Page 13 - FINAL catalogue.cdr

history

1945 - present day

When the Second World War ended, Rhodes did not resemble
the pre-war “Little Jerusalem” anymore.
The island's Jewish community counted its tragic losses.
Immediately after the war those who had escaped
transportation on account of their Turkish nationality, 50
people in all, left the island for Turkey, Palestine or places
like Africa or the USA, common destinations among
emigrants from Rhodes.
A mere 160 people returned from the death camps, and they
had to struggle against all the post-war hardships, financial
difficulties, social hardships, and above all, psychological
trauma.
The Dodecanese became part of the Greek State in 1948 and
in the early 1960's the Central Board of Jewish Communities
in Greece was instrumental in encouraging and supporting
twenty Jewish families to settle on Rhodes. Consequently the
community was re-established under the presidency of M.
Soriano, son of the community's pre-war president.
In spite of this, numbers fell significantly in the early 1970s
and as a result, the community ceased to be a civil law legal
entity. As a non-active community it found itself in the hands
of a three-member management committee consisting of one
person from Rhodes and two people appointed by the Central
Board of Jewish Communities.
Today there are thirty-nine Jewish people on the island. The
synagogue opens in the summer months when there are
hundreds of thousands of visitors on the island, including
many Jews from all over the world. The monuments, and the
Kahal Kadosh Shalom Synagogue in particular, serve as
Ο Ροδίτης Ρομπέρτος Χασσών, δεύτερος πηληκιοφόρος από τα αριστερά, reminders of the life that was, as do archaeological remains
ο οποίος διέφυγε του εκτοπισμού και υπηρέτησε σε αντιτορπιλικό του
Ελληνικού Ναυτικού από τις 23.11.1943 μέχρι τις 31.10.1945. of smaller synagogues and houses of prayer being brought to
Rhodesli Roberto Hasson, second from left, wearing his cap, who escaped light as the Department of Archaeology conducts work in the
the deportations and served on board a destroyer of the Greek Navy from old city of Rhodes. The Jewish cemetery with its notable
23.11.1943 until 31.10.1945. gravestones, some of them dating from the late 16th c., stands
a silent witness of the centuries-long past of the community.

Ο Ζακ Χασσών από τη
Ρόδο (δεξιά), μετά την
απελευθέρωσή του
από το στρατόπεδο
Μαουτχάουζεν, Ρώμη
1945.
Jacques Hasson from
Rhodes (right), after his
liberation from
Mauthausen, in Rome
1945.

Ο Ρομπέρτος Χασσών
κατά τη θητεία του στο
Ελληνικό Βασιλικό
Ναυτικό, Σεπτέμβριος-
Οκτώβριος 1944.
Roberto Hasson during
his service at the Greek
Royal Navy,
September-October
1944.