Greek Boys Clothes: Minorities


Figure 1.--The Benveniste family in Thessaloniki was photographed in 1904. The clothing style of the boy is different that those of the other Greek boys living in Greece or Ottoman Empire at the same time. The boy wears a sailor suit and the rest of the family is dressed in very Western styles.

There are two important minorities in Greece which have in the past worn destinctine dress. The Jewish community was very important prior to the German invasion in 1941 after which many Greek Jews were deported to NAZI death camps. There was also a Muslim minority resulting from years of Ottoman rule. Many Turks in Greece were excanged with Greeks in Turkey during the 1920s in forced repatriations. There continyes, however to be a small Turkish minority in Greece.

Jews

The indigenous Jewish communities of Greece are the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. It was in Greek comminities (in modern Greece and Turkey) within the Roman Empire that St. Paul preached the Gospel to Jewish communities. This was before the Jewish Revolt and resulting Roman supression of the Jews in Palestine (66-70 AD). More Jews settled in Greece (at the time part of the Ottoman Empire) after their expulsion from European Christian kingdoms. Many of the Sephardic Jews from Spain found shelter in the Ottoman Empire. Many of these Jews settled in Greece which at the time was contolled by the Ottomans and Greek areas of Anatolia. The Ottoman policy was to allow Jews to set up community institutions like schools and hospitals. When Greece became independent (1830s) they allowed this practice to continue. They follow the same policy when after the Balkan Wars (1910s) they obtained Thessalonnika (a European are of the Ottoman Empire in what is now northeastern Greece. The NAZIs succeeded in almost entirely destroying these communities. At that time, the Germans occupied Greece, there were about 76,000 Jews in the country. Most or about 55,000 were in Salonika in the German occupation zone. There were 6,000 Jews in western Thrace under Bulgaria and 13,000 Jews in the Italian zone. The process of the Holcaust was thus affected by which occupation zone the Jews lived.

Muslims

There was also a Muslim minority resulting from years of Ottoman rule. Many Turks in Greece were excanged with Greeks in Turkey during the 1920s in forced repatriations. There continyes, however to be a small Turkish minority in Greece.








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Created: May 28, 2002
Last updated: May 28, 2002