Corfu: Venetian, British, Greek, Jewish.

Corfu Island sat in the eastern Medit­erranean, off the western coast of Greece, Albania and near South Italy, occupying a milit­ar­ily and economically strategic point. Corfu was therefore conquered often: by the Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Vene­tians, Sicilian kings, Ottoman Empire, Napoleonic armies, Britain and the Greek Kingdom.

neoclassical Achilleion Palace

built for Empress of Austria, 1888

Shiny Greece

Before France's Revolutionary Wars, the Ionian Sea Islands had been in Re­public of Venice. The 1797 Treaty dissolved the Republic of Ven­ice and Corfu was ann­ex­ed to the French Republic as a French depart­ment. In 1798-9 the French were expelled by a joint Russo-Ottoman force. The occupying forces founded an island republic with some independence from 1800-7, with Greek as the local language. 

The Ionian Islands were briefly re-occupied by the French, but in 1809-10, the UK defeated the French fleet and capt­ured some Greek Islands. After Napoleon, many countries wanted to control this prize island. Thanks to the aid of a Greek General, an 1815 Treaty signed in Paris recog­nis­­ed Ionian islands under exclusive British control.

The United States of 7 Ionian Islands Federation was cr­eated in 1817. Under the rule of a Lord High Com­m­is­sion­er, the Corfu gov­ernment was appointed by the British monarch and then the Supreme Council of Justice was established.

The first (1815-23) British high commissioner was Sir Thomas Mait­land, a rather repressive ruler who quickly stir­red complaints from locals. Yet the British era (1815-64) was one of the most thriving eras in Cor­fu’s history. The 5th Earl Guil­ford estab­lish­ed Corfu’s first Greek Uni­versity in 1824. The estab­lish­ment of new schools went ahead and by 1850 there were 200. Corfu created its first Phil­har­monic Orch­estra and Fine Arts School, then built vast public works: prisons, hospit­als, marsh clear­ance, widened road net­works, public aqueduct systems and centres of com­merce.

In 1888, the Empress of Austria visited Corfu and decided it was the ideal location for her own palace. This opulent neoclassical Achilleion Palace is thus an imperial residence inspired by Greek mythology. The classical Greek statues that surround it are monuments to platonic romanticism.

British rule ended when an 1863 treaty demanded Britain renounce the Ion­ian islands. In March 1864 ag­ents from UK, Greece, France and Russia pledged the transfer of sover­eignty to Greece, under the new­ King George I of the Hellenes. And with the Lord High Commis­s­ioner’s procl­am­ation, the Ionian Islands were unit­ed with Greece (May 1864). The island pros­pered economically.  

Old fortress, barracks and British Naval Hospital

Trip Advisor
 

Clearly Corfu Town was a unique blend of hist­ories as many nations had contr­ol­led it over time. The public buildings of the Venetian rule blended well with narrow winding streets, bars, shops and secluded squares. Cul­tural sites were preserved eg Greece’s King Geor­ge I’s St Michael-George Palace (built 1819-2). Designed by Col George Whitmore, it sits atop a hill outside the capital. The pub­lic can see elegant interiors where the mus­eum dis­pl­ays artworks, stat­ues, historic­al and arch­aeol­og­ical treas­ures. Corfu had become part of the European world. The Venet­ians had built two fort­resses; the Old Fort included the British barr­acks and an imp­osing British Naval Hospital. And see the British Garrison Church, built as a Greek Doric Tem­ple. 

Palace of St. Michael and St. George
Wiki

What about the Jewish community? In 1864, after Corfu was handed to Greece, local Jews were eman­cip­ated and received civil rights. They lived in relative freedom and com­fort, and made great efforts to relate well with Chr­is­t­ians. Most of the Corfu Jews happily dealt in trade.

In 1891 a blood libel was spread against local Jews but Corfu police didn’t stop the rioters! In May 1891 Corfu’s Jews sat inside their homes as if gaoled with closed windows, comm­erce ceased, pov­erty increased, and the synagogues were sealed. 22 Jews were massacred in the 1891 pogroms and in response, Austria, Fr­ance and England sent warships to the area to protect their citizens. French, Ottoman and other agents pro­t­ested the Greek govern­ment’s failure to block rioting, with the German cen­tral bank warn­ing Greece that unrest could damage its currency. After the blood libels, half of Corfu’s Jews left the island. Most of those who left had money, immig­rat­ing to Italy or Egypt; those remaining were mostly poor.

narrow winding streets, bars,

Crystal Travel

 

Traditional housing

Airbnb

 

Yet afterwards the lives of Corfu Jews were mostly peaceful. They loved life on the picturesque island, and Corfu author Albert Cohen (1895–1981) described it in longingly in his novels. The Jewish Quarter was Cohen’s birthplace so a street is named after him. In the 1930s, despite right-wing nationalism and anti-Semitism in Greece, Jewish life in Corfu went on normally. They had a rabbi, syn­ag­ogues, bu­r­ial society, charity societies, ritual baths and schools. In Ap 1933 Mizrachi was allowed to use a floor in the commun­ity building to set up a night school where the comm­unity leaders demand­ed Mizrachi ensure the students were study­ing both Jewish & Greek his­tory. The com­m­unity also had social org­an­­is­ations, and annual balls.

Remaining British citizens left Corfu in 1939, just before the outbreak of WW2 and the subsequent ruthless German occup­at­ion of the island. In Ap 1941, Fascist Italy conquered Corfu, but the Italians made no dis­tinction between Jew and Gentile. It worsened in Oct 1943, when Italians left and Nazi Wehr­macht took over. SS units under command of Jurgen Str­oop ordered the Jews to present themselves before a town official thrice weekly, and to pay a heavy tax to the Germans. Greek Christians invaded the Jewish neighbour­hood, and the 100 Jews hiding among Christian neighbours were handed over to the Nazis! In June 1944, Jews were locked in the city square, the Nazi sold­iers herding them into boats from Cor­fu to an Athens prison camp, and from there on trains to Birkenau death camp. Of the 1,700 Jews living in Corfu during the Nazi occupation, only 200 were not murdered. Of the survivors, 30 moved to Isr­ael and others intended to follow. Thus an old Jewish community, which had survived for 700+ years, mostly ended.

Jewish district

kimkim

 

Pre-Holocaust there had been 4 synagogues. Post-war only 1 was left standing... barely. In 1946 the Greek gov­ern­ment ordered the governor of Corfu to return all property to the Je­wish com­munity, including pub­lic build­ings used by the community, private homes and shops. But most of these sites were in ruins, and only later was the synagogue restored by local auth­orit­ies. 

interior, only surviving synagogue

The Librarians

Greece, Albania 

& Corfu flagged (56ks x 18ks)

Google

Corfu Old Town was designated a World Heritage Site in 2007. The island population now is 100,000.

Polish musician Szpilman/Adrien Brody in The Pianist

Władysław Szpilman (1911-2000) was born in Sosnowiec Poland into a cultured family. He showed an early talent for the piano, training in Warsaw, then in the 1920s continuing in Berlin. In the most exciting art and musical environment anywhere, Weimar Germany, Szpilman studied piano and composition at the Ber­l­in Acad­emy of Arts, working with Franz Schreker. When the Nazis took power in 1933 he returned to his family in Warsaw and worked as a pianist for Polish Radio. By 1939, he had composed many popular songs and classical works, and became quite famous.

Szpilman and his parents pre-war, elegantly dressed

In Your Pocket

This promising musical career was stopped by Germany's invas­ion of Poland, Sept 1939. Szpilman & his family were driven into the War­saw ghetto, along with thousands of other local Jews. To prot­ect them from starvation, Szpilman played piano at Café Nowaczesna Sienna St, a happy gathering place for Nazis, while thous­ands outside were starv­ing. He also worked at other cafés and night­clubs, possible bec­ause Szpil­man had strong connections to many other artists in the ghetto. Ironically Café Nowaczesna had once been frequented by the Jewish elite.

Tragically in mid 1942, when packed deport­ations from the gh­etto began, Szpilman saw his relatives and friends being sent on trucks but managed to keep his immediate family safe. Alas they too were finally put on board for transport to The East, Treblinka. As they were boarding the train, an unknown hand pulled him away to safety, and he watched as his family was sent to the gas chambers.

Jewish families being deported from Warsaw Ghetto

by German soldiers, Yad Vashem

Warsaw deportees put on the cattle cars

by German soldiers, Wiki

Unable to leave the ghetto due to the constant threats, Sz­pilman relied on the kindness of colleagues to live. In the following months, Warsaw was largely destroyed; Szpilman barely survived, moving from destroyed buildings.

After months of a hungry life, it was in winter 1945 that Szpilman met the German officer who saved his life. The film’s cl­osing scenes involved Szpilman's meeting with Capt Wilm Hosenfeld who accidentally found the hiding place.

Once the war ended, Szpilman returned to Polish Radio and to composing. He also gave concert performances as a soloist and mem­ber of chamber ensembles. He stopped touring in 1986 to devote him­self to composing, and died in Warsaw in 2000. By then Szpilman was a very popular musician of post-war Poland. But until his biography was published in German and English, and espec­ially Roman Polanski’s great film, Szpilman was virtually unk­n­own in the West.

Szpilman at Polish Radio after WW2

In Your Pocket

The Pianist (2002) told the true story of acclaimed musician Wl­ad­ys­­law Szpilman, who strugg­led to keep his family alive in WW2 but failed. Directed by Roman Polanski, filmed in Poland and released in 2002, the drama was inspired by the autobiography, The Pianist: Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw 1939-45, and followed the radio station pianist as he went on a terrible journey in the Warsaw Ghetto once it was sealed off in Nov 1940.

 What music was used in The Pianist film? Polanski’s screen adaptation demanded a melancholy soundtrack to match its sombre themes, and no one suited better than Romantic composer, Frédéric Chopin. Approp­riately, Szpilman had often shared his love of Chopin with list­en­ers while working on air, so many of Chopin’s master­­pieces featured in the film, played on the soundtrack album by Polish classical pianist and Chopin Competition winner, Janusz Olejniczak.

Did young American method actor star Adrien Brody really play the piano in The Pianist? Polanski made Brody practise the piano for four hours a day, until he could master passages from some of Chopin’s finest works. Brody also made a lot of personal sacrifices to live the life of the tragic Polish pianist. To embody a man who had lost everything, Brody left his girlfriend and went on a severe diet, losing 14 ks. Despite ha­v­ing very little energy, starving himself to experience the des­per­ation that comes with hun­g­er, Brody persisted with his piano lessons. There was an empti­ness that came with starving that he hadn’t experienced.

actor Adrien Brody, playing piano in the film

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Brody also spent time self-educating on the Holocaust, even though his maternal grandmother was a Hungarian Jew. “I was depressed for a year after The Pianist. And I don’t suffer from depression generally, but this was mourning. I was very dist­urbed by what I embraced in making that film, and of the awareness that it opened up in me. I gave up my apartment, sold my car, dis­con­nected the phones and left. I took two bags and my keyboard and moved to Europe.”

The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. At the 2003 Academy Awards, The Pianist won Oscars for Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood) and Best Actor (Adrien Brody), and was nominated for Best Picture.

This was called Roman Polanski’s strongest and most person­ally felt movie, given that as a child Polanski survived the Kraków ghetto and lost beloved family in the camps.

Jacques Rogge: surgeon sportstar linguist

Belgium-born Jacques Rogge (1942-2021) was ed­ucated at the Jesuit Sint-Barbara College in Ghent and the Univ­ersity of Ghent. I imagine that because his grandfather (cyc­l­ing) and father (track-field; hoc­key) were both professional sports­men, he felt encouraged to study sp­orts medic­ine. In 1972, Rogge was the first to study muscle activity during sailing using invasive needle EMG to obtain his Master degree in Sports Medicine. Then he got his Medical De­gree at Bruss­els’ Free Uni.

Jacques Rogge, Juan Antonio Samaranch,  Vladimir Putin, 

following Rogge's election as IOC President in 2001

What a talented man!! Since the orthopaedic surgeon is a professional who specialises in diagnosing, treating & rehabilitating musculo­skeletal in­j­uries and diseases, it is a spec­ial­ty that requires years of training. The musculoskeletal sy­s­tem incl­udes bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves. The condit­ions dealt with include arthritis, cereb­ral palsy, cong­enit­al disord­ers, degener­ative diseases, sports injuries and tu­m­­ours. Rogge worked as an orthop­aedic surgeon in Deinze near Ghent when he met his future wife Dr Anne Bovyn who did radiol­ogy. Thank­­fully in his busy practice he spoke 5 lang­uages fluently: French, German, English, Spanish and Dutch/Flemish.

Rogge was a Belgian national and international champion in rugby, win­ning 16 caps for Belgium! He was a one-time yachting world cham­p­ion. He also competed in the Finn class of sailing in three Summer Olympic Games; in Mexico 1968, Munich 1972 & Montreal 1976.

Rogge was the president of the Belgian Olympic Committee from 1989-92, and as President of the European Olympic Committee from 1989-2001. He became a member of the IOC in 1991 and joined its executive board in 1998. Rogge became President of the IOC in 2001 at the IOC Session in Moscow as the successor to Juan Antonio Samaran­ch, the for­m­­er Franco-era diplomat who had previously led the IOC since 1980. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Rogge became the first IOC President to stay in the Olympic village, thus enjoying clos­er contact with the athletes. His diplomatic manner and leadership style have been effective in add­ressing problems plag­uing organised sports worldwide, including corr­uption. While Samaranch had been criticised for sloppy control of performance-enhancing drugs, Dr Rog­ge initiated a high-profile zero tolerance policy on their use.

One bit of ugliness. “Allowing women ski jumpers into the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics would dilute the medals being handed out to male ski jumpers” Rogge said “Since there were only 80 women ski jump­ers in the world and the sport had not yet reached the IOC's standard for be­ing included in an Olym­pics”, Rogge loathed the suggestion the IOC was discriminating against women. Oh dear!

Jacques Rogge at the
London Olympic Village, 2012

In July 2011, a year prior to London 2012, Rogge attended a ceremony at Trafalgar Square where he invited athletes worldwide to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games. Former Olympians the Princess Royal and Sebastian Coe unveiled the medals, and Prime Min­ister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson gave speeches. In Dec 2011, Rogge won an Officer of the Légion d'honneur from French Pres. Sarkozy.

Alas Rogge criticised Usain Bolt's gestures of jubilation af­ter winning the 100 ms in world record time (Beijing 2008) as not be­hav­ing with sportsmanship and questioned whether the Jamaican sprin­ter was a living legend in London. Bolt showed no respect to his oppon­en­ts, he said. In response to his comments, Sports col­um­nist Dan Wetzel contended that the IOC has made billions from athletes like Bolt for years! Did white winners not celebrate with great excitement?

Worse still Rogge rejected calls for a minute of silence to be held to honour the 11 Israeli Olympians murdered in the 1972 Munich Massacre, at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. He did this de­s­pite fam­ilies of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members’ requests & political requests from the U.S, Britain and Germany. Instead Rogge opted for a quiet ceremony at Guildhall London. If the dead sportsmen had not been Jewish, would their murders have been worthy of a minute’s memorial in front of millions of viewers?

Thomas Bach and Jacques Rogge
IOC in Buenos Aires in 2013

In Buenos Aires in 2013, German Thomas Bach (a fencing gold medal­list in Montreal) was elected as Rogge’s successor. In 2014, Rogge was ap­p­ointed Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport by the United Nat­ions Secretary-General, to help promote sport as an empowering tool for youth from refugee communities towards peace, security, re­­conciliation, health, education and gender equ­al­ity. Rogge saw this as his greatest legacy

In Oct 2016, The British School of Brussels opened their new sports cen­tre in Tervuren, Belgium. It was called The Jacques Rogge Sports Centre. He died in 2021, aged 79.

Timișoara Romania: Europe Culture capital

Serbian Orthodox Church and Union Square
unique facade, small towers, beautiful bells and icons.
Built in C18th in the Baroque style.

Timisoara is in Western Romania, near the borders with Hungary and Serbia, and 600 km from Bucharest. The Carpathian Mount­ains (where my in-laws came from) lie to the north. The Timiș, Bega and Poganiș Rivers flow through the county and the city was named for the River Timis. From a small fort-town  in Castrum Temesiensis, first recorded in 1212, Timişoara in the C14th became a fortress. The town was sacked by the Tatars, but its citadel was rebuilt and used as the residence of Charles I of Hungary (1309–42)

In the Middle Ages the area was conquered by the Turks and remained in their hands until the Austrians took it in 1716, thus the many fortifications on Liberty Square. After a 1718 treaty, the region was governed from Vienna and colonised with non-Magyars, mostly Swabian Germans. The city withstood a siege by Hungarian revolutionaries in 1848. Occupied by Serb­ia in 1919, it was allotted by the Treaty of Trianon (1920) to Romania.

Banat Village Museum, opened 1967

Includes Village Civic Centre, Alley of Ethnicities and the Living Museum.

Fabric Synagogue, Neo-Moorish

opened c1840

Romania's 3rd largest city became a European Capital of Culture for 2021. After the win was announced, the mayor noted that the budget for the project would be €48.5 mill­ion: €20 m from Local Councils, €5 m from the County Coun­cil, €1.5 m from the European Commission, and the rest from the State. The money went to Multi-plexity, Palace of Culture, Arta Cinema, Dacia Cultural Cen­tre, Studio Art Hub, Art Theatre Hall, Fratelia Community Cult­ural Centre, Freidorf Commun­ity Cen­tre and Iosefin Water Tower Cul­tural Centre.

Timișoara is part of one of the most ambitious cultural projects of the European Union, helping EU-nations to learn about each oth­er’s cultures. And this cultural city has several tert­iary institutions, state opera, phil­harmonic orchestra, ballet and library. There are parks along the navigable Bega Canal and Rose Park is very rom­antic . The National Theatre of Timișoara is und­ergoing res­t­oration. 

The modern city represents a unique mix of architectural styles and cultural traditions. A principal building is the heroic Roman Catholic Cathedral (1736–73). Near the cathedral there is a monu­m­ent dedicated to those killed during the 1989 revolution. There is also Memorial Museum of Revolution whose exhibits there are unif­orms, historical documents, newspapers, lib­rary, revolut­ion­aries’ person­al belongings and historical films.

The Orthodox Serbian Cathedral (1748, restored 1791), opposite Victory Square, became the spiritual centre for Serbs and Roman­ians. This imposing Baroque building has a unique facade, small towers, bells and icons.

Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral (1936-46) was built in Victory Square with green and red tiles, arranged in a mosaic design. A monument dedicated to those who died during the 1989 Revolution is in front of the cathedral. The Cathedral is home to many art religious objects, including old Romanian icon paintings.

St George Catholic Cathedral, baroque

Opened 1774

An interesting cultural institution is Banat Vill­age Museum. It is a massive cultural open air com­plex; its main ex­hibits are farm buildings c100 years old. Beautiful pottery and wooden cabins were moved to the museum from around the city, so that exciting activities could include folk events.

Romanian National Opera, opened 1875

Burned down in 1880 and rebuilt in 1882

Burned in 1920 and rebuilt in 1923

 The Roman Catholic Cathedral (1736-54) was built in Union Square by Fisher von Erlach, a fine example of Viennese Bar­oque style. The main altar was done by Michael Angelo Unt­er­berger, director of Fine Arts Academy in Vienna. The Opera House (1875) was designed by Viennese architects   Fellner and Helmer who designed concert halls in Buda­pest, Vienna and Odessa. The frescoes in the concert hall were inspired by Romanian history and folk tales. Joseph Strauss began as Musical Director in Timisoara. The city claims to have had the first public water supply in Romania, the first to have street lighting in Europe and one of the first in the world to have horse-drawn trams. The nickname “Little Vienna” seemed appropriate.

The St Catherine of Alexandria Church has a long, remark­able history. In the crypt of this medieval church, King Charles Robert of Anjou's wife Catherine was buried in the C13th. The church was owned by Franciscan monks until it was demolished after 1723, and the new church of St Catherine was built in the Baroque style. From 1887-9 the church was rebuilt, though this time adap­t­ed to the Neo-classical style, while retaining Baroque ele­ments.

Romanian Orthodox Cathedral
built 1936-41
filled with stunning religious objects and paintings

The Chamber of Commerce (1850) worked out of various city build­ings. But in 1930 they began building the palace that became the new headquarters of the Chamber. The Chamber of Commerce & Industry was designed by Laszlo Szekely. Downstairs there is space provided for shops, while offices are located on the first floor and the council chamber and the other 3 floors are resident­ial. The palace has great decorative elements, including a great tri­angular gable roof.

Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830-1916) ruled that Jews across the Austro-Hungarian Empire were to be freed and issued an edict all­ow­ing them to own land and hold any job. Fabric is a historical district, well known for its factor­ies, thus becoming the most populated district in the C19th. It was becom­ing a multicultural neigh­bour­hood, and the build­ing of the Fabric Synagogue 1895-99 was historical - the com­bin­at­ion of Neo-Moorish architectural styl­es with a HUGE floor that seated 3000! The square build­ing, with many towers and cupol­as, was conn­ected to the ex­ter­ior walls through deep semi-circular arches. In 2001 the Jew­ish Com­munity transfer­red it to the Timisoara Philharmonic Soc­iety for their first concert, held in 2005.

Timișoara is also a commercial centre and has developed indust­rial­ly since WW2, including electric motors and electrical apparatus, textiles, farm equipment, chemicals. There are 2 tim­ber centres,  vineyards and wineries.

Map of Romania
Note Bucharest (in the south) and Timisoara (in the west)

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Anti-government demonstrations erupted in Dec 1989 and sparked a re­v­olution, toppling Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu from pow­er and executing him. Luckily many of the old Baroque buildings still make Timisoara special.