32 · Julia Phillips Cohen
women, and youth groups in Salonica. In particular, they began to par-
ticipate in new patriotic projects such as those of the recently organized
Red Crescent Society.^11 When subscriptions to the Red Crescent effort
were listed in the papers, the names of Jewish philanthropists regularly
appeared alongside the names of Muslim philanthropists.^12 The papers
also wrote of how Jewish women’s societies sent money to the temporary
hospitals organized near the battle fronts. Around the same time, a group
of Jewish youths began collecting money to have beds sent to the front
lines, another action that paralleled Red Crescent projects. Soon notices
appeared of Jewish doctors from Vienna and Ottoman Jewish medical
students recently returned from their studies in Paris volunteering their
services in the border region where the fighting was taking place.^13 Sub-
scriptions in honor of the displaced Muslims of Crete saw constant dona-
tions from Jews as well as Muslims in the city.^14 Salonica’s Jewish press
also published notes from the chief rabbi of Crete, telling of how 100
Muslim families from that island had been given shelter in the homes of
local Jews.^15
By the second week of May, the actions of a new group established
by Jewish youths in the city captured the special attention of Ladino and
Ottoman journals in Salonica. The society made its debut by organizing a
special reception for wounded Ottoman soldiers returning from the front
to Salonica’s train station. As the wagons of beleaguered fighters pulled
to a stop, they were greeted by the group, which offered each soldier
his own silver-plated watch and chain as well as a pack of cigarettes.
Reports noted the soldiers’ gratitude for the gesture. Over the weeks that
followed, the story of this “most moving” of efforts offered to the state’s
heroes by the young Jewish men of Salonica circulated through various
papers of the city as well as the Ottoman capital.^16
Indeed, most acts of patriotism demonstrated by Ottoman Jews
merged so well with the ideal visions of the Jewish leaders of the city
that the journalists’ job was made easy; they recounted the news immedi-
ately and with pride. Yet, since their larger project aimed at shaping their
readership’s self-perception, memory, and even behavior, they were also
willing to do what they deemed necessary to change reality, or even bury
it, if they believed that it might endanger the public face of their commu-
nity or the maintenance of stability in the city more generally.
We see this approach made explicit in a correspondence published
in La Epoka not long after fighting had ceased: at this moment, the city’s