Marcia Hadad Iconomopolus
Jewish Educator
A) What qualities make the nominee deserving of the Z3 Bridge Builder Award?
Marcia has dedicated herself to preserving and growing our small community of Romaniote Jews through her work in the United States and around the world. Romaniotes are the oldest Jewish community in Greece and were almost completely annihilated in WW2. Marcia has researched and revitalized traditions, brought families back together and reached out to the larger community through the programs she creates to bring Jewish communities together through workshops, conferences, even a street fair and spreading knowledge of our community and connections through those events and simple events of friendship as Sunday Greek brunches. There is so much more to say. The gratitude of our community speaks for itself.
B) In what ways has the nominee demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment to their work in bridging divides?
Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos is Museum Director of Kehila Kedosha Janina and President of the Association of Friends of Greek Jewry. As a former educator, writer, editor and translator, she has dedicated her life to telling the story of Greek Jewry. Marcia was honored to be chosen as a member of the scholarly committee for review, translation and microfilming of Salonika Archives at YIVO and compiled the text and visuals for the USHMM's website on the Holocaust of Greek Jewry.
C) How has the nominee's work impacted the Jewish community and beyond?
Professional Affiliations
Board of Trustees, Kehila Kedosha Janina
Board of Advisors Lower East Side Preservation Initiative
American Jewish Committee, Cyprus Team
Hellenic American Leadership Council
On the Board of Judaic Studies at Queens College
President of the Association of Friends of Greek Jewry
Museum Director of Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum
Former Director of Special Projects for Sephardic House
Teacher of Judaic Studies: From 1990 to 2010
Translator of Greek Jewish Holocaust Memoirs
Author
Remembering the Jews of Corfu, Los Muestros, March 2002
The Romaniotes, Viewpoint, March 2002
The Story Behind the Statistics: Variables Affecting the
Tremendous Losses of Greek Jewry During the Holocaust,
Originally published in issue 1 of The International Sephardic
Journal [2004], republished in Journal of the Hellenic
Diaspora [Spring 2007]
Voices From the Salonika Archives, Los Muestros, December 2006
The Romaniote Jewish Community of New York, Journal of Modern
Hellenism, Spring 2007
Jewish and Greek: Yanniotes of New York, Cambridge University
Journal of Hellenism: Fall 2008
Was a regular contributor to La Lettre Sepharade
Meet Me on the Corner of Broome and Allen: Romaniote Jews in New York: work in progress-due to be published in 2027
Editor
Yannina-Journey to the Past by Eftichia Nachman
In Memory of the Jewish Community of Ioannina by Marcia Haddad
Ikonomopoulos
The Portuguese Nation of Antwerp and London in the Time of Charles V and Henry VIII by Leone di Leone
Ten Gold Medals: Glory or Freedom by Isaac Dostis
Synagogues by Elias Messinas
Supplied the text and visuals for the USHMM website on the Holocaust in Greece: October 2000 www.ushmm.org
Helped coordinate series of Holocaust lectures at USHMM in October of 2002 related to the Holocaust in Greece
Member of scholarly committee for review, translation and microfilming of Salonika Archives at YIVO (summer 2005)
Presented paper on Romaniote Jewry at the 2006 IAJGS Conference in New York City
Presented paper on Romaniote Immigration at NYU sponsored conference for Modern Greek Studies Association in September 2011.
Presented at Michigan State University on Romaniote Jews in New York in October 2012
Presented at Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Washington DC on Losses in the Bulgarian Zone of Occupation in Greece (“The Stones Speak”) February 2013
Presented at Johns Hopkins University on Romaniote Greek Speaking Jews-April 2014
Presented at Bowling Green State University on Greek Jews-June 2014
Presented at the annual conference on Hellenism in Key Biscayne for Hellenic Heritage Weekend: September 2014
Presented at Plainview Synagogue on the Holocaust of Greek Jewry-April 2015
Presented at Federation of Staten Island Synagogues on the Holocaust of Greek Jewry-April 2015
Presented at Baltimore Jewish Federation/Hellenic Society-May 2015
Presented at University of Ioannina on Emigration of Ioannina Jews-October 2016
Presented at combined Sisterhoods of Plainview LI-Jews of Greece-April 2017
Honored by Jewish Community of Ioannina in Greece on Yom Kippur 2017
Presented at Modern Greek Studies Association at Stockton University on November 5, 2017 on Greek-Jewish Immigration to NYC
Yom HaShoah presentation at Edmond S. Safra Synagogue April 2018
Yom HaShoah Presentation at Etz Hayyim Synagogue for the Jewish Community of Indianapolis, April 2018
Presented at Hellenic Heritage Weekend in October 2018: Jews in British Detention Camps in Cyprus
Presented at Midwood Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY: Greek Jews: the Romaniotes: December 1, 2018
Presented at Sephardic Jewish Film Festival in Portland Oregon on January 8, 2019: showing of Trezoros (The Jews of Kastoria Greece)
Presented at Embassy of Greece in Washington, DC-Romaniote Greek Jews, January 30, 2019
Presented at US Congress for the International Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust, January 31, 2019: Topic: Romaniote and Sephardic Narratives of the Holocaust
Presented at Greek Consulate in NYC as part of the Vincent Giordano exhibit, September 26, 2019
Presented at the Modern Greece Studies Association Symposium at University of California Sacramento (British Detention Camps in Cyprus) November 10, 2019
Presented at Embassy of Greece in Washington, DC as part of the Vincent Giordano exhibit, November 13, 2019
Shabbaton at ICCJ in Queens, NY November 22 and 23, 2019. Jews of Greece and Jews of Italy