List of South-East European Jews

Many of the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition settled in the Ottoman Empire, leaving large Sephardic communities in South-East Europe: mainly in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia (though the latter in particular also had a large Ashkenazi population). Here is a list of some prominent South-East European Jews, arranged by country of origin.

This list is incomplete. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.

Table of contents

1 Bulgaria 2 Greece 3 Turkey 4 Yugoslavia 4.1 Croatia 4.2 Macedonia 4.3 Serbia & Montenegro

Bulgaria

• Elias Canetti, novelist, Nobel prize (1981)
• Carl Djerassi, developer of the oral contraceptive pill (Bulgarian father)
• Mia Kirshner, actress (Bulgarian mother)
• Milcho Leviev, jazz musician
• Jules Pascin, artist

Greece

• Maurice Abravanel, conductor
• Saul Amarel, Artificial Intelligence pioneer
• Hank Azaria, voice actor (Greek grandparents)
• Gina Bachauer, pianist
• Gabrielle Carteris, tv actress (Greek parents)
• Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress (Greek father)
• Roza Eskenazi, Rebetika singer
• Diane Von Furstenberg, fashion designer (Greek mother)
• Pete Sampras, tennis player (quarter Jewish)
• Silvio Santos, tv host (Greek parents)

Turkey

• Seyla Benhabib, political theorist
• Nicole Farhi, fashion designer (Turkish parents)
• Eydie Gormé, singer (Turkish mother)
• Neil Sedaka, singer (Turkish father)

Yugoslavia

Croatia

• William Feller, mathematician
• Mira Furlan, actress
• Branko Lustig, film producer
• David Schwarz, inventor of the Zeppelin
• Leo Sternbach, inventor of Valium

Macedonia

• Esma Redzepova, Romany singer (half Jewish) (unconfirmed)

Serbia & Montenegro

• Danilo Kis, writer (half Jewish)

See also: List of Jews, List of Jews by country