List of South-East European Jews
Many of the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition settled in the Ottoman Empire, leaving large Sephardic communities in South-East Europe: mainly in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia (though the latter in particular also had a large Ashkenazi population). Here is a list of some prominent South-East European Jews, arranged by country of origin.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Ammiel Alcalay, poet & scholar (Bosnian parents)
- Isak Samokovlija, writer
Bulgaria
- Maxim Behar, president of M3 Communications Group
- Alexander Bozhkov, vice-premier (Jewish mother)
- Elias Canetti, novelist, Nobel prize (1981)
- Carl Djerassi, developer of the oral contraceptive pill (Bulgarian father)
- Itzhak & Samuel Fintzi, actors
- Mia Kirshner, actress (Bulgarian mother)
- Milcho Leviev, jazz musician
- Andrey Lukanov, prime minister (Jewish mother)
- Jules Pascin, artist
- Solomon Passy, foreign minister
- David Peretz, painter
- Ivan Shishman, czar (1371-1393) (Jewish mother)
- Pancho Vladigerov, composer
- Angel Wagenstein, author & screenwriter
- Alexis Weissenberg, pianist
Croatia
- William Feller, mathematician
- Mira Furlan, actress
- Branko Lustig, film producer
- Artur Rodzinski, conductor (Croatian-born)
Cyprus
- Mike Brant, French-based singer (Cyprus-born)
Greece
- Maurice Abravanel, conductor
- Saul Amarel, Artificial Intelligence pioneer
- Hank Azaria, voice actor (Greek grandparents)
- Gina Bachauer, pianist
- Moisis Michail Bourlas, member of the World War II resistance.
- Isaac Carasso, founder of Danone
- Gabrielle Carteris, tv actress (Greek parents)
- Albert Cohen, novelist
- Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress (Greek father)
- Roza Eskenazi, Rebetika singer
- Mordechai Frizis, World War II colonel, killed in action
- Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer (Greek mother)
- Philo, classical philosopher
- Raphaël Salem, mathematician
- Pete Sampras, tennis player (Greek parents; Jewish grandmother)
- Silvio Santos, tv host (Greek parents)
Macedonia, FYRo
- Esma Redzepova, Romany singer (half Jewish) (unconfirmed)
Serbia & Montenegro
- David Albahari, writer
- Danilo Kis, writer (Jewish father)
- Thomas Nagel, philosopher
- Mosa Pijade, communist politician
Slovenia
- Alexander Beliavsky, chess player (unconfirmed)
Turkey
- Seyla Benhabib, political theorist
- Nicole Farhi, fashion designer (Turkish parents)
- Françoise Giroud, newspaper editor (Turkish parents)
- Eydie Gorme, singer (Turkish mother)
- Thilda Kemal, translator & wife of author Yasar Kemal
- Dario Moreno, singer
- Neil Sedaka, singer (Turkish father)
- Sabbatai Zevi, claimed Messiah