistes, conduisit le soulèvement et obtint la démission et le retrait du roi Constantin, permettant ainsi aux vénizélistes de revenir au pouvoir. S'ensuivit la condamnation à mort de six officiers jugés responsables de la défaite. (Yanis YANOULOPOULOS, "Apo to 1922 os to telos tou polemou 1940-1941.1 epanastasi tou 1922,1 diki ton exi ke I synthiki tis Lozanis" (De 1922 jusqu'à la fin de la guerre 1940-1941. La révolution de 1922, le procès des six et le Traité de Lausanne), Istoria tou ellinikou ethnous, (Histoire de la nation grecque), tome XV, pp. 251-259.

LA L É G I S L A T I O N A N T I J U I V E DE

VENIZELOS

233

Juifs furent obligés de voter lors des élections organisées en vue de la réunion de la 4 e Assemblée constitutionnelle (14 décembre 1923). Les journaux grecs et les rangs libéraux présentèrent le fait comme une mesure de protection prise par les gouvernants contre l'élément juif qui était caractérisé, écrivaient-ils, par l'indifférence mais aussi par l'hostilité à l'égard des intérêts nationaux grecs 1 . Le Conseil communautaire et toutes les organisations juives passèrent à l'action et rédigèrent un mémorandum au gouvernement dans lequel ils exprimaient avec la plus grande énergie leur protestation contre la création de ce collège électoral distinct. Menaçant d ' u n e abstention générale, ils exigèrent de la Commission Révolutionnaire (E.E.) de retirer la mesure, ou bien de déclarer clairement que l'établissement du collège électoral avait été institué selon les traités internationaux garantissant les droits des minorités, conférant ainsi aux J u i f s de Grèce le statut de minorité reconnue sur le plan international 2 . A u cours d ' u n e entrevue entre le Gouverneur général des Nouvelles Provinces et des représentants de la Communauté, J. N e h a m a , qui était présent, rapporte que le Gouverneur général essaya d'exercer une pression amicale sur les participants de manière à éviter que cette mesure temporaire puisse constituer un prétexte à la reconnaissance officielle des Juifs de Grèce en tant que minorité ethnique 3 . Nehama était connu c o m m e représentant actif de l'idéologie assimilationniste et c o m m e faisant partie de la minorité provénizéliste de la Communauté. Il fit remarquer d ' u n e part que la mesure était humiliante pour l'élément juif, car elle les confinait dans un ghetto moral et politique, et que, d ' a u t r e part, les Juifs ne revendiquaient pas le statut de minorité ethnique, mais simplement l'égalité des droits et de citoyenneté comme cela leur avait été accordé par la loi 2456/1920. Le Gouverneur général prit alors sur lui de présenter leur demande au gouvernement 4 . Néanmoins, le gouvernement institua le collège électoral juif spécifique, prétextant des difficultés techniques au retrait de la mesure. Ainsi, lors des élections de d é c e m b r e 1923, les Juifs s ' a b s t i n r e n t m a s s i v e m e n t , f i d è l e s à leur avertissement. Sur les 7 000 inscrits sur les listes électorales, 51 seulement se présentèrent parmi lesquels 4 furent élus députés, dont le plus populaire recueillit 25 v o i x 5 . Ils espéraient que l ' A s s e m b l é e constitutionnelle comprendrait la signification de cette protestation et qu'elle ne validerait pas

1

Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, I1/C.53 : Lettre de J. NEHAMA du 19 novembre 1923. ^Léna DIVANI, Ellada ke meionotites, Néféli, Athènes, 1995, pp. 24-67. 3 Ibid. 4 Arch. de l'AIU, Grèce, II/C.53 : Lettre de J. NEHAMA du 19 novembre 1923. •'(Article non signé), "Les élections législatives à Salonique. Tentatives d'agitation antisémite", Paix et Droit, Janvier 1924, pp. 8-9.

234

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

l'élection des mandataires qui, élus par un nombre de voix insignifiant n'avaient pas reçu un mandat populaire clair pour représenter le Judaïsme de Salonique. Les faits furent exploités par le journal Makedonia (Macédoine), dirigé par un moine défroqué, Nikos Fardis, qui, prenant prétexte de l'abstention, lança des accusations d'antipatriotisme contre les Juifs et excita les instincts des lecteurs par diverses calomnies qui trouvèrent un écho chez des réfugiés qui avaient eux-mêmes fui des exactions. De plus, Makedonia créa une association antisémite qui reçut des centaines de demandes d'inscription, selon le journal 1 . Bien sûr, après intervention du Conseil communautaire auprès du Procureur général, les autorités réagirent et prirent des mesures afin que cesse ce mouvement d'hostilité violente contre les citoyens juifs. Le directeur de l'association antisémite fut retenu quelques heures en détention et le journal Makedonia fut contraint d'arrêter la publication de ses calomnies. Dans le même temps, les Juifs reçurent de toutes parts des déclarations de sympathie et de soutien. Des intellectuels grecs connus et certains notables de la ville décidèrent de fonder une association helléno-juive et publièrent une déclaration de protestation signée par toutes les personnalités de la société grecque. Certains d'entre eux se constituèrent même partie civile dans la plainte que déposa le Procureur général contre les instigateurs de la campagne antisémite qui menaçait la coexistence pacifique des citoyens de Salonique 2 . Bien que le gouvernement eût pris ses responsabilités en promettant de retirer la mesure concernant le collège électoral en vue du référendum, le mal était fait et les choses empirèrent, ainsi que nous le verrons plus loin 3 . Quelques mois seulement plus tard, en mai 1924, la population juive, stupéfaite, fut informée que, contrairement aux engagements pris par le gouvernement de maintenir le samedi comme jour de repos, le Conseil municipal prévoyait d'institutionnaliser, pour tous les citoyens, l'obligation de chômer le dimanche 4 . Le Conseil de la Communauté lors d'une réunion exceptionnelle vota une motion demandant que la décision ne soit pas ratifiée par les autorités car le repos obligatoire du dimanche mettait en danger sérieux le Shabbat, institution fondamentale dans l'exercice de la religion juive. De plus, elle demandait que la population juive de Salonique, qui s'élevait à 80 000 âmes, puisse chômer le samedi au lieu du dimanche, comme cela leur avait été accordé depuis 1912 et confirmé par la loi 2456 du 2 août 1920 et le

l

lhid. lbid. ^(Article non signé), "Les élections et les Juifs", Paix et Droit, mai 1924, p. 11. ^(Article non signé), "Le repos du dimanche à Salonique", Paix et Droit, mai 1924, p. 11. 2

LA L É G I S L A T I O N

A N T I J U I V E DE V E N I Z E L O S

235

décret royal 135 du 12 avril 1923, selon le principe de la liberté religieuse des minorités 1 . Les commentateurs juifs mettaient en avant que cette décision municipale, annulant effectivement les lois nationales, avait été prise à l'instigation d'une partie des 100 000 réfugiés nouvellement installés dans la ville, qui considéraient les Juifs locaux comme des étrangers et souhaitaient leur effondrement économique et leur départ. Ils prévoyaient encore que l'application éventuelle de cette première mesure encouragerait la mise en place d'autres prescriptions du même ordre qui conduiraient à une campagne de mise à l'écart des Juifs, que les nouveaux venus considéraient comme leurs plus sérieux rivaux. Les Juifs attendaient donc avec anxiété la décision de Papanastasiou, président du Parlement, craignant justement que le gouvernement ne cède aux pressions des réfugiés 2 . Effectivement, après une période de feinte résistance, le gouvernement invalida l'article visé dans la loi 2456 / 1920 de Venizelos et le remplaça par celui de l'obligation du repos dominical. La mesure obligeait les Juifs soit à chômer deux jours par semaine, soit à renoncer à l'exercice de leur religion. Un journaliste français philhellène connu - fit remarquer que les instigateurs de la campagne antijuive s'enorgueillissaient d'avoir réussi à mettre leurs rivaux en face du dilemme de choisir entre "Dieu ou Mamon", c'est à dire "entre l'abandon de leur foi ou leur destruction et leur émigration"3. Le ministre, qui essuya les protestations de l'organisation juive Joint Foreign Committee à Londres, tenta de soutenir la mesure en l'assimilant aux usages des autres pays d'Europe. Cela ne lui réussit cependant pas, car, comme il lui fut montré, partout ailleurs, si le jour de repos hebdomadaire était obligatoire, il n'était pas nécessaire qu'il fût un dimanche. Plusieurs personnalités du monde politique grecque rejetèrent la mesure qu'ils considéraient comme réactionnaire car marquée à leurs yeux du sceau de l'intolérance et de la marginalisation. Le représentant grec à Genève, N. Politis, s'engagea même à ce que la mesure, déjà instituée par la loi 3103 / 19.7.1924, soit retirée. Mais bien que l'Etat grec eût signé en août 1924 l'article 10 du Traité de Sèvres, par lequel il s'engageait à ne pas faire obstacle à l'observance du Shabbat par les Juifs, la loi fut appliquée. Le ministre de l'Economie nationale, Papanastasiou, en essayant de se défendre contre les protestations des Juifs, expliqua que, d'une façon ou d'une autre, la demande

1

Ibid. Ibid. Alfred BERL, "Les Juifs de Salonique et le repos dominical", Paix et Droit, septembre 1924 pp.2^3. 2

'S

236

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

pour la promulgation de cette loi serait sans cesse déposée par les députés jusqu'à ce qu'ils aient obtenu satisfaction. Egalement trompeuse fut la déclaration formulée par le Président du Conseil : "Nous ne ferons aucune discrimination. Avec le projet de loi que nous déposons, nous visons à améliorer la vie sociale des citoyens" 1 . Cette déclaration faisait transparaître que les acquis de la communauté juive n'étaient plus considérés par le gouvernement comme faisant partie de la vie sociale du corps des citoyens, car l'imposition du repos dominical obligeait les Juifs à chômer deux jours par semaine en une période où la crise économique s'était aggravée en Macédoine, notamment à cause de l'arrivée constante de nouveaux réfugiés extrêmement démunis 2 Le jour où la loi fut appliquée, le 24 mai 1925, le Conseil communautaire démissionna après avoir rédigé une déclaration à l'adresse du gouvernement condamnant la politique de discrimination. Par une déclaration de protestation identique, en judéoespagnol, le même Conseil engageait la population juive à lutter jusqu'à obtention de l'annulation de la loi. Toutefois, les Juifs se sentaient démobilisés, car ils avaient désormais perdu confiance dans les hommes politiques. Ils voyaient que le gouvernement lui-même faisait le contraire de ce qu'il avait déclaré, légitimant et encourageant ainsi les sentiments hostiles de leurs concitoyens chrétiens qui représentaient désormais 70 % de la population de la ville. Deux ans plus tard, sous la dictature de Pangalos, alors qu'il n'y avait pas d'élections en perspective, la mesure relative au collège électoral fut retirée, au soulagement des Juifs et des Musulmans 3 . Mais lors des élections parlementaires du 7 novembre 1926, les 11 000 électeurs juifs de Salonique furent tous obligés de voter dans des bureaux de vote spéciaux, constitués pour la circonstance dans les huit quartiers juifs de la ville. Malgré le fait que le principe du vote secret fût à nouveau enfreint, la plupart des Juifs allèrent voter, car la liste de Politiki Evraiki Enossi (Union Politique Juive) venait d'être constituée, comptant des candidats de bords politiques différents, mais uniquement juifs. Cependant, ils ne purent pas élire plus de deux députés, à cause des contraintes du système de scrutin proportionnel en vigueur, qui, à Salonique, donnait droit à un député pour 2.935 voix 4 .

' B . PIERRON, Juifs et Chrétiens de la Grèce moderne., L'Harmattan, Paris, 1996, p. 161. Spiros TZOKAS, O Eleuthèrios Venizelos ke to egheirima tou astikou eksyghronismou, 19281932 (Eleuthère Venizelos et l'entreprise de modernisation urbaine, 1928-1932), Thémélio, Athènes, 2002, pp. 11-21. 3 (Article non signé), "Les collèges électoraux confessionnels", Paix et Droit, septembre, 1926, 2

p. 10.

(Article non signé), "Les élections législatives et les Juifs", Paix et Droit, décembre 1926, p. 7.

LA

LÉGISLATION

ANTIJUIVE

DE

VENIZELOS

237

En 1928, suite aux actions du Conseil communautaire qui mena un combat intense "contre toute limitation et discrimination", il fut question de supprimer ces collèges électoraux qui isolaient les Juifs du reste des citoyens. Mais ce succès fut passager, parce que Venizelos, dans la perspective des élections du 20 août 1928 et malgré les objections de ses parlementaires, rapporta à nouveau la mesure, sous le prétexte que l'annulation avait été demandée par L. Besantchi, un député sioniste 1 . Venizelos, qui admit que le collège électoral séparé était une anomalie, accusa cependant les Juifs d'être des étrangers sans rien de commun avec la culture grecque puisqu'ils persistaient à conserver une langue distincte, le judéo-espagnol, qui selon lui n'était même pas leur langue maternelle. Besantchi, mais également Papanastasiou et Tsaldaris, lui rappelèrent que les Juifs avaient rejeté le statut de minorité afin que leur soit garantie, en tant que citoyens grecs, l'égalité des droits juridiques et politiques, et ils attirèrent également son attention sur la création d'un mauvais et dangereux précédent dans les relations entre Chrétiens et Juifs. Comme il ne pouvait récuser leurs objections, Venizelos se contenta de déclarer que le temps prouverait l'authenticité des sentiments patriotiques des Juifs des Nouvelles Provinces, qui, tout comme les Grecs, n'étaient pour l'instant pas mûrs pour une telle assimilation, même si tous la désiraient ardemment 2 . Cette déclaration indiquait que, pour Venizelos, l'assimilation à la culture hellénique était la condition préalable à l'octroi de l'égalité des droits politiques et juridiques aux Juifs indigènes, de façon à ce qu'ils soient des citoyens grecs à part entière. Et ceci ne pourrait être réalisé que lorsque l'élément chrétien de la population salonicienne serait lui-même prêt à l'accepter. Apparemment, le grand homme d'Etat ne voyait aucun problème dans cette vision réactionnaire des rapports entre Chrétiens et Juifs. Cette attitude allait retarder considérablement la maturation des citoyens chrétiens, qui avaient souhaité et en fin de compte obtenu que les Juifs soient réduits au rang de citoyens de seconde classe. Pour leur part, les Juifs de Salonique se hâtèrent de créer, en décembre 1928, la "Ligue pour l'assimilation" donnant ainsi une preuve de bonne volonté 3 . Toutefois, le verdict de Venizelos qui les qualifiait d'étrangers suspects, sinon d'ennemis de la nation, incita le peuple à préparer leur punition. Ce qui ne se fit pas attendre ! En mai 1931, le journal

Makedonia

adonné depuis plus d'une dizaine d'années à la propagande antisémite, accusa i

(Article non signé), "Le collège électoral juif de Salonique", Paix et Droit, décembre, 1928, p. 10.

2

''(Article non signé), "Le ministre des Affaires étrangères et les Israélites", Paix et Droit, janvier, 1928, pp. 10-11. •'(Article non signé), "Une ligue pour l'assimilation", Paix et Droit, décembre 1928, p. 11.

238

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

un représentant de l'association sportive Maccabi, qui avait participé en 1930 au congrès international des 25 ans de l'organisation à Sofia, d'avoir pris part à un congrès de Komitadjis 1 au cours duquel l'autonomie de la Macédoine et sa libération du joug grec avaient été revendiquées 2 . Ces fausses accusations ranimèrent les tensions, et le 23 juin 1931 des membres de l'Association nationale des étudiants distribuèrent dans toute la ville des milliers de tracts par lesquels ils stigmatisaient les Juifs en tant que communistes et Komitadjis et poussaient la population à exclure systématiquement les traîtres 3 . Survinrent, le jour suivant, de violents incidents à l'instigation de groupes armés qui se rendirent dans les locaux de Maccabi et, après avoir détruit le mobilier et l'équipement de l'association, attaquèrent ceux qui s'y trouvaient, blessant à mort l'un d'eux 4 . Le Gouverneur général de Macédoine, Gonatas, fit saisir les tracts, démentit l'accusation par un communiqué et admonesta les fauteurs de troubles ; mais, malgré cela, la tension monta encore. Les jours suivants la situation incontrôlée gagna toute la ville tandis que des membres des organisations nationalistes s'attaquaient aux citoyens et les battaient en pillant leurs biens. Tragique conséquence : 2 000 membres de l'Ethniki Enossis Ellados (Association Nationale de Grèce) incendièrent volontairement le quartier juif Campbell, le réduisant en cendres. Outre de nombreuses victimes parmi les habitants, le pogrom laissa les 220 familles du quartier sans toit 5 . Il faut noter que ces événements eurent lieu après le débat parlementaire du 25 juin portant sur les accusations contre Maccabi, au cours duquel Venizelos reconnut lui-même que ces dernières étaient mensongères et inventées de toutes pièces6. Comme il ressort cependant de ce qui vient d'être décrit, ces faits furent avant tout la conséquence de la politique nationaliste que Venizelos avait luimême choisi d'appliquer vis à vis des Juifs, comme, d'ailleurs, il le reconnut. Le jour même des élections de 1933, lors d'une rencontre avec des personnalités juives qu'il avait invitées pendant sa tournée électorale à Salonique, il tenta de justifier son attitude réactionnaire à leur égard au cours de l'année 1928, en disant, entre autres : "Le maintien du collège électoral, qui avait constitué la principale cause de mécontentement chez les Israélites à l'égard du Parti des Libéraux, était simplement dû à des motifs partisans et électoraux" car, en tant que leader national, il ne pouvait se permettre de 4 e r m e qui signifie : "Révolutionnaires nationalistes bulgares" N. THEODOSIOU, "Ils ne veulent pas non plus de nos morts", art. cit., pp. 34-47. ^(Article non signé), « Ta chthessina thlivera nea ex aformis tis drasseos tis Maccabi" ("Les tristes incidents d'hier au prétexte de l'action de Maccabi ", journal Makedotiika Nea, Thessalonique, 24 juin 1931, pp. 1 et 6. ^(Article non signé), "Les désordres antijuifs de Salonique", Paix et Droit, juin 1931, p. 5. 5 lbid. 6 G. MARGARITIS, "L'antisémitisme grec...", art. cit., 2

LA L É G I S L A T I O N A N T I J U I V E DE V E N I Z E L O S

239

"mettre en péril l'avenir du plus grand parti grec, simplement pour des raisons de principe". Il promit donc de supprimer le collège électoral aux prochaines élections, ce qu'il fit, car le vote juif ne constituait plus de danger pour son parti 1 . Ces messages contradictoires, contenant à la fois promesses et menaces, exprimant les choix politiques du pouvoir, annihilent la déontologie de l'Etat de droit, socle de la démocratie, et rendent par conséquent Venizelos responsable du phénomène de l'antisémitisme politique en Grèce. Lors de cette période critique, et comme cela a lieu aujourd'hui encore, la victimisation de la minorité, qu'il s'agisse de communistes ou dans notre cas de Juifs, répondaient à de profonds sentiments d'insécurité économique et sociale. Elles s'exprimèrent avec la même hystérie nationaliste, en Grèce comme en d'autres pays d'Europe, et partout menèrent de l'antisémitisme au fascisme, destructeur pour tous 2 .

'(Article non signé), "La Grèce et les élections législatives", Paix et Droit, février 1933, pp. 78.

n ^Shmuel ALMOG, Nationalism 100-121.

and Antisemitism

in Modem Europe, Pergamon Press, 1990, pp.

JUDEO-SPANISH, A MEDITERRANEAN LANGUAGE IN DAILY USE IN 2 0 t h CENTURY SALONICA1

During the Inquisition, Jews were expelled from Spain because the Spaniards believed they could not be citizens of Spain if they maintained their Jewish faith. Ironically, the Spanish culture of these Jewish exiles, in the long run, proved inseparable from their Jewish identity. If one's native language designates a people's ethnic affiliation, the fact that they maintained Judeo-Spanish as their language, for more than 400 years, is an undisputed proof of their deep rooted cultural «patriotism». Out of all the places Jews settled after their expulsion from Spain, Salónica was to become the capital of these Spanish exiles. In Byzantine times, it was one of the most important Balkan centers, second only to Istanbul. After the Turkish occupation in 1430, Salónica, like other Greek cities, declined and was left with only 2.000 inhabitants. Many of them were Jews of Greek culture. This situation changed with the arrival of the Sepharadim, at the end of the 15 th century. Salonica's population rose to 29.000 people, half of whom were Jewish. The other half which was composed of Moslems, Orthodox Christians and Levantines, never superseded the Jewish majority during the time that Salónica remained under Ottoman rule, until 1913. During these four centuries, Spanish Jews having fast acculturated the Romaniotes2, turned Salónica, an officially Ottoman city, into a JudeoSpanish colony that was justly called Madre de Israel. In this city Spanish was considered synonymous with Jewish because Judeo-Spanish was the main local language, used also by many non Jews. The knowledge of JudeoSpanish, in fact, often distinguished the local Salónica Greeks from the Greek refugees, who setlled there in great numbers, mostly after 1923. Judeo-Spanish was not just the oral language of the Jews of Salónica — it was also their primary written language. It was used for daily newspapers, original works of fiction, translations of fiction and non-fiction, plays, folk songs, popular storytelling and communcal archives. Many of these works have survived and constitute an unparallel, but barely explored collection of primary sources. Their neglect is due in large part to the 1 Cultural Forum of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki: Ir Vaem Beisrael, Foundation: Cultural Committee of the J.C.T., Thessaloniki, 2003, pp. 13-29 %ews of Greek origin speaking a Judeo-Greek language.

Ets Ahaim

244

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

difficulty of reading and decoding the ras hi script, in which most of these sources were written. A summary overview of the representative genres produced in 19 th and 20 t h century Salónica, will reveal the richness of these sources, not only for linguists or philologists, but also for historians.

The Judeo-Spanish Press in Salónica, 1865 1925. Newspapers first appeared in Salónica in the second half of the 19 th century as part of the general effort to modernize the Empire. Out of the 73 newspapers published in Salónica between 1865-1925, 35 were in JudeoSpanish 1 , 25 were in Turkish 2 , 8 were in Greek 3 and 5 were in French 4 . This ratio reflects the population distribution of the ethnic communities living in the city. During this same period, Jews comprised more than 50% of the total population of Salónica, while the Moslem, the Doënme 5 and the Christians, composed the other half 6 . However, Moslems and Christians had an official state as a point of reference, while the Jews did not. These states, that is Greece and Turkey, supported the publishing activities of their respective communities because they recognised their role in shaping public opinion in terms of ethnic priorities and aspirations 7 . On the other hand, the Jews received no such support from a comparable source. The only organisation that assisted the Jews, both morally and financially, was the Alliance israélite universelle. Its contribution, however, was limited to the field of education. Aiming at the cultural renewal and the professional emancipation of the Jews of the East, this organisation, founded in 1860 in Paris, concentrated its efforts in establishing modern educational and vocational institutions 8 . By the early 1900's, the Alliance had established 9 modern Jewish schools in 1 Abraham Galante, La presse judéo-espagnole mondiale, Istanbul, 1935, pp. 10-13; Shlomo Reuben-Mordehai, «O evraikos typos sti Thessaloniki ke genikotara stin Ellada» (The Jewish press in Salónica and generaly in Greece), Chronika, no.l, Juin 1978, pp. 1-20, Moshe David Gaon, A Bibliography of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) Press, Tel Aviv, 1965, pp. 11,13,15, 1520 23, 25, 27, 33-38, 40-42, 46-49, 56-60, 62, 65-66, 74-80, 82-85, 88, 90-93, 96-97, 100-103, 105-107, 109-110, 114-116, 118-120, 126-127. ^Aggela Fotopoulou, «Tourkikes Efimerides» («Turkish Newspapers»), Kathimerini :Epta Imeres, Athens, 26 February 1996, pp. 4-7. ^Dinos Christianopoulos, Ellinikes efimerides tis Thessalonikis epi Tourkokratias (Greek newspapers of Salónica during the Turkish Occupation), Thessaloniki, 1992. 4 A11 of them Jewish. %udeo-Moslems, followers of the false Messiah Shabbetay Zvi. 6 Kemal Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics, Wisconsin, Madison, 1985. ^Esther Benbassa, «Presse d'Istanbul et de Salonique au service du sionisme, (1908-1914). Les motifs d'une allégeance», Revue Historique, 276/2(560), oct.-dec., 1986, pp. 337-365. ®Aron Rodrigue, De l'instruction à l'émancipation, Paris, 1989.

J UDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN LANGUAGE

245

Salonica, and by 1912 its educational system was adopted by another 19 schools that were created by the local Jewish Community. Though the main language of instruction used in these schools was French, Judeo-Spanish was taught as a language and was also used as a language of instruction in the courses concerning Judaism. The French educational system significantly reduced the use and importance of Judeo-Spanish. However, on certain occasions the use of Judeo-Spanish could not be overlooked and it was chosen as the most effective tool to reach modernity. For example, Joseph N e h a m a , introduced a two year course on commerce in the higher classes of the secondary Alliance school Moi'se Allatini in 1904. He chose to write his textbook in Judeo-Spanish, because he knew that this would give the book broader appeal as it could also be used in more traditional schools, such as the Talmud Tora and other religious educational institutions 1 . The impressive number of Salonica's Jewish newspapers reflects the success of the Alliance in modernising and emancipating the Jewish community. In fact since the beginning of the twentieth century, when the number of these newspapers increased, the Jews of Salonica were able both to read them and also to write and publish them. Given that all Jewish newspapers published in Salonica were supported primarily by their readers, they could not continue to be published unless they were being bought by the public 2 . Not surprisingly, as can be seen in table 1, many of these papers were ephemeral. In fact, even though the Salonica Jewish c o m m u n i t y developed somewhat later than the other important Ottoman Jewish communities, such as the ones in Istanbul and Ismir, by the beginning of the twentieth century, it had surpassed them in many fields. This can be observed in the ideological pluralism of the local press, which shows a Jewish community with a dynamic political identity. The Jews of Salonica were not subdued Ottoman patriots, of Zionist or Antizionist orientation, as were the other Jews in the Empire. They were, in fact, the only community of Ottoman Jews, who participated actively in the Young Turk movement. Furthermore, they also

' Rcna Molho, Les Juifs de Salonique, 1856-1919 : Une Communauté hors norme; doctoral thesis submitted in the University of Human Sciences in Strasbourg, Oct. 1996,666 p. Sam Levy, «Mes Mémoires», Tesoro de los judíos sefardíes, vol.VlII/1965, pp. XLV-LX1. According to the calculations of Sam Levy, the son of Saadia Levy who published among others the long lived newspaper La Epoca (1875-1911), and was a known journalist and later became the editor, in the decade of 1890 the reading public of his father's paper numbered 1,600 head of families, who were in position of buying newspapers. 2

246

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

played a decisive role in the establishment of the Fédération Socialiste, the most important socialist party both in the Empire and in Greece 1 . The Jewish press of Salonica represented all the political tendencies of the times. For this reason, it is a very important tool for the study of the development and emancipation of the Jewish community, and also for the study of the ideological pluralism of this community and of the influence it exercised on the other ethnic communities in the city during the same period. The first publishing attempt of the Jews of Salonica had an enlightening character and was associated with the need of renewal of the community. It was not a coincidence that the sponsors of El Lunar, the first monthly newspaper or periodical, to appear as of 1865, were the same progressive individuals who had fought for the establishment of modern Jewish schools by the Alliance in 1873. After Dr.Moïse Allatini, Judah Nehama and Bezalel Saadia Levy founded, in agreement with the Paris organisation, the Alliance district Commitee in Salonica, in 1864, they began publishing El Lunar in an effort to educate and enlighten the Jews. The paper was published in Judeo-Spanish, the native language of its readers, and translated instructive and moralizing articles or stories that had appeared in Western European magazines. El Lunar, however proved to be an early and short lived paper. The first regular weekly newspaper La Epoca appeared ten years later, in 1875, and was maintained for 36 years, till September 1911. In the meantime, after the closing of El Lunar, the first private as well as the first communal schools were established jointly with those of the Alliance, the Boys' school in 1873 and the Girls'school, in 1874. ^Efi Avdeia, "O sosialismos ton 'allon' : Taxikoi agones, ethnotikes singroussis ke taftotites fillou sti meta-othomaniki Thessaloniki" (The Socialism of 'others' ; class struggles, national conflits and identity of sexes in post-ottomane Salonica) Istorika, lOnth year, nos. 18-19, June-Dec. 1993, pp. 171-204; Avraam Benaroya, A Note on "The Socialist Federation of Saloniki", Jewish Social Studies, Vol.11, January 1949, pp. 69-72; Idem, I proti stadiodromia tou ellinikou proletariatou (The first stages of the Greek proletariat) (ed. Angelos Elefantis), Athens : Olkos, 1975, 283 p.; Idem, Elpides kai planes (Hopes and disillusionements) Athens : Stohastis, 1989, 248 p.; Nicole Cohen-Rak,"Salonique en 1911 à travers la Solidaridad Ovradera", Revue des études juives, 148, 1989, pp. 477-485; Paul Dumont, "Une organisation Socialiste ottomane : la Fédération Ouvrière de Salonique (1908-1912)", Etudes Balkaniques, 1975, No 1, pp. 76-88; Idem, "Sources inédites pour l'histoire du mouvement ouvrier et des courants socialistes dans l'Empire ottoman au début du XXe siècle", Etudes Balkaniques (Sofia), 1978, no.3, pp. 16-34; Idem, "La Fédération Socialiste Ouvrière de Salonique à l'époque des guerres balkaniques", East European Quarterly, vol.XIV, no.4, winter 1980, pp. 383-410; Angelos Elefantis," Federacion Thessalonikis, dio anecdota keimena tou 1913 gia to ethniko zitima"(The Fédération of Salonica, two unpublished documents of 1913 on the national question),O Politis, 1979, no.28, pp. 34-49; Kendro Marxistikon Erevnon, / socialistiki organossi (Fédération) tis Thessalonikis, 1908-1918 (The Socialist organisation Fédération of Salonica 1909-1918), Athens : Synchroni Epochi, 1989, 312 p.; George Leon, "The Greek Labor Movement", The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Vol.IV, No.4, Winter 1978, pp. 5-28; Antonis Liakos, I socialistiki Ergatiki Omospondia tis Thessalonikis 'Fédération' ke i socialistiki neolaia. Ta katastatika tous The Workers' Socialist Federation of Salonica (Fédération) and the socialist youth. Their charts), Thessaloniki ; Paratiritis, 1985,164 p.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN

LANGUAGE

247

The mores were beginning to change : The Communal government had by then passed in the hands of the progressive laity and the publisher of La Epoca, Saadia Levy, was no longer in danger of being excommunicated for his progressive ideas, as had happened in the past 1 . Yet, despite the fact that La Epoca was a newspaper with diverse contents, the publishers' aim remained the same : their main objective was the renewal of the educational system that was judged indispensible for the progress of the community. From that point of view, La Epoca tried to arouse the interest of the public towards some professional fields, such as the arts and crafts, that were considered necessary for the social and economic advancement of the Jewish people. In an effort to motivate its readers, the paper published the names of the recipients of the Allatini prizes awarded to the Italian school students 2 as well as the names ol' some Salonica Jews who held high positions and who had distinguished themselves for their contribution to the state in important office of the Ottoman army and bureaucracy3. On other issues, the paper took up a campain in favour of the teaching of the Turkish language, considered necessary if ethnic minorités were to gain positions in public office. To make this possible, the paper suggested state subsidisation of Jewish schools so that they would have to include the teaching of Turkish in their curriculum 4 . In addition, it published translations of the works of romantic Turkish authors such as The Despair by Mustafa Rashid bey or the Leyla hanoum by Osman Adil bey in Judeo-Spanish 5 . At the same time its readers were reminded of the value of the Judeo-Spanish language, which was then in danger of being replaced by French and Italian, the languages of istruction in the new schools 6 . La Epoca also published medical reports and medical advice as well as readers' letters, with the

Levy, «Mes Mémoires», Tesoro..., art. cit., voI.IV/1962, pp. V-XXVII. 5 April 1899. o J O n 26 April 1901, it is announced that the famous criminologist Emmanuel Effendi Carasso has been appointed legal counselour in the Direction of Post Offices of the Vilayet of Salonica; On 21 June 1901, p. 6, it was published the «bey Vitalis Stroumsa had served as inspector of Agriculture and as member of the Technical Commitee of the Salonica district; On 26 July 1901, p. 6, it was published that Avraam Benrubi was appointed president of the Commercial Court in Samsoun; On 8 November 1901, p.6, it was announced that the banker Yakov Saul Modiano was decorated Knight; On 28 August 1903, pp. 1-4, that the Ottoman government had invited the famous French doctor Canvor to treat the surgeon Jacques Pasha Nissim who had been Commander of Division and had septicemia. It also said that the surgeon was honoured in his funeral by all the Jewish and Ottoman dignitaries, and the Sultan himself. ^The issue of 30 November 1900, p. 3, announced the foundation of the society Alliansa Ottomana established with the aim to enhance the teaching of the Turkish language; On 23 January 1903, p. 4, it was announced that the government of the Vilayet had made public its decision to finance the schools in the same district on condition that they included the teaching of the Turkish language in their curricululum. 2

5

S . Levy, «Mes Mémoires», in Tesoro..., art. cit., vol.VIII/1965, pp. 45-61. hbid.

248

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

intention of increasing the social conscience and democratic awareness of its readers1. The paper also published news and information concerning international politics and economic life, stock-exchange price-tables of raw materials and foreign exchange, news and information on the most important Ottoman and European Jewish communities. For example, the case of the Dreyfus Affair in 1897 in France, was extensively covered. The local news occupied a specific column entitled La muestra civda (Our town), which included information on the arrival and departure of important personalities, information about celebrations, festivities, theatrical performances and criticism, and reports on the necessity of reorganising the communal institutions 2 . In other words, La Epoca contained everything that is found in a contemporary newspaper, except for political analysis or criticism, which was a dangerous and forbidden subject at the time of Abdul Hamid (until 1908). The patriotic position of the Epoca was expressed by its emphatic rejection of the Zionist movement when it appeared. This provided an incentive for the creation of El Avenir in 1897. It was considered as the first «Zionist» local paper, simply because it did not condemn the Jewish national liberation movement, and because it promoted the teaching of Hebrew and of Jewish history. Otherwise, El Avenir did not differ substantially from La Epoca. In fact, some of the journalists of La Epoca, such as David Florentin and rabbi Moshe Aaron Mallah, created the new paper once they embraced the Zionist movement. El Avenir even endorsed the campaign for the promotion of the Turkish language as well, though probably for different reasons than La Epoca}. In 1911, El Avenir was stopped by the Young Turks to be republished later as Nuevo El Avenir until 19174 Next to the main Judeo-Spanish newspapers, French ones appeared, such as the Journal de Salonique and the Progrès de Salonique, both founded in 1900. Those were written by and addressed to the educated elite of the community who had attended the best schools of the Alliance5. The French newspapers were better organised than the Judeo-Spanish ones, and worked in July 1901, p. 5; 16 August 1901, p. 6; 15 December 1901, p. 6; 20 Juin, 1902, p. 3; 4 July 1902, p. 9. O n 16 December 1901, p. 6, D.Florentin, journalist of the same paper, proposed the fusion of the Jewish philanthropic societies; On 4 July 1902, p. 9, the paper published a proposal made by Yakov Carasso to change the statutes of the societies belonging to the Community. 3 1 2 February 1902, p. 6; 20 August 1902, p . l l ; 12 November 1902, p. 1; On 31 December 1902, p. 6, it is announced the establishment of the society Tiaamim Lisani Osmanli, for the teaching of the Turkish language; During the same period only 15 Jewish students attended the Turkish school. ^M. Gaon, art. cit., p.13. 2

5

S . Levy, Tesoro..., art. cit., Vol.VII/1964, pp. 72-76.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN LANGUAGE

249

collaboration with international papers and correspondents. More important, they had an entertaining style that resulted in the creation of new JudeoSpanish papers. These papers imitated the French newpapers not only in style but also in language to the point of creating a new Frenchified Judeo-Spanish vocabulary. This new vocabulary resulted in comprehension difficulties for most Judeo-Spanish readers, who did not know French. T o remedy this situation, teachers introduced the reading of Judeo-Spanish newspapers in language courses in the school, in order to help poor students understand the new newspapers' vocabulary 1 . Of all the Judeo-Spanish papers, the most clearly political ones were those published by the Socialist Federation, the most important Socialist organisation in the Empire. It was founded by Jews in Salónica in 1908, immediately after the victorious Y o u n g Turk party was established in government. Besides Jews (who represented the majority of the proletariat in Salónica), the Socialist Federation assembled m e m b e r s f r o m all of the important ethnicities of the city; therefore, the leading Judeo-Spanish articles were also published in Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, and often in French translation. Motivated by the ideologically federative structure of the party, the Socialist press placed Judeo-Spanish in an equal if not superior position next to the other important national languages of this area in the Mediterranean. The Socialist papers, Jornal del Laborador (1909), Solidaridad Ovradera (1911), and Avanti (1912) published articles of extreme criticism against the Young Turk policies, the bourgeois folies of the Balkan states, the deterioration of European capitalism, the inefficiency of European diplomates to avoid destruction in solving the serious contemporary problems, including the national problem in the Balkans, and against the Turkish high officials who abandoned the Turkish people in Macedonia to their fate in 1912, when Macedonia was taken by the Greeks. In addition, they published articles that focused on the problems of the local working class. These included articles instigating big strikes, by the tobacco factory workers or printers or others (organised of course by the same party). Because these papers were always in opposition to the established government, they were often shut down or even burned, condemned by state censorship. Only a f e w issues have survived, since even their editor Avram Benaroya, the main founder of the party, was incarcerated or exiled many times. W h e n free, Benaroya spoke to big demonstrations of workers in Judeo-Spanish. In the anniversary of the 1 s t of May 1909, the party managed to concentrate 20.000 Salónica workers in front 1 Archives de l'alliance Israelite universelle, Grèce, XVII/E.202, letters of Joseph Nehama, of 25 March 1902 and 8 June 1902.

250

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

of the hotel Majestic, by the seafront of St.Sofia Street in the center of Salónica. Though this was the most impressive and massive demonstration that had been held in the city up to that time, Benaroya spoke in JudeoSpanish convinced that the workers, representing all the etnicities, could understand him when he told them : «Mirando que semos 300 miiiones leones». Having survived all persecutions, including the Nazi concentration camps, he settled in Israel in 1953, where he continued his ideological struggle by publishing articles on the history and the ideology of the Fédération and the Socialist movement in Greece. As is shown in table 1, in the list of political journals belong the Zionist papers that followed the publication of Nuevo El Avenir, such as were La Libertad (1909), El Maccabeo (1913), El Progresso (1915), La Esperanza (1915), El Pueblo (1917), La Rennassencia Djudia (1917), etc. that along the Zionist ideological campaign of the times promoted the local Zionist positions : Through them we find out that Salónica Zionists, who had not suffered the antisemitic tensions that the Jews suffered in western or eastern Europe, never thought of immigrating to Zion "Estos no se iran nunca a la Palestina, dichyan. Retornar a Espagna, esto es lo que querent They were content with cultural Zionism and therefore wanted the local Jews to remain in their city claiming for them the right to an autonomous cultural and institutional status, similar to the one delimited by the Balfour Declaration(1917), for the Moslems of Palestine. Finally, there was also a profusion of satirical papers, that focused on social if not directly political, criticism. The few issues that have survived wars and fires are preserved in the Ben Zvi Institute and in the General Library of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Prof.Bunis, who directs the chair of Judeo-Spanish civilisation in the Mt. Scopus Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has consulted them and has recently published a book on the newspaper humour of Salónica Jews 2 . The impressive number of satirical papers published between 1910-1925 (all of them in Judeo-Spanish), reflect one of the ways Salónica Jews used to entertain and thereby relieve themselves of the tensions they confronted throughout this 15 year critical political period : The change of the Young Turks' democratic to an authoritarian policy as of 1910; The two Balkan wars in 1912 and 1913 that led to the annexation of Salónica to Greece, putting the old status of the Jews at stake; The First World War that as of 1915 tranformed Salónica in the Front of the Orient with

1 Marcel Cohen, «Los Saloneklis», Les voix de la Mémoire (dirigé par Elie Carasso), Marseille, 1997, pp. 25-27. ^David M. Bunis, Voices from Jewish Salonica, Jerusalem, 1999.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A

MEDITERRANEAN

LANGUAGE

251

600.000 troops stationed in that city of 150.000 inhabitants; The great fire of 1917 that destroyed the center leaving 52.000 of them homeless; The rough policy of the Greek government who forbid the fire victims, most of them Jewish, to rebuilt the houses destroyed in the burned zone, exploiting this unexpected opportunity in order to hellenize the city; Additional anti-Jewish measures taken between 1920 and 1925 with laws enforcing the obligatory Sunday rest for all citizens, obliging Jews who had not had the chance to learn Greek to serve in the Greek army, or forcing them to vote in different quarters than the rest of the citizens ect. All these policies fanned the f l a m e s of popular political protest. Table 1 : JudeoSpanish ÑAME

Press in Salónica, 1865-1942 DURATION FOUNDERS

El Lunar La Epoca El Avenir Nuevo El Avenir La Libertad El Impartial Jornal del Lav orador La Nation (bimonthly)

1865-1867 1875-1911 1897-1911 1913-1917 1909-1929 1909-1911 1909-1911 1909-1913

El Tiempo Tribuna Libera

1909-1933 1910-1914

Solidaridad Obradera Avanti El Liberal El Combate Boz del Pueblo El Progresso

1911-1915 1911-1935 1912-1918 1913-1918 1915-1920 1915-1916

CARACTER OF CONTENT

La Esperanza

1915-1917

El Pueblo

1917-1933

La Rennassencia Judia El Foburgo La Verdad (La Véritc)

1917-1921 1917-1919 1920-1929

J. Nehama content of Jewish interest S. Levy local and international news M. Mallah Zionist and commercial D.I. Florentin Zionist E. Arditti & E. Frances Zionist, liberal M. Bcsantchi of general interest Union of Workers' Federation M. Cohen of Assimilationist orientation I.D. Florentin Antizionist D. Matalon O. Schiacky Zionist Nouveau Club Ch. Amon Socialist A. Benaroya Socialist A. Matarasso L. Nefussi of general interest A. Benaroya Socialist I.D. Florentin of Royalist propaganda D. Matalon & D. Botton organ of Bna'i Brit Zionist organ of Zion. Feder. since 1919 E. Arditti M. Besantchi & E. Veissi Zionist Zionist Organ of the Fire victims I. Schiacky Socialist

Satírical El Kirbatch El Punchon TI Martio El Tiro El Chamar La Vara El Burlón El Muevo Kirbatch El Coulebro Charlo La Trompeta La Gata

1910-1914 1911-1924 1914-1915 1914-1915 1916-1920 1918-1924 1918-1922 1918-1923 1919-1924 1920-1922 1920-1925 1923-1925

M. Levy I. Florentin A. Pérétz A. Barzilai L. Botton Ch.L. Carasso B.D. Bejas J. Carasso I. Matarasso A. Pérétz H.Ch. Alvo, I. Cohen I. Mordoch I. Florentin & M. Matalon

B. Magazines Guerta d'Istoria El Maccabeo

1890-1894 1913-1929

Sh. Eliezer Bensantchi (Almanach). Annual of the sports Zionist club Maccabi.

252

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Original Works and Translations Besides the daily newspapers, Judeo-Spanish books and brochures also served to inform the Jewish community. Unfortunately we do not have any information concerning the tirage on either of these two genres. A great number of the books that were published in Judeo-Spanish in Salonica, prior to World War II have disappeared due to the upheaval caused by wars and fires. Nevertheless, some publications survived. The Ben Zvi Institute owns one of the best collections of works published by the Sephardic oriental communities. Kayscrling 1 , Yaari 2 and others, that have compiled catalogues of Judeo-Spanish publications or have published multilingual bibliographies, mention more than one thousand titles (1,000), one third of which were published in Salonica 3 . These include original works on education 4 , the history of Turkey, popular historical novels, biographies of famous personalities, collections of popular Judeo-Spanish songs and ballades, theatrical plays 5 , traveling accounts, communal and institutional charts, various works on the teaching of Hebrew and arithmetic, scientific books on zoology, medicine, astronomy, Ottoman law and philosophy, and even an epic poem. These publications were certainly influenced by the French education of the Alliance schools. French was easily acquired by the Salonica Jews, whose native language Judeo-Spanish shared the same Latin origin. In fact, a large number of the 40 novels published in Salonica in Judeo-Spanish were translations or adaptations of French novels or French theatrical plays then in vogue. The translations of works written in other languages were also based on the French translation. In this way, even poor Jews, most of whom did not have the chance to attend the Alliance schools and learn French, were influenced by French culture through the Judeo-Spanish translations done. Tables 2 and 3, show two representative lists of titles chosen from the catalogue published by Abraham Yaari:

^M. Kayserling, Bibliotheca-Espagnola-Portugueza-Judaïca, ^Abraham Yaari, Catalogue of Books in Judeo-Spanish, Jerusalem 1934, (in Hebrew).

Strasbourg, 1890. Hebrew University

of Jerusalem,

3

Michael Molho, Literatura sefardita de Oriente, Madrid-Barcelona, 1960; Henri V. Besso, Ladino Books in the Library of Congress, A Bibliography, Washington, 1963; Robert Attal, Bibliographie des Juifs de Grèce, Jérusalem, 1983; J. Nehama, Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, 7 tomes, Thessalonique, 1978, tome VII, pp. 711-712. ^Henri V. Besso, Literatura Judéo-Espagnola, Instituto Caro y Cuervo, Bogota 1962, p. 12. 5 Elena Romero, "El teatro entre los sefardíes orientales", Sefarad, 1969-70, pp. 187-205.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN

LANGUAGE

253

Table 2 : Selective List of Original Works in Judeo-Spanish Published in Salonica 308. 333. 381. 383. 384. 398. 547. 577. 693. 810.

Cooperativa popularaA (reports on the activity of the cooperative La Populaire for the years 1918, 1919 et 1920). Itshack Raphael Molho, Las diversas tentativas de reformar la nationalitad judea, 1912. Yakov Kalai, Coplas de Tubishvat (songs sang during the Fruits' Festival), 1911. S. Shalem, La gerbe. La gabelia, (collection of songs and poems), 1900. Quadrico de Poesias, 1901. Moise Nadjari, El triumpho de la justicia (play in three acts on Jewish life in Russia in 1917), 1921. S. E. Besantchi (ed.), Los Mysterios del Bosporo. Grande historia de los tiempos de Hamid ( A. Hamid), 1911. Anonymous, II ponte de los suspiros, (a novel of adventure, love and heroism in two volumes), 1913. Y. E. Hacohen, Lectores diversas. S. Abastado, Amor y Patriotismo, ( passionate stories and excellent poems).

Table 3 : Translations and Adaptations in Judeo-Spanish published in Salonica 189. 310. 317. 388. 420. 428. 433. 483. 495. 534. 547. 553. 601.

K. Marx y Fr.Engels, El manifesto communista, trans, by I. D. Florentin, 1914. Anonymous, 11 projeto de los tutunjis (The trial of the tobacco factory workers), trans, from the Turkish by J. A. Salonico, 1910. M. Edout, (lecture) La question judia;por cualo tanta aboritionl(adapted from the French by the publishing commitee of the Zionist society Marx Nordau). M.Y. Ottolenghi, Degel ha Tora (The Flag of the Tora) theatrical play for seven roles for the holiday of Hanouka represented by school groups) trans, from the Hebrew by R. I. Benveniste, 1885. Anonymous, La madrasta (historical novel of social content) trans, from the Italian by E. Sh. Arditti (translator and author of quality). Anonymous, Simon y Maria (passionate story taking place in Paris) trans, from the French by Abr. di Botton, 1902. Anonymous, 11 testamento de Umberto y Adelina, (historical novel, translated from the English by Bendito David Bejas), 1908. Y. W. Goethe, Berthire, famous novel translated from the French by B. D. Bejas with a three page introduction by the translator, 1906. Pierre de Courselle, La ladrona de honnor, translated from the French by I. Strumza, 1912. A.Mapo, Amor de Zion,(famous novel) trans, from the Hebrew by D. Fresco, 1894. Anonymous, La nieta del marquis, (passionate novel on the French revolution) published in the supplement of El Avenir, by I. Stroumza, 1913. Anonymous, Nick Carter, il mas illustre police amator de nuestros dias. La terror del quartier Queens de N.York, 1910 (we suppose that it is a translation or an adaptation based on the English text). Anonymous, Yenovefa, love story, adapted from the Greek by I. D. Florentin.

254 671. 831.

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Anonymous, La vida de Nastradin Hodja, edited and translated from the Turkish text by I. Stroumza, 1911. Clonimus ben Clonimus, Sefer igeret le baalei'haim, zoologie text, trans, from the Hebrew by Yakov, Salonique 1867.

While there were indeed a large number of journalists, authors and translators, it should be noted that writing was not considered a particularly respectable profession, even among the intellectual elite of Salonica. All Salonica writers, no matter how talented, had other professions and wrote only in their free time.

Judeo-Spanish

Theater

The theater also served the purpose of educating the public through entertainement (See the excellent study of Helena Romero 1 ). Originally, the Judeo-Spanish theater was based on religious themes. Plays were used to educate the public concerning new social values such as their personal responsibility for education and progress. At the same time, theatrical presentations were social events that served as a source of fundraising by the numerous Jewish philanthropic and cultural associations that existed in Salonica in the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of them, such as the Bnei Israel, the Cercle des Intimes, 1873, Matanot Laevyonim, 1901, The Girls of Sympathy, Bibliotheca Israelita, 1908, Maccabi, 1908,Bnei Zion and Bnot Zion, 1908, La Boheme, 1908, Le nouveau Club, 1910, Max Nordau, 1912, Mizrahi, 1923, and others were created by the Jewish communal leaders in their effort to support the new establishments of modern education, and to provide scholarships for students who could not afford tuition. Ironically, even though these schools were focused on European education and languages, most of the plays were in Judeo-Spanish so that they could reach the largest number of oriental Jews. Unfortunately, very few plays, including the political ones, have survived. The list we have prepared in table 4 is based on the data so far available :

1 Helena Romero, «El teatro entre los sefardíes orientales» in Sefarad, XXIX-XXX, 1969-1970, pp. 1-78.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN

LANGUAGE

255

Table 4 : Plays Written and Represented in Salonica from 1884 to 1910 Han Beniamin or El Avaro, based on the play by Molière, 1884, adapted by David Hassid. Mahazei Shaashouim (Plays of Entertainement), 3 plays written in Hebrew by M.Y. Ottolenghi , translated by Raph. Benveniste, and put up on stage in 1885, 1897 and 1899. Saul, written by Yosef Errera who was inspired by the playes of Vittorio Alfieri. Han Beniamin or El Avaro, based on the play by Molière, rewritten by Joseph Nehama, in 1904. Cyrano de Bergerac, represented in 1907 for the benefit of the Alliance schools. Dreyfus, written by Henry Bernstein, appeared in 1908. Ghetto, by Herman Heyermans, translated from the French edition in 1910. Hanuka y Noel, published in 1910 by someone who used the pseudonym Ezra. T h e first plays that were not based on religious t h e m e s and, w e r e t h e r e f o r e f r e e t o i n c l u d e w o m e n actors, w e r e those represented by the Fédération

Socialiste.

T o develop its theatrical activity, the Socialist party

f o r m e d a c o m m i t e e c o m p o s e d of S o l o m o n Botton, M a t i u s and S o l o m o n Carasso, and Haim Benrubi, who were in charge of translating and making the adaptation of the specificaly chosen plays in Judeo-Spanish. S o m e titles of this repertoire

in Table 5 are representative of this ideology :

Table 5 : List of Socialist Plays Performed in Salonica Los negros pastores L'embuscade El dios de venganza Topaze Dibbouk, by Anky Lo Scrampolo by Nicodemi Los hermanos Caramazoff Una vida y une noce Re surre cion by Tolstoy El Belagi, written by Alberto Molho , presented in 1928 and published in 1930 in the supplement of the newspaper El Popular. Similarly, as of 1912, the Zionists with the support of the association Max Nordau, also produced Judeo-Spanish plays. These plays were intended to raise the national consciousness of the Jewish people and also to raise m o n e y f o r their associations. T h e y m u s t h a v e had a w i d e and probably original repertoire as shown by the list (in Table 6) f o r the years 1919-1922:

^Moise Yakov Ottolenghi, a Livornese Jew, the director of Talmud Torà Ha Gadol in 1880. ^Alberto Molho, the author was a journalist in the satyrical paper La Vara known for his caustic articles against the Jewish religion, Zionism, the colonisation of Palestine, under the pseudonim Napulitan.

256

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Table 6 : List of Zionist Plays Performed in Salonica Mazal Tov, by Shalom Alehem, translated by Albert Matarasso' El triumpho de la justicia, by Moïse Nadjari El pogrom de Kichinov, by Sabetay Djaen Los pioneros, by Sabetay Djaen Los Judios y Doct. Kohn, translated by a play written by Max Nordau El Nuevo Ghetto, translated by a play written by Theodor Herzl Romeo y Julietta, translated from the French edition by Yossef Carasso in 1922

Among the most popular plays performed repeatedly prior W.War II were The Dibbouk, Israel, by Henry Bernstein, La Judia, La reina Esther, by Charles Gattegno, published in 1926 in the Journal El Maccabeo and Dreyfus, which also appeared as a musical. Another musical appeared in 1932, based on the French play Esther, by Jean Racine and adapted into Judeo-Spanish by Shelomo Reuben Mordehai 2 . In 1934, the Bnei Mizrahi association, produced and published this play the play in the journal El judio and also organised a public discussion of the play for ideological purposes. Also in 1934 the play Los Marranos, was published with an introduction in the supplement of El Tiempo signed by the pseudonim T.Yaliz, who was no other than the satirical journalist of El Tiro, Alberto Bazirlay. We do not know whether the non-Jewish population of Salonica attended these performances. However, it is known that after the W.War I, all four movie theaters in Salonica (the Pathe', Pallace, Moderne and Athénée), were Jewish businesses that were occasionaly rented to Greek, French and Italian troupes. This may reveal the preeminence of Jewish theatre in Salonica during this period. In fact, the theatre, the daily newspapers and the Sephardi songs, show that Judeo-Spanish was the most popular Mediterranean language in Salonica.

1 Republished and commented in 1931 as Mazal Bueno by Isaac Florentin. ^Shlomo Reuben Mordehai, was born in Salonica where he received a French education. While still a student he began to publish poetry and prose articles in Judeo-Spanish and French, in the most prestigious newspapers, including La Action, El Messagero, La Verdad. Reuven took an active part in the Zionist movement as the director of the youth organisation Bethar and was the editor of the Zionist papers La Nasyon and La Boz Sionista. He is the author of the musical Esther and a play Amor por la tierra. His literary accomplishements include a novel Bacho el sielo blu de oriente encantador and a study entitled La calomnia de sangre a traverso la estoria. In 1935 he moved to Israel where he continued writing and lecturing on various national themes and the Holocaust. He became one of the leaders of the Greek community and president of the Association de Amistad Israel-Hellas. The poem appearing here was first published in JudeoSpanish papers in Israel.

J U D E O - S P A N I S H , A MEDITERRANEAN LANGUAGE

257

Cantigas - Popular Judeo-Spanish Songs and Poetry Judeo-Spanish songs were part of the musical theatre and were also an intricate part of Jewish life. Singing was part of life cycle, family and holiday celebrations, as music was also a major feature of socializing centers such as the caffé chantant, referred locally as caffé aman, where the city's minorities met and mixed. Most groups performing in the above mentioned occasions were usually mixed, composed of both Jewish and non-Jewish musicians and singers, and their repertoire included Greek and Turkish as well as JudeoSpanish songs. Under these circumstances cross cultural influences were unavoidable. Nevertheless, the Judeo-Spanish songs exercised a strong influence, not only because the Sephardi clientele was larger, compared to the other ethnicitics, but also because its popular local songs (called cantigas) reflected Salonica's reality and atmosphere for all of its citizens. The three songs chosen among many, constitute typical examples of everyday life in Salonica. En la mar ay una torre En la mar ay una torre En la torre ay una ventana Ayi aposa la palomba Que a los marineros yama Dame la mano palomba quero subir al tu nido maldicha que durmesh sola Vengo a dormir contigo Si la mar se faze lcche Los barquitos de canela yo me mancharia entera p;ara salvar mi pandera Si la mar se faze leche Yo me ago un vendedor Para vender las mi dolores con palavricas d'amor

This song portrays a very familiar picture of Salonica and its landmarks, the White Tower bordering the seafront. In this song, a seaman is charmed by a girl who lives in a seaside «tower». It is likely that the Jewish girl mentioned in the song was a servant in one of the impressive local villas bordering the sea. These were also called «towers», and most of them were built and owned by Jews in the beginning of the twentieth century.

258

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

The girl and the sailor, both belonged to the Jewish working class of Salonica, the only Jewish community in Europe that had been able to practice all trades and professions. In fact, this was a city where Jewish maids worked also in non-Jewish houses. Unlike other Jewish communities, Salonica had so many Jews in the sea trades that in 1910 Ben Zvi imported 15 Salonica fishermen to Palestine to challenge the Arab monopoly in the seaside towns of Ako and Yaffo.

Yedi Kule Yedi Kule verash empasseando d'altas murayas saradeado Ninya me va mûrir creo de ambre no puedo mas sofrir se un cadavre Uerfana era yo me abandonates ya te pago el Dio porque pecates En altas cadenas esto atado En el budrum yoro dezmazalado Vistidico preto cale azerte y a la Keyla yevar azeite Yo me engaji con un rico ombre No quero saver no de tu nombre Por te querer amar esto en cadenas Sangre no me quedo entre las venas Yo en la prizyon tu en las flores Sufro de corason quero que yores Aman aman dime que queres Yo no me vo con ti ni si tu mueres

Yedi Kule was the name of the Turkish prison in Salonica. An orphan Jewish girl seems to have been betrayed by her lover or fiancé. He is unable to keep his engagement to her. Therefore, according to Jewish law, he must be punished and is encarcerated in the Yedi Kule prison. Until the end of the 19 th century, the local Jewish community had its own prison that was used for the application of penalties judged in the Jewish courts Batei Din. It seems that this song was written after 1880, when the Jewish prisons were abandoned and were only used to shelter poor and homeless Jews.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN

LANGUAGE

259

El vistidico blu Que ermozo t'akishea este vistidico blu pareses una donsea quando sales del tutun Dime ninya onde moras te ire a vijitar Moro en caje scura no se ve a caminar No mires que sto cantando es que quero yorar onde bueno, onde negro el tiempo quero pasar Ay una fuente enfrente d'otra Bivi agua y no arti Por una ninya d'ojos pretos que por eya muero yo No contegas Rashelica Que sos blanca de yasmin Muchas morenas ay en el mundo Que quemaron Saloniquc A poor Jew living in Reggie Vardar, one of the numerous working class neighborhoods of Salonica created after the 1890 and 1917 fires, is enamoured of a young Jewish girl wearing the blue dress uniform worn by workers in the nearby tabacco factory known as the Reggie. T h e street description Moro en caje scura, no se ve a caminar matches perfectly with the available information on the deplorable living conditions in the poor Jewish working class neighborhoods of Salonica 1 . The Reggie Vardar neighborhood was situated in the western side of the outskirts of the city. It was considered the worst part of town because it had marshes of stagnant water that, combined with the poor living conditions of its residents, made it fertile ground for the spread of epidemics. It was in this same area that the Nazis formed the f a m o u s ghetto near the railway station. And f r o m this railroad station, the Jews of Salonica, rich and poor, young and old, literate and iliterate, 50,000 of them, all speaking JudeoSpanish, were deported to be murdered by the Germans f r o m March until August 1943.

'Rena Molho, «Jewish Working-Class Neighborhoods Established in Salonica Following the 1890 and 1917 Fires», in Minna Rozen, editor, The Last Ottoman Century and Beyond : The Jews in Turkey and the Balkans, 1808-1945, vol. II, (Proceedings of the International Conference on The Jewish Communities in the Balkans and Turkey in the 19th and 20th Centuries through the End of World War II, the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center Tel Aviv University 5-8 June, 1995), Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 2002, pp. 173-194.

SALONICA

260 Post Holocaust

Judeo-Spanish

AND

ISTANBUL

Poetry!

W h e n the f e w Jews who survived the Holocaust returned to their native city — Salonica — they withnessed the cultural vacuum that had dramatically changed their city's identity. T h e y stopped to mourn, once again turning their lamentations and their feelings into Judeo-Spanish verses. T h e two p o e m s chosen describe, each in its style, the irreversible destruction of this Spanish born culture, better than any historical account : Despoues de la catastropha en Salonique Por Yehouda Haim HaCOHEN PERAHIA2 Como en un fiéro tan souzio el oro pouro se troco ! Como en un sembolo ajéno el nuestro sé abolto ! Como en esta bouéna localita yamada Yr Vaèm béisrael Todo dévino ajéno y non sé siénté mas nombrar Asael ! Camino por la caillés dé esta bendicha civdad Malgrado el sol todo mé paréssé estar en la escouridad Mi facha dé afouéra amostra alégré ma mi ojo lagriméa Mi aima mas que tristé ver todo Djudios eilla dézéa. Al professor Michael MOLHO Miercoles 8 Agosto 1945 Following the Destruction in Salonica By Yehouda Haim HaCOHEN PERAHIA How into rusted iron pure gold has been transmutted! How our character has changed into a foreign one! How in this great city called Yir vaem beisrael Everything became alien and one no longer hears the name Assael! I walk along the streets of this blessed city. In spite of the sun it all seems dark. My face appears to be happy, but my eyes shed tears. My soul, more than sad, yearn to see one Jew. Salonico by Shelomo

REUBEN-MORDEHAI

No. No es esta la civda onde vide el dia No son estos los hombres que conosi en mi chiques. No es este el sol que estonse ardia, Ni es este el cielo que me intchia de boraches. 1 Isaac Jack Levy (translated & commentated), And the World stood Silent. Sephardic Poetry of the Holocaust, Urbana and Chicago, 1989, pp. 162, 179. ^Yehouda Haim HaCohen Perahia's geneology dates back to a famous rabbinical family originally from Spain. Before W.W. II he was the representative of a tobacco company with its headquarters in Xanthi. Perahia spent the years of occupation in Athens where he survived with the assistance of his maid. Among his writings are the novels Bimba and El ultimo esforso, the monograph La famille Perahia a Thessalonique, a book of poetry entitled Poemas, as well as lectures and commentaries on his family and on Judaism in and around Salonica.

JUDEO-SPANISH,

A MEDITERRANEAN

LANGUAGE

261

I yo creo bivir en una otra planeta onde en cada passo me parésse a mi ver Solombras que defilan - en un numero sin cuenta I sus vista me aze profondamente e/mover. Entre eyas yo creo ver las conosidas figuras De mi viejos, mis ermanos, de amigos sin contar Entre eyas miles son las inosentes criaturas, luzes puras que las bestias no hezitaron a amatar. Salonico, Agosto 1966 Salonico by Shelomo REUBEN MORDEHAI No. This is not the city where I first saw light These are not the men I saw in my infancy. This is not the sun that shone then, Nor this the sky that intoxicated me. And I think I live in another planet, Where at every step I seem to see Shadows parade in endless numbers, And their sight moves me profoundly. Among them I seem to recognize the well known faces Of my countless elders, brethren and friends, Among them are those of innocent children, Bright stars that beasts did not hesitate to kill. Salónica, August 1966 So spoke the last of the Mohicans, our fathers, whose Judeo-Spanish heritage allow us to feel more at home today in Spain, rather than anywhere else. This feeling is not simply due to our familiarity with the music of the Spanish language, to which we were exposed since birth. It is also encouraged by the attitude of the Spanish A c a d e m i a and its institutions. T h e s e institutions such as the Municipal Call and the Institut d'Estudis Nahmanides of Girona, the Fundación Duques de Soria in Salamanca and the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Madrid, that are dedicated to the vindication of the Judeo-Spanish culture as a pertinent part of the Spanish civilisation.

LE THÉÂTRE JUDÉO-ESPAGNOL À SALONIQUE : UNE SOURCE DE L'HISTOIRE SOCIALE DES JUIFS LOCAUX1*

A l'aube du XX e siècle, durant le processus de modernisation de l'Empire ottoman, le théâtre judéo-espagnol a constitué un formidable instrument d'enseignement populaire, ainsi qu'une aide précieuse à l'émancipation des Juifs. Les quelques pièces théâtrales disponibles, couvrant la période allant de 1900 à 1930, illustrent l'attitude de la société salonicienne séfarade face aux problèmes que suscitent les défis du changement et du progrès. Citons notamment : les relations entre les sexes et l'émancipation des femmes ; les conflits de générations ; l'apparition de nouvelles couches sociales contestatrices (ouvriers principalement) ; une nouvelle gestion financière des ménages ; les développements technologiques ; l'avancée des valeurs morales laïques via le système éducatif ; les préjugés ethnico-religieux face à ces développements ; les idéologies politiques (sionisme, assimilationnisme, socialisme...). Les auteurs de ces pièces brossent un portrait fidèle de la société juive orientale de cette époque, en mettant en scène des faits de la vie quotidienne et des personnages émouvants auxquels les spectateurs s'identifient facilement. C'est pourquoi nous pouvons affirmer que les pièces du théâtre judéo-espagnol sont des sources valides pour la recherche sur l'histoire sociale des Juifs. Seules quatorze œuvres écrites entre 1900 et 1930 subsistent aujourd'hui. Nous en avons sélectionné trois qui nous semblent les plus représentatives de l'attitude et des problèmes des Saloniciens de cette époque 2 . La première de ces pièces de théâtre fut écrite à Salonique, et elle fut publiée dans le journal La Epoca en 1900. Elle s'intitule Los maies de la colada (Les malheurs de la lessive).

^Communication au colloque Visages de Salonique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 22-23 mai 2003. * Texte relu et corrigé par Jérôme VITENBERG. ^Los maies de la colada (Les malheurs de la lessive), publié dans la revue La Epoca, Salonique, 1900. Résumé dans E. ROMERO, El Teatro de los Sefardies orientales, t. 2, pp. 915-926. Neshef Purim (Le bal de Pourim), comédie en un acte par Mordehaï MONASSEWITZ, traduit de l'hébreu par Nissim Natan Catalan, publiée à Kazanlik, circa 1909. Résumé dans E. ROMERO, op. cit., pp. 975-984. El Beladji (L'attire-ennuis), comédie en un acte et neuf tableaux, par Alberto MOLHO, Thessalonique, 1930. Résumé dans E. ROMERO, op. cit., pp. 1095-1115.

264

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

L'action se déroule dans un foyer de la bourgeoisie juive. La bonne, Sarah, et la lavandière, Bulissa, proviennent toutes les deux d'un quartier éloigné de leur travail. Il est évident, d'après leurs prénoms, que toutes deux sont juives. Il apparaît ensuite que tous les autres personnages de la pièce sont juifs, fait qui atteste l'origine salonicienne de l'œuvre. La pièce offre une image de l'ensemble de la société juive de Salonique. Celle-ci constituait une bonne moitié des habitants de la ville et elle résidait dans tous les quartiers de la cité ; elle était représentée dans tous les corps de métiers. La pièce commence par les préparatifs hebdomadaires de la lessive : le tri et le trempage des vêtements d'une part, l'achat des matériaux nécessaires à la lessive d'autre part. A l'époque, l'achat du savon, des cordes et autres ustensiles nécessaires se pratiquait en effet le jour même de la lessive, quelle que soit la situation économique de la famille. La maîtresse de maison ordonne à Sarah, la bonne, d'aider la lavandière Bulissa. Pour ce faire, Sarah, doit négliger ses autres tâches ménagères. Résultat : le repas est brûlé ! Sa maîtresse la réprimande et Sarah se rebiffe : "Je n'ai pas quatre mains !" (Bueno, dos puerpos no tengo). Elle est donc consciente de l'effort excessif qui lui a été demandé, en plus de ses obligations. Cette hutzpa, insolence de la bonne, révèle les rapports entre les couches sociales et reflète l'image d'une société régie par des principes démocratiques. Confirmation supplémentaire : la maîtresse, craignant la démission de la bonne, envoie sa fille l'amadouer (toma-la con las buenas) 1. Mais les catastrophes se succèdent: Malgré une récente remise en état, les tuyaux du chauffe-eau se sont bouchés et la fumée envahit la maison ! Puis la corde, sur laquelle le linge propre vient d'être accroché, se rompt et le linge est sali. Et si cela ne devait suffire, il commence à pleuvoir ! Ainsi, dès le début de la pièce, l'auteur, désirant convaincre son public des bienfaits de la modernisation, accumule tous les inconvénients habituels de la lessive opérée de façon traditionnelle. Le samedi soir suivant, dans la même maison bourgeoise, à la fin du Shabbat, on allume les lumières. Le père, ayant prononcé la prière spéciale, l'Avdalah 2 , boit son café et demande qu'on invite les voisins à jouer aux cartes. Sa femme s'insurge car, occupée, elle ne peut perdre de temps. Elle doit, en effet, veiller aux préparatifs de la lessive du lendemain. Sa fille, par contre, voudrait bien se divertir. Quant à Sarah, elle espère gagner un

Dans les pièces écrites par des auteurs juifs d'Europe occidentale, comme par exemple El Gheto de l'auteur hollandais Herman HEYERMANS, traduit par M. Kohen et publié dans le journal La Nation, à Salonique en 1910 (résumé dans E. ROMERO, El Teatro..., op. cit., pp. 985-1018) on observe que la bonne est chrétienne et que le comportement de ses employeurs juifs envers elle est beaucoup plus rigoureux. Avdalah est le nom hébreu de la prière spéciale qui marque la fin du Shabbat.

LE

THÉÂTRE

JUDÉO-ESPAGNOL

265

pourboire lors du jeu. Sarah et la fille inventent donc un tas d'excuses et, secondées par le père qui n ' e n démord pas, elles invitent finalement les voisins, évitant ainsi la corvée de la lessive. On observera ici que, c o m m e dans toute la Méditerranée, l'emploi du temps peut toujours être modifié. Et la panique de s'instaurer, car les f e m m e s ne parviennent pas à ramasser le linge qui sèche à l'intérieur de la maison. Débarque alors le médecin voisin, le Senyor Arebive (Monsieur Ressuscite) qui salue l'hôte de la maison, et le Senyor Atrazado (Monsieur Rétrograde). L'auteur utilise ces noms de famille afin de mettre la puce à l'oreille du public qui comprend ainsi l'attitude que chacun des deux interlocuteurs adopte dans la discussion qui suit. L'hôte de la maison se plaint de douleurs rhumatismales. Le médecin lui explique qu'elles sont dues aux brusques changements météorologiques, mais également à l'humidité ambiante de la maison, provoquée par le linge qui y sèche. La Senyora Henoza (Madame Ordonnée), la maîtresse de maison, réplique qu'il n'existe pas d'autre solution face à la pluie ! L a fille suggère alors q u ' o n pourrait envoyer le linge sale à la nouvelle blanchisserie mécanique. Ainsi sont mis en scène les tenants du pour et du contre de la modernisation. "Ça va créer une dépense supplémentaire", proteste M . Atrazado, en calculant le prix hebdomadaire du linge amassé par une famille comme la sienne : sa f e m m e et lui, deux ; sa fille plus ses deux fils, cinq ; plus la bonne (Sarika) ceci fait six ; en tout 36 ensembles de sous-vêtements, 2 4 draps sans compter 5 douzaines de nappes et de serviettes. A u total : 15 piastres par semaine au lieu des 5 piastres payées à la lavandière. Etonnante description qui démontre qu'en 1900, une famille bourgeoise typique comporte environ 5 - 6 membres, qui changent quotidiennement leurs sous-vêtements, ainsi que ceux de leur bonne. Outre ces précieuses données démographiques et culturelles, on y apprend que toute décision familiale est précédée d'un examen financier ce qui démontre que la cellule familiale de cette société bourgeoise est moderne et bien agencée. Cependant, il serait risqué d ' e n tirer des conclusions hâtives, dans la mesure où la famille bourgeoise n'est pas représentative de la société des Juifs de Salonique, qui comptait 80 % pour cent de nécessiteux. Elle tient pourtant lieu de modèle, auquel tous aspirent et que tous veulent copier. Le débat familial se poursuit par un calcul, opéré, celte fois, par la fille : le coût de la lessive faite à l'ancienne ! On arrive à 5 piastres pour la lavandière, 2 piastres pour ses repas et cafés, 4 piastres pour le savon 4 piastres encore pour le charbon et le bois, 2 piastres pour la cendre, utilisée comme assouplissant, et les épingles. Total : 17 piastres. Elle prouve donc que la blanchisserie, au coût de 15 piastres, est bien plus avantageuse. On constate ici que la fille ne manque pas d'à-propos, et qu'elle sait calculer aussi

266

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

bien que son père : résultat de l'éducation des femmes, but que s'était fixé l'Alliance Israélite Universelle, qui, dés 1874, avait contribué à la fondation d'écoles modernes pour jeunes filles1. La véracité de ces chiffres n'est pas mise en question. Les spectateurs, d'ailleurs, doivent bien les connaître. Et l'auteur, se faisant leur porte-parole, formule toutes les questions qui leur viendraient à l'esprit. "Est-ce que notre linge ne sera pas mélangé à celui des autres?" demande Mme Henoza. La réponse à cette question est négative : la blanchisserie affecte en effet une cuve individuelle à chaque client. Un peu plus tard, tandis que les hommes sirotent leur "ouzo" 2 , M. Atrazado, représentatif de la faction conservatrice des spectateurs, revient à la charge : "Jusque-là, leur parents et eux s'accommodaient très bien de la lessive à l'ancienne, et maintenant sont-ils devenus tellement riches qu'ils peuvent se permettre de donner leur linge sale à laver à la blanchisserie?" Le médecin - personnalité qui bénéficie d'un prestige particulier et exerce une influence considérable dans les sociétés traditionnelles 3 - , M. Arebive, commente les dépenses dissimulées de la lessive à l'ancienne : la détérioration des habits, le coût d'entretien de la buanderie, la nocivité des microbes et de l'humidité. Ceci est à rajouter au coût de la lessive traditionnelle, et M. Arebive conclut que la voie moderne est bien moins onéreuse. Bien que le message en faveur de la modernisation ait déjà été transmis, on le consolide encore un peu plus. Sur scène, une autre famille livre son linge sale à l'employé de la blanchisserie et l'on entend la discussion de voisins qui observent la transaction. A l'image du cours d'un professeur 4 , le dialogue devient en suite une récapitulation in extenso des problèmes inhérents à la lessive à l'ancienne, et des avantages de la nouvelle méthode. "Le linge propre n'a pas d'odeur et, en plus, il est amidonné et repassé avant d'être livré. Ainsi nous sommes délivrées de tâches ménagères dures et que Dieu nous délivre du Mal", commente l'une des voisines. Il est clair que pour les femmes, la lessive traditionnelle représente le mal. "Les supplices de Job", ainsi la qualifie Mme Henoza. La modernisation est considérée comme un don du ciel, comme la seule voie qui puisse conduire *Rena MOLHO, "Education in the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki in the Beginning of the 20th Century", Balkan Studies, 34/2,1993, pp. 259-269. 2 Ouzo, aperitif grec au goût anisé, proche du pastis. 3 Peter F. SUGAR, "Quelques considérations sur les conditions de la modernisation et la possibilité de leur application dans les provinces européennes de l'Empire ottoman", dans l'ouvrage collectif traduit en grec Eksynchronismos ke viomihaniki epanastassi sta Valkania ton 19o aiona (La Modernisation et la révolution industrielle dans les Balkans du XIXe siècle), Athènes, 1980, pp. 67-92. ^Rena MOLHO, "Education in the Jewish Community...", art. cit.

LE

T H É Â T R E

J U D É O - E S P A G N O L

267

à la libération des f e m m e s . L'auteur adopte le point de vue de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle 1 et se rallie à la cause des femmes, qui constituent à ses yeux l'un des vecteurs des idées modernes. La seconde pièce, Neshef Purim2 (Le Bal de Pourim), écrite en 1909, est un exemple édifiant de la f a ç o n dont le théâtre f u t utilisé pour la propagation des idées politiques, et dans ce cas particulier, sionistes. Dès le départ, l'auteur pose le problème des tendances assimilatrices qui imprègnent l'enseignement juif moderne dispensé par l'AIU. La scène se tient dans une famille bourgeoise, à l'heure du repas familial à l'occasion de la fête de Pourim. Autour de la table, sont réunis les deux parents, leurs cinq enfants, ainsi que deux invités, un oncle et son fils. Prenant comme prétexte l'histoire d'Esther, base de la fête de Pourim, que les jeunes ignorent pourtant parce qu'ils ne l'ont pas apprise à l'école, l'auteur souligne l'absence regrettable d ' u n e éducation j u i v e traditionnelle, et montre sa prédilection pour un enseignement inspiré des valeurs sionistes. Le rideau se lève devant la famille réunie autour de la table chez Avram l.evi. La mère distribue aux enfants las novias, gâteaux traditionnels séfarades faits de sucre coloré. Les enfants interrogent les adultes sur la signification de la fête. Haïm, le fils de l'onclc sioniste, estime qu'il est honteux de ne pas connaître l'histoire de Pourim. A u x protestations d'un des enfants pour qui nul n'est censé tout connaître, l'oncle réplique que ceci est peut-être vrai en général, mais qu'en tant que Juifs, ils se doivent de connaître leur histoire et leurs fêtes. La mère, curieuse du degre de connaissance de ses enfants, les met à l'épreuve. Leurs réponses provoquent la risée des adultes. Et l'oncle de commenter : "C'est ainsi qu'éduquent leurs enfants les Juifs d'aujourd'hui. Malheur à cette époque, malheur à ce peuple. Non et non, de telles dérives ne peuvent être salutaires et constituent un danger pour l'avenir de la nation. Et si ça continue comme ça, il est certain que notre peuple va dépérir". Le père réalise que ses enfants n'ont pas lu le livre sur Pourim qu'il leur avait apporté. L'oncle s'adresse aux parents et leur pose une question primordiale : "Est-il possible que, dans de telles conditions, ces enfants deviennent de bons Juifs ?" Le père utilise pour sa défense l'argument suivant : "Puisque tout le m o n d e agit de la sorte pouvons-nous agir différemment ?" L'auteur montre ainsi comment l'enseignement dispensé par 1 Fondée à Paris en 1860, l'Alliance Israélite Universelle avait ouvert entre 1873 et 1910 à Salonique de nombreux centres d'enseignement qui fonctionnèrent jusqu'en 1940. Tout le personnel enseignant qu'employait l'Alliance, aussi bien à Salonique que dans d'autres légions de l'Empire ottoman, était formé à un système éducatif alliant l'apport scientifique occidental et la culture juive, qui avait pour objectif de moderniser les Juifs d'Orient. ^Comédie en un acte par Mordehaï MONASSEWITZ, traduite de l'hébreu par Nissim Natan Catalan, publiée à Kazanlik, circa 1909.

268

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

les écoles de l ' A I U - qui œuvre en faveur de l'assimilation - peut devenir problématique pour la culture juive 1 . Pour couper court à toute argumentation contraire des partisans de l'assimilation, l'oncle admet qu'il est préférable que les Juifs s'éduquent et améliorent leur niveau culturel, par le biais notamment de l'enseignement moderne des écoles franco-juives. Mais cet enseignement ne devrait pas pour autant les réduire à simplement mimer les manières d'autrui. La nouvelle génération doit se familiariser en profondeur avec l'histoire et la langue j u i v e , et il relève de la responsabilité des parents de choisir intelligemment l'école que leurs enfants fréquenteront 2 . Suit un exemple qui se veut être preuve irréfutable. La fille aînée défie son oncle, en demandant au neveu Haïm qu'il leur raconte l'histoire d'Esther. Une fois le récit terminé, les enfants, exaltés, lui demandent l'origine de cette histoire. A la découverte de l'origine du récit, ils réclament alors à leurs parents que La Bible leur soit enseignée. Le père promet de trouver un maître compétent qui leur enseignera leur langue et leur histoire. Cependant, ce retournement idyllique de situation ne reflète pas fidèlement la réalité de Salonique. En 1909, date de la première parution de cette pièce traduite de l'hébreu en judéo-espagnol, la majorité des Juifs saloniciens ne pouvaient pas être considérés c o m m e assimilés au même titre que les Juifs occidentaux, à l ' i m a g e de Théodore Herzl par exemple. Ceci est d'ailleurs attesté par le nombre de synagogues, d'écoles religieuses, de centres talmudiques, ainsi que par l'importance des activités culturelles qui s'y déroulaient. Le fait que cette pièce ait été écrite par un certain Monassewitz, vivant à Kazanlik en Bulgarie, est significatif. E n e f f e t , dans ce pays slave à f o r t a n t i s é m i t i s m e , l'assimilation, en tant que condition de l'intégration sociale, f u t rejetée et remplacée par le sionisme, bien avant que ceci ne se produise dans les autres grands centres juifs urbains, tels que Salonique ou Istanbul, villes à faible a n t i s é m i t i s m e 3 Nous savons également que dans les écoles de l'Alliance, l'enseignement judaïque était inscrit au programme, et que les fêtes juives et le calendrier hébreu étaient observés. A Salonique, la propagande sioniste ne pouvait donc pas utiliser de modèles locaux, inspirés par la réalité quotidienne de la ville. 1 ,es sionistes, qui ne purent jamais réellement s'imposer dans la société

' Rena MOLHO, "Education in the Jewish Community..., art. cit. 2Ce n'est pas un hasard si la publication de cette pièce est contemporaine de la décision d'établir la première et, tout au moins pour les cinq années suivantes, l'unique école d'orientation sioniste à Salonique. ^Esther BENBASSA et Aron RODRIGUE, Juifs des Balkans : Espaces judéo-ibériques XIVc XXe siècles, Paris, 1993, pp. 213-268.

LE T H É Â T R E

JUDÉO-ESPAGNOL

269

pluraliste salonicienne, furent obligés d'importer de l'extérieur leur matériel idéologique. Il en fut souvent ainsi pour les thèmes des pièces de théâtre écrites par des écrivains sionistes originaires de Salonique. Citons, par exemple, la pièce de Moïse Nadjari, El triumfo de la justicia (Le triomphe de la justice) écrite en 1921, inspirée des affaires Dreyfus et du procès de Kiev, qui prenait c o m m e cadre la Russie, d o m a i n e par excellence de l'antisémitisme 1 . Si nous revenons à la pièce Neshef Purim, l'histoire d'Esther est utilisée comme parabole, autre technique chère à la propagande sioniste. Les acteurs frappent à la porte et un groupe d'enfants entre dans la maison pour chanter des chansons de Pourim en hébreu. Les enfants de la maison sont enthousiasmés par ces chansons, et les jeunes chanteurs offrent aux convives une représentation de l'histoire de Pourim. Un antisémite au pouvoir, le ministre Aman, par le mensonge et la ruse, persuade le roi qu'il faut tuer tous les Juifs. Grâce à l'intervention de la reine Esther, juive, le roi apprend la vérité et démet alors Aman de ses fonctions, pour le remplacer par l'oncle d'Esther, Mordehaï, leader des Juifs : c'est ainsi que fut sauvé le peuple juif. L'auteur relate dans ses dialogues des préjugés typiquement antisémites : le pernicieux Aman accuse les Juifs de transgresser les lois de l'Etat parce qu'ils ne se conforment pas aux traditions de la société, ne respectant que leurs propres coutumes. Esther de son côté, prend leur défense en mettant en valeur leurs vies laborieuses et leurs efforts en faveur du progrès. Les Juifs ne doivent donc pas craindre que leur identité particulière soit en contradiction avec leur citoyenneté. Ce point de vue est propre aux Saloniciens sionistes dont la compréhension et l'adhésion au sionisme se situaient principalement au niveau culturel 2 . A la fin de la pièce, l'auteur insiste sur les méthodes éducatives employées par les sionistes, qui étaient celles appliquées dans l'école qu'ils fondaient à la même époque à Salonique. Les enfants quittent la scène, et l'oncle demande à ses neveux quel personnage ils aimeraient incarner parmi ceux mis en scène, et pour quelle raison. Naturellement tous les garçons, sauf un, optent pour le rôle de Mordehaï, le chef des Juifs. Seul le cadet, trop jeune pour juger convenablement, choisit le rôle du fielleux ministre, attiré par le prestige de l'uniforme et par le goût du pouvoir. Ceci est un avertissement supplémentaire, à peine masqué, des dangers que courent les Juifs, s'ils ne réagissent pas aux forces assimilatrices. 1 El Triumfo de la Justicia, drame en trois actes par Moïse Nadjari, Thessalonique,1921. Résumé dans E. ROMERO, El Teatro..., op. cit., pp. 1073-1085. ^Rena MOLHO, "The Zionist Movement in Salonica up to the A' Panhellenic Zionist Congress", The Jewish Communities of Southeastern Europe from the 15th Century to the End of World War II, Thessaloniki, 1997, pp. 327-350.

270

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

La farce satirique El Beladji (l'attire-ennuis) du talentueux auteur et journaliste socialiste Alberto Molho, est un exemple représentatif de la vie politique locale à Salonique en 1930. Le héros, El Beladji, est le candidat des Sionistes aux élections législatives. On peut reconnaître en lui, Mentesh Besantchi, qui fut en effet élu député sioniste en 1928 1 . Par la bouche du Beladji, nous apprenons qu'en ce temps-là, les Sionistes regroupent "tous les bons Juifs" appartenant au patronat, tandis que les employés et les petites gens se retrouvent dans le camp adverse des Populistes (Laïkoi). Ce sont en effet les deux plus importants partis politiques du Thessalonique de l'entre deux guerres, quand les tensions provoquées par l'antisémitisme aboutissent, dans la bourgeoisie, à l'abandon progressif des thèses assimilationnistes au profit d'une adhésion massive à l'idéologie sioniste. Le Beladji est issu d'un milieu populaire : son père est pêcheur (moro en judéo-espagnol). Commençant sa carrière comme maître à l'école Talmud Tora, il est maintenant journaliste. 11 gravit l'échelle sociale, sans jamais atteindre la couche patronale. Après son élection à un poste dans les rangs sionistes, acquis grâce au soutien des émigrés juifs russes, il réalise l'exploit d'épouser une bourgeoise 2 . Ceci lui permet de pénétrer la bourgeoisie. Dans cette pièce satirique, l'incompatibilité sociale entre le héros et sa femme peut de prime abord étonner, mais il est évident qu'elle est utilisée pour des raisons didactiques3.11 est ainsi sous-entendu que quiconque cherche à exercer le métier de politicien sioniste doit faire partie de la classe dirigeante, soit par naissance, soit par mariage. La caricature du politicien arriviste est progressivement et systématiquement esquissée par l'auteur socialiste, afin de démythifier l'idéologie sioniste et de renforcer la conscience de classe des spectateurs appartenant aux milieux populaires. Intérieurement préoccupé par les résultats de l'élection, le protagoniste, dans son monologue, montre qu'il est non seulement dépourvu de tout vrai souci idéologique, mais aussi qu'il a soudoyé son électorat. Considérant l'argent ainsi dépensé comme un investissement susceptible de rapporter gros, en cas de résultat favorable aux élections, il dit : "No se trata de ser bobo : el IjLx 25 juin 1930, Moïse Besantchi intervient activement au Parlement pour démentir les rumeurs malveillantes selon lesquelles le représentant salonicien de la Maccabi, durant une réunion de Maccabis à Sofia, donna son accord pour le vote d'une motion qui réclamait l'autonomie pour la Macédoine. Voir Sam HASSID, "Evaraioi stin Vouli ton Ellinon, 19151936" (Les Juifs au Parlement Grec, 1915-1936), Chronika, n° 140, Novembre-Décembre 1995, pp. 5-9. 2 I1 faut souligner ici que selon les témoignages des Saloniciens qui ont vécu cette époque, le corredor de novias (entremetteur), en tant qu'institution, fonctionnait même après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, parce que ces personnes savaient proposer des mariages réussis basés sur la compatibilité du caractère des mariés mais aussi de leur origine sociale. 3 K . YEORGOUSSOPOULOS, "Opseis tou neohellinikou theatrou" (Aspects du théâtre néohellénique), Ethniko idryma Erevnon, Neohelliniko theatro (17os-20os ai.), (Théâtre néohellénique XVIIe-XXe siècle) Athènes, 1997, pp. 59-72.

LE T H É Â T R E

J UDÉO-ES P AGNOL

271

idealismo es idealismo, el fecho es fecho" (Il ne f a u t pas être idiot : l'idéalisme c'est l'idéalisme, et les affaires c'est les affaires). Le modèle qui l'inspire est un certain Asheriko, personnage calqué sur Ascher Malah, le sénateur sioniste. "Lui aussi est sioniste, mais tandis q u ' a u moment de son élection il était couvert de dettes et en banqueroute, il construit maintenant quatre immeubles près du port". La chasse aux votes, l'intérêt personnel et le manque de véritable projet politique deviennent maintenant des caractéristiques de l'ensemble des politiciens sionistes. Tous les mythes concernant l'entraide des Juifs, ainsi que les autres qualités attribuées traditionnellement à la société juive salonicienne, sont réfutés. A Thessalonique, les Juifs ne se distinguent en rien des autres peuples. On assiste ensuite à un dialogue entre le Beladji et la bonne. Alors qu'elle s'affaire au ménage, il lui demande avec insistance de cesser ses tâches et d'exécuter ses ordres, certains plus que farfelus. Mais les domestiques de leur côté savent être insolents : la bonne se moque du patron avec force grimaces et lui conseille d'aller se doucher afin de retrouver ses esprits. Le Beladji l'injurie en utilisant le langage propre aux discours électoraux. Pair exemple, elle crache dans la soupe (qui la nourrit), elle est vendue aux Populistes qui sont tous des péquenots, elle est passée au camp opposé, et ainsi de suite, en passant par un "et tu Brutus ?". Les oreilles incultes de la bonne ne captent pas les allusions du langage. Elle ne parle, en effet, que le judéo-espagnol où bruto signifie "moche". Le public comprend également, en raison de ce jeu de mots, que le héros méprise les pauvres, au point de les trouver moches. Suit un autre jeu de mots quand le politicien demande à la bonne "No queres que saïga?" (Ne veux-tu pas que j e sorte, sous-entendu vainqueur des élections ?). Et elle lui répond : "Saïga, senyor mestro, saïga. No hay ningunos al cabine. Ya salio la madame" (Sors, Monsieur le patron, sors - sous-entendu, tes selles. Il n ' y a personne au cabinet. Madame vient de sortir - de se délivrer). Mais c'est de ses gonds que le politicien sort ! Et, en faisant une allusion aux employés syndiqués, il répond q u ' e n dépit de l'activité des "moscovites" contre sa personne, et de la présence de l'ennemi en sa propre maison, il se fera élire : "Le sionisme vaincra, car j e dois pourvoir mes filles de dots convenables". La communication entre eux n'est plus possible. La bonne, pensant que son patron a sombré dans la folie, convoque la patronne et les voisines. A v e c l'arrivée des gens du quartier, un échantillon du voisinage nous est présenté : un commerçant, le boucher, le jeune aide de l'épicier, un voisin boiteux etc. Des habitants de toutes les couches sociales, y compris des Chrétiens.

272

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

La bonne leur explique que son employeur est devenu fou. "Oui, il mérite à son tour de devenir fou !" réplique la lavandière, irritée contre ce patron, qui un an durant, n'a pas tenu sa promesse de trouver une place à l'asile psychiatrique pour son époux malade. Le commerçant, lui, reconnaissant avant tout le Beladji comme représentant des Juifs, demande que l'on cesse cette discussion : ils risquent, en effet, de devenir la risée de leurs voisins chrétiens. Cingle alors la réplique de l'aide-épicier, élément crucial de la pièce. "Représentant de quel judaïsme? De celui qui a un double menton comme vous, ou de celui qui comme moi se serre la ceinture un peu plus tous les jours? Il y a deux judaïsmes..." Une description vivante de la société juive de 1930, ballottée entre deux pôles politiques. Le commerçant répond qu'il ferait mieux de se taire, vu qu'il ne sait rien faire, sinon peser des haricots. Du tac au tac, l'aide-épicier réplique qu'il ne sait peut-être que peser des haricots, mais que lui, commerçant, vole avec sa balance trafiquée. Le commerçant lui conseille alors de s'apitoyer plutôt sur sa lamentable situation. Et l'aide-épicier de déclarer : "Ma situation justement, parlons-en : mon petit salaire, mon petit logement... Je compare ma situation avec la tienne, et c'est pour cette raison que je vote contre le Beladji". La stratification de la communauté juive salonicienne, en couches sociales distinctes, est ici confirmée. Le statut social de l'électorat sioniste est clairement défini. Le commerçant procède ensuite à quelques mises au point : "Voyons pour qui t'as voté, dit-il, s'adressant à l'employé. L'un est un journaliste qui ne connaît la vie que par les livres ; l'autre est un péquenot". L'employé répond : "Les vôtres, donc, on les connaît bien ! L'un est un journaliste qui a honte de son père et de ses origines, l'autre est un gros fournisseur de charbon qui vend sa marchandise à tous les Juifs. Nos candidats à nous sont des nôtres, pauvres comme nous, chair de notre chair. Ils nous défendront". Renchérit alors la lavandière : "Il a raison, le petit, ses propos sont justes. Les membres du Conseil de la Communauté n'ont rien fait pour nous ! Pour que notre fille entre à l'hôpital, ils n'ont rien fait, ils nous ont seulement fait courir dans tous les sens, et c'est finalement un simple fonctionnaire du comité de quartier qui s'est démené pour obtenir un lit. Et maintenant, ma pauvre chérie est à l'hôpital municipal, chez les Grccs". Selon la lavandière, les bourgeois dirigeant la Communauté sont des Sionistes qui ne se soucient guère des pauvres. Les nécessiteux ne peuvent avoir confiance qu'en eux-mêmes, et ne voter donc que pour eux-mêmes. Le voisin boiteux, victime de l'incendie de 1917, est du même avis. De même le boucher, rapportant l'exemple de son frère cadet, qui influencé par la propagande sioniste, a vendu tous ses biens pour partir en Palestine où il meurt de faim. Le frère aîné a même dû emprunter 15 livres anglaises pour lui payer le billet de retour.

LE

THÉÂTRE

JUDÉO-ESPAGNOL

273

Puis, c'est à la bonne d'intervenir : "Elle travaille pour 200 francs par mois, nettoyant de l ' a u b e jusqu'au soir une immense maison, tandis que la patronne ne quitte jamais son lit. Et si par malheur il lui arrive de casser un verre, elle doit le payer de sa poche. Sa vie est un enfer ici... Non que la situation soit meilleure chez elle cependant ; les rares fois où elle s'y rend, c'est pour voir son père souffrir au lit, sa mère vieillir et ses petites sœurs traîner dans les rues". Description de la vie des Juifs appauvris de l'époque, tout à fait conforme à l'image issue des sources historiques. Le commerçant lui réplique : "Mais t'imagines-tu que tout le monde peut être riche?". L'aide-épicier proteste : "Non, mais il ne faut quand même pas que les uns crèvent de faim tandis que les autres deviennent de plus en plus gros !" Et tous les prolétaires en chœur : "On veut la juste rémunération de notre travail, et que les patrons ne s'enrichissent pas en exploitant notre labeur !" Les messages socialistes sont éloquents. "Partons..." dit le boucher, en français. Et la bonne commence à se moquer de l'utilisation de cette langue par ses maîtres : "Du parton, du flan-flon, etc." I x s voisins partent. Ne restent que la lavandière, la bonne et l'employé de l'épicerie. Ces deux derniers commencent à échanger des regards pleins de sous-entendus. Afin qu'ils puissent rester seuls tranquillement, la lavandière propose de guetter pour les avertir au cas où quelqu'un arriverait inopinément. Sonhula, la bonne, demande à l'aide-épicier pourquoi il n'est pas venu à leur rendez-vous de la veille au soir. "J'étais occupé", affirme-t-il, "Je devais assister à une réunion politique en tant que membre du comité". "Je m ' e n fous, lui répond la bonne, tu ne me racontes que des mensonges tout le temps, parce que nous n'avons pas régularisé notre situation". Le jeune h o m m e lui dit : "T'inquiète pas, on va la régulariser. Mais avec mes 300 francs de salaire hebdomadaire j e ne pourrai pas pourvoir à tes besoins, et à ceux de ma mère et de mon frère". "Ça m ' e s t égal, répond Sonhula, on va se marier ; Dieu est grand". L ' e m p l o y é réplique : "Dieu est grand pour ceux qui en ont (de l'argent) ; nous il ne nous connaît même pas. Mon Dieu à moi est celui-là" ... et il la saisit par la taille en l'embrassant. "Vive les Populistes " s'écrie-til, référence faite à leur comportement libéré. Mais, les patrons arrivant, ils sont obligés de se séparer. La maîtresse réprimande la bonne : "Que me dit le patron ? A cause de toi nous sommes devenus la honte du quartier?" Et la jeune fille répond : "Mais il est devenu fou et il a essayé de me rendre folle moi aussi : D'abord, il m ' a réclamé une fleur, un œillet. Après, il a déclaré à la lavandière qu'il voulait jeter les meubles par la fenêtre dans la rue, avec moi dessus, afin de nous emmener à Athènes (son nouveau fief politique), etc." La maîtresse lui dit : "Idiote, il a probablement exprimé quelque chose qui provenait de ses

274

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

écrits. Mais toi tu n'as rien compris. D'ailleurs on ne vous enseignait pas des trucs pareils à la fabrique de tabac". La bonne répond qu'elle ne sait pas "si le patron lisait des livres ou des cahiers, mais qu'en tout cas, si elle se mettait à dire des choses pareilles on l'aurait amenée à l'asile". Quant à la fabrique, elle "y a rencontré des gens instruits rapportant ce qu'ils ont lu dans des livres, mais dans une langue que tout le monde peut comprendre". Le dialogue se poursuit sur le même ton. L'auteur, épuisant tous les stéréotypes du conflit social, renforce la conscience politique des spectateurs. Et pour ceux qui seraient encore indécis, il achève sa pièce en ridiculisant complètement El Beladji. Celui-ci apparaît, une branche pleine de feuilles à la main. Il défeuille le rameau en bougonnant à la façon d'une personne jouant avec une marguerite (un peu, à la folie, passionnément...). Arrivé à la dernière feuille, il crie à sa femme : "Hanna, je serai élu". Il lui raconte qu'il a été applaudi par tous les voisins, que le vote est terminé et que tout le monde sait que le résultat lui sera favorable, etc. "Oui, lui répond sa femme, mais pourquoi es-tu couvert de boue ?" Et El Beladji de répondre : "Ah, ce n'est rien, les gens sont devenus tellement fous de joie, qu'au lieu de me couvrir de pétales de roses... ils m'ont jeté de la boue". On entend les voix s'élevant pour fêter la victoire des Populistes. Le Beladji se méprend, croyant qu'il s'agit des militants sionistes, et sort pour leur adresser un discours. Tous se moquent de lui, mais on le laisse finalement parler. Il commence par des figures oratoires triviales : "Messieurs, je vous remercie de tout cœur, etc. Le sionisme voit en vous, etc." Et l'assistance de compléter en chœur: "...les plus grands idiots d'Israël". Mais lui imperturbable : "...voit en vous..." Et tous en chœur: "...des votes !" Les gens crient : "Nos baraques sont mal construites, nous sommes au chômage, etc." On lui jette de nouveau de la terre et de la boue ; il recule pour se nettoyer. Quelqu'un crie : "Bien fait pour lui !" Arrogant, le Beladji continue son discours, tandis que l'assistance tourne en railleries tous les clichés sionistes. Le nouveau secrétaire élu de la Fédération sioniste arrive alors, annonçant à notre héros qu'il a obtenu une victoire â la Pyrrhus, et qu'il devra donc lui céder son siège de député. Soudain, on entend les cris d'un vendeur de journaux : "Avanti, suplemento del Avanti. Los Populares vencedores sobre toda la linea ! Beladji empretecido !" (Avanti, supplément spécial ! Victoire des Populistes sur toute la ligne! El Beladji battu !) Cette comédie socialiste est la seule qui nous soit parvenue. Les œuvres, au message sioniste, sont généralement des pièces peu convaincantes, tandis qu' El Beladji comporte une trame originale, une base historique, une morale politique, des caractères bien définis et un poids idéologique. Son humour authentique touche directement, non seulement grâce au talent indéniable de l'auteur, mais aussi parce que le scénario de sa pièce illustre parfaitement ce qu'étaient la conscience sociale et le niveau culturel des Juifs saloniciens d'avant la Shoah.

JUDEO-SPANISH THEATRE PLAYS ON THE THEMES OF TRADITION AND CHANGE IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY1

In the course of the modernization of the Ottoman Empire, in the beginning of the 20 t h century, the lay leaders of the Jewish communities used every possible means to educate the Jews (Molho 2001). They collaborated with the Alliance Israelite universelle to upgrade Jewish education and to establish modern schools aiming at the westernization of Jewish society. While these schools accepted many students free of charge, they could only provide for a small percentage of the poor (Molho 1993). Next to the schools, Judco-Spanish theatre plays, often published in mass circulation periodicals and simply read rather than performed, (Romero 1969-1970, Romero 1983, Kerem 1996) constituted the most expedient instrument for the enlightenment and emancipation of the Scpharadim, young and old. Most Jewish playwrights had graduated from the Alliance israelite universelle schools and aimed at presenting a faithful picture of contemporary Jewish society with which the audience could identify, so that they could introduce them to the new way of thinking. The few plays that survive from the period 1900 - 1930 constitute a valuable source of information on the social history of the Sepharadic communities in the Balkans. This study, based on two plays by two anonymous writers, published by Romero (Romero 1979), examines the issues of tradition and change in religious and social practice of the Sepharadic world in transition by putting them in their historical context(Molho 2001). The first play, Ocho dias antes de Pessah, is a one-act-comcdy in verse published in Istanbul in the satirical weekly El Jugueton in 1909 (Romero 1979; II, pp. 963-974). At that time, just after the Young Turks' revolution, the Ottoman Empire was still a mosaic of co-existing nationalities with each ethnic or religious community being essentially autonomous, following its own traditions and its own ancestral view of the world. The play focuses on the traditional preparations for the celebration of Passover (Molho 1950) and through this vehicle it raises two main issues connected with the struggle for

^This paper was delivered in the XII British Conference on Judeo-Spanish Studies, London 2426 June 2001. It will be included in the Proceedings of the Conference.

276

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

modernization. The first issue concerns the preservation of religious tradition and touches on the condition of women, on their key role in maintaining religious traditions in the family, as well as on the role of modern education in understanding tradition. The second issue addresses the attitude of the leaders of the community towards its needy members. The play is set in a poor neighborhood where many Jewish families live together (Dumont 1979). It starts with the encounter of a couple, when the husband returns home feeling defeated as he had been unable to bring home anything other than olives and bread. The wife receives him in a most unpleasant way, pointing out all the heavy housework that has to be done before Pessah, while all he can think of is food. Thereon she enumerates the troubles she has gone through during the last two days in whitewashing the house, in sand-rubbing all the furniture clean and in having to carry the mattresses and bedspreads out to air, as well as the numerous injuries she suffered to accomplish these tasks. The dramatic account of her ordeal, familiar in all households involved in the traditional preparations for Pessah, brings a comical note to the play as her injuries imply much awkwardness in carrying out all these activities. Rather than sympathize with her, the husband seems to feel that his wife's main problem is the strict observance of the letter of the Jewish law. Expressing no sympathy for her exhausting endeavor, he complains that he cannot even sleep in the house because it is a mess due to her constant cleaning. Through his speech the audience immediately identifies him as a typical middle-easterner macho character. The wife's reply contains an interesting comment: she calls him a Protestant, an unbeliever and a cheat, similar to their neighbor across the road, who caught his wife cleaning and scolded her because her hair was not covered. In spite of its comical absurdity, this comment reveals the different priorities of men and women in maintaining tradition. Men seem to be preoccupied with women's modesty, a superfluous issue when women have to work so hard for the Pessah preparations. What bothers the frustrated wife in the play is essentially the different priorities between her and her husband, given that she expresses no complaints about her role and duties. This is underscored by her suggestion that her husband take up the example of a next door family that she admires. In that family, both husband and son have simply sat patiently in the courtyard, so that the wife could work undisturbed to prepare the house as she knew best. The fact that in both families neither husband nor wife think of sharing the burden in preparing for the festivity, points to the wide acceptance of gender roles.

JUDEO-SPANISH

THEATRE

PLAYS

277

To reinforce her viewpoint on the validity of her priorities in strictly keeping tradition, she draws her husband's attention to God's judgment and punishment. She then goes on to attribute their son's death to God's punishment for the husband's transgressions. As the husband protests against his wife's accusations, he reminds her of the circumstances surrounding their late son's illness and describes the conflict between his own rational attitude and the ignorance and superstitions that governed women at that time. The wife refused to call the doctor, gave the son a medicine made of urine and called the clairvoyant, la indivina, who prescribed lemon and seawater. And he reminds her of her words 'there is no need to call a doctor/ this way the son will calm down/ he will not get any chills' ('no se quere doctor llamar;/ ansi el hijo se va calmar,/ frios no le van a tomar') (Romero 1979; II, p. 967). This dramatic incident presented in such a grotesque way must have had an immediate effect on at least part of the female audience, who couldn't help noticing how backward women were in comparison with men. It also allows the author to draw a comprehensive portrait of traditionalist women, whose diligence cannot protect them from the dangers of ignorance. As the argument heats up, neighbors gather around them trying to intervene and this forces the couple to compose themselves. One neighbor, described in the stage instructions as a 'modern intellectual' i.e., westernized, comments on the compulsive cleaning of women and suggests that preparation for Pessah should rather concentrate on getting matza, the unleavened bread of Passover. Such a comment could not be easily accepted by common people for whom Pessah cleanliness to remove hametz, ordinary bread, was just as important as all other Passover rituals. The comment is essentially a caricature of the viewpoint of the modernist fraction of the community that took shortcuts in traditional observance, and was perceived as being impregnated with the ideology of assimilation (Benbassa & Rodrigue 1993). At the mention of unleavened bread the men end up discussing the price of this item indispensable Passover celebration. Simple matza costs 4.5 (unspecified currency) an oka (equivalent to 1.280 kilograms) and the matzot shemouroth, used symbolically in the Pessah table, cost 12 that is almost triple. Among them Haimatchi, a practicing religious Jew, is convinced of the necessity of acquiring the shemuroth, and goes as far as to state that he would choose to leave his sons barefoot rather than neglect buying these matzot. In this discussion, the role and responsibilities of men are clearly drawn: The man is the family provider, responsible for everything that has to be purchased with money, including clothes and food for the Passover celebration.

278

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

At this point another neighbor, also described as 'modern intellectual', comments that Haimatchi's views are those of illiterate or uneducated people, who do not study the Law and the Commentaries. Citing the Shulhan Arouh, the 16 th century treatise that explains all rituals in detail, he points out that only the wealthy have to get matzot shemouroth, while those that cannot afford them commit no transgression in limiting themselves to simple matzot. Modern education is thereby shown not to be in conflict with tradition. The neighbor then goes on to a polemical monologue, apparently addressed to the community leaders, on the deplorable state of the Jews who have no one to advise them on God's Law and to protect them from exploitation. In the closing lines of the play, he addresses a plea ( to the community leaders) to show the Truth and to pursue the Good to save the Jewish nation so that God, who sees all from heaven, will bless them, preserve them from danger and establish peace ('El Dio del cielo catara/ su bendicion vos dara/ de peligro vos guadrara[...] y la paz en vos establizera'), (Romero 1979; II, p. 970). The viewpoint presented in this closing monologue implies the existence of a popular sentiment that the community leaders were inefficient as far as popular education and welfare were concerned. At the same time, the discussion on the seemingly exorbitant price of the matza seems to indicate the absence of a communal welfare institution that would provide the needy members of the community with the necessities for celebrating important religious holidays, as was for example the ease in Salonica. The overall message that the playwright tries to convey is that modern education, far from being opposed to religious practice, it can prove to be essential in understanding and in identifying the proper way of accomplishing one's religious obligations. Education is shown to be the way to the Truth and, thus, a primary requirement for the survival of Judaism, since Judaism has always associated faith with knowledge. The second play, entitled Musiu Jac el Parisiano quere esposar (Romero 1979; II, pp. 1087-1096), also in one act, was published in the same satirical weekly El Jugueton, in Istanbul in 1929. The 20 year interval between the two plays offers the possibility to observe the new problems that arose in that same Stambouliote Jewish society, as the changes brought by modernity conflicted with longstanding customs. The secular Kemalist state is now established in Turkey and the emphasis of the playwrights shifts from examining the impact of modernity on religious observance, as in the turn-ofthe-century, to more social issues. In this particular case the author takes up the problem of marrying off a daughter without dowry, an absolute

JUDEO-SPANIS H THEATRE

PLAYS

279

requirement for marriage even in the lower social strata. He also tackles the naive popular belief that men who have acquired modern education are automatically socially established, morally correct and better people. The play is a satirical and caustic commentary on the institution of the dowry and on the insincerity, duplicity, and mercantile attitude it triggers in people's relationships. The play is set in the home of a poor sunflower-seed seller, Abraham Schebi, who lives with his wife Bulisachi, a washer-woman, and their daughter, who is of an age proper for marriage (Molho 1950). While the parents have traditional names, the daughter is named Fortuné (a phonetic spelling of Fortunée), a rough translation in French of her Hebrew name Mazaltov, by which her uneducated father calls her. As part of their modernization and western education, educated Jews in the first half of the 20th century took up the custom of adopting western (and especially French) names that were similar in meaning or sound to their original Hebrew names. Thus, simply by hearing the characters' names, the audience knows that Fortuné is a "modern" young woman in a traditional home and that the play is about the problems of traditional people trying to adapt to modern society . The play starts with Fortune confiding to her mother that while taking a walk she met a very elegant man, recently arrived from Paris, who promised to marry her. The mother points out that this is the twelfth such incident and that every one of the earlier prospective grooms who came to their house, ate and drank at their expense and then disappeared, because she has no dowry. Fortuné, however, announces that she has notified her father that the young man is coming to ask for her hand so that he can bring the traditional meze and raki upon his return in the evening. As the mother retires to the other room the daughter comments on her backwardness, claiming that she does not understand that to get a husband one needs 'legs of iron and the face of a dog', ('patchas de fierro y cara de perro') in other words to be strong and determined (Romero 1979; II, 1089). The strength and independence of Fortuné, a young woman free to go out on her own and to engage in conversation with men, shows that modernity has reached the poor Jews of Istanbul. However, modernity has not yet gone as far as to abolish the dowry, an institution that the playwright exposes in this play as absurd. In the second and last scene Jac appears, a character that caricatures the westernized French-educated modern youth. He uses French greeting clichés and mannerisms, and attributes his lateness to the bad organization of Jstambu] transportation. In a pompous and flamboyant way he expresses his delight that Fortuné has accepted his love and his marriage proposal, while she answers simply that she feels lucky to have met a fiancé as good as him,

280

S A L O N I C A

AND

I S T A N B U L

cultured and educated, who has seen Paris and who will therefore make her happy. Her reply indicates that she naively believes that a man who possesses the qualities that ensure a good social standing is not necessarily in need of a dowry. As Fortuné speaks, her father enters and welcomes the prospective groom in a mixture of Turkish and very popular Judeo-Spanish. Jac answers back in both French and in elaborate Frenchified Spanish, succeeding to intimidate the old man who, unable to understand, asks him not to speak a la franca, in French style. In pretending to apologize, Jac claims that he was carried away by habit, so as to appear as a man of the world for whom French comes easier than his native tongue, yet continues his flowery language. Even though he tries to appear as a refined bourgeois by exposing the veneer of his education to his prospective father in law, his inner thoughts which he addresses aloud to the audience, for example his delight in getting a free meal, show that he is apparently of humble origin. As Abraham doesn't understand the language that Jac uses, Fortuné, who must have had a similar education to Jac in the Alliance schools, serves as an interpreter. Jac quickly focuses the discussion on the issue of the dowry, which according to him is 'the only [valid] argument for matrimonial union'. When Fortuné protests that by talking about money Jac shows that he does not love her, he answers cynically in French 'but my dear, the dowry comes first' and demands 10,000 French Francs as a capital for the new family. The poor father comments that if he had such an amount, his daughter would have been married since long. Jac, then, excuses himself in a businesslike fashion and leaves, since no deal can be concluded. The play shows how the lack of means on either side and the institution of the dowry reduce marriage into a cold-blooded business deal, a problem that modern education had not been able to solve. There is no doubt that modernity had changed the Stambouliote Jewish society. Especially so if the parents who cannot afford a corrector de rwvias a matchmaker, accept that their daughter goes out unescorted and meets people. In the past such initiatives would surely compromise her reputation. The people who saw plays such as Ocho dias antes de Pessah when they were young in 1909 now, 20 years later, they are parents and have a different attitude to both money and morality from their own parents. At the time of the second play, both parents work and social preoccupations have replaced religious ones, and girls — not just boys — receive a school education l i t should be noticed that the corredor de novias (matchmaker), was an institution as well as a very respectable profession. These persons involved in it were very efficient because they knew how to match people from the same social class, compatible character and economic situation that were to become happy couples.

J UDEO-SPANISH

THEATRE

PLAYS

281

(Benveniste 1982, Molho 2001). However, it took another 20 or 30 years to abolish the dowry as a requirement for marriage. References Benbassa, Esther y Rodrigue, Aron, 1993. Juifs des Balkans : Espaces judéoibériques XIV-XX siècles, (Paris : La Découverte), pp. 213-268. Benveniste, Anne, 1982. "Le rôle des institutrices de l'Alliance à Salonique", Combat pour la Diaspora, (Paris: La Découverte), vol.no. 8, 2 n d trimestre, Juin 1982, pp. 13-26. Dumont, Paul, 1979. "Une source pour l'étude des communautés juives de Turquie : Les Archives de l'Alliance israélite universelle", Journal Asiatique, No 267, 1979, pp. 101-135. Kerem, Yitzchak, 1996. "The Greek-Jewish Theater in Judeo-Spanish, ca.18801940", Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 14.1 (1996), pp. 31-45. Molho, Michael, 1950. Usos y costumbres de los Sefardies de Salonica, Consejo Superior dc Investigationes Scientificas, (Madrid-Barcelona : Institute Arias Montano), pp. 247-256. Molho, Rena, 1993. «Education in the Jewish Community of Salonica in the Beginning of the 20th Century», Balkan Studies, 34/2, 1993, pp. 259269. — 2000. «Social Issues and Ideological Quest of the Sephardim in JuedoSpanish Plays», forthcoming in the Proceedings of the 2nc* International Judeo-Espaniol Conference held in Thessaloniki on the 16th and the 17th of April 2000. — 2001. The Jews of Salonica, 1856-1919. A particular community, in Greek, (Athens : Themelio), pp. 139-224. Romero, Elena, 1969-1970. "El teatro entre los sefardies orientales", Se/arad,vol.no.XXIX-XXX, 1969-1970, pp. 187-205. 1979. El Teatro de los sefardies orientales, (Madrid : Consejo Superior — de Investigationes Scientificas), vol. , pp. 962-974 & 1087-1096. 1983. Repertorio de noticias sobre el mundo teatral de los sefardies orientales, (Madrid : (Consejo Superior de Investigationes Scientificas) (Madrid : Consejo Superior de Investigationes Scientificas). This work contains 886 announcements on Judeo-Spanish plays put on stage between 1873-1935.

Chronology and Bibliography

CHRONOLOGY ON THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN SALONICA

513 BC 479 BC 322 BC

315 BC

168 BC

140 BC

103 BC 63 BC

54 AD

70 AD 132-135 325 AD

339 AD 393 AD 438 AD

531 AD 663 AD

Jews from Mesopotamia used by Darius in his campaign against the Scythians, could have settled in Moesia, SE Macedonia, in Kytion. A similar settlement of Jews could have taken place during the 2 Persian war, when traces of G-d El were found in the same area. Jews from Mesopotamia freed by Alexander the Great, followed him in his campaign in Egypt and Palestine. There they were given equality and citizenship (isonomia and isopoliteia). This prompted their Hellenization. Thessaloniki is established by Cassander as the new capital of the Macedonian kingdom. Incentives are given to minorities, among others to Jews, who settle there since they speak the same language. Antiochus Epiphanes having declared Judaism illegal in Egypt and Palestine (Revolt of the Maccabis) forces Hellenized Jews to migrate. Many settle in Thessaloniki or else Salonica. Jews from Alexandria migrate to Salonica after Ptolemy the VII, Physcon, comes to power having won over Kleopatra in the war of succession. Ptolemy VIII Soter expulses the Jews from Alexandria. They seek refuge in Salonica. Pompey places Palestine under Roman rule. Hellenized Jews having become Roman citizens migrate to the Greco-Roman provinces, such as Salonica. Apostle Paul, formerly Jewish Saul ha Tarsi, visits Salonica and preaches the new faith in the Ets ha Haim synagogue for 3 consecutive Saturdays. Second destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Titus causes Jewish migrations. Judea becomes a Roman province after the rebellion of Bar Cochba The new province, called Aelia Capitolina, is barred to the Jews. The Council of Nicea declares Christianity the official state religion, transfers the day of rest to Sunday, and breaks away from Judaism. Church edict forbids marriages between Christians and Jews. Emp. Theodossius edict confirming that Jews Eire not banned by law. Theodosius II publishes edict forbiding the building of new synagogues, Jews to own Christian slaves or to assume state positions. Emp. Justinian's More Juidaico induces forced baptisms & antisemitism. 1 st expulsion from Spain under Sisebut, drives Jews to Byz. Empire. Emperor Heraclius renews laws against Jews.

286 718-740 1096 AD

1108 1169 1294-1222 1376 1423-30 1430 1492-1496

1503 ? 1536 1540-1589 1556 1568 1669-80 1680 1715 1836 1858 1865 1870-1880 1871-1880 1873 1878 1883 1888 1890 1891 1895 1897 1899

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Leo II issues law forcing non-Christians to be baptized. Tobias be Eliezer ha Yevani writes in Greek on the invasions of the Slavs and the Saracens and starts the messianic movement in Salónica. Emp. Alexius Komnenus exempts Jews from Taxation after they had been looted by Crusaders Benjamin of Tudela reports on the organisation of J.Community in Salónica and the other Jewish communities in the area of Greece. Salónica becomes a Latin kingdom governed by Boniface de Monferat Jews expelled from Germany & Hungary establish an ashkenazi congregations in Salónica. Salónica sold to the Venitians. Italian Jews create the old Italian synagogue Salónica is conquered by the Turks and is left with 2,000 citizens. Expulsion of Spanish & Portuguese Jews. 20,000 of them settle in Salónica. They establish 30 synagogues named after their hometown and introduce the art of arms & gunpowder, silk weaving & commerce. Don Yehouda Gedali establishes the first printing press in Salónica. Settlement of Jewish Conversos who introduce the letter of Credit in Finance. Salonica's Jews reactivate the silver mines in Sidirokastron. Salonica's Jews boycott the port of Ancona where Jews were hung. Firman allowing the Jews of Salónica to pay their taxes in army uniform cloth. Messianic movement by Shab. Zvi. Creation of the Judeo-Moslem sect, the doenme. Unification of the 32 independent congrégations in Salónica. Establishment of the Francos, important Jews from Italy. Firman recognizing the office of Great rabbi in Salónica. Foundation of the flour mill factory by the Allatini family. R. Y. Nehama publishes the first city's newspaper El Lunar (in Judeo-Spanish). Foundation of the first Communal council in Salónica. Salónica connected to Skopje by rail. Then Belgrad and Europe. The first Alliance Israélite universelle school established in Salónica. Foundation of the Saias textile industry. Allatini brick factory. Banque de Salonique established by the Allatinis. Fire destroys the center of the city, many Jews are left homeless. Arrival of Jewish refugees from Russia and Corfou seeking shelter in Salónica. Salónica connected by rail with Istanbul. Foundation of Kalamaria a n d Vardar de Hirsch Jewish neighbourhoods. Foundation of the first Zionist association Kadima.

287

C H R O N O L O G Y 1901 1903

"

" Matanot

Bulgarian

for the distribution o f hot soup.

f.aevyionim

bombing

komitadjis

Salonica disguise t h e m s e l v e s

as

Jews. 1904

First masonic l o g e Veritas

1908

Foundation o f Hirsch,

first Jewish hospital and one f o r the mentally

disturbed Lieto

T h e Ch. Allatini

Noah.

is founded by Jewish dignitaries. orphanage. Maccabi

athletic

team. Y . Turk movement. 1909

Fédération

socialiste

f o u n d e d by 3 Jews, the biggest workers'party

in the Ottoman Empire. 1911

Ben

Gourion

and B e n Z v i

visit

Salonica

are i m p r e s s e d

by

J.

Community. 1912

1 s t Balkan war, "liberation" of Salonica by the Greeks.

1913

Treaty o f Bucharest assigns Salonica to Greece.

1915-19

W . W a r I, Salonica becomes the war front in the east.

1917

B i g f i r e destroys the center of the city and leaves 74,000 homeless 52,000 o f them Jewish. 2,100 o f the 4,100 buildings burned w e r e Jewish too. F i v e new Jewish neighbourhoods created in the suburbs.

1919

First Panhellenic Zionist Congress and foundation o f G r e e k Zionist

1923

Foundation o f Girls' orphanage Meir

1931 June

Greek extremists set f i r e in the Campbell

1932

Thousands

Federation.

Modiano 1940-41

Aboav. Jewish neighbourhood.

o f Jews m i g r a t e to Palestine.

Foundation

of

Saoul

H o m e f o r the aged.

12.898 Jewish soldiers and 343 Jewish o f f i c e r s in the G r e e k army. A p p r o x i m a t e l y 9.000 are drafted f r o m Salonica.

April 9, 1941 Germans enter Salonica, arrest and imprison the C o m m u n a l Council. July 11, 1942 Germans concentrate and mistreat 9,000 Jews in F r e e d o m Sq. and then send them to f o r c e d labour camps to work in construction and quarries. D e c . 6, 1942 Destruction o f ancient Jewish cemetery with 500,000 tombs. 15 March - 18 A u g . 1943

Deportation o f 48,533 Jews, only 1950 survive.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. General Works ASSOCIATION POUR L'ETUDE DES JUIFS DE GRECE, Us Juifs en Grèce : Questions d'histoire dans la longue durée, actes du premier colloque d'histoire de Salonique, Grèce, 23-24 novembre 1991, Athènes : Gavrilides, 1995, 290 p. ALMOG (Shmuel)(ed.), Antisemitism through the Ages, Oxford : Pergamon Press, 1988, 419 p. ALMOG (Shmuel), Nationalism and Antisemitism in Modem Europe 1815-1945, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1990, 159 p. ANKORI (Zvi), "Greek Orthodox Jewish Relations in Historic Perspective : The Jewish View", The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, vol. XXII, spring 1977, no.l, pp. 15-57. ARENDT (Hannah), Sur l'antisémitisme, Paris : Seuil, 1984, 289 p. ATTAL (Robert), Les Juifs de Grèce. De l'expulsion d'Espagne à nos jours Bibliographie, Jérusalem : Institut Ben Zvi, 1984, XXIV+215 p. BARON (Salo), A Social and Religious History of the Jews, New York : Jewish Publication Society, 1957-1983, 18 vols.; vol. XVIII: The Ottoman Empire, Persia, Ethiopia, India and China, 1983, pp. 1-295. BARON (Salo), History and the Jewish Historian, Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society of America, 1964, 504 p. BENBASSA (Esther) et RODRIGUE (Aron), Juifs des Balkans : Espaces judéoibériques XlVème-XXème siècles, Paris : La Découverte, 1993, 415 p. BEN-ZVI (Itzhack), The Exiled and the Reedemed, Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society of America, 1961, 285 p. BESSO (Henri), Literatura Judéo-espagnola, Bogota : Institute Caro y Cuervo, 1962, 27 p. BESSO (Henri), Ladino Books in the Library of the Congress, Bibliographical series no.7, Washington : Hispanic Foundation, 1963, 27 p. BRAUDE (Benjamin) and LEWIS (Bernard), (Eds), Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, New York-London : Holmes & Meier, 1982, 2 vols. CAMPBELL (John) and SHERRARD (Philip), Modern Greece, London : Ernest Benn Limited, 1968, 426 p. CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, Washington D.C. : published by the Endowement : 1914, 415 p. C ASTELLAN (Georges), Histoire des Balkans XVe - XXe siècle, Paris : Fayard, 1991, 532 p. CHOURAQUI (André), Les Juifs d'Afrique du Nord, Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1952, 398 p. DALVEN (Rae) The Jews ofloannina, Athens : Cadmus Press, 1990, 227 p. DUMONT (Paul),"Une source pour l'étude des communautés juives de Turquie : Les Archives de ¡'Alliance israélite universelle", Journal Asiatique, No 267, 1979, pp. 101-135. EISENSTEIN (Yehouda David), Sefer Otsar Dinim ou Minhagim (Summary of Jewish Laws and Customs), Tel Aviv : Hatfuss Ofset Brodi Katz, 466 p.

290

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

Evreoi stin Ellada (Les Juifs en Grèce), in Synchrona Themata, 17th year, nos.5253, July-December 1994, pp. 6-117. FRANCO (Moise) , Essai sur l'Histoire des Israélites de l'Empire ottoman depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours, New York : Georg Olms Verlag, 1973, 296 p. FRIEDENREICH (Harriet P.), The Jews of Yougoslavia; A Quest for a Community, Philadelphia : The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979, 265 p. FRIEDMAN (Isaiah), Germany, Turkey and Zionism, 1897-1918, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1977, 461 p. GALANTE (Abraham), Histoire des Juifs de Turquie, Istanbul : réim., Isis, 1985, 9 vols. GALANTE (Abraham), La presse judéo-espagnole mondiale, Extrait de l'Hamenora : Istanbul, juil.-sept., 1935, (Salonique pp.11-13). GAON (Moshé David), Haytonout beladino : bibliographia (La presse judéoespagnole mondiale : bibliographie), Jérusalem : Hebrew University Press, 1965, 143 p. GRAYZEL (Solomon), A History of the Contemporary Jews : From 1900 to the present, Cleveland : The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1960, 192 p. ISRAEL (Solomon), "The Edict Banishing the Jews from Spain and their Settling in New Places", Annual, 1984, pp. 65-88 JELAVITCZ (Barbara), History of the Balkans. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, tome I, Twentieth Century, tome II, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1983, t. 407 p. & t. II 476 p. ISSAWI (Charles), The Economic History of Turkey, 1800-1914, Chicago, 1980, 390 p. KARMI (Ilan), The Jewish Community of Istanbul in the Nineteenth Century. Social, Legal and Administrative Transformations, Istanbul: The Isis Press, 1996, 152 p. KEDOURI (Elie), Nationalism, London : Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., 1966, 151 p. KEDOURIE (Elie),"Young Turks, Freemasons, Jews and the Question of Zionism in the Ottoman Empire (1908-1913)", Studies in Zionism, 7, 1986, pp. 199218. KITROEFF (Alexandros), "The Jews of Modern Greece : A Bibliography", in Modern Greek Society : A Social Science Newsletter, vo.14, no.l, 1986, pp.1-52. KITSIKIS, (Dimitris), Ellas kai Xenoi (Greece and Foreigners), Athens : Estia, 1977, 217 p. KOFOS, (Evangelos), "The Macedonian Question : The Politics of Mutation", Balkan Studies, 27,1986, pp. 1-16. KUSHNER (David), editor, Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period; Political, Social and Economic Transformation, Leiden - Jerusalem : E. J. Brill - Yad Ishak Ben Zvi Institute, 1986, 434 p. LAQUEUR (Walter), A History of Zionism, New York, 1972, 640 p. LEVY (Avigdor), The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire, Princeton : The Darwin Press, 1992, 195 p. LEVY (Avigdor), (editor), The Jews of the Ottoman Empire, Princeton : The Darwin Press, 783 p. LEVY (Sam),"Grandeur et décadence du Ladino" Judaïsme Séphardi III, 22 (Aug.Sept.1934) p.112-113; 23 (Oct.1934) p. 144-147. LEWIS (Bernard), The Emergence of Modem Turkey, 2e édition, Oxford : Oxford Un. Press, 1968, 524 p. + cartes. LEWIS (Bernard), The Jews of Islam, Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1984, 245 p.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

291

MAVROGORDATOS (G.) et HADJIOSSIF (H.), Venizelismos ke astikos eksynchronismos (Venizelism and Urban Modernisation ), Iraklion : Panepistimiakes ekdosseis Kritis, 1988, 458 p. MANTRAN (Robert), éd., Histoire de l'Empire ottoman, Paris : Fayard, 1989, 810 PMATKOVSKI (Alexander), A History of the Jews in Macedonia, Skopje : Macedonian Review Editions, 1982, 223 p. MECHOULAM (Henri), éd., Les Juifs d'Espagne : Histoire d'une Diaspora, 14921992, Paris : Editions Liana Levi, 722 p. MOISSIS (Acher), Isagogi is to ikogeniakon dikeon ton en Elladi Israeliton (Introduction to family law of the Greek Jews), Thessalonique : M.Triandafyllou, 1934, 65 p. MOSKOF (Kostis), Isagogika stin Istoria tu kinimatos tis ergatikis taxis (Introduction to the the history of the working class movement in Greece ), Thessaloniki, 1979, 530 p. MOURELOS (Yannis), L'intervention de la Grèce dans la grande guerre (19161917), Athènes : Collection de l'Institut français d'Athènes, 281 p. NAQUET (Pierre-Vidal), Les Juifs, la mémoire et le présent, Paris : La Découverte, 1991, 2 volumes. NEHAMA (Joseph), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid : Institute "Benito Arias Montano", 1977, 609 p. PAPAKYRIAKOU (Kosta), I Antisimite (The Antisemites) Athens, 1960, 64 p. PETSALIS-DIOMIDIS (N.), Greece and the Paris Peace Conference, (1919), Thessaloniki : Institute for Balkan Studies, 1978, 400 p. ROThNSTRKK'H (Nathan), Tradition and Reality. The Impact of History on Modern Jewish Thought, New York : Random House, 1972, 145 p. ROTH (Cccil), The History of the Jews of Italy, Philadelphia : Press of the Jewish Publication Society, 1946, 575 p. SACHAR (Howard), The Course of Modern Jewish History, Cleveland : Dell Publishing Co., 1978, 630 p. SACHAR (Howard), A History of Israel; From the Rise of Zionism to our Time, New York : Alfred A. Knopf , 1982, 887 p. + XLIX p. SEPHIHA (Haim Vidal), L'agonie des Judéo-espagnols, Paris : Entente Editions, 1977, 133 p. SHAW (Stanford) & KARAL SHAW (Ezel), History of the Ottoman Empire and Modem Turkey, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1977, 2 vols. STAVRIANOS, (L.S.), "The Jews of Greece", Journal of Central European Affairs, 8 (1948-49), pp. 256-259. STAVRIANOS (L.S.), The Balkans, 1815-1914, New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1963, 135 p. SVORONOS (Nicolas), Episkopisi tis neoellinikis istorias (History of Modern Greece), Athens : Themelio, 1975, 338 p. TAMIR (Vicki), Bulgaria and her Jews. The History of a Dubious Symbiosis, New York : Sepher Hermon Press, 1979, 353 p. TODOROV (Nikolai), La ville balkanique sous les Ottomans (XV-XIX siecles). Développement socio-économique et démographique, Bucarest : AIESEE, 1980, 495 p. VALENSI (Lucette) et WACHEL (Nathan), Mémoires juives, Paris : Gallimard, 1986, 340 p. WEIKER (Walter), Ottomans, Turks and the Jewish Polity, New York : University Press of America, 369 p.

SALONICA

292

AND

ISTANBUL

YAARI (A.), Reshimat sifrei ladino (Catalogue of Books in Judeo-Spanish in the National Library of Jerusalem), Jerusalem : Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1934, 225 p. YERUSHALMI (Yosef Hayim), Zakhor; Histoire juive et mémoire juive, Paris : La Découverte, 1984, 168 p. II.

Salonica

ABASTADO (Léon), La perle de l'Ege'e, Salonique ce qu'elle fut. Salonique : 1918, 162 p. ABASTADO (Léon), L'Orient qui meurt (Salonique ce qu'elle est), Salonique : Imprim. Acquarone, 1918, 104 p. ABASTADO (Léon), Salonique, pendant la guerre mondiale, Salonique : Imprim. Acquarone, 1918, 176 p. ANASTASSIADOU (Meropi), "Les inventaires après décès de Salonique à la fin du 19ème siècle : source pour l'étude d'une société au seuil de la modernisation", Turcica, tome XXV (1993), pp.97-135. ANASTASSIADOU (Meropi), Salonique, 1830-1912. Une ville à l'âge des Réformes, Leiden-New York-Koln : Brill, 1997, 463 p. AVITSUR (S.), "The woolen textile industry in Saloniki", Sefunot, vol.XVIII (1978), pp.145-168. BOURGE (G.), Salonique port de mer - son avenir, Salonique 1916, 46 p. BRAUDE (Benjamin), "The Rise and Fall of the Salonica Woolens, 1500-1650: Technology, Tranfer and Western Competition", Mediterranean Historical Review, vol.6, no.2, 1994, pp. 216-236. CENTRE DES RECHERCHES SUR LE JUDAÏSME DE SALONIQUE, Salonique Ville-Mère en Israel, Jérusalem - Tel Aviv : Union des Juifs de Grèce (OleYavan), Fonds d'oeuvres culturelles Alcheh, Fonds pour étudiants Léon Récanati, 1967, 358 p. (en hébreu) + 18 p. (en français) CHATZOPOULOS (Konstantinos), Vivliographia tis Thessalonikis - Kinonikos, oikonomikos ke politikos vios techni ke politismos (Bibliography on Thessaloniki - Social, Economic and Political Life - Art and Civilisation), Thessaloniki : Institute for Balkan Studies, 1987, 289 p. CHRISTIANOPOULOS (Dinos), Ellinikes efimierides Thessalonikis epi tourkokratias, 1869-1912 (Greek Newspapers during the Turkish Occupation, 1869-1912), Thessaloniki : Ekdosis Diagoniou, 1992, 45 p. COVO (Mercado), "Etudes Saloniciennes, vieux papiers, vieilles maisons; une lacune qu'il faut combler; imprimeries juives à Salonique au XVIe siècle; de quelques ouvrages de ce temps imprimés à Salonique", (Tiré a part du bulletin Annuel El Maccabeo, Salonique, Août, 1928, 9 p. COVO (Mercado), "Sur les origines de la dispersion d'Israel. Premiers établissements Juifs de Salonique". El Maccabeo, Salonique, 1930, pp. 1319. EMMANUEL (Itshac), Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, tome I (140 av. J. C. Z 1640) avec supplément sur L'Histoire de l'industrie des tissus des Israélites de Salonique, Paris : Lipschutz, 1935- 36, 304 et 67 p. HAMOUDOPOULOS (Ach), Oi Israilitai tis Thessalonikis (The Israelites of Salonica), Athens : Imprimeries du Cercle, 1935, 48 p. Proceedings of the Conference 1-3 November 1985, I Thessaloniki meta to 1912 (Thessaloniki after 1912), Thessaloniki : Kendro Istorias Thessalonikis, 1986, 774 p.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

293

KOKKAS (Panayotis), "I ikogenia Garbola kai i proti elliniki efimerida tis Thessalonikis" (The Garbolas Family and the First Greek Newspaper in Salonica), Makedonika KA', 1981, pp. 222-251. LASKARIS (M.), Salonique à la fin du X Ville siècle d'après les rapports consulaires français, Athènes, 1939, 76 p. LEVY (Sam),"Mes mémoires (œuvres posthumes)" Tesoro de los Judios Sefardies 4(1961) p. V-XXVI, 5(1962) p. XLIV-LXV; 6(1963) p. LII-LXXI; 7(1964) p. LXIX-LXXXV; 8(1965) p. XLV-LXII; 9(1966) p. XLII-LXXIV. Republished in book form as Salonique à la fin du XIXe siècle, Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2000, 136 p. LEVY (Sam), Les Israélites de Salonique; quelques considérations sur les origines et le passé des Juifs de Salonique, Salonique : Le Progrès, 1933, 50 p. MEGAS (Yannis), Souvenir, Images of the Jewish Community, Salonica 18971917, Athens : Kapon, 1993, 190 p. MOLHO (Michael), Usos y costumbres de los Sefardies de Salonica, Madrid : Institute Arias Montano, 1950, 342 p. MOLHO (Michael), In Memoriam. Hommage aux victimes juives des Nazis en Grèce, Thessalonique : Communauté Israélite de Thessalonique, 1973, 468 PMOLHO (Michael), Les Juifs de Salonique à la fin du XVI siècle. Synagogues et patronymes, (publication dirigée par Elie Carasso), Clermont - Ferrand : La Française d'Edition et d'Imprimerie, 1991, 61 p. MOLHO (Michael), "Le judaïsme grec en général et la communauté juive de Salonique en particulier entre les deux guerres mondiales", Homenage à Millas-Vallicrosa, 2, (Barcelona, 1956, pp. 73-107. MOLHO (Rena), Oi evraioi tis Thessalonikis, 1856-1919: inia idiaiteri koinotita., (The Jews of Thessaloniki, 1856-1919 : a unique community), in Greek, Themelio publications, Athens, 2001, 333 p. REUBEN (Mordchai-So!omon),"0 Evraïkos typos sti Thessaloniki kai genikotera stin Ellada"(The Jewish press in Thessaloniki and More Generally in Greece), Chronika I June 1978, pp. 1-20 MORIN (Edgar), Vidal et les siens, Paris : Seuil, 1989, 371 p. NEHAMA (Joseph), "Sabbatai Cevi et les Sabbatéens de Salonique" Revue des Ecoles de l'Alliance Israélite universelle, no. 5, 1902, pp. 289-323. NEHAMA (Joseph), "Les médecins juifs à Salonique", Revue de l'histoire de la médecine hébraïque, vol.VIII, 1951, pp.27-50. NEHAMA (Joseph), "Les bibliothèques juives de Salonique détruites par les Nazis". Les Cahiers Sefardis, 1947, no. 5-6, pp.134-136. NEHAMA (Joseph), Histoire des Israélites de Salonique, Thessalonique : Communauté Israélite de Thessalonique, 1978, 7 vols. PALMER (A.), The Gardeners of Salonica, New York : Simon and Shuster, 1965, 285 p. PETROPOULOS (Ilias), Salonique. L'incendie de 1917, avec un texte de Jacques Lacarrière, Thessaloniki : Barbounakis, 1980, 172 p. RECANATI (David), (edit.) Zikhron Saloniki, La Grandeza y la Destruycion del Yerushalayim del Balkan, Tel Aviv : El Commitato por la Edition del Livro sovre la Communita de Salonica 1972- 1986, Vol. I, 625 p. (in Hebrew) and 50 p. in French, Vol. II, 625 p. (in Hebrew) and 50 p. in French. RISAL (P.), La ville convoitée Salonique, Paris : Perrin et Cie, 1914, 368 p., 2nd éd., Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2001, 180 p.

294

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

ROZEN (Mina), "Contest and Rivalry in the Mediterranean Maritime Commerce in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century : the Jews of Salónica and the European Presence", Revue d'Etude Juives, CXLVII (3-4), July-December 1988, pp. 309-352. ROZEN (Minna), "The Corvee of Operating the Mines in Siderokapsi and its Effects on the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki in the 16th Century" Balkan Studies, vol., 34 (1993) no.l, pp. 29-47. SAIAS (Joseph), La Grèce et les Israélites de Salonique, Paris, 1919, 79 p. SAPORTA Y BEJA (Enrique), Selanik y sus Djudyos; Salonique et ses JudéoEspagnols, Paris, 1979, 65 p. SAPORTA Y BEJA (Enrique), "Le parler judéo-espagnol de Salonique". Tesoro de los Judios Sefardíes, IX (1966), pp.82-89 SCIAKY (Leon), Farewell to Salónica : Portrait of an Era, London : E. H. Allen Ltd., 1946, 213 p., 2nd ed., Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2000, 172 p. SCHIBY (Barouch), "Notes sur les Juifs de Thessalonique". Actas del primer simposio de Estudios Sefardíes, (Madrid, 1-6 de Junio de 1964), Madrid 1970, pp. 91-94, (discusión pp. 378-380). VAKALOPOULOS (Apostólos E.), Istoria tis Thessalonikis (History of Thessaloniki), Thessalôniki, 1983, 449 p. VAKALOPOULOS (Konstantinos), Neoteri istoria tis Makedonias (1830-1912) (Contemporary History Thessaloniki (1830-1912), Thessaloniki : Barbounakis, 1986, 327 p. VEINSTEIN (Gilles), éd., Salonique 1850-1918, La "ville des Juifs" et le réveil des Balkans, 1850-1918, Paris : Autrement, 1992, 294 p. VEINSTEIN (Gilles), "Sur la draperie juive de Salonique (XVIe- XVIIe siècles)", Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée (REMMM), 66, 1992/4, pp. 55-62. III. Demography,

Topography

and

Architecture

ANASTASSIADOU (Meropi), "Yanni, Nikola, Lifder et les autres. Le profil démographique de la population orthodoxe de Salonique à la veille des Tanzimat" Südost Forschungen, 1994, pp. 73-130. DIMITRIADIS, (Vassilis), Topografía tis Thessalonikis kata tin periodo tis Turkokratias, 1430-1912, (Topography of Salónica during the Turcocratia 1430-1912), Thessaloniki : Heteria Makedonikon Spoudon, 1983, 566 p. DIMITRIADIS, (Vassilis), "O plythismos tis Thessalonikis ke i elliniki koinotita tis kata to 1913" (The Population of Salónica and its Greek Community), Makedonika, vol.23/1983, pp. 86-116. DÜBEN (Alan) and BEHAR (Cem), Istanbul Households, Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880-1940, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1991, 276 p. Guide de Salonique, Salonique : L'Indépendant, 1915, 113 p. HADJIOANNOU (Michael), Astygraphia Thessalonikis iti Topographiki perigraphi tis Thessalonikis (Topographical Description of Thessaloniki), Salónica : Imprim. Makedonia, 1880; repr. Editions Nea Poreia, Thessaloniki, 1976, 100 p. KARADIMOU-YEROLYMPOU (Aleka),"Eksynchronismos kai poleodomia sti Thessalôniki tou 19ou aiona" (The Modernisation and City Planning of Thessaloniki in the 19 th century), Proceedings : Panellinio Synedrio Neoklassiki Poli kai Architectoniki (24.12.83), pp. 54-61.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

295

KARPAT (Kemal), Ottoman Population,1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics, Madison : The University of Wisconcin Press, 1985, 242 PKOLONAS (Vassilis) - PAPAMATTHEAKI (Lena), O architektonas Vitaliano Poseli. To ergo tou sti Thessaloniki tou 19ou aiona (The Architect Vitaliano Poseli. His Work in Thessaloniki of the 19th Century), Thessaloniki, 1980, 64 p. LOUKATOS (Spyros), "I evraïki kinotita tis Thcssalonikis messa apo ta tis ellinikes ekthesseis, 1913-1923" (The lewish Community of Thessaloniki in the Greek Reports, 1913-1923), Chronika, 1996/143, pp. 6-18. LOWRY (Heath), "Portrait of a City : The Population and Topography of Ottoman Selanik (Thessaloniki) in the year 1478", in Studies in Defterology : Ottoman Society in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Analecta Isisiana, vol. 4, 1992, pp. 65-99. MCCARTHY (Justin), The Arab World, Turkey and the Balkans, 1878-1914 : a handbook of Historical Statistics, Boston : Mass. G.K. Hall, 1982, xxx + 309 p. McCARTHY (Justin), Muslims and Minorities; The Population of Ottoman Anatolia amd the End of the Empire, New York : New York University Press, 1983, 243 p. MOLHO (Michael), "El cemeterio judio de Salonica verdadero museo epigrafico, historico y arqueologico". Sefarad, IX, 1949, pp. 107- 130. MOLHO (Michael), "Tumbas de Marranos de Salonica", Sefarad XIII,1953, pp. 325-334. MOLHO (Michael), "Dos Necropolis Sobrepuestas en Salonica", Sefarad Vol. XXII, 1962, pp. 1-9. RAKTIVAN (Konstantinos), Engrafa kai simiossis ek tis protis ellinikis dioikisseos tis Makedonias (Documents and Notes of the First Governement in Macedonia), Thessaloniki : Heteria Makedonikon Spoudon, 1951, 118 p. YEROLYMPOU (Aleka), I anikodomissi tis Thessalonikis (The Reconstuction of Thessalonique), Salonica : Dimos Thessalonikis, 1995, 246 p. IV. Institutions

and

Organisations

AMARILLIO (Abr.),"Hevrot sdaka ve hessed" (Welfare and Charitable Institutions), Séfunot, vol.16, 1971/81, pp. 106-133. BENBASSA (Esther), JJn grand rabbin sépharade en politique, 1892-1923, Paris : Presses du CNRS, 1990, 262 p. BAUDIN (Paul), Les Israelites de Constantinople, Constantinople 1872 (réimpression 1989 : Isis), 80 p. DANON (Abraham), "Les communautés juives de Salonique", Revue des Etudes Juives, 1900, vol. 40, pp. 206-230, vol. 41, pp. 98-117, 250-265. Israilitiki Koinotita Thessalonikis, Stoiheia istorias tis Israilitikis koinotitas Thessalonikis (Historical Notes on the Israélites of Thessaloniki), Thessaloniki : Jewish Communauty of Salonica, 1978, 48 p. HABIB (Gabriel), "Mossadot hessed shonim" (Various Welfare Institutions), in Salonique ville-mère d'Israël, Tel Aviv, 1967, pp. 216-217. HABIB (Gabriel), "Beit Holim Hirsch" (The Hirsch Hospital), in Salonique villemére d'Israël, Tel Aviv, 1967, pp. 218-219. PALLIS (Alexandras), Rapport sur la gestion de la Commission centrale de secours aux sinistrés jusqu'à la fin de 1918, Salonique, février 1919, 16 p.

296

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

PERAHIA (J.D.), Las origines de la fundación del Bicur Holim y de la familie Perahia, conferencia hecha el 23 de Noviembre 1952 en la Sociedad de la Hermandad de Salónica, Salonique : Imprimeria Behar 1953, 14 p.

V. Educational

and

Political

Institutions

ALLATINI (Moise), A Sketch of the State of Primary Education Among the Jews of the East and Especially Among the Jews of Salonica, London, 1875, 33 p. (ANONYME),"Statistical Inquiries Sent to Dr. Allatini in Salonica, Respecting the Jewish Schools in That City" Annual Report of the Anglo-Jewish Association (1877), pp. 8-90. ARDITTI, (El.S.), "Le condizioni anormali del Talmud Tora di Salonicco", Vessillo Israelitico 53 (1905) pp. 14-16. BENBASSA (Esther), "L'Ecole de Filles de l'Alliance israélite universelle à Galata, 1879-1912", Histoire, Economie et Société, (4), 4ème trim. 1991, pp. 107-131. BENVENISTE (Anne), "Le rôle des institutrices de l'Alliance à Salonique", Combat pour la Diaspora, no. 8, juin 1982, pp. 13-26. CHOURAQUI (André), Cent ans d'Histoire. L'Alliance israélite universelle et la Renaissance juive contemporaine (1860-1960), Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1965, 528 p. C O V O (Mercado), "Contribution à l'histoire des institutions scolaires de la communauté israélite de Salonique jusqu'à la fondation de l'école de garçons de l'Alliance israélite universelle", Almanach National au profit de l'hôpital Hirsch, vol.VIII, 1916, pp.97-103. GEORGEON (François), "La justice en plus : Les Jeunes-Turcs et la Révolution française", Anka, Revue d'art et de littérature de Turquie, no. 10, été 1990, pp. 21-32. HERTZBERG (Arthur), The French Enlightenment and the Jews, New York : Columbia University Press, 1968, 420 p. Le cinquantenaire de la fondation de l'Alliance israélite universelle à Salonique, Salonique 1910, 16 p. LEVEN (Narcisse), Cinquante ans d'histoire : l'Alliance Israélite universelle (18601910), Paris : Alcan et Guillaumin, 1911-1920, 2 vols. MODIANO, (Léon), Le Judaïsme et l'Alliance Israélite, Salonique, novembre 1901, 36 p. MOLHO (Itzhack), "L'œuvre civilisatrice de l'A.I.U. dans l'ancien Empire ottoman (Salonique)" Les Cahiers de l'Alliance israélite universelle, supplément en langue française du Mahbereth, 14 oct. - déc.1960, pp. 224-331. M O L H O (Rena), "Education in the Jewish Community of Salonica in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century", Balkan Studies, 34/2, 1993, pp. 259-269. REINACH (Solomon), "Lettre de Macédoine. Les Israélites de Salonique au 19éme siècle", Tesoro de los Judios Sefaradies, vol. X, (1967), pp. LXVIII-LXXII. RODRIGUE (Aron), "Jewish Society and Schooling in a Thracian Town: The Alliance Israelite Universelle in Demotica, 1897-1924." Jewish Social Studies, XLV(1983), pp. 263-286. R O D R I G U E (Aron), De l'instruction à l'émancipation : les enseignants de l'Alliance israélite universelle et les Juifs de l'Orient, 1860-1939, Paris : Calmann-Levy, 1989, 237 p.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

297

RODRIGUE (Aron), French Jews, Turkish Jews : The Alliance Israélite universelle and the Politics of Jewish Schooling in Turkey, 1860-1925, Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1990, 235 p. ROMERO (Elena), "El teatro entre los Sefadies orientales", Sefard, 1969-1970, pp. 187-205. VI. Economy

and

Society

ANASTASSIADOU (Meropi), "Artisans juifs à Salonique au début des Tanzimat", Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée (REMMM), 66, 1992/4, pp. 65-72. BENBASSA (Esther) et RODRIGUE (Aron), "L'artisanat juif en Turquie à la fin du XIXe siècle", Turcica, t. XVII, 1985, pp. 113-126 CHRISTODOULOU (Georgios), I Thessaloniki kata tin teleftea ekatontaetia : Emborio - Viomihania - Viotehnia (Thessaloniki During the Last Century : Commerce - Industry - Crafts), Thessaloniki, 1936, 334 p. DUMONT (Paul), "The Social Structure of the Jewish Community of Salonica at the End of the Nineteenth Century", Southeastern Europe/L'Europe du Sud-Est, 5 Pt, 2 (1979), pp. 33-72. HADJIKYRIAKOU, G„ Odigos Makedonias 1909-1910 (Guide of Macedonia, 1909-1910) Athens, 544 p. HEKIMOGLOU (Evangelos), Trapezes ke Thessaloniki, 1900-1936 (Banks and Salonica, 1900-1936), Thessaloniki : 1987, 156 p. HEKIMOGLOU (Evangelos), Ipothessi Modiano ( The Modiano Affair), Salonica, 1991, 67 p. THEMOPOULOU (Emilia), Salonique, 1800-1875 : Conjoncture économique et mouvement commercial, Ph.D. thesis Université de Paris I, Paris, 1994, 1104 p. VII. Jewish Influence in the Social and Political Life in Salonica AVDELA (Efi), "O sosialismos ton 'allon' : Taxikoi agones, ethnotikes singroussis ke taftotites fillou sti meta-othomaniki Thessaloniki" (The Socialism of 'others' ; class conflict, national conflicts and sex identity in Post- Ottoman Salonica) Istorika, 10th year, nos. 18-19, juin-déc. 1993, pp. 171-204. BENAROYA (Avraam), A Note on "The Socialist Federation of Saloniki", Jewish Social Studies, Vol.11, January 1949, pp. 69-72. BENAROYA (Avraam), I proti stadiodromia tou ellinikou proletariatou (The First Stages of the Greek Proletariat) (ed. Angelos Elefantis), Athens : Olkos, 1975, 283 p. BENAROYA (Avraam), Elpides kai planes (Hopes and Deceptions), Athens : Stohastis, 1989, 248 p. BENBASSA (Esther), "L'Alliance israélite universelle et les sionistes en Orient", Pardes, no 12, 1990, pp. 190-195 BENBASSA (Esther), "Presse d'Istanbul et de Salonique au service du sionisme (1908-1914). Les motifs d'une allégeance", Revue historique, 276/2(560), oct.-déc.,1986, pp. 337-365. COFINAS (George), Salonique, son avenir, Athènes, 1913, 38 p. COHEN-RAK (Nicole),"Salonique en 1911 à travers la Solidaridad Ovradera", Revue des études juives, 148, 1989, pp. 477-485 DUMONT (Paul), "Une organisation Socialiste ottomane : la Fédération Ouvrière de Salonique (1908-1912)", Etudes Balkaniques, 1975, No 1, pp. 76-88.

298

SALONICA

AND

ISTANBUL

DUMONT (Paul), "Sources inédites pour l'histoire du mouvement ouvrier et des courants socialistes dans l'Empire ottoman au début du XXe siècle", Etudes Balkaniques (Sofia), 1978, no. 3, pp. 16-34. DUMONT (Paul),"La Fédération Socialiste Ouvrière de Salonique à l'époque des guerres balkaniques", East European Quarterly, vol. XIV, no. 4, hiver 1980, pp. 383-410. DUMONT (Paul),"La franc-maçonnerie d'obédience française à Salonique au début du XXe siècle", Turcica, XVI (1984), pp. 65-94. DUMONT (Paul),"Un organe sioniste à Istanbul : la Nation, 1919-1920", Turkiye de Yabanci Dilde Basin : "La presse de langue étrangère en Turquie", nos.16-17-18, Mayis 1984, Istanbul 1985, pp. 191-225. GELBER, (Nathan M.) , "An Attempt to Internationalize Salonica, 1912-1913", Jewish Social Studies, vol.17, 1955, pp. 105-120. GUERON (Astruc), Salonique et son avenir, Sofia, 1913, 48 p. KENDRO MARXISTIKON EREVNON, I socialism organossi (Fédération) tis Thessalonikis, 1908-1918 (L'organisation socialiste (Fédération) de Thessalonique 1909-1918), Athènes : Synchroni Epochi, 1989, 312 p. KITSIKIS, (Dimitris), Propagande et pressions en politique internationale ; la Grèce et ses revendications à la Conférence de la Paix (1919-1920), Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1963, 531 p. LEON (George), "The Greek Labor Movement", The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, Vol. IV, No. 4, Winter 1978, pp. 5-28 LIAKOS (Antonis), I socialistiki Ergatiki Omospondia tis Thessalonikis (Fédéracion) ke i socialistiki néoléa. Ta katastatika tous (The Workers' Socialist Organisation of Thessaloniki (Fédération) and the Socialist Youth.), Thessaloniki : Paratiritis, 1985, 164 p. MACCAS (Leon), La Grèce et les Israélites, Athènes, 1913, 55 p. MATALON (David), Pour le congrès juif de Salonique, imprimé par l'imprimerie El Avenir Salonique, 1917 pp. 16. MOLHO (Rena), "Venizelos and the Jewish Community of Salonica", Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, 13 (3-4) autumn-winter 1986, pp.113-123. MOLHO (Rena), "The Jewish Community of Salonica and its Incorporation into the Greek State, 1912-1919", Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 24, (octobre 1988), no.4, pp. 391-403. MOLHO (Rena), "Salonique après 1912. Les propagandes étrangères et la Communauté juive", Revue historique, (581), janvier-mars 1992, pp. 127140. MOLHO (Rena), "Popular Antisemitism and State Policy in Salonica during the City's Annexation to Greece", Jewish Social Studies, vol. L, nos. 3-4, Summer-Fall 1988/1993, pp. 253-264. NORDAU (Max), "Les Israélites de Salonique", Makedonika (collection I. Petrof), 1914, pp. 363-370. REUB EN - MORDEHAI, (Shelomo), "Hatnua hatzionit be Salonica"(The Zionist Movement in Salonica), in Zvi ANKORI, éd., Yehudei Yavan le- Dorotam: Pirsumei ha-Katedrah le Historiah ve-Tarbut shel Yehudei Saloniki veYavan, (The Jews of Greece in the Long Duration), 4 vol. Tel Aviv : University of Tel Aviv, 1984, pp. 85-106. SLOUCZ, (Nahum), "Antisémitisme et sionisme en Turquie", Revue du Monde Musulman, 9, 1910, pp. 174-177. STARR (Joshua),"The Socialist Federation of Saloniki", Jewish Social Studies, VII (1945), pp. 323-326. TODOROVITZ (Milan), Salonique et la question balkanique, Paris, 1913, 53 p.