Page 11 - FINAL catalogue.cdr

history

1912 - 1945

The emigration of many members of the Jewish community of Rhodes combined
with the new Italian administration led to better living conditions for the Jews of
Rhodes. The educational system was modernised, commercial activity was
revitalised, and culture acquired an Italian hue. The Treaty of Lausanne, signed
in 1923, was in effect the death warrant of the Ottoman Empire and Rhodes was
handed over to Italy, becoming Italian territory and wholly subjected to Italian
law. The Italian government looked upon the Jews as an instrumental part of
society and made full use of their abilities, be they in languages, the professions,
economics or social activity.
Things gradually began to change, as fascism began to prevail in Italy and
National Socialism took hold in Europe. Restrictive measures were immediately
taken against Jews on Italian territory and therefore on Rhodes too. A curfew
was imposed, travel restricted, Jewish children were expelled from schools, the
Rabbinical College of Rhodes was closed down, Saturday was no longer a day of
rest. These were just some of the measures imposed on Rhodes by Governor de
Vecchi, as early as December 1936. He made no secret of his intention to sever
diplomatic links with the Jewish Community by absenting himself from the
customary visit of all non-Jewish civic leaders to the synagogue as part of the
Jewish New Year celebrations. In 1938 approximately a hundred and three
families who had settled on Rhodes after 1919 were ordered to leave the island. .
Ταυτότητα της Σάρα Μπενβενίστε, το γένος Αροτζιέτι, The special office of the Carabinieri in Rhodes surveilled the members of the
που εκδόθηκε για τη μετανάστευσή της στη Νέα Υόρκη Jewish community and recorded their personal data and information on their
το 1939.
Immigration Identification Card (green card), of Sara businesses, communal networks and political behaviour in secret files, marked
Benveniste, née Aroghetti, which allowed her to with the note 'Di razza ebraica'. The situation improved somewhat when the
emigrate to New York in 1939. administration of the Dodecanese was put in the hands of admiral Campione in
1942.
During the Second World War Rhodes remained under the Italians until 1943.
Despite the restrictive measures taken against the Jews, from 1940 onwards, Jewish refugees were therefore able to find shelter on
the island of Rhodes before continuing their journey to Palestine. However, after Italy surrendered to the allies, allied
procrastination resulted in the Dodecanese being taken over by the Germans. The Germans made their appearance on Rhodes on
11.9.1943. Approximately one year later, on 19th July 1944, after the imposition of ever-tighter regulations and restrictions, the
German commanding officer, colonel Kleeman, massed all the Jews in local
Gestapo offices and confiscated their property. Thanks to the intervention of
Selahattin Űlkűmen, the Turkish Consul at that time, about fifty people were
saved because they had, or had previously had, Turkish nationality. Four days
later, 1973 Jews of Rhodes and 100 Jews from the neighbouring island of Cos
were shipped off to Piraeus. At the end of September 1944, they were taken from
there to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where yet another flourishing Sephardic
community of the Mediterranean was to be decimated.

Κατάλογος Ροδιτών Εβραίων
με τουρκική υπηκοότητα, οι
οποίοι διέφυγαν τον
εκτοπισμό στα στρατόπεδα
συγκέντρωσης με τη
μεσολάβηση του Τούρκου
προξένου Σ. Ουλκουμέν.
List of Rhodian, Jews with
Φωτογραφικά στιγμιότυπα από την απόβαση των Turkish citizenship, who
γερμανικών στρατευμάτων στη Ρόδο, δημοσιευμένα τον escaped the deportations to
Αύγουστο του 1943, στο περιοδικό 'Die Wermacht'. the concentration camps,
Photographs from the landing of the German troops on thanks to the intervention of
Rhodes, published, in August 1943, in the periodical 'Die the Turkish consul, S.
Wermacht'. Ülkümen.