Casino Rodos and the Birth of Israel

This is one of those blog posts where I suddenly found all sorts of different things coming together in an unexpected way. Casino Rodos is actually a hotel and it is opposite the hotel we have stayed in in Rhodes, both recently and two years ago.

Two years ago I barely noticed it, apart from the fact that I had thought it was a bit incongruous both in scale and design, presuming as I did that it was maybe a 1990's Post Modernist construction, which isn't my favourite sort of architecture. In short pretty ugly.

Last year we went to Corfu instead and while there I went to the old Corfu Synagogue which although on the tourist trail in the old town, is not much visited. I have an interest in the history and architecture of old churches and I have a whole section on historic churches if you care to look. While in Corfu I visited the old Synagogue and only recently got around to making that blog post and adding it to my historic churches posts.

I was so interested in the history I found, making that post, that just before going back to Rhodes this year I did some advance research, because Rhodes had come up when researching Corfu. I managed to find out where the Synagogue is in old Rhodes town and it is a much larger and grander affair than the one in Corfu. I will be making a separate post about it soon.

Walking from our hotel to the old town we passed this hotel, Casino Rodos, and once again I showed it little passing interest. I was about to get a surprise though.

I managed to find the old Synagogue in the old town, and you could easily walk right by without noticing it, such are the narrow winding alleys in the old town. So it is a major surprise when you go up the steps and through a small door in a wall and find yourself in a courtyard with the main entrance into a very ornate and grand interior. I won't say much about it here, because as I say that will come in a separate post.

The point of this post though is about something I found in the small museum that is part of the Synagogue. I was intrigued when I saw this item on display.

The description of the item read " Silk Dress in Charleston Style, embroidered with small beads, 1920's. But here is where events come full circle.

As well as the description, came this explanation. "This dress was worn by Rachel Fintz at a ball in April 1928. The ball was organised in honour of Crown Prince Umberto of Italy at the recently opened Grande Albergo delle Rose ( now the Casino Rodos), the most luxurious hotel in Rhodes of its day. In early 1949, in the same hotel, the armistice agreements between the newly-founded State of Israel and Jordan and Egypt were signed."

Born into the prominent Fintz family of Rhodes, Rachel was the daughter of Eliahu Elia Fintz and Rivca Rebecca Coen Fintz. During the period of Italian rule in the Dodecanese islands, prominent Italian archaeologist and scholar Aldo Neppi Modona was stationed in Rhodes to work with the FERT Institute. While living on the island, he met and later married Rachel. The Fintz family was deeply embedded in the tight-knit, Ladino-speaking Jewish community of Rhodes. The community thrived for centuries until it was tragically decimated during the German occupation of the island in 1944.

Rachel moved to Florence, after marrying in 1929. During the war, she and her immediate family—her husband Aldo and their two children, Lionella and Leo—successfully evaded Nazi deportations by hiding in Italy. While Rachel and her direct family survived, the vast majority of her extended family who remained on the island of Rhodes were less fortunate.

In July 1944, the German military rounded up and deported nearly the entire Jewish population of Rhodes to Auschwitz. Tragically, most of her relatives from the island did not survive the concentration camps. Rachel lived a long life in Italy after the war, passing away in Florence in 2003 at the age of 95. AI Overview

Israel was declared a state on May the 14th 1948. Soon after, Israel was attacked in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Five Arab nations attacked Israel, and Israel won the war which ended right here in Rhodes in 1949 by which time it had turned into a stalemate. UN mediator Ralph Bunche (who won the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts) brought the warring parties to indirect and direct talks on the island of Rhodes to negotiate individual armistices.

The Scotsman - Friday, 25 February 1949

Rhodes Armistice

AN armistice is not a peace, but it is the first step towards one. For that reason the armistice agreement signed yesterday in Rhodes by Israel and Egypt will be generally welcomed as putting an end to hostilities, and allowing progress towards a permanent settlement to be made. Dr Bunche, the United Nations Mediator, has said that Saudi Arabia will automatically accept the terms of the armistice. Negotiations with the Lebanon - are expected : to follow. On Monday talks with Trans-jordan will open. - These will be complicated because the status of Jerusalem will be under discussion. But at least the key move has been made. The armistice with Egypt naturally reflects the military situation. Thus the- Jews have virtually control of the Negeb, though the Egyptians retain possession of the coastal strip to a point a little north of Gaza. The Egyptian forces are to be evacuated from Faluja, where they have been beleaguered sinceOctober. From a military point of view the campaign which Israel undertook in the Negeb with scant regard for the efforts of the United Nations to effect a peaceful settlement has been eminently successful.

Architectural Fusion: The original hotel building featured an exotic blend of Byzantine, Arabian, Ottoman, and Venetian architectural elements.

Fascist Restyling (1936): Under the new Dodecanese governor, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, the hotel underwent a major modification. He stripped away the ornate Levantine and oriental flourishes to create a stripped-back, austere "rurale" style, which dictates the building's outer façade today.

I now feel vindicated in not liking the building when I first walked past it two years ago. I can only hope if they ever have a makeover that they restore some of the original flourishes.