QUEEN ISABELLA EXPELLED US FROM SPAIN BECAUSE OF A RING
Description: Fani Bonofiyel explains how, during a trip to Spain, she surprised a taxi driver with her knowledge of Spanish. In the course of the interview, she remembers telling him an anecdote about Queen Isabella the Catholic and her jeweller and why, because of a ring, she decided to expel all of the Jews in Spain. Finally, Fani expressed her disappointment towards the Spanish government in regard to their handling of citizenship requests for the Sephardic Jews.
Cite as: La kralíča Izabela mos ečó de la Ispánya a kavza de un aníyo – Queen Isabella expelled us from Spain because of a ring; performer: Fani Bonofiyel, camera/ interview: Ioana Aminian, transcription/ translation: Ioana Aminian, Deyvi Papo, Imane Sghiouar, editor: Imane Sghiouar, retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID-number: ladi1251TRV0012a.
THEY EXPELLED THE GREEKS FROM HERE
Description: These interview selections with Jojo Bedelahmi cover three different themes. Firstly, Jojo ponders about the role of anti-Semitism in the historical moment of population exchange between Greece and Turkey; although he was just a child, he recalls the events that led to the Greeks’ expulsions and discusses the divergence of the respective governments’ policies. Secondly, he discusses how Judeo-Spanish lost its prestige among the Sephardim and compares how they treated their language to Greeks living in the region. Finally, the discussion centres on code-switching and code-mixing, during which Jojo becomes aware of the code-mixing tendencies he displays in his speech.
Cite as: A los grégos loz enbiyáron d’akí– They expelled the Greeks from here; performer: Jojo Bedelahmi, camera/ interview: Ioana Aminian, transcription/ translation: Ioana Aminian, Deyvi Papo, Imane Sghiouar, editor: Deyvi Papo, retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID-number: ladi1251TRV0029a.
I’VE SEEN THIS WITH MY OWN EYES
Description: Solomon Namer explains in this video fragment the various channels of education that were open to Jewish children in the past, telling us about the places he used to study in the afternoons. He continues by outlining the inter-ethnic relationship between the Jewish, Muslim and Orthodox Greek populations in his district and recounting what he witnessed in terms of the oppression of the Greek population during the time of the population exchange. He concludes by telling us about his native knowledge of Greek and the context in which he learned Turkish later in life.
Cite as: Ésto lo víde kon mi óžo – I’ve seen this with my own eyes; performer: Solomon Namer, camera/ interview: Ioana Aminian, transcription/ translation: Ioana Aminian, Deyvi Papo, Imane Sghiouar, editor: Deyvi Papo, retrieved from www.oeaw.ac.at/VLACH, ID-number: ladi1251TRV0048a.