Donme

The Dönme ( Ottoman دونمه 'Convert' ) are the members of a crypto-Jewish kabbalistic religious community in Turkey that are a branch of Sabbatianism . Their number is estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 members. Outwardly, they practice Islam. The community goes back to Shabbtai Zvi (1626–1676), whose tradition was carried on by several hundred families after his death. In 1683 there was a mass conversion in Salonika , making the city the center of the cult.

The Dönme saw the Messiah in Shabbtai Zvi . They declared his conversion to Islam by saying that the soul of the Messiah must descend to the bottom of sin in order to redeem the sparks of divine light that were trapped there. In 1690 the Dönme split, after which a group declared Baruchia Russo (Islamic name Osman Baba, 1676-1720 / 26) to be their Messiah. After Jakob Joseph Frank (1726–1791) got to know the Dönme, he began to claim that he was the Messiah.

There are three groups or currents within the Dönme:

• the Karakaşlar ( Turkish ) or Konyosos ( Ladino )
• the İzmirim (İzmirlis) and
• the Yakubil (Jacobites)

In the course of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey , the Dönme were counted among the Turks because of their Muslim faith and had to leave Saloniki. Their affiliation to the secularized class gives rise to rumors that Ataturk was a dönme and that the Kemalists were dealing with a conspiracy based on a motive of revenge because Sultan Abdülhamid II Theodor Herzl had refused Palestine. The denunciation of people or families as Dönme is an integral part of the agitation of Turkish anti-Semites. The kebabs are often the subject of conspiracy theories . The Islamist author Mehmet Şevket Eygi , for example, believes that the kebabs have infiltrated the state's control centers.

See also

• Turkish Jews

literature

• Marc Baer: The Double Bind of Race and Religion: The Conversion of the Dönme to Turkish Secular Nationalism . (PDF; 124 kB) In: Comparative Studies in Society and History 46, 2004, pp. 682–708.
• Marc Baer: The Dönme. Jewish converts, Muslim revolutionaries, and secular Turks. Stanford University Press, Stanford 2010, ISBN 978-0-8047-6868-9 .
• Rıfat N. Bali : A scapegoat for all seasons. The Dönmes or Crypto-Jews of Turkey. Isis Press, Istanbul 2008, ISBN 978-975-428-363-1 .
• Hadar Feldman: Dönme. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 2: Co-Ha. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02502-9 , pp. 146–150.
• Gershom Scholem : The crypto-Jewish sect of the Donme (Sabbatians) in Turkey. In: Numen , 7, 1960, pp. 93-122, ISSN  0169-8834 .
• Cengiz Sisman: The Burden of Silence. Sabbatai Sevi and the Evolution of the Ottoman-Turkish Dönmes. Oxford University Press, New York 2015.
• Adolf Struck: The hidden Jewish sect of the Dönme in Salonik. In: Globus , 81, 1902, 219-224.

Web links

• Rifat N. Bali: More than just silence. Hagalil

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jacob M. Landau: The Dönmes: Crypto-Jews under Turkish Rule. In: Jewish Political Studies Review , 19: 1-2, spring 2007
2. ↑ Klaus S. Davidowicz : The Kabbalah: An Introduction to the World of Jewish Mysticism and Magic. Böhlau, Vienna 2009, p. 125.
3. ↑ From İzmir ( Latin / Greek : Smyrna).
4. ↑ Dönme . In: Klaus Kreiser: Small Turkey Lexicon. Munich 1992.
5. ↑ Eygi: Sabatayciseverlerİn Tedİrgİnlİğİ ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.