Some may know Bodrum as a pleasant vacation spot in Southwestern Turkey. Few, however, would know this town as the home of a small but influential Jewish community that thrived until the mid-20th century. In this book, artist and researcher C. M. Kösemen uses historic sources and interviews to flesh out the first comprehensive overview of this little-known Sephardic community.

Here you will find compelling stories and poignant memories; of ancient Jewish settlements in the remote corners of the Bodrum peninsula; of pleasant family relations between Turks and Jews; of wartime hardships and near-escapes; of people like Janet Akyüz Mattei, who went on to become one of the world’s greatest astrophysicists; of Abraham Galante the historian; and more…

Illustrated with detailed black-and-white photographs and annotated with footnotes that explain local nuances, this book also contains a touristic itinerary of Judaic sites in the vicinity of Bodrum.