17 postcards with photographs and illustrations depicting the Jewish community of Salonika. Published by Albert Nissim, Hananel Naar, Edition Parisiana, J.S. Varsano and other publishers. Salonika, Paris and elsewhere, [the first decades of the 20th century].
The collection contains postcards showing Jews from Salonika in traditional costumes, among them a postcard with a photograph of Rabbi Ya'akov Meir (the "Rishon LeZion" and rabbi of Salonika) in his official cloak; postcards depicting the Jewish cemetery of Salonika; postcards with sights of the city – sites, figures and more; postcards that were printed subsequent to a fire that broke out in the Jewish Quarter of the city in 1917, depicting survivors of the fire and the damage it caused to the Jewish-owned "Tiring" department store.
Until World War I, the Jewish community of Salonika was one of the largest and most flourishing communities in the world and during the second half of the 19th century, more than half of the residents of the town were Jews. This community was the only Sephardic community that enthusiastically embraced the culture of postcards and due to its involvement in the economic and commercial life of the city, was privileged of being widely represented in "general" postcards of the city.
Four of the postcards are undivided.
Approx. 14x9 cm. Good overall condition. A few blemishes and stains. Three of the postcards were used.
Literature: 'HaAyin Ro'ah VehaNeshama Chomedet' (The Eye Sees and the Soul Covets): Postcards from Jewish Salonika, by Tamar Alexander, Gila Hadar and Shalom Tzabar. Jerusalem Studies on Jewish Foklore, Volume 27, 2011. pp. 183-229.