Jewish Salonica : between the Ottoman Empire and modern Greece / Devin E. Naar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Naar, Devin E., author.

Series:

Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture.

Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sephardim--Greece--Thessalonik--History--19th century.

Sephardim.

Sephardim--Greece--Thessalonik--History--20th century.

Turkey--History--Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918.

Turkey.

Greece--History--1917-1944.

Greece.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (398 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Touted as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans," the Mediterranean port city of Salonica (Thessaloniki) was once home to the largest Sephardic Jewish community in the world. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the city's incorporation into Greece in 1912 provoked a major upheaval that compelled Salonica's Jews to reimagine their community and status as citizens of a nation-state. Jewish Salonica is the first book to tell the story of this tumultuous transition through the voices and perspectives of Salonican Jews as they forged a new place for themselves in Greek society. Devin E. Naar traveled the globe, from New York to Salonica, Jerusalem, and Moscow, to excavate archives once confiscated by the Nazis. Written in Ladino, Greek, French, and Hebrew, these archives, combined with local newspapers, reveal how Salonica's Jews fashioned a new hybrid identity as Hellenic Jews during a period marked by rising nationalism and economic crisis as well as unprecedented Jewish cultural and political vibrancy. Salonica's Jews—Zionists, assimilationists, and socialists—reinvigorated their connection to the city and claimed it as their own until the Holocaust. Through the case of Salonica's Jews, Naar recovers the diverse experiences of a lost religious, linguistic, and national minority at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East.

Contents:

Contents; List of Figures and Maps; Preface; Acknowledgments; Notes on Transliteration; Introduction: Is Salonica Jewish?; 1. Like a Municipality and a State: The Community; 2. Who Will Save Sephardic Judaism?: The Chief Rabbi; 3. More Sacred than Synagogue: The School; 4. Paving the Way for Better Days: The Historians; 5. Stones that Speak: The Cemetery; Conclusion: Jewish Salonica: Reality, Myth, Memory; Archival Abbreviations; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781503600096

1503600092

OCLC:

1198931178