SYNAGOGUE ETZ HAYYIM

Hania's little synagogue is tucked away in a cul-de-sac behind the touristy Kondilaki street. The synagogue is open to visitors, and we strongly recommend that you step through the door and into the tiny inner courtyard to discover the history of Crete's Jews. Admission is free and visitors are very welcome: there will always be someone on hand to give you a guided tour in English or answer any questions you may have, so don't forget to leave a small coin for the upkeep and renovation of this historic place.

Crete's Jewish community, one of Europe's oldest in the Romanotic tradition, settled on the island in the Hellenistic period, around the ^3rd century B.C. Relatively isolated from other Jewish diasporas, the Cretan community thrived despite the successive occupiers who invaded the island. The fate of the Jews of Hania and Crete changed greatly, and for the better, with the Ottoman occupation, which abolished the special laws and ghettos imposed by the Venetians before them. In the ^17th century, the Turkish administration bequeathed an ancient ^14th-century Venetian church to the Jews of Hania. Here they founded their synagogue, the one you can visit today. Look for traces of the original Gothic church, notably the pointed arches in this place of worship, which, exceptionally, does not separate men and women.

With the arrival of the Ottomans, the community was no longer restricted in its commercial activities and was finally able to expand. In the ^18th century, there were some 2,000 Jews and 8 synagogues on Crete, but the following centuries saw the population drop drastically until the German occupation in 1940. By the time the Nazis arrived, only 400 Jews remained in Hania. Only 10 families survived. On May 21, 1944, the order was given to arrest all Hania Jews for deportation. On June 9, the 276 Jews arrested were loaded onto the Tanais, which left for Piraeus, bound for Auschwitz. On the way, the British fleet torpedoed the ship, mistaking it for a German military vessel. There were no survivors. At the end of the war, the few remaining families all converted to Christianity or abandoned their faith: Hania's Jewish community died out completely. The synagogue was abandoned and left in ruins, and the roof collapsed in 1995. It was then that a campaign for reconstruction and revitalization was launched from Athens. The necessary funds were raised and the synagogue was reopened in 1999.