A01=Anthony Gad Bigio
Author_Anthony Gad Bigio
Category=DNB
Category=NHD
Category=NHTB
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Ottoman Empire
Sephardi Jews
Turkish Republic
Product details
- ISBN 9780761873983
- Weight: 363g
- Dimensions: 150 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 15 Nov 2023
- Publisher: University Press of America
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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A Sephardi Turkish Patriot explores the life of Gad Franco (1881–1954), a prominent Sephardi journalist, then a lawyer and a jurist, who worked relentlessly for the Jewish community’s belonging to the national Turkish polity, and for the consolidation of the rule of law. This historical biography, written by his grandson, takes the reader from fin-de-siècle Izmir, to the Istanbul of the Roaring Twenties and beyond, tracing his footsteps, including his opposition to Zionism, which he considered a threat to assimilation. The world of Sephardi Jewry, the convulsions and conflicts of the late Ottoman Empire, and the birth, ruthless consolidation, and promising reforms of the young Turkish Republic, provide the context to his intriguing life story. Inflamed by ethno-nationalism, the harassment of minorities deepened in the 1930s, peaking during World War II. By then a wealthy, respected Jewish community spokesperson and staunch Kemalist, Gad Franco was dealt an exemplary punishment in a shocking campaign to Turkify the economy, imposed on all minorities. His dramatic downfall at the hands of the Government shook his beliefs to the core. As their belonging to the nation had been so brutally denied, half of Turkish Jews migrated to Israel in the 1950s, putting an end to Gad Franco’s lifelong hopes of integration and acceptance.
Anthony Gad Bigio, an architect and urban planner, has worked internationally and served as senior urban specialist at the World Bank for two decades. Subsequently a graduate professor of urban planning, he now advises international agencies and pursues his personal writing projects.
