List of South-East European Jews explained

Many of the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition settled in the Ottoman Empire, leaving behind, at the wake of Empire, large Sephardic communities in South-East Europe: mainly in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Kalmi Baruh, writer and philosopher^[1]
• Emerik Blum, businessman, founder of Energoinvest, former Mayor of Sarajevo^[2]
• Ivan Ceresnjes, architect-researcher, former president of the Jewish community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and vice-chairman of the Yugoslav Federation of Jewish Communities, 1992 - 1996^[3]
• Oskar Danon, composer and conductor^[4]
• David Elazar, Israeli general and Chief of Staff of Israel Defense Forces^[5]
• Jakob Finci, politician, ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Switzerland
• Daniel Kabiljo, painter
• Daniel Ozmo, painter
• Isaac Pardo, rabbi of Sarajevo
• Robert Rothbart, basketball player (Jewish mother)^[6]
• Isak Samokovlija, writer^[7]

Bulgaria

• Albert Aftalion, Bulgarian-born French economist^[8]
• Binyamin Arditi
• Aron Aronov, tenor
• Mira Aroyo, member of the band Ladytron
• Gabi Ashkenazi
• Michael Bar-Zohar
• Maxim Behar, president of M3 Communications Group
• Shimon Bejarano
• Alexander Bozhkov, vice-premier (Jewish mother)^[9]
• Elias Canetti, author and Nobel Prize winner
• Carl Djerassi
• Itzhak Fintzi, dramatist^[10]
• Pini Gershon
• Moshe Gueron
• Shlomo Kalo
• Nikolay Kaufman, musicologist and composer^[11]
• Yehezkel Lazarov
• Moshe Leon
• Milcho Leviev, jazz composer (Jewish father)^[12]
• Raphael Mechoulam
• Moni Moshonov
• Ya'akov Nehushtan
• Ya'akov Nitzani
• Jules Pascin, artist (Jewish father)
• Isaac Passy, philosopher
• Solomon Passy, foreign minister,^[13] son of Isaac Passy
• Valeri Petrov
• Georgi Pirinski, Jr.
• David Primo
• Sarah-Theodora
• Victor Shem-Tov
• Maxim Staviski
• Angel Wagenstein, author & screenwriter^[14]
• Alexis Weissenberg, pianist^[15]
• Jaime Yankelevich
• Emanuel Zisman

Croatia

See also: History of the Jews in Croatia.

• Viktor Axmann, architect
• Slavko Brill, sculptor and ceramics artist
• Julio Deutsch, architect
• Hugo Ehrlich, architect
• Ignjat Fischer, architect
• Josip Frank, Croatian politician
• Stjepan Gomboš, architect
• Branko Grünbaum, mathematician
• Leo Hönigsberg, architect
• Rikard Lang, prominent Croatian university professor, lawyer and economist, UN's expert
• Slobodan Lang, physician, politician, humanitarian
• Slavko Löwy, architect
• Rudolf Lubinski, architect
• Branko Lustig, film producer and winner of two Academy Awards
• Blessed Ivan Merz, beatified in 2003
• Oscar Nemon, sculptor
• Vladimir Šterk, architect
• Ivo Stern, founder of the "Zagreb Radiostation"
• Karlo Weissmann, physician and founder of the first sanatorium in Osijek
• Dragutin Wolf, industrialist, founder of the food company Koestlin in Bjelovar

Cyprus

See also: History of the Jews in Cyprus.

• Aristobulus of Britannia (converted to Christianity)
• Barnabas (mentioned in the New Testament)
• Mike Brant, French-based singer (Cyprus-born)
• Epiphanius of Salamis (converted to Christianity)
  • John the Merciful
• Arie Zeev Raskin, rabbi

Greece

See also: History of the Jews in Greece.

• Albert Bourla
• Hank Azaria
• Sid Ganis
• Anna Rezan

Montenegro

See also: History of the Jews in Montenegro.

• Jelena Đurović, writer, politician and journalist

North Macedonia

See also: History of the Jews in North Macedonia.

• Haim Estreya Ovadya, Yugoslav partisan
• Rafael Moshe Kamhi
• Žamila Kolonomos, Sephardi Jewish partisan, writer, academic, and political activist

Serbia

See also: History of the Jews in Serbia.

• David Albahari, writer
• David Albala, military officer, physician, diplomat, and Jewish community leader
• Oskar Danon, composer
• Oskar Davičo, poet
• Filip David, playwright and columnist
• Predrag Ejdus, actor
• Vanja Ejdus, actress
• Rahela Ferari, actress
• Ivan Ivanji, writer
• Enriko Josif, composer
• Danilo Kiš, writer
• Marko Kon, pop singer
• Shaul Ladany, Holocaust survivor, racewalker and two-time Olympian
• Tommy Lapid, former Israeli politician of Hungarian descent, born in Novi Sad
• Paulina Lebl-Albala, feminist, translator, literary critic, literature theoretician, and professor of literature in Belgrade
• Sonja Licht, political activist
• Izidor Papo, cardiac surgeon, general-colonel of the Yugoslav Army medical unit
• Moša Pijade, politician, painter, art critic and publicist
• Eva Ras, actress
• Seka Sablić, actress^[16]
• Erich Šlomović, art collector
• Aleksandar Tišma, writer

Slovenia

• Katja Boh, politician
• Berta Bojetu, author
• Israel Isserlin, Medieval rabbi
• Lev Kreft, sociologist and politician
• Dušan Šarotar, author and editor

See also

• List of Bosnians
• List of Bulgarians
• List of Croatians
• List of Greeks
• List of Serbs
• List of Slovenians
• List of Turks
• List of Macedonians

References

1. Web site: Time, People, Memories . https://web.archive.org/web/20231204132227/http://www.benevolencija.eu.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=70 . 4 December 2023 . benevolencija.eu.org . hr, en.
2. Web site: Home . ceeol.com.
3. Web site: The Destruction of the Memory of Jewish Presence in Eastern Europe; a Case Study: Former Yugoslavia  - Interview with Ivan Ceresnjes . December 2008 . 14 May 2011 . . 14 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110514160601/http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=624&PID=0&IID=2692&TTL=The_Destruction_of_the_Memory_of_Jewish_Presence_in_Eastern_Europe;_A_Case_Study:_Former_Yugoslavia . dead .
4. Voices of Yugoslav Jewry By Paul Benjamin Gordiejew, p. 62
5. Web site: David Elazar | Israeli military commander | Britannica. www.britannica.com. 26 April 2024 .
6. Web site: ספסל- הבית של הכדורסל הישראלי - אינפורמציה, סטטיסטיקה וחדשות יומיות על כל השחקנים, הקבוצות והליגות. https://web.archive.org/web/20120206104720/http://www.safsal.co.il/article.aspx?id=6463. dead. 6 February 2012.
7. Web site: Palavestra . Predrag . Jewish Writers in Serbian Literature: Isak Samokovlija . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070926180048/http://www.serbianstudies.org/home_files/pdf/14_1/Vol14_1_Palavestra.pdf . 26 September 2007 . 2015-05-30.
8. [Encyclopædia Britannica]
9. Web site: Bakardjieva . Teodora . Jews in Bulgaria . https://web.archive.org/web/20220630130302/http://www.sefarad.org/publication/lm/037/7.html . June 30, 2022 . sefarad.org.
10. Web site: Renowned Bulgarian Jews. https://web.archive.org/web/20061209163329/http://www.omda.bg/engl/HISTORY/jewsreno.htm. dead. 9 December 2006.
11. Web site: Българи юдеи ("Bulgarian Jews"). Ziezi. Bulgarian. 2009-01-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20081207032411/http://ziezi.net/tribal/iudei.htm. 7 December 2008. dead.
12. Web site: Plovdiv, tourism, property, real estates, Bulgaria, travel agency, hotels, Pictures, maps, tour, restaurant, vacation, holiday, visit, wine, roses, architecture, sea, relaxing, art, artist, craftsmen, souvenirs, comfort, affordable . 14 December 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928081148/http://www.plovdivcityguide.com/newsfiles/news.php?id=130&lang_id=3 . 28 September 2007 . dead .
13. http://sofia.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/document.asp?DocumentID=70965&MissionID=11 The Israeli Government's Official Website, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
14. Web site: Abraham le Poivrot, roman de Angel Wagenstein. www.bulgaria-france.net. 22 July 2016 .
15. Web site: Alexis Weissenberg (Piano) - Short Biography. www.bach-cantatas.com.
16. News: Seka Sablić: Kad porastem, biću bogata . Vukica Strugar . 3 June 2012 . Večernje Novosti . Serbian.