Jewish Education in Southeastern Europe (Mid 19th-Mid 20th Century)

This book is the edited outcome of the international conference on “Jewish Education in Southeastern Europe (mid 19th–mid 20th century)”, held in Volos and hosted by the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology of the University of Thessaly.

Distinguished historians from the field of Jewish historical studies discuss the education of Jews within the Ottoman Empire and Greece, the participation of Jewish children in Greek and international schools, as well as the initiatives of the Jewish communities to establish Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) schools in their cities.

The present volume enriches recent Jewish historiography on Greece, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. The authors revisit the AIU’s archives to detect and observe the internal organisation of Jewish communities. They examine the communities’ demographic consistency, observe their social and financial workings and understand the origins of various tensions and contradictions, thus going beyond preconceived notions of homogeneity among the Jewish communities.

The chapters of this book put forward original questions related to the notions of social networking, self-reliance, solidarity, poverty, charity, emancipation and suffrage as well as the private vs the public or collective sphere. Moreover, through the narratives of prominent leaders of the Jewish communities, the book offers “visibility” to Jewish minors – both boys and girls – who attended schools mostly run under the auspices of the AIU.