April 28, 2015 The Greek-Jewish Experience - 4:30 p.m.

April 28, 2015
The Greek-Jewish Experience - 4:30 p.m.

lecture and discussion with author and filmmaker Isaak  Dostis

 Isaak Dostis is an American-born filmmaker, writer, and actor who now lives full time in

 Ioannina, Greece. He is a member of the small Greek-Jewish community there, but previously

 lived in the New York Metro area where he was a founder of the lower Manhattan museum about

Greek speaking Jewish people known as the "Romaniotes,"  housed in Kehilla Kadisha Janina.

 Isaac Dostis, shared with our community about the Jews of Greece and his Romaniote heritage.

 The effect of the Holocaust on the Jews of Greece is not well known in North America. Because

 of the in- flux of German and PolishJews in the mid-20th century, the devastation of the Ashkenazi

 Jews became the image of the Holocaust in many minds. The Sephardic and Romaniote populations

 were also devastated, and the Romaniote, already a dwindling population, was almost eliminated.

 Both the city of Ioannina and the island of Corfu boasted large Romaniote populations until 1944.

 Until the 20th century, there was a thriving Jewish community in Ioannina. The Romaniote Jews

 lived amicably alongside their Christian and Muslim neighbors. In the beginning of the 20th

century, there were around 7000 Jews. They held jobs as tradesmen and craftsmen, and owned homes

 in the town. Many left, along with their Greek contemporaries, in the turmoil