The Antisemitic Incidents From 1891
Early Antisemitic Incidents
Find out more about the antisemitic incidents that shook Corfu in 1891.
Jews in Corfu experienced a cultural and financial growth after the union with Greece. Their life standards kept improving, which annoyed Christians on the island.
In 1891, Jews in Corfu experienced some of the harshest antisemitic incidents to that time. The so-called Jewish Events (Ghezera de novant’ un’) were caused by the murder of an eight year old girl on the 13th of April.
Local Christians accused Jews of blood libel, a medieval canard that falsely accuses Jews of killing Christians in order to use their blood with religious purposes. Jews were accused of murdering the girl, who was thought to be Christian.
It was later proven that the girl was Jewish.
The events occurred as the Greek Orthodox Easter was close. Every year, antisemitic issues were quite common around this time, but in 1891, the outbreak caused chaos, especially given the Jewish emancipation too.
The angry mob invaded the Jewish neighbourhood and set houses on fire. The rabbi’s home was damaged by stones, while the Jewish cemetery was profaned. The police had to cordon the entire area to protect Jews.
The bad news is it didn’t work. It took a British fleet to come to the island and ask the government to send military from mainland Greece in order to stop the conflict. It took a month for the conflict to end.
The events claimed the life of 17 to 22 Jews. It also spread to Zakynthos, where five Jews were killed.
This pogrom was a turning point for the local community, which saw a decline. By the end of 1891, many families migrated to the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Italy and France.
The community had 6,000 Jews at its peak. By 1941, there were about 2,000 Jews left in Corfu.