THE TURKISH SEPHARDIM OF SAN ANTONIO MARKET, BARCELONA, 1900–1945

Abstract

The article offers an historical anthropological study of a little-known, mostly Turkish-Sephardi population that settled in Barcelona at the beginning of the twentieth century, attracted by the commercial dynamism of the area around the San Antonio Market. The complete disappearance of the community in the early 1940s has made it more difficult to reconstruct its history than is the case with some other Jewish communities in Spain. Through oral history testimonies and the location of several dispersed sources, this article provides new ethnographic and historical information that contributes to recovering the memory of this Jewish community. The study is also an attempt to explain the reasons behind the departure of most of the community's members in the early 1940s, after more than 20 years of settlement and integration in the city of Barcelona. It shows how the new conditions introduced by the Francoist authorities had a direct impact on the ability of community members to make a living. The restrictions forced them first to ask for help from the international organizations which were helping European refugees and ultimately to leave the country.