Page 37 - FINAL catalogue.cdr

everyday life
professional activity
Η Άννα Κοέν στο μικροσκοπικό κατάστημα όπου έφτιαχνε και πουλούσε
χαλκογραφίες, πλατεία Ιπποκράτους 14, Ρόδος 1971.
Anna Cohen at the tiny shop where she used to make and sell copper engravings,
14 Ippokratous square , Rhodes 1971.
Ο Σίμων και η Στέλλα Κοέν στο κατάστημα
όπου πουλούσαν μπλουζάκια
και τουριστικά είδη στην πλατεία Εβραίων
Μαρτύρων 32, Ρόδος 1976.
Simon and Stella Cohen at their T- shirt and
tourist wares shop at 32
Square of the Jewish Martyrs, Rhodes 1976.
Since the 13th c., work was a man's domain in the Jewish
community of Rhodes. Depending on their social
background, Jews may have been weapons manufacturers,
physicians, craftsmen, carpenters, bookbinders, tanners or
silk farmers. After the Sephardic settlement in the 16th c.,
two main professional areas flourished; trade and textiles-
related occupations, ranging from the production of
expensive fabrics and clothes to marketing and trading in
them. The textiles industry picked up tremendously when
Jewish weavers from Thessaloniki settled on Rhodes at the
end of the 16th c.
Most of the trade on Rhodes was in the hands of Jewish
shopkeepers or peddlers who dominated the market place in
their long, dark overcoat, the Tzoube, and pointed, yellow
shoes. The import-export trade was mainly in the hands of
Jews and catered for the needs of nearby islands, as well as
the markets of mainland Turkey and the Middle East. The
main trading goods were groceries, wine, perfumes, fabrics
and jewellery. The Jews successfully applied themselves to
winemaking from very early on, for both religious and
financial reasons. They frequently sold their wine direct to
the public in the taverns they kept.
As moneychangers, moneylenders and tax collectors, the
Jews of Rhodes were already an important factor in
financing even in the 18th c. In the 19th c., the island's four
privately owned Jewish bank, played an important role in
the local economy. They were all lucrative enterprises and
provided employment for Jews and non-Jews alike.
The early 20th c. was marked by widespread economic
depression. At least 280 of the island's Jewish families faced
poverty, and the middle class had to turn to manual
occupations like cobbling, woodcarving and metalworking,
but also tavern keeping. There were community employees
too, like the cantor or the ritual slaughterer. In post-war
years, while efforts to boost numbers in the Rhodes
community were underway, Jewish-owned shops opened
again. Some of them still survive and serve as reminders of
the Jewish trade, which once flourished here.