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<GREEK INDEPENDENCE (1821) - WORLD WAR II (1940)
[1821: Greek "Christian" rebel massacres on the Jews - Jewish flight to Corfu]
With the outbreak of the Greek revolt in 1821 Greek Jewry suffered intensively because of its support of and loyalty to Ottoman rule. In those towns where the rebels gained the upper hand, the Jews were murdered after various accusations had been leveled against them. In the massacre of the Peloponnesus 5,000 Jews lost their lives; the remainder fled (col. 876)
to Corfu. From that time the condition of the Jews who lived among the Greeks, even within the boundaries of Turkish rule, began to deteriorate. From time to time there were blood libels, such as in Rhodes (Turkish until 1912; Italian until 1947) in 1840.
[1891: pogroms and anti-Semitism - flight of the Jews to Italy, Turkey, and Egypt]
In 1891 disorders broke out on the Greek islands; the Jews left in panic. During the same year there was also a blood libel in Corfu (Greek, from 1864). The Jews on the island, as well as on the neighboring island of Zante, were attacked. About 1,500 Jews left the Greek islands and settled in Italy, Turkey, and Egypt.
[1897: pogroms and anti-Semitism - flight of a big part of the Jews to Salonika]
Even the active participation of the Jewish citizens of Greece in the war against Turkey in 1897 was not mentioned in their favor; with the end of the hostilities in Thessaly, anti-Jewish riots broke out and an important part of the Jewish population was compelled to seek refuge in Salonika.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were about 10,000 Jews in Greece.
After the Balkan War (1912-13), with the annexation of further territories, which included Salonika, Chios, Crete (1908), Epirus, Kavalla, and Phlorina (1908), their numbers grew to 100,000.
[[There is no indication in the Encyclopaedia Judaica about World War I and about the Greek invasion under the order of the League of Nations and the national fight under Atatürk against the Greek army 1919-1923]].
[Greece after 1923: Greeks coming from Turkey are new competitors to the Jews in Salonika]
After the population exchanges between Turkey and Greece as a result of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and the arrival in Salonika of 100,000 Greeks from Anatolia, the status of the Jews deteriorated because of the increased competition in commerce and the crafts. Many Jews were compelled to leave the city. On the other hand, the economic position of the Jews in the provincial towns of Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and the islands did not arouse the jealousy of their neighbors.
Until World War II the situation of the Jews in Greece was a satisfactory. They controlled the markets of paper, textiles, medicines, glassware, ironware, wood, and hides, and were also represented in heavy industry, international commerce, and banking. Many Jews were also employed in manual labor as stevedores, coachmen, and fishermen, as well as in various handicrafts. The number of Jews in Greece on the eve of World War II was 77,000.
[[Probably there was a Jewish emigration to the "USA" as it was also from other Eastern Europe countries]].
Civic and Cultural Conditions of the Jews.
[1821: Principal political equality - 1882: legal status and responsibilities - high cultural level on Corfu only]
Greece recognized the civic and political equality of the Jews from the time of its establishment as a modern state in 1821. In 1882 legal status was granted to the Jewish communities. This status was confirmed on various occasions when laws defining the privileges and obligations of the communities were passed. The community councils, which were elected by general suffrage, were responsible for the religious, educational, and social affairs.
At the beginning of the 20th century the Alliance Israélite Universelle still maintained a number of Jewish schools in Greece. The Jewish schools were attached to the communities and did not have any attachment to religious or political trends. Jewish children attended the state schools and the religious studies were entrusted to hazzanim [[cantors]], who (col. 877)
were content to teach the prayers in their traditional tunes.
It was only in Corfu that the religious studies were of a higher standard. In those regions which were under Turkish rule until 1912, such as Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus, there was a Jewish school in every community which was supported by the Alliance. The greatest concentration of Jewish schools was in Salonika.
Between the two world wars there were 12 Jewish schools founded by the community, institutions of the Alliance, as well as private schools.
In 1931 a law was passed which prohibited children of Greek nationality from attending foreign schools before they had completed their elementary education. This came as a fatal blow to the Alliance schools; the institutions of the Alliance amalgamated with the community schools in 1935. The Italians opened a seminary for the training of rabbis and teachers of Jewish subjects on the island of Rhodes, but it closed in 1938.> (col. 878)
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