A Sephardi Turkish Patriot

ASephardi 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 acceptance as part of 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. 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 Gad Franco’s intriguing life-story. Inflamed by ethno-nationalism, cleavages between the Muslim majority and Turkey’s ethnic minorities deepened in the 1930s, leading to their outright harassment during World War II. By then a wealthy, respected jurist, Jewish community spokesperson and friend of the government, Gad Franco was expropriated of all his assets and deported to labor camp, in a brutal campaign to Turkify the economy, imposed on all minorities. The painful aftermath included his disbarment and his financial collapse, as well as the departure of most family members. As its belonging to the nation had been so dramatically denied, half of the Turkish Jewish community migrated to Israel in the 1950s, putting an end to Gad Franco’s hopes of its integration and acceptance.