This gold signet ring, engraved with floral decoration and inscribed with the name “Rebecca” in Greek capital letters in the oblong bezel, belonged to a young girl and inhabitant of one of the cities in Northeastern Greece, Serres, Drama, Kavalla, Xanthi, Komotini or Alexandroupolis, in the prewar period. Signet rings and bracelets, as well as brooches and pendants, bearing the owner’s monogram, initials or first name, became increasingly popular among women of all ages, since the beginning of the 20th century.
Rebecca was one of the 4, 200 Jews living in these cities who were arrested by the Bulgarian occupation authorities on March 7th, 1943, and sent to the Treblinka extermination camp. Her ring, among a great number of personal items and jewelry confiscated by these authorities from the Jewish population in the period before the deportation, bears witness to the total destruction of these small Sephardic communities, wiped out from the country.
© The Jewish Museum of Greece
