España y los sefarditas de Salónica durante el incendio de 1917

Abstract

This article wants to emphasize the aid of the Spanish consul in Salonica, Teodoro Varela y Gil, to the Spanish colony as a consequence of the fire that happened in that city in 1917, leaving hundreds of Jewish people completely destitute. Among them there were many protected Spanish people who claimed financial aid. After a few difficulties, 20.000 francs were granted by the Spanish government and contributed to the distribution of the aids sent from Spain among the Sephardic community in Salonica. We would also like to mention the minister's negotiation, when a Spanish Sephardic group's complaints to the minister's government in Madrid were exposed. They protested against the law of expropiation of the burnt lands that the Greek government wanted to promulgate. They considered that it was a violation of property's rights, and that it will cause the loss of all their goods.