List of South-East European Jews - Definition and Overview

Many of the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition settled in the Ottoman Empire, leaving large Sephardic communities in South-East Europe: mainly in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia (though the latter in particular also had a large Ashkenazi population). Here is a list of some prominent South-East European Jews, arranged by country of origin.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

• Isak Samokovlija, writer

Bulgaria

• Maxim Behar, president of M3 Communications Group
• Alexander Bozhkov, vice-premier (Jewish mother)
• Elias Canetti, novelist, Nobel prize (1981)
• Carl Djerassi, developer of the oral contraceptive pill (Bulgarian father)
• Itzhak & Samuel Fintzi, actors
• Mia Kirshner, actress (Bulgarian mother)
• Milcho Leviev, jazz musician
• Andrey Lukanov, prime minister (Jewish mother)
• Jules Pascin, artist
• Solomon Passy, foreign minister
• David Peretz, painter
• Ivan Shishman, czar (1371-1393) (Jewish mother)
• Pancho Vladigerov, composer
• Angel Wagenstein, author & screenwriter
• Alexis Weissenberg, pianist

Croatia

• William Feller, mathematician
• Mira Furlan, actress
• Branko Lustig, film producer
• Artur Rodzinski, conductor (Croatian-born)
• David Schwarz, inventor of the Zeppelin
• Leo Sternbach, inventor of Valium

Cyprus

• Mike Brant, French-based singer (Cyprus-born)

Greece

• Maurice Abravanel, conductor
• Saul Amarel, Artificial Intelligence pioneer
• Hank Azaria, voice actor (Greek grandparents)
• Gina Bachauer, pianist
• Moisis Michail Bourlas, member of the World War II resistance.
• Isaac Carasso, founder of Danone
• Gabrielle Carteris, tv actress (Greek parents)
• Albert Cohen, novelist
• Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress (Greek father)
• Roza Eskenazi, Rebetika singer
• Mordechai Frizis, World War II colonel, killed in action
• Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer (Greek mother)
• Philo, classical philosopher
• Raphaël Salem, mathematician
• Pete Sampras, tennis player (Greek parents; Jewish grandmother)
• Silvio Santos, tv host (Greek parents)

Macedonia, FYRo

• Esma Redzepova, Romany singer (half Jewish) (unconfirmed)

Serbia & Montenegro

• David Albahari, writer
• Danilo Kis, writer (Jewish father)
• Thomas Nagel, philosopher
• Mosa Pijade, communist politician

Slovenia

• Alexander Beliavsky, chess player (unconfirmed)

Turkey

• Seyla Benhabib, political theorist
• Nicole Farhi, fashion designer (Turkish parents)
• Françoise Giroud, newspaper editor (Turkish parents)
• Eydie Gorme, singer (Turkish mother)
• Thilda Kemal, translator & wife of author Yasar Kemal
• Dario Moreno, singer
• Neil Sedaka, singer (Turkish father)
• Sabbatai Zevi, claimed Messiah

See also

• List of Jews, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Greeks, Serbs, Slovenians, Turks