"Historical Perspectives on Cypriot-Jewish Relations": Because self-knowledge is something more than important, it is everything

Historical perspectives on Cypriot-Jewish relations. Edited by Giorgos Kazamias (university of Cyprus) and Giorgos Antoniou (university of Thessaloniki).

Το βιβλίο είναι ενδιαφέρον (It is an interesting book). Για πολλούς λόγους (For many reasons). Αναδημοσιεύουμε μόνο μια παράγραφο (We republish just one paragraph). Νομίζουμε ότι λέει κάμποσα (We believe it says a lot of things). Τουλάχιστον, για όσους μπορούν να καταλάβουν (At least, for those who can understand).

Επιλέγουμε την αγγλική γλώσσα (We choose for this text the English language). Γιατί; (Why?). Επειδή είναι πιο… διεθνής/ οικουμενική (Because it is more… international/ global). Καταλαβαίνετε τον λόγο; (Do you understand the reason?). Ελπίζουμε πως ναι (We hope you do).

80 – 90 χρόνια πριν (80 – 90 years ago). Διαβάστε (Read):

The underdeveloped agricultural conditions of the Cypriot populace contributed merely a part of the slow growth economy. A serious factor for the backwardness was the reluctance of the administration for public investments in agricultural and industrial infrastructure. Additionally, the island was subject to the colonial economy dogma of self-sufficiency, expecting no financial support from the metropolis. While the annual income was mainly allocated for the “Tribute”, the investments on the economy relied mostly on the private sector. However, the moneylenders and merchants who gathered the private capital were keen to land purchases, but not in other sectors. The British colonial administration did put some efforts on the improvement of the agricultural methods and on irrigation works. However, the Cypriot farmer and landowner needed vivid examples of good agricultural practices to get convinced about the necessity of modernization.

Vivid examples. (Ζωηρά παραδείγματα). Necessary (Αναγκαία). Understood? (Είναι κατανοητό;). Keep on reading… (Πάμε παρακάτω…)

By contrast, the Jews who arrived from the agricultural areas of Russia and Central Europe and settled in Cyprus in the capacity of either agriculturist- colonist or entrepreneur afforded the opportunity to launch modern methods of cultivation which the above-mentioned local constraints deprived of the local rural population. In this way, the Jewish settlers represented a case of a foreign capital investment that was scarce in the economic model of the island. For example, in the 1930s, while Cyprus found itself in an embryonic process of urbanization an experienced the continuous growth of small and domestic industries, the Jewish entrepreneurs were the first who established large modern mechanized factories in Larnaca. Additionally, they contributed to the expansion of the citrus industry in Famagusta and Limassol.

*Η αυτογνωσία είναι κάτι το πολύ σοβαρό (Self-knowledge is really important). Το βιβλίο αυτό είναι μόλις 100 και κάτι σελίδες (This book is just a 100+ pages book). Διαβάστε το (Read it). Θα σας βοηθήσει (It will help you). Στα σίγουρα (For sure).