On 29 March 1516, the Venetian Republic created the first ghetto on a small island in the north-western sestiere of Cannaregio. The residents were removed and replaced within a week by Jews already in Venice. This was a period in which the city sought to keep a watchful eye on all foreigners: the French, English and Spanish embassies were also relegated to Cannaregio. There had been a metal foundry (ghèto) in the parish, which has traditionally been the source of the name, although the etymology is far from clear. The French writer Alice Becker-Ho in her book Le premier ghetto ou l’exemplarité vénitienne presents a number of valid alternatives: gouda-(h), separation and ghetta, herd.
Jews within Venice therefore found a secure place to live despite the restrictions imposed on them, and were soon joined by others fleeing persecution in central Europe. They built two synagogues in the ghetto: the Schola Grande Tedesca and the Schola Canton. The pragmatic Venetian Republic later exploited the economic advantages of allowing Levantine Jews to settle there – charging the residents for rent, water, the cost of the compulsory nightwatchman and all services.
The population was swelled by the arrival of Marrani Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal when they refused to convert. As the reputation of the ghetto spread, the population (about 700 in 1516) grew, and when the English traveller Thomas Coryat visited in 1608, he recorded as many as 6,000 inhabitants. The Ghetto Vecchio (old ghetto, though it was newer than the original) and later the Ghetto Novissimo were added to accommodate the growing population.
Living conditions were cramped and insanitary. Rooms could be reached only through other families’ living space. The gates were unlocked at dawn and locked by sunset and all residents were required to wear yellow headgear or a badge. In what was, for a time, a tolerant Venice, Jews were not forced to convert and the ghetto became a place of study and scholarship; money-lending and the sale of some goods, such as jewellery and fur, was allowed. Christians attended concerts in the ghetto, and Christian architects and builders created synagogues. This Jewish melting pot had a lasting cultural impact on Venetian language, cuisine, music and dance.
By 1797 disease, war and politics had shrunk the population of the ghetto to 3,000. Napoleon’s troops brought an end to the Republic of Venice and to the ghetto; they burned down the gates, and French principles of liberty, equality and fraternity allowed the ghetto’s inhabitants at last to be free and equal. The poorest Jews remained in the ghetto, but many others left for other parts of the city, where they integrated, buying palaces on the Grand Canal and taking part in political life. Some contributed actively to the fight against Austrian occupation.
Race laws in Italy in 1938 affected the Jewish community dramatically. Jews were barred from the Lido beach, and dangerous discrimination began. After German troops arrived in 1944, Venetian Jews of all ages were gathered in the ghetto’s central campo and from there deported. Most of them never returned. A monument now commemorates this shameful event. Its seven bronze reliefs are dedicated to the six million victims of the Holocaust. It is the work of Arbit Blatas, a Lithuanian Jew. The panels are mounted on a wall below the barbed wire left by the Germans. An eighth panel, The Last Train, stands alone, inscribed with the names of the deported Venetian Jews. There are roughly six hundred Jews in Venice today; those in the ghetto include the residents of the Casa di Riposo, a home mainly for elderly Jews.
Events to commemorate the anniversary
There will be a public exhibition at the Doge’s Palace from 19 June to 13 November entitled Venice, the Jews and Europe 1516-2016. On 19 June Il Pomo d’Oro orhcestra will give a concert entitled Music Without Borders. The Ikona gallery, on the main campo, will host an exhibition, Peggy Guggenheim in Photographs, from 9 June to 9 October. The Jewish cemetery on the Lido will be open to visitors an