Jews of Rhodes. Eclipse of a Community. 1944-2024

Emigrants before deportation

In the decades prior to the deportation large swathes of the Jewish community of Rhodes emigrated abroad, leading to the creation of small communities of Rhodian Jews in various countries around the world.

View the map to discover the main destinations of the emigrants:

Planisfero del 1947, compilata e disegnata dalla American Geographical Society per il Dipartimento di Stato (American Geographical Society, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Argentina
Buenos Aires

Brazil

Canada

Belgian Congo
Costermansville
Elizabethville
Leopoldville
Jadotville
Stanleyville

France
Paris

Italy
Milan
Rome

Belgium
Bruxelles

Palestine
Jerusalem

Rhodesia
Salisbury

Spain

United States of America
Los Angeles
New York
Seattle
Atlanta

South Africa
Capetown
Johannesburg

Turkey

World map of 1947, compiled and drawn by the American Geographical Society for the Department of State (American Geographical Society, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

In fact, migration was already common during the time of the Ottoman Empire and rooted in the very characteristics of the Dodecanese islands, an important trade hub.

In an interview given after her release, Lucia Franco, who was born in Rhodes on 17 June 1921 and moved to Kos with her father Hizkià Behor, her mother Rosa Galante and brothers Morris, Salvatore, Nissim and Davide, recalls her father’s trade dealings and the fate of her brothers. Apart from her and Davide, the others escaped deportation by emigrating to Rhodesia and South Africa.

Interview with Lucia Franco by Marcello Pezzetti, Brussels, May 12th, 2004 (CDEC Foundation Archive, Fund Archivio della Memoria)

Israel Fintz Rhodesia
Israel Fintz with a colleague in Rhodesia in 1932. (CDEC Foundation Archive, Menascé Fintz Ester Fund)
Nozze Lucia Leon Salisbury
Lucia Leon's wedding in Salisbury, Rhodesia on December 16th, 1934. (CDEC Foundation Archive, Menascé Fintz Ester Fund)

The labour market in the Italian Islands of the Aegean was rather limited, especially after the international economic crisis of 1929. Migrations therefore intensified in the 1930s with many young men leaving in an attempt to improve the economic conditions of their family, to become independent and to start their own families, often in the countries of destination.

Some, especially those belonging to wealthier families, left the Dodecanese to pursue their studies at French or Italian universities.

In a 2004 interview, Alice Tarica, deported from Rhodes with her entire family, of which she is the only survivor, tells the story of her sister Sol Tarica. Having left at 18 to pursue her studies in Paris, she decided to return to Rhodes, a choice supported by her uncle, in the misguided belief that the island was a safer place than the French capital, where the effects of anti-Semitism and Nazism were already being felt. Sol was deported, together with all her family and the rest of the community, on 23 July 1944.

The severe Italian Racial laws of 1938 soon extended to the Dodecanese, resulting in restrictions on property, expulsion from schools and public employment, and other oppressive measures that inflicted another very heavy blow to the economy of Jewish families on the islands.

Many families in the Jewish community fell into this category.

Shimon Israel, son of Nissim and Signorù Hazan, had five brothers and sisters, in order: Amélie, Berta, Josué, Jacques and Matilde. As the family grew, Nissim struggled to support it, leading him to leave for the USA where some of his wife’s relatives help him find work as a labourer or errand boy. The aim was to relocate the entire family but at the last minute Signorù refused to leave her sick mother and the project fell through.

Having turned sixteen, Shimon felt he had to do his part to help the family and after a period working in Rhodes, he left for the Congo in 1928. He left with other men from the Jewish community of Rhodes: four friends, with whom he shared the entire journey, and some adults who already lived in Congo and had returned to visit their families.

By ship from Rhodes to Brindisi in 1928
By ship from Rhodes to Brindisi in 1928. From left standing Shimon Israel, Ruben Franco and Yair Pisanti; seated Hillel Franco, Giuseppe Franco, Assael Bero and Abramo Alhadeff. (Basset, V. - Israel, S. (1993). «Shimon. Enfant de Rhodes et "Roi du Kasai"». S.N.)

Arriving in Brindisi, the group travelled by train to Paris and from there to Brussels, where Shimon had relatives, the reason his father had chosen this tortuous journey for him. From Brussels they then travelled to London and from there to Southampton where they embarked on a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean: stopping in Madeira, they then continued along the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. The last stage took them by train to Elizabethville, where at the station Shimon remembers a crowd of relatives, cousins and friends who had come to greet the newcomers.

In 1937 he was joined by his sister Bertha and then by Josuè. Shimon then tried to get his parents to come, but as his mother was now very ill, they asked him to take their eldest daughter Amélie, her husband and their two children in their place, with the latter arriving in 1939. The last to leave for the Congo was Jacques. Matilde remained in Rhodes to look after her mother and was deported together with her father on 23 July 1944.

Stella Levi, also deported, was the youngest child of Jehuda Levi and Miriam Notrica and had six older siblings: Morris, Selma, Felicie, Sara, Victor and Renée. Her brother Morris had already emigrated to the United States with her aunt and uncle six years before she was born in 1926. In 1930 Selma married and emigrated to New York and in 1936 she was joined by Sara. In 1939 Victor emigrated to the Belgian Congo. The last to depart was Felicie, who moved to New York in 1940.

The culture of emigration was so deeply rooted in the upbringing of the new generations that even children like Stella saw it as their destiny:

There were many families, especially the larger ones, in which the youngest siblings were born after the eldest had already emigrated abroad.

Alberto Israel was the youngest child of Rahamim Israel and Signorù Halfon and had seven older siblings: Daniel Bohor, Regina (Malka), Asher, Salvo, Elie, Aron, Giovanna and Alberto. Daniel Bohor left in 1925 for the Belgian Congo, Asher left in 1927, Salvo in 1935 and Malka in 1937. When Daniel returned to Rhodes in 1935 to get married, eight-year-old Alberto met his brother for the first time. He would meet his brother Asher for the first time only after the Shoah.

Interview with Alberto Israel by Marcello Pezzetti, Brussels, [2004] (CDEC Foundation Archive, Fund Archivio della Memoria)

Wedding procession of Daniel Bohor Israel and Julia Hasson in Calle Ancha in Rhodes in 1935 (Rhodes Jewish Historical Foundation Archives; Retrieved from: www.rhodesjewishmuseum.org)

It was thanks to this and the families that were built away from the Italian Islands of the Aegean that part of the Rhodian community escaped deportation, preserving the traditions and the memory of Rhodian Judaism for the future.

The young men who left to make their fortunes abroad continued to uphold the tradition of marrying women from Rhodes’ Jewish community. Some were joined by their brides-to-be in the country to which they had emigrated following long-distance engagements, while others, particularly if they had the chance, returned to Rhodes to celebrate their union in the Jewish quarter before starting their own family in their new country of residence.

Exploring the Monument

The names, listed in alphabetical order, are arranged in 10 horizontal layers corresponding to their ages on 23 July 1944, thus visualizing the demographic makeup of the community: 0-9 years | 10-19 years | 20-29 years | 30-39 years | 40-49 years | 50-59 years | 60-69 years | 70-79 years | 80-89 years | age unknown.

The names of those who survived deportation are shown in a different colour, highlighting their very limited number.

Using the zoom tool will allow you to zoom out for a broader view of the number of deportees and zoom in to see each individual name.

Use the + / – buttons to zoom in and out. Swipe or use the arrows to scroll left or right.

Hover over a name to show a text box with that person’s basic information file: the ‘learn more’ button will open the page dedicated to the name selected.

The magnifying glass icon indicates a search tool that will allow you to enter a name, which will then be highlighted on the Monument.