![]() 1943, after the fall of Italy, and promulgated antisemitic laws. Corfu's Mayor Kollas was a known collaborator. |
In early June
1944, as the Allies bombed the island to divert attention away
from the Normandy landing, the Jews of Corfu were forced out of their
homes and imprisoned in the ![]() |
Corfu, a charming
island in the Ionian Sea, had been a home of Jews for over 800 years. When the Venetians annexed the island in the 14th century, the Jewish community was enclosed in a ghetto. The Jewish population of the island was a mix of Romaniotes (Greek speaking), Sephardic (Ladino speaking), and ![]() 1891. |
Mayor Kollas
Jewish Museum of Greece |
Corfu today |
Last Chief Rabbi of Corfu, Rabbi Iakov Nechama Jewish Museum of Greece |
At
Birkenau in July 1944, 435 men who had arrived
with that transport chose immediate death rather than joining the Special
Detachment (Sonderkommando) that helped the Germans destroy their fellow
Jews.
Today, a small community of 80 Jews live on Corfu and they try to maintain a semblance of Jewish life. |
Proclamation signed by Mayor Kollas, the Prefect
and the Chief of Police of June 9, 1944, proclaiming that the Jews of
the island had been rounded-up and that the economy of the island will
rightfully revert to the Christian citizens Jewish Museum of Greece |