Rhodes
There is evidence that the Jews in Rhodes have been there since the 2nd century B.C.
Rhodes was under Turkish rule until it was ceded to Italy after World War I. Germany occupied Rhodes in 1944. Rhodes became part of Greece in 1948.
In 1941 2,000 Jews lived in Rhodes. They had four synagogues.
In 1944, 1800 Jews of Rhodes and approximately 166 Jews of Kos were arrested by the Nazis. They were loaded onto boats and on their way to Athens, one of the boats stopped at the island of Leros to arrest one Jew.
They were sent to Piraeus and then deported to Auschwitz. During the Holocaust almost all Jews of Rhodes were murdered. Only 150 of them survived.
Today there are only a few Jews living in Rhodes.
Photos by Emmanuel Santos
Back to Communities page