European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                4f right a visitor walks Down one of the old narrow streets of the historic jewish ghetto in Venice jewish ghetto a wooden pedestrian Bridge leads across one of the canals of Venice and into the did jewish ghetto there s More to Venice than gondolas by William d. Montalbano los Angeles times it is a Bright venetian morning and a Young guide strolls purposefully through medieval streets followed by 15 tourists who Are both excited and perplexed by what he has shown them. Quot Why did people discriminate against jews in the first place Quot asks one woman. Quot because they killed Christ Quot says a second. Quot but that was a roman proceeding. The whole thing was done by the romans. In t that right Quot a third tourist demands of the guide. His hand turning a key in the door of an ancient synagogue the guide replies diplomatically Quot perhaps  be Best to talk with a  four centuries after it was spawned by religious hatred the ghetto i Venezia the world s first jewish ghetto is maturing As an educational and ecumenical treat for visitors who seek More in Venice than gondolas and gee Gaws. Venice s jewish Community is. Being sapped by the attrition of age but its history and surprising monuments Are brighter and easier to explore than Ever. Restorations financed by National regional and municipal italian governments plus private Money from abroad have brought new life to the two islands where jews lived and worked in enforced isolation from 1516 until 1797. This year the w orking class oif the beaten track venetian neighbourhood where tourists were Seldom seen a decade ago will attract / nearly 50,000 visitors. The ghetto takes its name from a 14th-Century Cannon foundry or Goto on the site where the Community was founded. It is entered around a big open Piazza far from St. Mark s Square Northeast of tie train station Stazione Ferrovia Ria where moneylenders and pawnbrokers once set up stalls. Shakespeare s shylock was a fictional resident of a ghetto where jews lived crammed in seven Story tenements flanking the Piazza. Since jews were prohibited from living elsewhere As their numbers grew to a 17th-Century High of around 5,000, so did their apartment houses. Today they Are the tallest private dwellings in Venice. At one Corner of the Piazza is a pensioners Home where about two dozen of Venice s remaining 550 jews live with Community support. Next to it Are Bronze panels by an american artist that recall 200 venetians who were among the ,000 italian jews who died in the holocaust. Across the Piazza is a jewish Community Center and a new Library for old books and new a including a 500-Page history of the ghetto by venetian jew Ziccardo Calimano that is now in its seventh printing. The earliest residents of the ghetto guides Tell visitors were yiddish speaking ashkenazi jews from Germany and elsewhere in Northern Europe. They built three ornate synagogues overlooking the big Cobblestone Piazza. Dark narrow indoor passageways wound through the tenements to the houses of worship. Restoration has begun on one i 500s apartment in one of the tenements when the work is completed visitors will have a Chance to see now ghetto families lived. The Askenazi synagogues All located on second a and third stories of buildings that were also used for shops and dwellings can be recognized from the Piazza by live vaulted windows in a Row a visit to them begins at the ghetto museum. Whit h  recently restored and contains an intriguing t Ollie lion of antique Silver religious a c f amp l 8 stripes Magazine August 23, 1990