Memories and Stories of Bodrum’s Jewish Community

Some may know Bodrum as a pleasant vacation spot in Southwestern Turkey. Few, however, would know this town as the home of a small but influential Jewish community that thrived until the mid 20th century. In this book, artist and researcher C. M. Kösemen uses historic sources and interviews to flesh out the first comprehensive overview of this little-known Sephardic community. Here you will find compelling stories and poignant memories; of ancient Jewish settlements in the remote corners of the Bodrum peninsula; of pleasant family relations between Turks and Jews; of wartime hardships and near-escapes; of people like Janet Akyüz Mattei, who went on to become one of the world’s greatest astrophysicists; of Abraham Galante the historian; and more Illustrated with detailed black-and-white photographs and annotated with footnotes that explain local nuances, this book also contains a touristic itinerary of Judaic sites in the vicinity of Bodrum.