Tuesday, 1. March 2022, 15:00 - 17:00

Vienna Wiesenthal Institute, Research Lounge 1010 Vienna, Rabensteig 3, 3rd Floor

VWI invites the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Vienna

The presentation will examine the impact antisemitism had on the decision of approximately 500 Salonica Jews to migrate to the Habsburg Empire and remain there after its collapse. Considering the massive exodus that took place in Salonica, especially during and after WWI, the presentation will demonstrate the reasoning that led to the choice of this specific destination. The rising antisemitism across the continent, in combination with the collapse of both the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empires and the transition to nation-states, created turbulence difficult to navigate. Countries considered more “liberal”, like France, received a large portion of the migratory waves coming from Salonica. The case of migration to Central Europe, however, has been largely underrepresented. The presentation will demonstrate how antisemitism, despite common perceptions, was not deemed an overwhelming menace for those settling in the Habsburg Empire, but it rather affected the place of settlement within its territory. By examining several types of sources and employing discourse analysis, it will become clear how antisemitism, along with other factors such as class or gender, influenced the final decision for the settlement of these Salonica Jews.

Commented by Dimitrios Varvaritis

Lida-Maria Dodou is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna. Her research project concerns the Salonican Jews, who settled in the Habsburg Empire and is incorporated into the research cluster State, Politics and Governance in Historical Perspective. She holds a MA in Political Sciences and History from Panteion University in Athens and was granted a fellowship from the Provincial Government of Styria, Austria, for her MA-thesis. Her research interests encompass periods and areas of transition and the formation of (self-)identities.

Dimitrios Varvaritis is a historian and currently an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Vienna. His research interests focus on antisemitism in Greece as well as on aspects of the broader history of Greek Jewry. His latest publication, a study of a set of photographs by Austrian scholar Felix von Luschan, was included in the exhibition catalogue titled Überleben im Bild “Rettungsanthropologie” dedicated to the photograph collection of Luschan and his wife Emma (Salzburg: FOTOHOF 2021).

Photo: Postcard from Salonica written in German, ca. 1900, Archive of Giannis Megas.

Please register by noon on 28 February 2022 under This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and bring a valid photo-ID! The 2G+ rules (fully vaccinated or recovered and additionally PCR-tested within the past 48 hours) as well as the FFP2 mask-rules apply at this event.

Click here to download the invitation as a PDF file.

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