Daily Archives: February 7, 2023

At the beginning of the 20th century, in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, more than a third of the population was Jewish. The series Le Bracelet of Fire, directed by Giorgos Gikapeppas, has been released on February 4 on the public television channel ERT and from January 25 on the Ertflix group platform and retraces for the first time the history of a family of Thessaloniki through the darkest events of the 20th century.

However … The first episode, at the 37^th minute and 45^th second has a “Gypsy”, called Angelis is saying:

I stole, I stole (past continuous)

But it is allowed for the Gypsies to steal.

God gave us this right.

And he “explains” that the Romans gave an order to a Gypsy to forge the 4 nails to crucify Jesus. But when the Gypsy found out it was to crucify Christ he swallowed one. From then onwards God gave the Gypsies the right to steal.

This later tale is one that Roma told in Western Europe (but not in Greece) as the reason for their continuous travels (and originally as to why they claimed to be pilgrims).

In any case, that is a bunch of stereotypes…

• Bracelet of Fire. https://www.ertflix.gr/…/vod.242790-to-brakhioli-tes…
• En Grèce, une série évoque enfin le sort des juifs de Thessalonique. In; le Monde. 25.02.2023. https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2023/01/25/en-grece-une-serie-evoque-enfin-le-sort-des-juifs-de-thessalonique_6159168_3210.html?fbclid=IwAR0tSYnK_HRKzrdljjZUrdUBZcWezFqqERNk5WVlzTsiGM3UxcN4OgGvGTY