Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv
A Jewish community existed in Salonika as early as the first century B.C.E. In 1680, Jews from various cities of Greece, Germany Spain, Italy Portugal and province established in the city a single community headed by a council of three rabbis and seven notables. During the Greek period the community experienced a decline. In 1917 a fire destroyed most of Salonika and the 50,000 Jews left homeless were not permitted to return to their homes. Large numbers of Jews emigrated in the 1920s and 1930s because of the fire, unfavorable laws and antisemitism. In 1935, there were nearly 60,000 Jews in Salonika. Between 1941 and 1944, Salonika was occupied by the Nazis. About 95 % of the Jewish population was deported and exterminated, most of them in Auschwitz. The Nazi seized Salonika on April 9, 1941 and April 15, 1941, the entire leadership of Jewish community was arrested.
Copyright Holder: Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv
72 microfilm reels (partial), 16 mm approximately 149,000 digital images, JPEG
Fond 1428 (1844-1941). Opis 1; Dela 297. The collection's contents are not systematized, although many files have been grouped together by subjects. The files were not microfilmed in fond order. Selected records arranged in six series: 1. Registration documents; 2. Records on religious life; 3. Correspondence; 4. Records relating to Jewish refugees from Western and Eastern Europe; 5. Materials belonging to other collections; 6. Printed materials. Note: Location of digital images; Partial microfilm reels #196-199, 687-755; Reel 196: Image #1313-Reel end; Reel 198: Reel start-Reel end; Reel 199: Reel start Reel end; Reel 687-755: Reel start-Reel end.
The collection contains registration documents of the Jewish community of Salonica (Thessaloniki), including meeting minutes of the Jewish Community Council; candidate lists for emigration; materials of the community's refugee committee; lists of refugees; applications for permission to relocate to Palestine, and documents on the life of Jewish settlers in Palestine; minutes and decisions of the Beth Din (mostly on damage cases); marriage contracts; financial accounts of charities; information about schools; diverse documents including rent receipts, a memorandum to the government regarding both the citizenship of a rabbi and the marriage law, a translation of a Freemason text, meeting minutes of the Jewish National Fund, and name lists of the community's religious staff; internal correspondence; correspondence with government authorities, other Jewish communities; and the city of Salonika regarding taxes; records of bank balances; and the rulings of the chief rabbi on various matters. There is voluminous correspondence of the chief rabbi and community council with the international Jewish religious and Zionist organizations: The World Federation of Sephardic Communities, Jewish National Fund, Keren Hayesod, Mizrachi, Shivat Tzion, and others. Some part of materials belong to other collections: records of Jewish community of Athens (Fond 1427), and records of the Jewish community of Vienna (Fond 707 and 7140, including a manuscript of a part of “The Book of Zohar”). The collection includes also printed materials. Entire original Fond was duplicated, with a handful of exceptions where files were not available to be reproduced.
Jewish Community of Salonika Jüdische Gemeinde Saloniki (Fond 1428)