Long roots · Greece · Before 1912
Different languages and histories shaped communities that national stereotypes later flattened.
Explore GreecePublished by WTJPublication updated
Before 1912
Long roots · More than one Jewish Greece
Different languages and histories shaped communities that national stereotypes later flattened.
Greek-speaking Jewish life
Romaniote Jewish communities developed in the Greek-speaking world long before the arrival of Sephardic refugees from Spain. Their language and religious traditions were locally rooted. Calling all Jews foreign newcomers erases this history and mistakes religious difference for absence of belonging.
Salonika’s Sephardic world
After the expulsions from Iberia, Sephardic Jews established a large community in Ottoman Salonika. Judeo-Spanish became an important language of everyday life. Jewish residents worked in varied occupations and helped shape the city. Their history was embedded in its port, neighbourhoods and institutions.
A border changes the belonging question
Salonika became part of Greece in 1912. A community established under Ottoman rule now lived within a Greek national state. Debates about language, citizenship and national identity could recast familiar local residents as outsiders. A new border did not erase their earlier lives in the city.