Die Geschichte des Ghettos von Venedig 1516 - 2016

by Riccardo Calimani, Sylvia Höfer (Translator)

Riccardo Calimani, dessen Vorfahren selbst aus dem jüdischen Ghetto von Venedig stammen, erzählt in diesem Buch anschaulich vom wechselvollen Leben der Juden in der Serenissima. Es gelingt ihm alte Quellen zum Leben zu erwecken, indem er sie mit den Biografien großer Gelehrter, Künstler, Kaufleute sowie den Alltagsgeschichten der einfachen Leute verwebt. Calimanis 'Die Geschichte des Ghettos von Venedig 1516 - 2016' herausgegeben von der Europäischen Janusz Korczak Akademie kann als Standardwerk über das erste Ghetto und das jüdische Leben in Venedig bis in unsere heutige Zeit gelten.

Genres: Jewish, History, Italy, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Riccardo Calimani (Venezia, 1946) è uno scrittore e storico italiano, conosciuto soprattutto come storico dell'ebraismo italiano ed europeo, al quale ha dedicato la maggior parte dei suoi lavori.

Reviews

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calimani's century by century walk through the politics, economics, and religious ferment of the ghetto of Venice, together with fascinating letters and writings from individuals, paints a complete picture of a unique socio-political and religious space in European history - the Jewish ghetto of Venice. You can visit this foreign land and travel up and down the alleys of time in The Ghetto of Venice.

The story of the Jews of Venice begins around 1150, and continues until this day, although the last remnants of the ghetto as a place of Jewish residence were vaporized by the Nazis in 1943. The 9 century story encompasses by example or by distant reflection the entire story of European and Mediterranean Jewry in that period.

Calimani's recreation of Venice is replete with details, some boring and technical and some alive and fascinating. His telling of the financial and political details of the Jewish banking business is a thorough if difficult read, but fundamental to an understanding of the forces that created and maintained the ghetto. Jewish banking (primarily pawnshops, but also large taxes and loans paid to the Venetian state) provided the justification for allowing the Jews to exist in the ghetto, and frequently the pretext for exiling them, or threatening them with exile. Lending at interest was too dirty a business for Christians, but too essential a business, to both the State and to the poor, to do without.

More interesting to the non-economist are the tales of individuals. Sara Coppio Sullam, Leone Da Modena, Siomone Luzzatto- Rabbis, bankers, common folk and many others. We learn of their personal struggles, their struggles with the Inquisition, their economic worries and sexual affairs and get a sense of the full warp and woof of medieval and enlightenment life.

We learn of Leone Da Modena (1571-1648), who wrote:

"Ever since my childhood I have been concerned with investigating all fields of knowledge, and even if I have not been able to learn any more than a man who attempts to drink all the water in the sea, I have never hindered my intellect from seeking to understand anything I wished. For this reason I have always been opposed to the views of Rabbenu Asher, who thanked God because he had no secular learning, which in his opinion leads people away from God. For myself, I say: would Heaven that I were able to thank, exalt and glorify God so that He might help me to acquire all the knowledge in the world. I have become master not only of the teachings... of the Torah, but I have studied, day and night, the books of the heretics and unbelievers, and of the exponents of other religions.... "

Also from the story of Leone de Modena, we experience the nature of courtship:

"In 1589 Leone returned to Venice with his mother, who had arranged a marriage between Leone and her sister's eldest daughter. Leone was introduced to his cousin Ester, whom he found both beautiful and wise.

'After Shavuoth we went, happy and joyful, to Venice.'

There they found the promised bride ill. It was thought she would soon recover but instead the poor girl got worse:

' Every day her illness worsened until she was at the point of death, but her heart was courageous like that of a lion, and she never let fear overcome her. At death's door she sent for me and embraced and kissed me, saying she knew that at any other time such behavior would be unseemly. But the Lord knew that during our year's engagement we had never so much as touched one another even with our little fingers, and it was only now as she lay dying that death granted her this freedom.'

Shortly thereafter, Ester died. Leone assuaged his sorrow by marrying her sister Rachel only fifteen days later."

~

Calimani's treatment of the Marranos, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, is particularly enlightening. He provides examples of Marranos, some of whom reverted to Judaism, some of whom became Christians, and some of whom remained part of a distinct Marrano class, existing side by side with the recognized communities of German and Turkish (Levantine) and other Jews in the city.

It was interesting to learn that the Inquisition in Venice was not terribly concerned with Jews or Marranos. Jews were infidels - and the Inquisition was concerned with heresy which did not apply to infidels. But likewise Marranos as *forced* converts did not seem to be recognized by the inquisition as Christians either, and therefore were not as a rule considered to be able to be heretics. Only if a person's Christian conversion could be proven to have been sincere could reversion to Judaism, or a second conversion to Christianity, be a heresy. In other words the Venice Inquisition seems to have had a very different view of the events of 1492 than did the Spanish Inquisition. (I'd like to understand this issue better! It's worth looking into.)

Calimani does a good job of capturing the different historical layers - we see how each century's struggles resembled and differed from the last. We watch Venice and the Jewish ghetto change together.

I also learned about the effect of Napoleon's armies on the free Venetian state, the revolution in Venice, the coming of Austrian rule, and other 19th century history that I had been completely unaware of. These events, reflected through the lens of their effect on the ghetto, would require additional reading in European and Italian history to see the bigger picture that Calimani describes primarily in terms of their effect on the ghetto.

[Introverticheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dzieło Calmaniego trudno jednoznacznie ocenić. Historię getta w weneckiego przedstawia w bardzo przystępny sposób, ale także nieco chaotyczny. Książka posiada zwartą, chronologiczną strukturę, gdzieniegdzie wplątane są anegdotki o postaciach, które żyły w tamtym okresie. Zachwycać może bogactwo informacji o getcie, wysoki styl i piękny język skądinąd.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting resource, Riccardo Calimani. A Venetian Jew descended from a long line of Venetian Jews and scholars, an authority on... guess. Calimani has a theory about Marranos. And Marranas, of course, though they’re barely mentioned in his book.

Essay-review here:

https://theorangepress.substack.com/p...

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very comprehensive look at the history of the Venetian ghetto, from its creation in 1516 to its demise. The majority of the book was very well written. Bear in mind that this is an academic-type book, therefore not an easy read. I thought the first three chapters were a bit repetitive on the money-lending focus. It was a bit difficult to get through those chapters but after that it picked up. The book gave the rules of the ghetto, some history of the Sephardic Jews, what life was like for some of the common people. They were always under suspicion as to their loyalties. It didn’t take much to land them in prison or exile. Venice was a center for publishing and thus gave birth to a Hebrew publishing center. One chapter hinted at the importance of Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos and Gracia Mendes. Anyone familiar with Sephardi Jewish history is well aware of Dona Gracia Nasi and all she did for the Jewish people of her time. The research that went into this book was extensive. The Battle of Lepanto and the how life changed for the Jews afterwards is addressed. Italy had to now treat its Jewish citizens better or they would take their money and move east to Turkey where they could own land and have no religious or professional restrictions. A description is given of the Old Ghetto, the New Ghetto, and the Newest Ghetto. Then in 1631 the plague hit claiming one-third of the population. Descriptions are given of customs surrounding a wedding, a burial, a circumcision ceremony, and the Jewish holidays of Simchat Torah, Purim (the Jewish Carnival), and Shabbat. Anyone interested in the life of Jews in Italy at this time should read this book. Some chapters you can just skim over but others should be read closely and the lovely descriptions savored.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a history lesson or story about Venice Italy, and the treatment of the Jews that lived in there and around their town. How they were not allowed certain rights as citizens of the town but were at times expected to act like they were especially when it came to lending or if they had a pawn shop. But their children could not go to the same schools or use other services doctors etc. the author uses documents and artifacts to back up his claims. He goes on to show that this change in 1797 when France came in and occupied part of Italy under General Bonaparte. The gates that were in place separating them were taken down and never put back up even after the French leave. It would not be until 1848 though that Venice would vote and make the Jews of Vence full citizens with full rights, to go to schools, the same hospitals, universities and run for office. Now you fast forward to today and there are over 600 Jews still living in Venice looking now at their past they found a wall that once separated the city from there settlement or what would have been there settlement. And by them placing plaques of remembrance on the wall it must have brought up old wounds for some people did not know and that is why he wrote this book. This book goes into much more detail and politics than I want to get into but it is not bad if you are into history. But you must like history because this is what this book is about. I will end this from a quote by St. Augustine, he said “that Jewish rituals must be tolerated because they bore witness to the truth of Christian faith”. That is what people forget. I got this book from net galley.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book reads like a historical academic thesis. History of the Venetian Jews between the 17th and 19th centuries with a short more current update.
Yes, it's historical, and informative and revealing of a way of life gone, but the level of discrimination is torturous beyond description and these towards a people who brought substantial capitol to the Venetian treasury. Yes, Napoleon broke the gates of the Ghetto, and Hitler exterminated almost the whole community to the extent of emptying the hospitals of the sick and mentally challenged. Not an easy book to read, but it is thorough and written by a Venetian Jew with an open and a sad heart..............

[Astrid Virili · Rating 3 out of 5]

accurato saggio storico, abbastanza scorrevole da leggere nonostante la mole.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Melisende · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent resource for the history of Jews in Italy and the Mediterranean.

[Sacha Bensimon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beaucoup de détails mais dans une démarche historique ce livre est assez complet.