Port Jewry of Salonika: between neo-colonialism and nation-state

Description/Abstract

Can the Port Jew model be applied to communities temporally and geographically distinct from that of an Atlantic-orientated mercantilism? This essay argues that it can with regard to late nineteenth century Salonika. But it also seeks to show the model's problematic down-side. Salonika's new status emerged under the aegis of a neo-colonialism, the culmination of which was the bid for international free-port status in 1912. Salonika Jewry thereby found itself at odds with the town's other ethnic communities and with competing external national interests. In microcosm, a diasporic embrace of an emerging world economy came face to face with its other reality, the nation-state.