The Jews of Ioannina, Albania, and Bulgaria

Welcome to the 22nd issue of Teaching the Legacy. This edition is a continuation of the topic addressed in our previous e-newsletter "Jews in Southeast Europe." In this issue we will focus on the unique Jewish communities in Ioannina, Greece, and Albania. The e-newsletter includes a main article on the uplifting story of Albania, as well as an interview with Artemis Batis Miron, a survivor from Ioannina’s Romaniote Jewish community. Included is also a story about an artifact from Bulgaria, with an explanation about how it can be used in the classroom. The newsletter features new publications, book reviews, and updates on recent and upcoming activities at the International School for Holocaust Studies and across Yad Vashem. We hope you find this issue interesting and resourceful and we look forward to your feedback.

Jews in Albania

Yael Weinstock Mashbaum

“Where Religious Prejudice and Hate Did Not Exist” Herman Bernstein, the United States Ambassador to Albania, in 1934The situation for Jews in Albania during the Holocaust is unique. Almost all Albanian Jews during the Second World War were saved from Hitler’s “Final Solution.” This is remarkable, and a circumstance that cannot be found in any other occupied country in Europe. How did this happen? Why was Albania good to its Jews?

Jews of Ioannina – A Teacher’s Guide

Liz Elsby, Yael Weinstock Mashbaum

The following set of slides (as a PDF) is based on photographs and quotations from Artemis Miron about her family and her childhood in Ioannina, Greece. They are tools that can be used in the classroom for an introduction to the Jewish community of Ioannina and then to tell the story of their destruction in the Holocaust. Along with the interview with Artemis, including an interactive photograph of the family wedding in Ioannina (replicated on this page), an educator has many resources at his/her fingertips that can be used to discuss this unique Jewish community and their fate at the hands...

An Interview with Artemis Batis Miron, a Survivor from Ioannina, Greece

Kathryn Berman, Liz Elsby

Holocaust Survivors

IntroductionMy interest in the Jews of Ioannina began many years ago when I first read Nicholas Gage's book Eleni, which tells the tragic story of the murder of the author's mother in the village of Lia, in Northern Greece. In his book, Gage talks about the ancient Jewish community of nearby Ioannina, Greece, and their deportation to be murdered in March 1944. I was fascinated. I had never heard of these Romaniote Jews of Ioannina, nor of their ancient Jewish community, and sadly enough neither had most people I mentioned them to.I decided that I could not let them be forgotten. I...

A Yellow Star of David Button

Yael Weinstock Mashbaum

A Yellow Star of David Button, Which the Bulgarian Jews were Forced to Wear in 1941 with the Onset of the German OccupationSonia Koperwaser was the oldest child born to Aaron and Simcha in 1930. Her younger sister Milka was born a year later. The family lived in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 1941, a curfew was imposed on the Jews, permitting them to leave their homes for only two hours each day. In addition, every Jew was ordered to sew a yellow star button on his/her lapel.Yellow stars were distributed to the Jews in Bulgaria by the KEV, the "Commissariat for Jewish Questions,” and...

Holocaust Issues - Israel's ITF Chairmanship Project

Israel has assumed the 2010-11 Chairmanship of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF). The flagship project is "Holocaust Issues," featuring filmed video lectures and Q&A sessions on contemporary Holocaust issues, including "Antisemitism Today," "The Holocaust and Genocide," "The Holocaust and Minority Rights," "Holocaust Denial," "Dealing with the Past," and more.