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The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki: an Exploration of Memory and Identity in a Mediterranean City

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The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki: an Exploration of Memory and Identity in a Mediterranean City THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THESSALONIKI: AN EXPLORATION OF MEMORY AND IDENTITY IN A MEDITERRANEAN CITY Bea Lewkowicz A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London School of Economics University of London December, 1999 UMI Number: U615861 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615861 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Library Srrtrs^ Ubrwy of f^ o c a i \0 % oOW* 2 The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki: An Exploration of Memory and Identity in a Mediterranean City ABSTRACT This study is an ethnographic account of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki and a description and analysis of oral histories gathered during my fieldwork in 1994. The thesis looks at the intersection of history, memory, and identity by analysing how identities and memories are shaped by historical experiences and how identities shape memories of historical experiences. Thessaloniki has undergone tremendous changes in the twentieth century. The demographic, political, and architectural landscape has radically altered. In the context of my thesis, the most relevant changes concern the ethnic and religious composition of Thessaloniki's population, the city’s incorporation into the Greek nation-state (1912), the subsequent introduction of nationalism, and the annihilation of 48,000 Salonikan Jews during the Second World War. The thesis explores how these historical changes and ‘events’ are represented in individual narratives of Jews in Thessaloniki and in the realm of Jewish communal memory, how these historical changes have affected the formulations of Jewish communal and individual identity and memory, and how Jewish memory relates to the general landscape of memory in contemporary Greece. In chapters one and two, I discuss the theoretical framework and methodology of this thesis. Discussions on ethnicity, nationalism, memory, and certain themes of the ‘anthropology of Greece’ form the theoretical background of this study. The methodology applied consists of ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviewing. Chapter three presents a historical overview of the history of Thessaloniki and its Jewish community, and discusses the position of minorities in contemporary Greece. I describe the current structure and organisation of the community and look at some demographic developments of the Salonikan Jewish population in chapter four. I then proceed to a detailed account of the interviews which constitutes the main part of the thesis. Chapter five deals with the pre-war past, chapters six and seven with the experience of the war, and chapter eight with the post-war period. In chapter nine I look at perception of boundaries and notions of 'us’ and ‘them’ among Salonikan Jews. In the conclusions, I examine the changes of post-war Jewish memorial practices in the context of the changing 'memory -scape' of the city of Thessaloniki. 3 to my parents and in memory of Alexander and Margit Friedmann Moses and Regina Lewkowicz 4 CONTENTS List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... 9 List of Maps and Photographs............................................................................................10 Note on The Use of Names and Translation......................................................................12 Acknowledgments ...............................................................................................................13 Introduction................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter One: Outline.................................................................................................. 23 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................23 2. Thematic and Theoretical Overview ..........................................................................23 3. Previous Research on the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki ................................29 4. Research Plan and Research Questions......................................................................33 5. Methodology: Fieldwork and Interviews ....................................................................35 5.1 What is Fieldwork? ...................................................................................................... 35 5.2 My Fieldwork Journey ................................................................................................. 37 5.3 The Interviews and the Profile of the Interviewees ................................................... 40 5.4 The Post-Fieldwork Process ........................................................................................43 6. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................45 Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework..................................................................... 47 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................47 2. Culture, Ethnicity, and Identity ...................................................................................47 3. Nationalism, Minorities, and the State.............................................................................51 4. Memory ..........................................................................................................................55 4.1 Halbwachs and his Successors .....................................................................................56 5 4.2 Oral History and Life Histories ................................................................................... 62 4.3 Cultural Recall, Memory, and Trauma........................................................................64 5. The Anthropology of Greece....................................................................................... 67 6. Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 73 Chapter Three: The Historical and Political Background: Thessaloniki, Greece, and the Jews......................................................................................................... 75 1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................75 2. The History of Thessaloniki and the Jewish Community: An Overview ...................75 3. Contemporary Issues: Citizenship, Nationalism, Religion, and Minorities in Greece...............................................................................................................................89 4. Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 97 Chapter Four: The Contemporary Jewish Community: Organization, Activities, and Demography..............................................................................................98 1. Introduction...................................................................................................................98 2. The Jewish Community and its Institutions............................................................... 99 2.1 The Kinotita (Community) ..........................................................................................102 2.2 The Synagogues and the Jewish Cemetery .................................................................104 2.3 The Jewish Primary School and Nursery ....................................................................106 2.4 The Kataskinosi (Summer Youth Camp)...................................................................108 2.5 The Saul Modiano Home for the Elderly ...................................................................109 3. Demographic Developments.......................................................................................I l l 3.1 Age Structure................................................................................................................112 3.2 Weddings...................................................................................................................... 116 4. Conclusion....................................................................................................................118 6 Chapter Five: Narratives of 'Distant' and 'Close' Pasts............................................ 119 1. Introduction................................................................................................................... 119 2. The General Background of the Interviewees .............................................................119 3. A Chronology of the Past in the light of the Present ...................................................120 4. “We all came from Spain”...........................................................................................
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