Aydın Jews During the National Struggle

Beginning on May 15, 1919, the Greek occupation wreaked havoc throughout Western Anatolia, especially in İzmir. While Aydın was one of the settlements where the advancing Greek army wreaked the most havoc, the Jewish Quarter and its inhabitants also experienced all the hardships of the Greek occupation. Many Jews from Aydın were killed, wounded, their homes, stores and shops burned, and their property plundered. In the Sanjak of Aydın, Jews lived in the districts of Aydın, Nazilli and Söke. After the Turks and Greeks, the Jews were the most populous community in the Sanjak of Aydın before the Greek occupation, with a population of 3,600. The communities in Aydın, who lived in peace before the Greek occupation, suffered a great shock with the occupation. The biggest disaster that shook the Jewish community of Aydın began with the Greek occupation of Aydın and its surroundings. The frictions between Greeks and Jews that took place before the Greek occupation continued throughout the years of the National Struggle. Even before the Greek army arrived in Aydın, Jewish stores in the city were looted by the Greek population, prominent members of the community were beaten and even killed. During the Greek occupation of Aydın, similar scenes were encountered. The house of the Catan family, who had helped the Turks, was burned down by the Greeks. Sources record that Jews also suffered great economic losses during the Greek occupation. Greek oppression and the war led to the first great wave of Jewish emigration in Aydın. Many Jewish families from Aydın sought refuge in Nazilli, Denizli, Eğridir, Antalya and the island of Rhodes. After the War of Independence, the Jewish Quarter of Aydın was completely burned down. After the fire, there was almost nothing left belonging to the Jews. The inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter of Aydın migrated via Izmir to Egypt, Rhodes, France, Argentina and Uruguay. The Jews who left Aydın and came to Argentina established a neighborhood named Aydın. The Jewish population in Aydın, which hovered around 3,000-3,600 before the war, did not remain at all at the end of the war. This study, which was prepared by utilizing archival documents, statistics, press surveys and review works, is the subject of research for the first time under this title.

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